San Diego City College Foundation

05/29/2023

Meet Lisa Olshansky, Alumni Awardee 5!

Lisa began her academic journey at City College in 2004. The educational experience she had at City was transformational, and when she transferred to UCSD, she participated in research in Dr. Yoshi Kobayashi's laboratory. She graduated in 2009 with a B.S. with highest honors in Chemistry. She went on to earn her PhD from MIT in 2015 under the mentorship of Professor Dan Nocera, and then work as an ACS Irving S. Sigal Postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Professor Andy Borovik.

In 2018, Lisa began her career as an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Her research team focuses on creating molecular switches in which triggered structural changes enable the efficient interconversion of different forms of energy (e.g. solar to chemical potential energy)

Since starting at Illinois, Lisa has been recognized as a Cottrell, Vallee, and Searle Scholar, and has been selected to receive young investigator awards from both the NIH and DOE. However of all of these, she is perhaps the most proud to have been selected for the San Diego City College Foundation Alumni Award.

05/22/2023

Meet Alumnus number 4: Angel Lopez!

Angel Lopez is the Director of Tennis/Head Tennis
Professional at the San Diego Tennis and Racquet Club, where he has been employed since 1979. He became the Director of Tennis in 1986 and was the Director of Junior development from 1979-1986. Angel is one of the most decorated professionals in the tennis industry. He was the 1995 USPTA National Professional of the Year, 1999 United States Olympic Committee/USTA Developmental Coach of the Year, 2005 Professional Tennis Registry International Professional of the Year, and 1994 World Team Tennis Coach of the Year.

In 2011, Angel was inducted to the San Diego Tennis Hall of Fame. He has coached all of the Grand Slam tennis tournaments and has also been the traveling coach for many highly ranked professional tennis players, including Zina Garrison, Kelly Jones, Angelica Gavaldon, Tami Jones, Alexandra Stevenson, and Lupita Novelo.

Angel played for San Diego City College (1975-76), when the Men’s Tennis Team were the Southern California Team Champions. He was a member of 2006 World ITF Champion USA Fred Perry Cup Team and was 2012 ITF World Champion 55 and Over Mixed Doubles Champion with former SDCC Tennis standout, Robin Harris. He currently serves on the USTA National Diversity and Inclusion Committee and the USTA Hispanic Engagement Advisory Group.

Most importantly, Angel believes in giving back to the San Diego tennis community, frequently donating cases of Babolat tennis balls and tennis rackets to Logan Heights Elementary School, Montgomery High School, and San Diego City College. He often sponsors local high school players and junior tennis tournaments, and funds two San Diego Tennis Association Scholarships that are awarded to deserving local high school and collegiate players to further their educational aspirations. He strongly believes in supporting the local Hispanic community, due to his own background, and being coached and mentored by the legendary professional player and coach, Pancho Segura, himself.

05/08/2023

Our next alumni profile recognizes Lori Erreca as the 2022 Retiree Award Winner!

For over 40 years Lori Erreca has dedicated her life to serving students in the San Diego Community College District. She has provided leadership in the district in both college and continuing education as a teaching faculty, counselor, grant writer, program manager, and administrator. Lori worked as the San Diego City College Director of Off-Campus Programs for 11 years and for the past 15 years was San Diego City College’s Dean of the School of Behavioral and Social Sciences & Consumer and Family Studies.

As a result of Lori’s prolific grant writing work, the district was awarded millions of dollars of Federal, State, and local grants. These grants expanded instructional opportunities and support services for thousands of students.

Through her many roles at City College, Lori has collaborated with San Diego’s high schools and universities to expand educational opportunities and pathways to higher education for students. Additionally, her work in the community promoted City College instruction and creation of specialized scheduling and course offerings for military bases, community groups, and San Diego employers.

As a visionary, Lori originated and led development of resources designed to encourage and enhance student access and success. Through her work with new students and those returning to school, Lori co-authored “Hit the Books Study Skills Guide", and through her exposure to challenges faced by single parents and displaced homemakers, Lori created “The Essential Resource Guide for Single Parents and Displaced Homemakers.”

For over 15 years, Lori supported new faculty hopefuls through the SDICCCA Internship Program and mentored many new faculty and administrators. As an instructional dean, Lori’s leadership and profound dedication to her instructional team helped to foster an environment rich with collaboration, innovation, and intensely student-centered faculty and staff. Throughout all her roles at City College Lori worked to promote equity, student access, and success.

05/03/2023

Second Alumni Awardee profile celebrates Mitchelle Woodson, Executive Director and Managing Attorney at Think Dignity!

