Graphic design students Katherine Heath and Alfiia Osipova were interning for the San Diego City College’s communications office when they were presented with a unique project. 

They were asked to design artwork that would wrap the walls of the Arts and Humanities building to honor the legacy of Constance Carroll, the longtime former chancellor of the San Diego Community College District.

“It’s an honor to represent Dr. Carroll’s life and legacy through design, let alone in a building where Alfiia, my co-designer, and I work and study every day,” Heath said. “It’s home to us.”

Faculty, students, board members and San Diego city officials sat in rows of folding chairs under a succession of red canopies on the AH quad on Jan. 25 to formally dedicate the building to Carroll. 

The ceremonial remarks included several San Diego Community College District officials and San Diego City Council President Sean Elo-Rivera, District 9, and County of San Diego Supervisor Monica Montgomery Steppe, District 4. 

Carroll, who now carries the title of chancellor emerita with the district, served as SDCCD chancellor for 17 years, and is the longest-serving chancellor in the history of the district, according to the SDCCD website. 

Heath and Osipova began by doing research on Carroll’s legacy and how to incorporate that into the building’s architecture. They decided to root their designs in practicality. 

“We took to strong consideration of what is the most traffic in the building to where students would actually be able to interact with the design itself,” Heath said. 

Each floor of the AH building has a graphic wrap on a wall of its entrance.

Caroll began her time in SDCCD as president of Mesa Community College where she served for 11 years before being named chancellor.

Former board colleague Elo-Rivera spoke in appreciation of Carroll.

“(If) we can think of one or two people, or one or two small things that we’ve accomplished, (then) we can be proud of our career. Dr. Carroll shot much higher than that, and aimed much higher than that, and landed on the target,” the city council president said. “You didn’t just help a few people, you transformed an institution, and you transformed an institution that transforms lives.” 

To Caroll, the fact that the building is home to arts and humanities instruction was especially meaningful.

“The value of the arts and humanities are not as clearly understood,” Carroll said. “This building celebrates them. This is where people learn what it means to be a human being, what it means to be moral and ethical, what it means to stand on principles … And that is why this is so significant to me to have this building named for me.”

Throughout her time as chancellor, Carroll led campaigns for two bond measures that totaled $1.6 billion. This led to the development of 43 new buildings across the district with state-of-the-art equipment as well as major renovations and accessibility enhancements, according to the SDCCD website. 

She was also one of the leaders of SDCCD’s Promise Program, which aids students by offsetting tuition and offering book grants to qualifying students. The program has served over 6,000 students, according to the district.

In addition to co-chairing the campaign that helped establish the Community College Baccalaureate Program, she was appointed by President Barack Obama to serve on the National Council on the Humanities and by President Joe Biden to serve on the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities.

“Johann Wolfgang von Goethe said this, that architecture is frozen music. And when you look at this arts and humanities building, you can see the music that’s frozen, frozen there. It’s an entire symphony,” Caroll said. “If you only listen long enough and carefully enough, to hear the music”