From the Superintendent/President

Dr. Frank Chong

Greetings to all Faculty and Staff!

This year has marked a truly unique time in Santa Rosa Junior College’s more than 100-year history. Our entire Sonoma County community, and the rest of the world, has had to adapt to new ways of learning, teaching, working and socializing in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. When the shelter-in-place order was declared earlier this year, our dedicated faculty, staff and administrators responded quickly by moving to remote learning and by providing student support services online. In that same spirit, our Professional Development Committee has organized a fully online PDA Day for our college community on Friday, August 14 via Zoom.

As we have faced these many new challenges, I’ve also seen many colleagues step up and support the Black Lives Matter movement and the efforts to create a more just, equitable and anti-racist environment at SRJC. In recognition of your dedication and commitment to our Black and African American community members, we decided to offer a plenary session and workshops focusing on this effort, providing a number of opportunities to learn and converse about these critical topics.

With that in mind, I’m happy to announce that Lasana Hotep, the Director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging at the University of California, Berkeley, will be returning to SRJC as the PDA plenary speaker with his presentation on, “Embracing the Paradigm Shift: Core Competencies of An Equity Advancing Educator and Advocate.”

I hope you’ll join me, albeit remote, for a day of enriching lessons, crucial conversations and collegial camaraderie on August 14. While we can’t come together for coffee just yet, I hope that this PDA Day can be a day of self-care and learning for us all.

I look forward to seeing you on PDA day.

In solidarity,

Frank Chong