Dear Alumni,
Mesa Community College is celebrating its 60th anniversary in 2025! Through six decades of dedicated service MCC has touched countless lives, helping students achieve their educational goals. Education opens pathways to future professional and economic success not only for the student, but their family and the community in which they reside. I am proud of MCC's legacy of student success, academic excellence, innovative partnerships, and community impact.
Building on MCC's legacy, the college wrapped up 2024 with several regional and national honors. In November, I had the privilege of representing MCC at the U.S. Department of Education's Classroom to Career Summit in Washington, D.C. The Summit focused on the economic imperative of career-connected education and how education and industry leaders can build high-quality pathways from classroom to career.
In December, we kicked off the EmpowerED for Student Success campaign aimed at providing resources for students through the Mesa College Promise Program and the Thunderbird Excellence Fund. We were pleased to announce a $70,000 gift from AT&T to support first generation, low- and moderate-income students with the digital tools needed for academic success. This campaign is part of a three-year, $20 million fundraising effort with the Maricopa Community Colleges Foundation (MCCF) and Maricopa County Community College District (MCCCD).
MCC Chief Philanthropy Officer Christos Chronis, MCC
President Dr. Richard Daniel, AT&T Mountain &
Desert States President Tara Thue and Mesa
City Councilmember Jenn Duff
The fall semester ended with our student athletes soaring. The Women's T-Bird Cross Country team captured the first national championship in program history! The Thunderbird Women's Golf team was No. 1 in National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division II rankings with their players holding the top three individual positions nationally. The Women's Volleyball team claimed their first regional title since 2017 in the NJCAA Region I tournament.
The spring semester brings the excitement of welcoming 14,640 students to MCC. Our faculty, staff, and administrators are also in the midst of final preparations for our 10-year reaffirmation of accreditation visit on March 31 and April 1 with representatives from the Higher Learning Commission. Accreditation ensures that our students are eligible for federal financial aid, our courses transfer to other institutions, and validates the quality of the degrees and certificates that MCC awards.
I invite you to be part of the excitement of MCC by attending our 60th Birthday Celebration on April 9, 2025. Please visit our commemorative 60th anniversary website at mesacc.edu/60 for details. The site showcases alumni and student success, historical timelines and highlights, photos from our archives, and anniversary events and activities, with additional content to be added throughout the year.
Adelante!
Richard Daniel, Ph.D.
President
Mesa Community College