Palomar College

Palomar College building new football, softball stadiums

Erickson-Hall Construction has broken ground of new football stadium and softball fields of Palomar College at San Marcos, California. The $22.8 million facilities were designed by HMC Architects and funded by the $694 million Proposition M (Maintain & Modernize Palomar College) which was approved by voters in Nov. 2006. The proposition was passed for $694 million to be given to Palomar College in a series…


New football, softball fields shape up at Palomar College

Palomar College broke ground Tuesday, Oct. 18 on a sports facility that will include new football and softball stadiums, in a ceremony attended by more than 100 people on the main campus. “This project is going to take our athletics here at the college to the next level,” said Dr. Star Rivera-Lacey, Superintendent/President of Palomar College. “I am excited for our students, our employees, and…


Wide World of (coronavirus-related) Sports

With all due respect to ABC’s Wide World of Sports…Spanning the world to bring you the constant variety of sports… the thrill of victory… and the agony of defeat… the human drama of athletic competition…This is The Escondido Grapevine’s Wide World of Coronavirus-related Sports. Tyler Saladino turning South Korean (Baseball) Your browser does not support iframes. You remember Tyler Saladino. Some of you anyway. Saladino,…


Escondido born, Valley Center raised Disney and Pixar director Rob Gibbs dies at age 55

An appreciation from Ramin Zahed, Editor-in-Chief, Animation Magazine We’re saddened by the recent death of long-time Pixar and Disney director and storyboard artist Rob Gibbs at age 55.  Details of his death are unknown at the moment, but the news began circulating on Facebook and twitter earlier on Friday (April 24) . A 22-year veteran of the animation industry, Gibbs was working on Monsters at Work for…


Mismanagement plagues Palomar College

After a campus visit, a state-funded agency, the Fiscal Crisis Management Assistant Team (FCMAT) issued its November 8, 2019 report, describing Palomar College’s financial position and management practices. The news wasn’t good. The report gave the school’s Fiscal Health Risk Analysis a 44.5% rating, indicating its probability of insolvency in the near future. According to FCMAT, in two years the school will have drained all…


Palomar College president quits but will get $600,000 in salary and severance pay

Palomar College President Joi Lin Blake, who’s been on paid leave since December for unknown reasons, has agreed to quit and will walk away with more than $600,000 in pay and severance. The resignation agreement, finalized Wednesday when Blake’s attorney signed it, allows her to continue on paid leave until she officially steps down on June 30. The college district’s governing board voted 3-1 to…


New library suite deal for Palomar president

As officials prepared for the Friday grand opening of a $67 million library at Palomar College, crews already had begun demolishing part of the building’s top floor to build President Joi Lin Blake an office suite. Design of the nearly $1 million remodel started more than a year ago when architectural plans were ordered. The college’s governing board later approved a $797,000 contract to build…


10,000 join San Marcos Women’s March

Ten thousand came when only 2,500 were expected. Women’s March North County San Diego quadrupled its expected number Saturday as an excited, and determined group marched from San Marcos Civic Center to Palomar College. A few early sprinkles and the unexpected numbers did nothing to dampen the mood at the free-wheeling people’s parade. Far exceeding expectations, the thousands of marchers overflowed Mission Avenue sidewalks spilling into…


Palomar College pledges free tuition for all San Marcos school district graduates

Move over Bernie Sanders, community college just became free at San Marcos for local students. Sanders is known for his proposal to bring free tuition to public colleges, and today, Wednesday, June 21 Palomar College became just that — free — for all eligible graduating San Marcos Unified School District students. The Palomar Community College District Governing Board approved a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between…


Luann in house for CSUSM commencement

As befitting a school on the rise, Cal State University San Marcos (CSUSM) graduated its largest class ever over the weekend. Five separate ceremonies bestowed degrees to over 3,160 students — 3,012 undergraduates and 588 teacher credential candidates. It was the school’s 25th commencement. “Notably, 55 percent of the graduating students are the first in their families to earn a four-year college degree and 35 percent…