Sierra College will be rolling out new course numbers in phases starting with class registration for Fall 2025.
View Course ChangesPlease note that all Sierra College locations will observe summer hours from May 26 to August 8, and will be closed on Fridays now through Friday, Aug. 8, 2025.
Sierra Mickelson, Alexa Topacio, Luis-Antonio Carreon, Ryder Bouck, and Ethan Yamaguchi were recognized as 2023 Emerging Journalist Fellowship students.
Read the California Humanities story: Everybody is Entitled to Equity: Stories from Emerging Journalist Fellows at Sierra College
Read the Roundhouse story: Everybody is Entitled to Equity
Students from the Sierra College Robotics Club won first place at RoboGames, the world’s largest open robot competition, held in Pleasanton, Calif., April 6–9, 2023, with their autonomous firefighter robot named “Sparky.”
The autonomous firefighter competition requires the robot to navigate an 8′ x 8′ model of a house, search the rooms to find a candle and extinguish it, all with no human assistance. At the last RoboGames in 2018, the Club took second place in autonomous firefighting, losing to a team from Egypt.
Designing, building and programming the robot required the students to master skills in advanced sensor technologies, high-tech motor control, and complex computer programming. These technologies are also used in real-world applications such as autonomous factory robots and self-driving cars and, in turn, helping prepare students for careers in robotics.
The Sierra College Robotics Club has a 15-year history of competing all over Northern California in events ranging from robot sumo, robot combat, autonomous firefighter, kinetic artbots and more. The students come from a variety of college majors including mechatronics, welding, engineering, physics, computer science, and art.
About RoboGames
RoboGames (formerly Olympics of Robots) is an international robotics competition with more than 50 different events, including robot hockey, robot combat, robot kung-fu, and robot stair-climbing, as well as autonomous firefighting. The 2023 participants came from 16 different countries spanning the globe from Brazil to Japan, Germany, Ukraine, Saudi Arabia, and Nepal.
The Sierra College Marketing, Communications, and Public Information Office recently earned five national and regional awards for educational marketing and communication. Nationally, Sierra College was awarded Bronze Paragon awards from the National Council for Marketing and Public Relations (NCMPR) and Gold, Silver and Bronze awards from the California Community College Public Relations Organization (CCPRO).
The Sierra College website redesign won a national bronze Paragon award from NCMPR and a Silver award from CCPRO.
One of the judges noted, “Images throughout the website show a diverse student population including older students and veterans. These are the best photos I’ve seen during this judging. Photos show a vibrant, engaged community. Very welcoming. I like the use of color on the buttons. It helps direct the eye to calls to action.”
Another judge said, “Content is excellent – exactly what you need and not overwhelming.” View entire homepage.
The You Can enrollment campaign was awarded a Gold CCPRO Award for Marketing Campaign.
Judges said, “This was a well-designed campaign with very consistent messaging, bright branding, colors and photographs, and everything was very easy to read and understand. Great job!” View entire campaign ad.
In the Wild Card category, NCMPR and CCPRO awarded Sierra College Graphic Design Specialist Kerrie Cassidy with a Bronze for her My Golden State Scrapbook project. The 18-page scrapbook was designed for a Sierra College Natural History Museum Free Saturday event so the participants could explore the museum and interact with museum volunteers to craft, create, and journal.
One of the judges commented, “Geared to a more “future” student but including parents as well. A creative ‘soft sell’ success!” View entire scrapbook.
The Sierra College Marketing, Communications and Public Information team includes:
Several of the award-winning projects were created working with partners across Sierra College including many who participated in the discovery and focus group process for the website as well as the Website Redesign Committee and Executive Sponsors. Additionally, My Golden State Scrapbook was inspired and designed by Rachael Greve, Sierra College Natural History Museum Director, as an outreach tool.
Sierra College sociology professor Dr. Jane Le Skaife was honored with the 2022-23 Hayward Award for Excellence in Education for the California Community Colleges. Sponsored annually by the Foundation for California Community Colleges, this award honors community college full-time and part-time faculty who demonstrate the highest level of commitment to their students, college and profession.
Dr. Skaife was described in a letter of support for her nomination as “a strong advocate for historically marginalized students. “The letter continued, “She is a true equity champion and has contributed significantly in advancing our equity work. Her work to integrate equity initiatives and voices has been critical to the overall climate and progress of the campus.”
Award recipients, nominated by their college academic senate and selected by representatives of the Academic Senate of California Community Colleges, must have a record of outstanding performance of professional activities, as well as a record of active participation on campus.
“Jane has quickly become an integral part of the Sociology Department, well-respected by her peers and students alike. Jane’s passion for Gender Equity, AAPI, and all historically marginalized students shows through her work; she is a true equity champion for Sierra College,” said Willy Duncan, Sierra College’s Superintendent/President. “Through her teaching style, the opportunities she creates outside the classroom, the trainings she attends, and mentoring she provides, Jane’s mission to give voices to the underrepresented enriches the Sierra College community and enhances her students’ success.”
The award may be presented to four (two part-time and two full-time) faculty members per year. Four were recognized this year.
Dr. Skaife was honored at a California Community Colleges Board of Governors meeting on March 20, 2023 in Sacramento.
About Sierra College
Sierra College District is rising to the needs of our community. Sierra College serves 3,200 square miles of Northern California with campuses in Roseville, Rocklin, Grass Valley, and Truckee. With approximately 125 degree and certificate programs, Sierra College is ranked first in Northern California (Sacramento north) for transfers to four-year universities, offers career/technical training, and classes for upgrading job skills. Sierra graduates can be found in businesses and industries throughout the region. More information at www.sierracollege.edu.
