GROSSMONT COLLEGE — Michael Golden of Grossmont College’s Biology Department has been named the recipient of the 2010 Homer Peabody Bridges Award. Dr. Peabody, who died in 2005, was executive director of the Rees-Stealy Research Foundation, and an activist for youth advancement in tennis and education. He was instrumental in the Bridges to the Future program at San Diego State University, which assists under-represented students in obtaining degrees in the biological sciences.
Michael Golden received this year’s Bridges honor, “for excellence in mentoring and teaching,” for guiding so many Grossmont students onto the Bridge to jobs and careers in the biological sciences.
“I have been told by SDSU that we have provided the most students to the Summer Enrichment Program than any other community college in the area,” Golden said. The Summer Enrichment Program is “a major portion” of the Bridges program, Golden said. “Monday through Thursday, students take classes to help prepare them for chemistry, physics, microbiology and scientific writing,” he said.
“On Fridays, the students work in a research lab where they may have the opportunity to not only participate in research, but often present at national conferences.” The students are also paid for the duration of the summer program, Golden said. The program is funded by grants from the National Institutes of Health.
Golden said he and retired counselor Claudia Thompson began Grossmont’s participation in the program 12 years ago. Golden was and is the program coordinator at Grossmont, and working with him over the years have been Craig Milgrim, Janice Johnson, Gopa Patnaik, Michele Perchez and Arturo Milan.
“Here at Grossmont,” he said, “we identify the students and advise them along their path toward transferring. We also get the students together as a group a couple of times a year for both peer and faculty support.”
Grossmont students in the summer program just concluded were Amira Abdullah, Mark Flores, Kevin Kinyanjui, Sandra Mairena, Sara Roldan, Fernanda Sanchez, and Alexandria Valadez.
*
Preceding provided by Grossmont President Sunita V. Cooke in “The President’s News Burst” for October 2010.
