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Santa Barbara City College — Fall term off to unconventional start amid COVID-19 pandemic

by Community Contributor • September 18, 2020 • Comments Off

Santa Barbara City College’s Community Newsletter

September 2020

Fall term off to unconventional start amid COVID-19 pandemic

In the days running up to the first day of the Fall term, Noozhawk interviewed officials at SBCC about the innovative ways the college has prepared to support teaching and learning in an online environment. Acknowledging that the college provides vital services in addition to classes, Noozhawk noted that the college is working to address the technical needs of all learners while also taking time to ensure social and emotional needs are met. Read more…

Foundation awards $1 million in scholarships for 2020-21

The SBCC Foundation awarded over $1 million in scholarships to 742 SBCC students for the 2020-2021 academic year. The President’s Scholarship and the Towbes/Luria STEM Achievement Scholarship were among those awarded. Read the Noozhawk story…

SBCC Math Tutorial Lab recognized as finalist for Examples in Excelencia

On August 20, Excelencia in Education — an organization that works to accelerate Latino student success in higher education — announced that SBCC’s Math Tutorial Lab has been named a finalist for the 2020 Examples of Excelencia. Of this year’s 112 national submissions from 24 states, Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C., the SBCC program was one of six at the community college level recognized for its leadership in effectively serving Latino students. Read the press release…

Former women’s player Keani Albanez becomes assistant coach for SBCC men’s basketball

Former Vaquero Keani Albanez, who played basketball for Gonzaga University from 2012-2015 followed by several years of professional play internationally, has returned to SBCC as the assistant coach for the men’s basketball team. See the KEYT story

Read an extended interview with Keani in The Spokesman-Review

School of Extended Learning ESL Student lands job at United

Joel Santana is part of a record-breaking year for noncredit English as a Second Language (ESL) students achieving an ESL or Vocational ESL Certificate of Competency. Originally from Brazil, Joel began taking Extended Learning ESL classes shortly after he moved to Santa Barbara in 2018. In October 2019, he was hired as a customer service agent for United Airlines where he speaks English with people from around the world every day. Read more…

SBCC Foundation Spring Forward! Gala (Fall edition, at home)

Like so many organizations in our community, the SBCC Foundation had to postpone its annual fundraising event last spring. However the second annual Spring Forward! Gala has been reinvented and will now be held virtually on Thursday, Oct. 1 at 4 p.m. You are invited to join this special presentation celebrating SBCC. The event is free, but you must register in advance. Click here for more information…

SBCC Foundation’s Campus Conversations: Exploring SBCC’s margin of excellence

The Fall semester is in full swing at SBCC (nearly all remote, but we’re back!). With the return to school also comes the return of the SBCC Foundation’s conversation series. Launched in April as COVID Conversations, the newly rebranded Campus Conversations will continue to introduce you to the many departments and programs that make SBCC not only a top-rated educational institution, but also a significant driver of a healthy and vibrant South Coast region. Catch up with past conversations and read about those upcoming…

SBCC Foundation welcomes Fall 2020 Promise students

The SBCC Promise covers the cost of all fees, books and course materials for eligible students (those who enroll immediately after high school graduation, GED completion or the equivalent) who attend SBCC full-time, uninterrupted, for two years. Over 4,000 students have participated since the program began in 2016. The SBCC Foundation welcomed Fall 2020 Promise students with this video…

SBCC and Sansum Diabetes Research Institute collaborate to promote healthy lifestyles

In their September 2020 newsletter, Sansum Diabetes Research Institute (SDRI) spread the word about a collaboration between SDRI and SBCC. Two evidence-based programs, Mil Familias and Farming for Life, were developed to promote good health through increased food security, physical activity and health monitoring among those in our community most in need of a helping hand. Read the article…

Article by Business Administration Dept. instructor Daniel Spitz published in the Journal of Legal Aspects of Sport

Our most recent full-time faculty member in the Business Administration Department, Dr. Daniel Spitz, recently had an article published in the Journal of Legal Aspects of Sport. See the article, “We Can Handle It: Advocating in Support of State Legislation of Legal Sports Gambling post-Murphy v. NCAA,” here…

SBCC instructor publishes health guides for SBNC

Psychology instructor George Ayoub recently published health guides in English and Spanish for the Santa Barbara Neighborhood Clinics (SBNC) and other community clinics. Titled “To Your Health” and “Yo Saludable,” the guides aim to enhance medical literacy, cover common health conditions and provide guidance for families to improve overall health. SBNC, the medical resource for 10,000 local families, has been distributing the guides and reports that they are especially helpful in this time of limited physical visits. The guides are also available at Chaucer’s Books, AppleBooks and Amazon.

ESL “World Cup” challenge a huge success

At the School of Extended Learning, 240 English as a Second Language (ESL) and Vocational ESL certificates were awarded this past spring – including some that were awarded retroactively. That number was almost five times greater than the previous year. Making achievement of certificates a priority, the noncredit ESL program team visited each ESL class with flyers and a giant goal-setting thermometer, challenging students with a “World Cup” goal to see 40 students earn their certificates. Not only did they rise to the challenge, they also shattered the goal.

All ESL classes are offered tuition-free and Certificates of Completion are officially recognized by the state of California.

School of Extended Learning classes are offered throughout each semester. In addition to noncredit ESL, other tuition-free programs include Adult High School, GED/Bilingual GED, Career Skills Institute, Health and Safety, and Parenting classes. The noncredit ESL program is supported in part by the CAEP Santa Barbara Adult Education Consortium.

Upcoming SBCC Board of Trustees Meetings: Sept. 24 (study session) and Oct. 8 (regular meeting)

Due to the COVID-19 crisis, and in compliance with the Governor’s Executive Orders N-29-20 and N-33-20, the Board has temporarily suspended physical meetings. To watch via livestream, you can find the link after 1 p.m. on the day of the meeting posted on SBCC Official social media channels:
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn

The Board meeting will be captioned and if there are any other accommodations required, contact jtuazon@pipeline.sbcc.edu by 4:00 p.m. of the day before the Board meeting. The agenda for Board meetings can be found at least 72 hours prior to the meeting on the Board webpage. Past meetings can be viewed here: www.youtube.com/user/SBCCBoardofTrustees.