April 4, 2015 (San Diego's East County) -- A small brush fire is burning near Grossmont College. Firefighters are at the scene at the junction of 125 and 52, just below the community college campus.

By Miriam Raftery

photo: U.C. Berkeley Golden Bears blog

September 11, 2014 (El Cajon) – “Don’t Quit: The Joe Roth Story”, a documentary about Grossmont College football quarterback Joe Roth, will be honored at the La Costa Film Festival September 20th, with the film debuting there September 18th.

The El Cajon native led the Griffins to its first state championship in 1974.  He was diagnosed with melanoma, a deadly form of skin cancer, but courageously battled the disease while triumphing on the field as one of America's top college athletes—all without telling friends or teammates about his condition.

May 23, 2014 (El Cajon) -- A Grossmont College student, two sheriff’s deputies and a public safety dispatcher were honored Thursday morning by the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department for actions leading to the arrest of a man who accosted a lone female student as she was getting into her car in the Grossmont College parking structure last October.

January 25, 2014 (El Cajon)--Spring semester begins Monday at Grossmont and Cuyamaca colleges with more class offerings, instructors and students than last year as the college district continues an upward trend, thanks to a slow, but steady growth in the state economy.

November 14, 2013 (El Cajon)--The only employee on the Grossmont campus who can remember military service during World War II is Bob Yochum, a graphic artist, who at age 86 still works two days a week.

October 22, 2013 (El Cajon) – A passerby who witnessed a woman being abducted at knifepoint in the Grossmont College parking lot today scared off the assailant by honking his horn. Sheriff’s deputies located and arrested the suspect, Anthony Washington.

“Washington later confessed he was going to rape the student and do whatever he had to in order to get his way,” said Sergeant Vic Perry.

story courtesy Grossmont College

October 17, 2013 (El Cajon) -- With a statewide earthquake drill known as the "Great California Shakeout" planned for 10:17 a.m. on Thursday, Oct. 17, panelists in Grossmont College's Griffin Center told students last week, where to expect earthquakes to repeatedly happen, how to best be prepared for them, and what it is like to experience their devastation.  Many of these tips are included in the story below.

The panel was a precursor to the Oct. 17 drill in which students, faculty and staff will be advised that in the event that they are inside a building during a real earthquake, they should drop to the floor, get under and hold onto a desk or a table, and cover their heads to prevent materials shaken loose from falling on them.  The Oct. 17 drill will last approximately two minutes after which normal classroom activities will resume.

August 29, 2013 (El Cajon) –  Dr. Chris Hill, geology professor and former president of the Academic Senate who filled in last college year as acting Vice President for Academic Affairs, was honored as Grossmont College's Distinguished Faculty Member of the year at an academic convocation held on the campus Monday, August 12.

In announcing the award, Sue Gonda, current president of the Academic Senate, said that Hill had created a course studying natural disasters, and had re-instituted courses on California geology and California natural parks. Additionally, Gonda noted, Hill had written numerous articles, papers and abstracts in the field of geology, including those studying landslide movements in California and geologic processes in the Sierra Nevada.

By Janis Mork

August 26, 2013 (El Cajon) - On August 12, Brian Castner, author of  The Long Walk, delivered a speech to faculty and staff at Grossmont College on how to reach out to military veterans.

His book, The Long Walk, tells the story of Castner’s outward struggle of serving in combat and inward struggle to find himself again after he had been home for a couple years.  

August 15, 2013 (El Cajon)—The Grossmont College Library will put on its reserve bookshelf this Fall Semester a special collection of 25 books and three films on “Muslim Journeys,” made available through a grant provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

August 8, 2013 (El Cajon) – In an effort to keep textbook prices in line with student budgets, Grossmont College Bookstore has introduced a new money-saving option.

Michael Gilchrist, the manager of the bookstore operated by Barnes & Noble, said the new option is called "dynamic pricing for rentals," which allows flexibility in price setting.

“Whereas before there were set prices for rentals – such as 50 percent of the new book price – prices can go even lower to meet competition from online retailers,” Gilchrist said.

July 12, 2013 (El Cajon) --Colleagues on the Grossmont College campus are planning a special blood drive in conjunction with the Bloodmobile’s regular visit to the campus on Sept. 10.  They are urging blood donations in memory of Prof. Curtis Stevens, who was such a regal man that in joking awe they called him "His Royal Highness, The Emperor Curtis Stevens."

Blood donations in Dr. Stevens’ memory may be made not only on campus, but also at any of the six San Diego Blood Bank donor centers throughout San Diego County by mentioning his name and reference code C42.

June 25, 2013 (El Cajon) – Grossmont College will offer a “family-friendly” schedule of theater productions in the 2013-2014 season, starting Oct. 3-12 with Pygmalion, the George Bernard Shaw play that was converted into the musical My Fair Lady, and ending May 8-17 with “a new spin” on Alice in Wonderland, according to Beth Duggan, chair of the Theatre Arts Department.

In between those two offerings, students will also act in, design costumes and build sets for such productions as To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday by Michael Brady (Nov. 14-23); Follow Me by artist Dominic Pangborn (Dec. 6-7, followed by a tour of local elementary schools); Inside the Actors Process by Grossmont faculty member Jerry Hager (Feb. 7 and 8, followed by a tour of local high schools); and You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown (March 13-22).

June 3, 2013 (El Cajon) – When nursing students participate in Grossmont College’s traditional “pinning” ceremony Tuesday afternoon, June 4, more of them will be men than ever before—a sign of changing societal attitudes towards what once was considered a profession for women only.

Debbie Yaddow, dean of Allied Health and Nursing, says eight men, or 20 percent of the graduating class of 40 students, are males, compared to what it was like just 30 years ago, when Yaddow graduated from Grossmont’s nursing school, and there were zero males in the class.