I would like to thank the members of WACC for your support of our Martha Barnette event. My department is very appreciative of your recognition of our efforts to enrich the educational experience of our students and to provide quality presentations to the Grossmont campus....

. . . thank you for the generous grant to help fund the Creative Capital Webinar and Annual Art Student Exhibition 2013 opening event. Each of these events honors the student experience at Grossmont大学. The Annual Art Student Exhibition recognizes the finest student achievements made over the course of the year and the webinar will point the way to future growth. I have personally been the recipient of two scholarships to Creative Capital seminars and can attest to the power of the information and skills that they disseminate. We are truly fortunate to be able to share their knowledge with the students of Grossmont大学 and we thank the World Arts and Cultures Committee for making this event possible.

We are truly thankful for World Arts and Cultures Committee for its support of the Literary Arts Festival over the years. WACC has helped the 创意写作计划 time and time again to serve our students and our community with events featuring writers such as Sandra Cisneros, Tim O'Brien, Dunya Mikhail, and, most recently, at our 18th Annual Literary Arts Festival, writer and poet Luis J. Rodriguez. Their literary and cultural contributions inspire our students and reach their lives in immeasurable ways. The 创意写作计划 and 英语系 are proud to acknowledge WACC's role in bringing these cultural treasures to our campus.

We started the World Arts and Cultures Committee way back in about the fall of 1998 to provide Grossmont students and the surrounding community with multicultural events from different parts of the world. We wanted our students to be exposed to music and dance from Mexico, music and dance from India, Capoeira from Brazil, film screening and discussions on urgent global topics, guest artists performing their music or other forms of art, and a whole host of other events that the World Arts and Cultures Committee has put on for our students and community. In short, we wanted to give our students a taste of the rich cultures worldwide that are represented right here on our campus. As evidenced by today's 16th of September Celebration (Mexico's 200th Birthday), it has been a resounding success! And my thanks go out to everyone who put this together.

The mission of Grossmont大学 is to enable individuals to reach their hopes, dreams and full potential and to educate enlightened leaders and thoughtful citizens for the global community. Through policies, procedures and articulated values, we have created a shared vision of the power of diversity, equity and inclusion. The college strives to provide an educational environment that fosters cultural awareness, mutual understanding, and respect that ultimately also benefits the global community. Congratulations to the World Arts and Cultures Committee (WACC) for bringing many exciting opportunities to the college community! Through the efforts of this group, the college is able to provide a rich blend of art, cultural, performance, dialog and many other extracurricular opportunities for students to enrich and deepen their appreciation and understanding of diverse cultures and perspectives.

On behalf of the Department of 哲学与宗教研究 I send sincere appreciation for your support of our Robert VanVoorst workshop and presentation.Our departmentalways strives to engage the highest quality speakers to enhance theacademic experience of bothstudents and faculty and to contribute to campus awareness of cultural diversity.The World Arts and Culture Committee makesthis possible. Thank you so much for your work.