This marks the second year in a row that COC has won.

The Mathematics, Engineering, and Science Achievement (MESA) Program at COC has been awarded a MESA Center of Excellence award for the 2005-2006 academic year, receiving the award for the second year in a row.  Each year the MESA statewide office recognizes the community college program with the most successful transfers in math-based fields.  Of the 29 community college MESA programs in California, COC leads the state in its number of transfers!

The MESA program is an academic enrichment program for educationally disadvantaged and historically underrepresented students majoring in math, engineering and the sciences.  The program began at COC in 2000 and has successfully transferred more than 200 students to universities in California and across the nation.  Program alumni have gone on to professional careers at a wide variety of noted companies and institutions including Amgen, Second Sight, Cedar Sinai and UCLA.  Other alumni have chosen graduate school at universities throughout California and across the country, One College of the Canyons MESA alum is currently in the Ph.D program in chemistry at MIT.

MESA program director, Susan Crowther, says she has "the best job in the world, supporting intelligent, deserving young people to reach their educational goals and dreams."  She credits the success of the College of the Canyons program to the faculty of the Mathematics and Sciences division. The faculty has given their time, their expertise and their creativity to support MESA students.

Crowther explained that the interaction of MESA students with faculty members and the connections they make in the MESA Student Study Center really serve to de-mystify the academic environment, especially for those students from families with no experience with college. The faculty, along with MESA staff members, impact the lives of MESA students by showing them that they matter and that they believe the students can succeed in college.

For more information about the College of the Canyons MESA program, call (661) 362-3448.