Please join me in congratulating everyone honored during the Fifth
Annual College Recognition Ceremony May 20. It was an event with eagerly-awaited announcements, and an opportunity to honor our own for excellence and career accomplishments.

Special congratulations to Tom Gamboa for his selection as Innovator of the Year; to Cathy Harvey, the recipient of the President’s Leadership Award; and to Kats Gustafson who received the Grossmont College Foundation’s Commitment to Service Award.

The event provided a special venue to continue the year-long accolades for the 2003-2004 Distinguished Faculty, Mel Amov and Laura Burger, and to honor each division’s outstanding full and part-time faculty. We salute our retirees, congratulate those who have earned tenure and academic rank, and applaud our classified honorees. Thanks to all for making the event
so special. I am proud to acknowledge the contributions so many individuals make to our collective success.

As we look forward to our 43rd annual commencement in the newly beautified Main Quad, I wish to express appreciation to everyone, especially Tim Flood, who has helped make over the heart of our campus in one short year.

For those who will be away during the summer months, I wish you safe journeys and look forward to seeing you all in August. As we go to press, the state budget is still pending with the Governor’s recommendation for equalization funding for community colleges. I urge everyone to remind your legislators just how important the $80 million for equalization funding is to “keeping
the doors open.”

Respectfully,

Ted Martinez, Jr.