Mesa College closed off September with the 2023 Chancellor’s Forum, spearheaded by Acting Chancellor Gregory Smith. Accompanying him were six co-presenters: Vice Chancellors Dr. Susan Topham, Dr. Michelle Fischthal, Nancy Lane, Dr. Joel Peterson, and Dr. Laurie Coskey, as well as Communications Director Jack Beresford.
Held on Sept. 26, 2023, the goal of this forum was to discuss the previous year and plans for the next. Chancellor Smith began the meeting with an overview of the San Diego Community College District’s 2022-23 statistics and their vision and plan of action for the new academic year. At the end of 2022, the District ethnicity breakdown revealed that a majority of the students enrolled in the three District colleges were of Latin descent (39%). White students made up the second largest group (30%), with the remaining groups as follows: Asian (10%), Black (7%), Multi-ethnic (7%), Filipino (5%), Unknown (2%), Native American and Pacific Islander each less than 1%.
Along with the District statistics on ethnicity, they also provided the enrollment distribution by gender across the student body. Fifty percent of students identified as female, 49% as male, and less than 1% as non-binary, while 1% did not provide an answer.
In keeping with the theme of student enrollment, Chancellor Smith went on to say that the District is on target for a 4% increase in Full-time Equivalent Students, a measure used to calculate the average amount of full-time students, this year over 2022-23. Mesa is expected to have 12,012 Full-time Equivalent Students, representing approximately half the total target for all three colleges. Furthermore, enrollment in the San Diego Promise program, the program launched by the SDCCD to provide support and funding for eligible students, has increased steadily after taking a dip in 2021. However, this year, the number of undocumented students in the program dropped by nearly half after increasing significantly in 2022-23, although funding is readily available.
Many references were made to funding of various programs throughout the forum. For example, the District operates under the state’s Student-Centered Funding Formula, which aims to “increase student access and financial support.” Some examples of this increased access and support include the planned adoption of a fully online course catalog and access to zero-cost textbooks, which saved $3.65 million for students enrolled in the District in the Fall 2022 semester. Additionally, the District is creating opportunities for financial support with the new pilot program for on-campus affordable housing, which is well underway at City College and planned for Mesa and Miramar in the near future.
The plans and goals talked about in the chancellor’s forum are good news for all three colleges. Chancellor Smith and the Vice Chancellors all conveyed their desire to create a sense of belonging for students, faculty, and staff, stay racially conscious, be open to feedback, and be held accountable for what they say and do. When asked what he would like students to know, Chancellor Smith stated, “I hope they see how student-focused we are!”
To learn more about what the Chancellors discussed in the forum, the slides are shown here: https://www.sdccd.edu/docs/District/chancellor/ChancellorForum2023-24.pdf
