Hartnell College received statewide recognition from the California Community Colleges
(CCC) System on Wednesday, Sept. 30, for extensive progress in advancing diversity
and equity.
Hartnell was one of just four colleges honored during the 20th Annual Dr. John W. Rice Award ceremony, which celebrated work to promote equity of opportunity and success for all students. There are a total of 115 colleges in the CCC System.
The competitive award program is named for Dr. John W. Rice, a member of the California Community Colleges Board of Governors known for leadership in support of educational equity while serving on the board from 1992 to 2000.
Hartnell received Honorable Mention for Diversity and Equity, edged out by College of Marin for the top award in that category. Pasadena City College received the top award in the Student Success category, and Moreno Valley College received Honorable Mention.
The honors were announced during a live-streamed presentation that included special
guests Dr. Condoleezza Rice, a former U.S. secretary of state and daughter of the
late Dr. Rice, and her stepmother, Clara Rice.
CCC System Chancellor Eloy Ortiz Oakley also spoke, emphasizing the special importance of promoting diversity, equity and student success in light of challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“2020 has been a crazy year; I know we can all agree on that,” Oakley said, “So recognize that these colleges have continued to be on the front lines, supporting our students and doing amazing work – closing equity gaps, helping more students transfer and helping more students complete their educational goals.”
Faculty hiring a key
The awards program noted Hartnell’s “big spike” in both the number of degrees and certificates it has awarded and the number of students transferring to the California State University and University of California systems, as well as a “laser focus” on building intentional student support systems and doubling the number of full-time counselors in the past seven years.
Hartnell was also recognized for increasing minority representation among its faculty, particularly among Latinx instructors, who made up 56 percent of the 30 instructors hired from 2016-18.
Aurelio Salazar Jr., president of the Hartnell Community College District Governing Board, said the Rice Award recognition is affirmation of the college’s deep and comprehensive focus on diversity and equity of opportunity, leading to student success.
“Our college mantra is ‘Students First,’ and our staff and faculty strive to fulfill that every day,” Salazar said. “Hartnell surrounds students with programs and services to achieve their goals.”
One 2020 Hartnell graduate, Estefania Villicana, underscored the importance of faculty
diversity in her own success. She said she was able to relate to Hartnell faculty
because so many had backgrounds similar to her own, growing up Latinx in Salinas and
being the first in her family to attend college.
“Knowing that they were first-generation as well, it’s so easy to relate to them and build a connection with them, and see your future self in them, which is really encouraging,” said Villicana, a 2018 graduate of North Salinas High School.
She is now attending the University of California, Los Angeles and plans to become a high school teacher.
Villicana was a scholar and scholarship recipient in Hartnell’s Women’s Education and Leadership Institute (WELI) and has worked as a student ambassador in the Office of Equity Programs, assisting with the Salinas Valley Promise program and outreach to undocumented students.
Gains in four-year transfers
Hartnell also has climbed steadily in several key measurements of student success, including the rates of degree and certificate completion and transfer to four-year universities among students of color, who comprise about 80 percent of all students at the college.
Since 2011, Hartnell has achieved the following outcomes:
- 361% gain in the annual number of individual degrees and certificates it awards to graduates, with only slight enrollment growth over the same period. The total in 2019-20 was 3,020.
- 60% gain in students transferring to complete four-year degrees in the UC and CSU systems. The total in 2019-20 was 70 for the UC and 586 for the CSU.
- 65% gain in enrollment among high school graduates from within the Hartnell Community College District, which encompasses all of the Salinas Valley. The total for 2019-20 was 1,455.
Also, in 2018, Hartnell was ranked ninth in the country by the magazine Diverse Issues in Higher Education as a top producer of associate degrees for minority students among more than 1,400 colleges nationwide.
'Years of strong leadership'
Interim Superintendent/President Dr. Raúl Rodríguez said such strides are connected to the network of services and programs that seek to remove obstacles to success and open doors to opportunity.
“Many years of strong leadership from the Governing Board have driven this commitment to student equity and success and employee diversity,” Dr. Rodríguez said. “We also have incredible community partnerships that strengthen Hartnell and the entire Salinas Valley through investment in talent and expertise and ongoing improvement in campus programs and facilities.”
Among initiatives that Hartnell shared with the California Community Colleges chancellor in support of its candidacy for the Rice award were two cohort-based bachelor’s degree partnerships that begin at Hartnell and finish at Cal State Monterey Bay – the four-year Teacher Pathway Program and the three-year CSin3 computer science program.
Hartnell also highlighted the expansion of its tutoring programs, which have been provided on all campuses. Known as the Panther Learning Lab, these tutors will also be available to students at Hartnell’s new Soledad Education Center, scheduled to be completed in January, and at a new Castroville Education Center, scheduled for completion in early 2022. The King City Education Center, currently undergoing an expansion due for completion in January, also is home to a Panther Learning Lab.
An example of expanding students’ horizons is Hartnell’s STEM Internship Program,
which since 2006 has placed more than 1,000 students in undergraduate research and
professional internship opportunities with such partners as the U.S. Department of
Agriculture and the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey.
One recent STEM intern is 2020 Hartnell graduate Andrew Reyes, formerly of Los Banos, who this month began studying aerospace engineering at the University of California, Davis. This past summer, he was able to continue work on a composite materials project he began the previous summer at the Naval Postgraduate School.
“At Hartnell, they want you to take the courses you need to take,” Reyes said, “but they also have so many different opportunities – a lot of clubs and the STEM internship program.”