A New CGC.edu is Launching on July 1

Mark your calendars for July 1 when we launch the new CGCC website! This new site is designed with current and prospective students in mind. We conducted student surveys and focus groups to learn what they wanted from our website, and that feedback was used to organize and design the site. Take a look at some of the features of our new, user-friendly site.

Take CGC.edu with You
The new CGC.edu is built for the on-the-go student. The site is mobile responsive, so you’ll have the same access to content and navigation whether you’re on a computer, tablet or cell phone. No more pinching to zoom in and out of pages!

Easy Navigation and Accessible Links

We’ve added students’ most frequented links in multiple places on the new site. At the top of the desktop view, you’ll find links to Canvas, My.Maricopa, Academic Calendar, CoyoteConnect, Locations, Library and Find a Class, as well as links to request more info about becoming a student and getting started in the enrollment process. 

You’ll also find many of these links, plus financial aid, in the navigation of the mobile view and on the left side of the desktop view.

The main navigation is divided into Admissions, Academics, Student Resources, Campus Life, Community and About sections. Each section has a drop-down with links to individual pages and is accessible from any page on our site. 

The robust footer highlights our four locations, links to our social media accounts and even more links to our most frequently viewed pages. 

Tailored Web Journeys for All Students

Are you a new student hoping to enroll at CGCC for the first time? A returning student looking to continue your education at CGCC? Maybe a high school student seeking to take advantage of our early college programs? Or a student who wants to take classes at CGCC before transferring to a university to complete your bachelor’s degree?

No matter where you are in your educational journey, we’ve created a quick-start guide for you. Simply click your student type to find a guide tailor-made for students like you.

News You Can Use

The news feature brings the latest CGCC updates right to the homepage. Here you can read about recent awards, new programs, student success and tips and resources for current and prospective students.

All of Our Events Under One Roof

In the events section, you’ll see the three most upcoming events. Clicking the “View All Events” button will allow you to view all of our events, with details and registration links easily available.

We hope you enjoy the new CGC.edu! Be sure to check out our new site when it goes live on Wednesday, July 1.

Alumnus Andre Ethier, Los Angeles Dodgers star, nominated for Arizona Sports Hall of Fame

Andre Ethier, one of the best athletes to play for Chandler-Gilbert Community College, has been nominated to the Arizona Sports Hall of Fame. Inductees will be announced at a later date according to the Hall. Ethier, one of the best pure hitters in baseball, played his entire professional career with the Los Angeles Dodgers before retiring in 2018. And while he went on to stardom in Los Angeles, Ethier stayed true to his roots. “During his playing days, Andre would work out with our players often,” said Russ Luce, Coyotes head baseball coach. “He’s very active with our players and in giving back. He would help them on the field and with chasing their dreams.”

“We are so proud to call Andre Ethier a Coyote,” said CGCC President Dr. Greg Peterson. “Andre’s nomination to the Arizona Sports Hall of Fame is a testament to not only his skill on the diamond, but also his care for the community. His desire to help current CGCC baseball players with their skills and as a mentor has been invaluable.” 

Luce said Ethier would give of his time and money, making financial contributions to support the program. “When he was still with the Dodgers, he would workout at Chandler-Gilbert because he lived near the campus,” Luce said. “He lives further away now in Phoenix, but before that he would have players to his house on a regular basis. He would work with the outfielders on mechanics of the position and with hitters, talking about and showing his approach at the plate. He also showed them how he changed his approach through the game too. He provided mentorship and it was a big deal to our players because he accomplished what they want to (by going to MLB).” The Arizona Sports Hall of Fame honors athletes who have recognition and distinction in sports and have “brought fame and honor to the State of Arizona through outstanding sporting accomplishments or contributions” according to the Hall. Nominees must be native Arizonans and immediately recognizable as Arizonan. Ethier was drafted by the Oakland Athletics in the second round of the 2003 Major League Baseball Draft out of Arizona State University where he transferred after his CGCC career. At CGCC, Ethier batted .468 and had 94 hits, including 32 doubles. He was named the team’s Most Valuable Player in 2001. Ethier, who was traded by the A’s to the Dodgers in 2005, played his entire Major League career in Los Angeles. In his major league debut, he hit a double and walked against his hometown Arizona Diamondbacks in Phoenix. The next night, he hit his first career home run against the San Diego Padres. During his time with the Dodgers, Ethier batted .308 in his rookie season of 2006 and averaged .285 over the course of his career with more than 1,300 career hits. He was an All-Star (2010, 2011), a National League Silver Slugger (2009) and a Rawlings Gold Glove winner (2011).

He retired in 2018 after leg and back injuries limited his playing time in 2016 and 2017.

