You may have noticed a lot of excitement around campus this past week, as the accreditation peer review visit took place on September 30th to October 3rd. Eight representatives from other California Community Colleges, plus Dr. Richard Winn, President of the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC), met with dozens of individuals across our campus, including students, faculty and staff. The visit went very well, and Skyline College received a great deal of positive feedback!

So what happens next? The peer review team will submit its “External Evaluation Team Report” to the ACCJC, a 19-member decision-making body. This body will meet in January 2020 to determine the accredited status of all the colleges reviewed during the current cycle. The Commission will communicate its decision to Skyline College via an action letter, approximately 30 days after the January meeting.

While the College must wait until February 2020 to read the official report, we can start celebrating the culmination of a monumental self-evaluation and reflection process that has engaged our entire community over the past two years. Hundreds of Skyline College community members contributed to this process and should take great pride in their role. On behalf of the College leadership, I want to especially thank and recognize the team that spearheaded our highly praised Institutional Self-Evaluation Report (ISER): Accreditation Tri-Chairs Michele Haggar, William Minnich and Karen Wong, along with Chief Editor Nancy Kaplan-Biegel and Evidence Manager Belinda Chan. Congratulations to all on a job well done!

Article by Ingrid Vargas

It’s that time of the year again!  The 40^th Annual Expanding Your Horizons in Math and Science conference for young women is scheduled for March 14, 2020 at Skyline College in San Bruno.  Volunteer workshop presenters are always needed to make this conference successful.  Our focus is on hands-on, engaging activities with a STEM connection.

The goals of the conference are:

• To promote education as a means of expanding young women’s possibilities
• To foster awareness of career prospects for women in STEM fields
• To increase young women’s interest in STEM opportunities
• To provide students an opportunity to meet and form personal contacts with women working in traditional and non-traditional STEM occupations

To find out more about EYH, see the attached documents, and visit skylinecollege.edu/eyh/.

To sign up to be a presenter, visit skylinecollege.edu/eyh/presenters.php.  We must confirm our volunteer presenters by November 15^th every year.

For more information, contact Alyssa Wong-Conway at wongconwaya@smccd.edu and/or Nadia Tariq at tariqn@smccd.edu.

Thank you for your time and consideration!

Article by Alyssa Wong-Conway

After two years of construction, the brand new Environmental Science Building at Skyline College is now open!

Over 400 people celebrated the momentous occasion at a ribbon cutting event on Tuesday, September 24 that hosted elected officials from across the region, local community leaders, faculty, staff and lots of students. The energy in the room was palpable as attendees conducted self-guided tours to learn about the environmental design of the building and check out the state of the art classrooms and learning resources.

The zero-waste grand opening event ensured that no waste was sent to landfills, thereby embodying the spirit of social and environmental justice at the heart of the building’s mission.

Speaking to all in attendance, Interim President Jackson stated, “This college has always striven to be at the forefront – to push against the status quo – and move our institution forward together…This Environmental Science Building stands as a symbol of that legacy.”

The Environmental Science Building project was years in the making as teams from the district’s Facilities Planning, Maintenance & Operations’ Division and Skyline College worked closely with DES Architects to determine what was needed in this new space and how it could best serve students and our community. From there, a beautiful design was born and the construction planning set in motion with XL Construction. And slowly, but surely, the building rose up from Vista Point as hundreds of individuals worked countless hours to make it happen.

Dr. Jackson concluded her remarks with a look to the future:

“The Environmental Science Building or Building 12, is about looking to the future. It quite literally encourages us to look to the horizon and the world beyond this campus. And, it encourages us to think big and dream even bigger.”

Article by Connor Fitzpatrick