OPENHOUSEEDITION
City Times
sdcitytimes.com
Covering the San Diego City College community since 1945
Volume 78, Issue 1 April 20, 2023
designing a f ut ur e
SD City's graphic design changes perception of community college program B Y SE AN M ONNE Y Multimedia Journalist he wor k of students and pr ofessor s in the San Diego City College gr aphic design pr ogr am has not only ear ned the pr ogr am international r ecognition but also built impr essive por tfolios that pave car eer paths for students. Gr aphic design pr ojects pr oduced by students at City College gained the college the fir st place spot in the Best Design Education Ranking of 2022/23 by the Wor ld Br and Design Society. WBDS is a nonpr ofit gr oup that aims to r ecognize outstanding gr aphic design pr ogr ams in colleges wor ldwide and City College r eceived 17 awar ds for student wor k. Natalie Holland is a City graphic design graduate whose brand project ?Heir loom? was recognized by WBDS. Now living in Char leston, South Car olina after gr aduating fr om City College in May 2022, Holland explained that the pr ogr am encour ages students to diver sify their por tfolio by br anching out into all ar eas of gr aphic design. The gr aphic design pr ogr am at City College cover s ever ything fr om web design and br anding to pr oduct photogr aphy and packaging. ?I 've been told by people up in New Yor k and her e in Char leston that my por tfolio is much mor e impr essive than local design schools that they've seen,? Holland said. ?And we r eally have a leg up with what we'r e showing.? Holland now wor ks fr eelance doing br anding pr ojects for r estaur ants, but she had a pr evious car eer in appar el design. Accor ding to gr aphic design pr ofessor Br adfor d Pr air ie, the City College pr ogr am is an education stop for many car eer tr ansitioner s and col-
T
City College gr aphic design student Ksenia La Russe touches up a handbag she is photogr aphing while Pr ofessor Br adfor d Pr air ie ar r anges another pr oject in the backgr ound Apr il 11, 2023. City is r anked No. 1 in the wor ld by the Wor ld Br and Design Society. Photo by Sean Monney/ City Times Media
lege r etur ner s. ?They go to wor k ever y day and it's either soul- destr oying, or they have this cr eative itch that they r eally need to scr atch,? Pr air ie said. Pr air ie explained the main focus of these students is to cr eate a por tfolio at a pr ofessional standar d so they can get hir ed. And the pr ogr am helps them do that. ?Por tfolio classes ar e intensive,? said Meli Cer vantes, another City College gr aphic design gr aduate. ?But (the pr ofessor s) r eally push you to r evamp your pr ojects to make them mor e cur r ent and what the industr y is looking for.? Cer vantes is also a college r etur ner, having pr eviously studied inter ior design at San Diego State
New email
Univer sity. Befor e her studies at City, Cervantes had thought of community college only as a tr ansitor y education and r ecalled community colleges having a bad r eputation. But when the dir ector of a design agency told her about the ?amazing pr ojects? pr oduced by City College, she decided to give the pr ogr am a shot. After gr aduating, Cer vantes said the academics at City College ar e compar able to SDSU, but with the added accessibility of a community college. Cer vantes had also won a WBDS awar d for her br and pr oject ?L iber ty Gir l,? and now wor ks as a junior de-
signer. The por tfolio cour sewor k is not easy on students, with Holland calling it a ?gr ueling year of school? and Cer vantes descr ibing it as a ?24/7, full-time job.? Pr air ie knows the r igor of the pr ogr am can put a lot of str ess on students, and all the pr ofessional industr y wor k they r egular ly see can add unr ealistic pr essur e. But Pr air ie believes the awar dwinning wor k pr oduced by City College students can demonstr ate the quality of the gr aphic design pr ogr am. ?To be able to pr oduce that kind of wor k is something that r eally motivates me,? Pr air ie said. ?And I think it's big for the students. I t's r eally humbling, inspir ing and motivating.?
... Who dis?
SDCCD pushes back requirement for .edu email address for students B Y SE AN M ONNE Y Multimedia Journalist
fr om the distr ict and City College pr ofessor s will be sent to the .edu addr ess and any per sonal email will he San Diego Community no longer r eceive any infor mation. College Distr ict announced The specific date for this switch is a mandator y shift of undeter mined, but Dean of Student communications to .edu Ser vices Victor DeVor e said it will emails, but the switch has been happen ?dur ing the heavy per iod (of) pushed back fr om Mar ch 27 to the summer semester.? summer 2023, officials announced. The decision behind the deadline L ogging into this student account change, DeVor e explained, was is cr itical, as all communications because of insufficient r egistr ation
T
for student email accounts and some technical issues. As of April 3, only 74% of the 97,345 students enrolled at SDCCD had engaged with their student email, according to data provided by DeVore. The r emaining 26% of students had never logged in to their .edu email, meaning 25,376 students would have stopped r eceiving school communications fr om their pr ofessor s or faculty if the switch had
occur r ed as or iginally planned. DeVor e explained that the student email r ollout also had some technical issues, including str eamlining accounts for students who ar e also distr ict employees. The distr ict sees the summer as an oppor tunity to softly r oll out student emails, giving them time to deal with nuances befor e the star t of the fall semester. SE E E M AI L , PAGE 3
City College will offer its first four-year degree in Cyber Defense and Page 3 Analysis starting in the fall 2024 semester. Read more inside.
@SDCITYTIMES