Game 7 of the 2017 World Series was the last game he played. That series, won by the Houston Astros, is considered tainted by some around baseball because of the Astros’s sign stealing scandal. During his MLB playing career, Ethier put together a 30-game hitting streak in 2011.

Since the CGCC baseball program began in 2001, 43 former Coyotes have made it to professional baseball including Ethier, Colorado Rockies’ Eric Young Jr., Fukuoka Softbank Hawks (Japan Pacific League) Dennis Sarfate and former Oakland A’s and Toronto Blue Jays reliever Carlos Ramirez. The Arizona Sports Hall of Fame induction will be announced at a later date.

Energizing family-like discussions goal of new Hopes & Fears monthly series

The kitchen table seems to be the place where the real conversations happen in a family. It’s a communal space. Everyone eats. Everyone has a place. There’s always room for one more person to join.

That shared space and sense of community is the driving force behind Hopes & Fears, a new monthly series designed to amplify the voices of our Black students and their families, our faculty and our alumni. With the goal of engaging an entire community, these monthly evening sessions will bring together a wealth of voices from within the Black community to create a space where all can have restorative conversations that reveal both our hopes and fears. 

The first session will be Tuesday, June 30 at 6 p.m. and will focus on Black youth. The session will be live streamed on CGCC’s YouTube channel.

“We were thinking about all of the black and brown students that we serve and how they might be feeling during these unprecedented times,” said Michael Greene, CGCC’s director of Student Life & Leadership team. “We wanted to provide a safe space for them and to support them.  A space to demonstrate to them that the college cares about them as they engage in their communities. To encourage them that they are not walking through this alone - they are supported by allies, peers, and advocates throughout our college. “

“Our goal with this monthly series is to initiate conversations that truly reflect our experience today,” Greene added.

The leaders of the series felt the responsibility to engage with the “community” to discuss the history, the pain and the systemic injustice. More importantly, to create a dialogue for change and hope. Through this need to engage in a conversation for healing - a virtual series was created. 

“History and current events show that without awareness nothing gets solved,” said Dr. Belinda Ramos, CGCC psychology faculty. “Therefore, it is a privilege to be a part of a community that comprehends, in order for all lives to matter, we must understand that Black Lives Matter.

“Now, more than ever we need to join together at a figurative table, where our youth, our future leaders, can face their fears head-on and share their hopes and dreams for a healed world. At times the discussions may provoke discomfort. But I hope we can be OK with uncomfortable feelings and use the conversations as opportunities to model mental strength and reinforce what CGCC values most: creating learning experiences and growth opportunities for our diverse communities.”

“I look forward to the next step and doing the next right thing in our very own backyard - the East Valley.”

The series will explore the state of our nation, injustice and systematic racism, and its impact on the Black community. The goal of the series is to promote dialogue aimed at fostering hope and healing while also exploring ways that our community can collectively move forward. 

“I fear that minorities (specifically Americans of African descent), women and under-served students avoid STEM careers because they don’t feel welcomed,” said Nichole Neal,  Physical Sciences and Engineering faculty member. “They don't feel seen and many don't think they matter.  

“In order to effect change, we must understand what we fear,” said Neal.  “I am hopeful that these ‘kitchen-table conversations’ will result in change. I want people to know that you not only have a seat at this table, but you sit in a chair that has legs. This means you are welcomed and you will be seen! You matter and you will be heard!”

Make sure you pull up a chair at the kitchen table and join us for conversations each month.

Celebrate Juneteenth with these books, documentaries, podcasts and more

Today, we honor Juneteenth, the commemoration of June 19, 1865, when enslaved Blacks in Galveston, Texas, learned of the end of the Civil War nearly two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued. Yes, that’s correct - nearly two and a half years later! To date, three states do not mark Juneteenth as a holiday - Hawaii, North Dakota and South Dakota. Change.org has petitions to push for Juneteenth to be recognized as a holiday in all 50 states. Learn more about the history of Juneteenth here. 

In honor of Juneteenth, we have gathered a list of books, writings, podcasts and films that will help enrich our understanding of the struggle for equality and the fight against systemic racism. Systemic racism is a type of oppression that is embedded within the structure of society’s institutions, such as education, the criminal justice system, housing, media and the financial sector.

This list, curated by Dr. Belinda Ramos, CGCC psychology faculty, and Marie Huntsinger, CGCC sociology faculty, allows for a wide range of multimedia experiences and learning opportunities.

