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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 7, 2004
Contact: John Hammond, Director, Public Relations, San Antonio College, 210-733-2147

SAC IS ONLY TEXAS COMMUNITY COLLEGE SELECTED FOR MESA PROGRAM

San Antonio College is one of nine community colleges in the nation, and the only community college in Texas, selected to establish a pilot program to support low-income, underrepresented students to attain high-tech degrees. The colleges are part of a 2004 initiative launched by MESA USA, an award-winning education program, and Hewlett-Packard (HP).

"We are honored to be selected for this program," said Dr. Robert E. Zeigler, President of San Antonio College. He added, "This will fit well with our on-going efforts to attract and retain more students in our engineering, math and science programs.

"It is a great accomplishment to be the first college from Texas accepted to participate in this national program," said Dr. Dan Dimitriu, Coordinator of Engineering, noting that the MESA Program supports educationally disadvantaged students throughout the education pipeline to excel in math and science and go on to attain degrees in engineering, science and math fields. He added, "It will provide our students with a wealth of information and guidance to help them achieve their goals."

The selected community colleges will establish pilot programs based on the successful MESA Community College Program, with support from HP through its 2004 Diversity in Engineering Grant initiative. The purpose of the program is to increase recruitment, retention and transfer of underrepresented community college students from urban and rural communities throughout the country.

MESA, which stands for Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement, is a national program that supports educationally disadvantaged students to excel in math and science and to attain degrees in engineering, science and math fields. The program is currently active on 30 community college campuses.

In 2001, Innovations In American Government, an initiative of the Ford Foundation and the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, named MESA one of the top five innovative public programs in the nation. In 2000, the White House honored MESA for outstanding mentorship of underrepresented students in math, engineering and science.

San Antonio College has several on-going programs to encourage students to pursue engineering and science-related higher education. These include transfer agreements for engineering students to continue their studies at Texas A&M University-Kingsville (TAMUK) or University of Texas in San Antonio, new junior-level engineering courses taught at SAC in conjunction with TAMUK, a summer EDGE Program to prepare 10th, 11th, and 12th grade high school students for college-level work, and a $2,000 META scholarship funded by the National Science Foundation for qualified students majoring in engineering, math, science and technology.

For more information, contact Dr. Dan Dimitriu at 785-6049.