As the Executive Director, Mitchelle oversees the daily management of Think Dignity’s operations, including the Transitional Storage Center, Mobile Operations of Dignity and legal department. As the Managing Attorney, Mitchelle oversees the Homeless Youth Legal and Advocacy Project, the 8 Legal and Referral Advocacy Clinics and the Know Your Rights campaign that aims to empower individuals with knowledge of their legal rights. Mitchelle’s passion for advocating for San Diego’s homeless community has led to the growth and notoriety of TD as the premier organization for legal representation and advocacy. Her expertise and knowledge is highly sought after as she has presented at Yale Law School’s Rebellious Lawyering Conference, National Legal Aid and Defenders Association’s Annual Conference and the Coalition for Juvenile Justice on the issues of homelessness and poverty law.

Mitchelle has also received recognition for her advocacy efforts as the recipient of the 2019 Molina Community Champion Award, 2020 Rise Anthony M. Medina People's Champion Award, 2020 County of San Diego Community Inspiration Award, and the 2020 and 2021 Aetna Community Heart Award. Mitchelle is a founding member of FREE-SD, which utilizes the approach of participatory defense, a community organizing model that aims to empower people facing charges and their families to transform the landscape of power in the courtroom; and the DeDe McClure Community Bail Fund, a grassroots organization committed to educating and empowering community members to fight against the devastating effects of the cash bail system and supporting those who have been victimized by it.
Mitchelle received her Juris Doctor from Thomas Jefferson School of Law and a Bachelor of Science in Political Science from the University of California San Diego.

To learn more about Think Dignity, visit https://www.thinkdignity.org !

04/24/2023

Our very first Alumni Awardee profile recognizes Solar Turbines, 2022 Business Award winner. This award celebrates a local business that has contributed to City and supported SDCC students and SDCC alumni in their education and careers in a big way.

Solar Turbines Inc., headquartered in San Diego, California, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Caterpillar Inc. Solar manufactures the world’s most widely used family of mid-sized industrial gas turbines, ranging from 1 to 39 megawatts. More than 16,000 Solar units are installed in more than 100 countries with more than 3 billion operating hours. Solar is a leading provider of energy solutions, featuring an extensive line of gas turbine-powered compressor sets, mechanical drive packages, and generator sets.

Solar’s foundation is people and Solar’s culture is one where individual contributions are valued, diversity in the workplace is encouraged, and safety is emphasized in all aspects of the business. Solar Turbines is comprised of a dedicated and multi-talented workforce of more than 8,000 employees with decades of experience working as a global team.

When most people think about sustainability they focus on renewable resources and the reuse of materials. However, sustainability also includes replenishing both knowledge and skills by providing employment, education and training. Finding skilled labor is one of the biggest hiring challenges for U.S. employers. This challenge is one that Solar Turbines is combating with many great training programs, such as the Machinist Training Program, Rotational New Grad Engineers Programs and Solar’s Apprenticeship Program.

The Apprenticeship Program has a great partnership with San Diego City College, where our students are focusing on academic learning related to Manufacturing.

04/19/2023

Meet our 2022 Alumni Award Winners!

Swipe through to see our Alumni Award winners in every category for the year 2022, and follow us for a weekly profile to learn more about each honoree and how they got their start here at City College!

04/18/2023

San Diego City College's nursing program was ranked one of the best in the country by rncareers.org

04/07/2023

San Diego City College has taken another step in its initiative to keep those on campus from going hungry.

04/03/2023

On December 13th, 2022, City hosted a luncheon for the 2022 Alumni Award winners and their loved ones. Awardees had a chance to tour the new campus, check out their new custom banners, and share their favorite City memories with us! The next time you make it on campus, see if you can take a photo with every Alumnus Banner and tag us to earn a free gift!

Hint: Follow our page for clues 👀

04/03/2023

“Achieving this scholarship not only supports me but also my family,” he said. “My mom and dad are very proud.”

03/01/2023

We like tradition here at City, and our Annual Fundraising Golf Tournament is a new favorite. Graciously hosted by our friends, Friends Of Downtown San Diego, this annual golf tournament brings City supporters and golf lovers together to support deserving City students.

In last year's "Big Give", over 30 exceptional students recieved scholarships directly from FODSD and funds raised through the tournament and throughout the year. With your help, we hope to raise even more this year! Learn more about the scholarship program and how you can play for a good cause at https://www.fodsd.org/our-scholarship.

Friends of Downtown has awarded nearly $600,000 in scholarships to San Diego City College since 2000, and has been the largest contributor of single scholarships to City College.

02/03/2023

Welcome back Knights! We are excited to jump into a new semester with our talented ! This year, we kicked things off with our Presidential Luncheon, an opportunity to welcome new employees, congratulate newly tenured faculty members, and reconnect with retired City staff and faculty. Our City family, their dedication to their students, their contributions to the college, and their is what makes this campus such a wonderful place to work. We celebrated some of these outstanding members of the City community last week, take a look!