10 Children’s Books Celebrating Juneteenth is a list of books to share with elementary, middle and high school students.

How To be An Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi

So You Want to Talk About Race   by Ijeoma Oluo

Thick: And Other Essays by Tressie McMillan Cottom

What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Blacker: A Memoir in Essays by Damon Young

13th on Netflix (Netflix, YouTube) - Criminal justice system and the war on drugs. (Rated TV-MA)

Always in Season (PBS) - An exploration of the history of lynching in America that tracks the mob violence from its origins to the death of a teenager in 2014. (Not Rated)

I Am Not Your Negro (Kanopy) -  Features the unfinished writings of James Baldwin on racial inequalities. (Rated PG-13)

Race: The Power of Illusion  (RacePowerofIllusion.org) Older, three-part series on the construction of race and racist policies in the U.S. (Not Rated)

The House I Live In (PBS) - Criminal justice system and war on drugs. (Not Rated)

1619 Series - The New York Times examines the history of slavery and what this legacy has left behind.

Code Switch - Code Switch is National Public Radio’s podcast hosted by journalists of color that explores the issue of race. 

Intersectionality Matters! Hosted by foremother of Intersectionality Theory Kimberlé Crenshaw

Seeing White - “These are great lessons for those of us working to dismantle our ‘othering’  consciousness based on race, as well as conceptualizing whiteness from the inside out.”

Unlocking Us - Is best-selling author Brené Brown’s look at the ideas, stories, experiences, books, films, and music that reflect the universal experiences of being human.

Blackish (ABC) - A successful Black family lives in the white suburbs and examines how the members navigate  the space between Black and white culture, as well as the grey area in between.  This episode had a good explanation of Juneteenth. (Rated TV-PG)

Dear White People (Netflix)- “Based on the acclaimed film of the same name, this Netflix-original series follows a group of students of color at Winchester University, a predominantly white Ivy League college. The students are faced with a landscape of cultural bias, social injustice, misguided activism and slippery politics.” (Rated TV-MA)

Watchmen (HBO) - Based on the celebrated graphic novel by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, the  "Watchmen" takes place in Tulsa, Oklahoma, 34 years after the original story. After a white supremacist attack on the local police department, which leaves only two surviving cops on the beat, laws are passed that allow the cops to hide their identities behind masks. One of these cops, Angela Abar, adopts the identity of Sister Night and fights racists while dealing with the decades-long legacy of the vigilantes. (Rated TV-MA)

When They See Us (Netflix) - Fictionalized but based on a true story of the Central Park 5. (Rated TV-MA)

Talks to help you understand racism in America (Playlist)

From passionate pleas for reform to poetic turns of phrase, these talks take an honest look at everyday realities of Black Americans and illuminate the way forward.

Juneteenth 2020: Stay Black and Live Free, Fri, Jun 19, 2020 at 6 PM ET | Eventbrite. 

Juneteenth: (Free Virtual) Community Day - The Amistad Center for Art & Culture. 

Critical Media Project - Clips from various media platforms to spark discussion on media representation. Each clip also includes discussion prompts.

Poets.org Black Lives Matter Anthology A collection of selected poems addressing racial injustice, human rights, the right to protest, and imagining a more perfect union. 

Marvel Comics Black Storytellers Free digital access to 100 Marvel comics created by Black writers and artists. 

Articles/Opinion Pieces:

Brent Staples in the New York Times “How Blackface Feeds White Supremacy”

A Message to our College Community

Dear Chandler-Gilbert Community College Community, 

In these troubling times, we have witnessed multiple instances of violence toward African Americans in our country including the recent death of George Floyd in Minnesota. My heart is heavy experiencing the pain and hurt reverberating across the nation and our state, filling communities with fear and uncertainty. 

Too often this story has played out in our nation. Too many lives have been needlessly lost. We have seen the impact of systemic racism in our country and in our community. We acknowledge as a College that this has impacted the lives of our students, faculty, and staff and has caused feelings of anxiety, trauma, and anger. 

I am heartened that so many in our community have spoken up, sending a message of love and support to our hurting colleagues and students. CGCC’s values have never been more important, and I am asking you to join me in a commitment to putting our core values of diversity, inclusion and integrity into action. ​We ​stand in support and solidarity with all of our community and will not tolerate racism and acts of hatred. 

For our students, if you need someone to talk to during these challenging times, we have professional counseling faculty available at each college to listen and assist you. 

Together, we will ensure our values envelop all members of our college community. Please look for more information soon on our next steps, including details on upcoming listening sessions opportunities with faculty and staff at CGCC. 

Sincerely, 

Dr. Greg Peterson, President
Dr. William Guerriero, Vice President of Academic Affairs
Veronica Hipolito, Vice President of Student Affairs
Jenna Kahl, Associate Vice President of Community Relations
Bradley Kendrex, Vice President of Administration and Finance
Dr. Bernadette La Mazza, Associate Vice President, Business Operations
Dr. Felicia Ramirez-Perez, Dean of Enrollment Services
Gabriela Rosu, Dean of Instruction, Academic Affairs
Chris Schnick, Dean of Arts and Sciences, Academic Affairs
Dr. Anne Suzuki, Dean of Student Development