CBB Changemakers

“We are excited to have Dr. Barnes serve in the role as the leader of the District,” said President of the Board of Trustees, Marcia Milchiker. “On behalf of the Board, we believe Dr. Barnes’ experience, talents, and ideas will only enhance the great aspects about our district and colleges. She brings much to the table and we look forward to working with her.”

Ashanti Hands, Ed.D., an equity-focused leader with a deep commitment to diversity, access and student success, has been named president of San Diego Mesa College, San Diego’s largest community college.

Since 2016, Dr. Hands has served as vice president of Student Services at Mesa College. She joined the college in 2008 where she has held positions as dean of Student Affairs, acting dean of Student Development and Matriculation, and acting vice president of Student Services.

CBB Alum Juan Camarena, PhD has been selected as CBB’s newest tenure track faculty member. He will begin his role as Assistant Professor starting Fall 2022! ¡Felicidades Juan!

The “treat yoself” mentality and the now booming self-care industry emphasize consumerism—purchasing clothes, skin-care products, vitamin supplements, Pelaton bikes. While the term self-care was reimagined in the 1980s by Black civil rights activist and feminist Audre Lorde, the concept has been co-opted and commercialized. 

Has the pandemic changed how we view self-care? What does “treat yoself” get wrong about self-care? And what does it take to really treat ourselves with care?

Angela Byars-Winston (’91, ’92) was instantly delighted when she found out she’d been named the San Diego State University College of Education’s recipient of the 2022 Distinguished Alumni Award. And when she glanced at her calendar and learned that the date she’d be honored — April 23 — was National Take a Chance Day, the honor began to feel even more special.

“That didn't land on me lightly,” said Byars-Winston, who will be one of 10 SDSU graduates honored by SDSU Alumni at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa. “There were so many people — mentors — who took a chance on me”

Burton has held a weeklong cake raffle every month since last spring where participants can buy $5 tickets to be in the running to win a free, customized “Barika Bakes” original cake. Proceeds from each raffle go to specific organizations and causes that often have connections to Berkeley and the community Burton has fostered on campus the past 14 years as an EOP staffer and Cal alumna.

Aguilar is a retired professor from UC San Diego and continues to teach classes at SDSU in the Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies. He is a lifelong learner, community educator and an artist. He has been involved with Chicano Park and the Centro Cultural de la Raza in Balboa Park. He also leads a nonprofit organization called the Mex’icayotl Indio Cultural Center that is dedicated to teaching and preserving the Indigenous cultures of Mexico and the southwestern United States.

Tri Nguyen, who went through the CBB program, the MFT program, and has supervised at CCCE, has just earned his PhD!  He recently successfully defended his dissertation, A Decolonizing Analysis of  Multicultural Competence, at the Free University of Brussels. The university is ranked in the top 200 universities in the world. Tri, you represent us so well and we are so proud of you! What a great accomplishment, congratulations!

Dr. Byars-Winston was appointed by US Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra (who happens to be the first Latinx Secretary in this role!) and she will serve on the Council until December 2024 as part of the 18-person appointed Council advising NIGMS and Secretary Becerra on grants and funding.

“Unimaginable” was how Army Chaplain Abdul-Rasheed Muhammad described the carnage at the Pentagon after militant Islamic terrorists commandeered and crashed an American Airlines jet into the U.S. military complex on Sept. 11, 2001. In 1994, he had become the first military chaplain of Muslim faith in the U.S. armed forces and was on duty at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center when the terrorist attack occurred.

Abdimalik Buul, EdD, an innovative scholar who has earned praise for his use of social justice and activism as his guiding pedagogy for change, has been selected by the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office to serve as visiting executive of educational excellence and equal employment opportunity programs.

Jan E. Estrellado, PhD is Assistant Professor in the PsyD program at the California School of Professional Psychology, Alliant International University, San Diego campus. Dr. Estrellado’s research areas examine race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and gender identity in trauma therapy.