Dr. Rick Ramos was named Dean of Allied Health and Public Safety at Merritt College in January 2018. He is the son of a Mexican immigrant and the first in his family to attend college. He was raised in Richmond California. His first experience at a community college was in his senior year in high school when he cut class to see Santana perform at Contra Costa College. While at this concert a counselor gave him a flyer and encouraged him to enroll in classes. He enrolled the next semester.

 

Rick states that his college experience was difficult because he did not have the social capital to support college experience. He was fortunate to find a faculty member that mentored him. The kindness and support shown to him helped him complete an AS Degree and land a job with the Berkeley Police department. During his tenure at BPD he became the first Chicano police manager in the history of the department and worked closely with the African American and Latino communities to improve police Services. Rick took a job teaching part-time at Merritt College in 1983 and used the position to mentor his students who were also first generation college students.

 

After ten years in police work, he suffered a disabling injury. It was then he met his next mentor, his rehabilitation counselor Mary Ciddio. Mary encouraged him to go back to college and he finished both a BS at Cal State East Bay and later a MS in Criminal justice at Sacramento State.

 

Rick has since worked as a full-time tenure faculty member at Santa Rosa Junior College, as well as his alma mater Contra Costa College where he taught for 21 years prior to coming back to Merritt. Rick completed a doctoral degree in Education with an emphasis in Community College Administration in 2010 from San Francisco State University. He has worked in a variety of capacities at Contra Costa including: CTE Chair, Curriculum Chair, Distance Ed Coordinator, SLO Coordinator, Vice President of the Academic Senate and the Research and Planning Committee.

 

Besides his educational activities, Rick is a professional musician currently signed to a record deal with Soul Junction Records in London England. He performs regularly in the Bay Area and also in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

 

Rick has been married to his wife Kathy for over 37 years. They have three children and three grandchildren.