March 2010
Nicholas Arnold, MESA faculty sponsor at Santa Barbara City College, has been awarded the prestigious Stanback-Stroud Diversity Award.
Only one faculty member from among the 110 community college across the state receives this annual award from the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges and the Foundation for California Community Colleges.
MESA student Max Ramirez nominated the engineering and physics professor, who served as Ramirez's mentor while he was at SBCC. Ramirez was one of the first SBCC students to transfer to a four-year university and is now a computer engineering major at UC Santa Barbara.
"My mentor contributed to every aspect of my success, and I'm sure many of his other students would attest to his impact on their academic careers as well," Ramirez said in his testimonial. "It is impossible to look back and not see the huge role my mentor played. "
The award looks to honor faculty who "create an inclusive and supportive campus climate, implement effective teaching and learning strategies, facilitate student access, retention and success, and foster student engagement in campus life."
Arnold was instrumental in securing a MESA program at SBCC and often refers promising students to the MESA program, said SBCC MESA director Virginia Estrella.
"I'm so impressed with him," she said. "This is well deserved. He's committed to the program and there is constant evidence of that."
Arnold will receive the award along with a $5,000 cash prize during the Senate's spring meeting in April.
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