Each year, the Campaign for College Opportunity honors the policymakers and partners who are transforming higher education into true equity and opportunity for California's students and families. Our annual Dean’s List event recognizes bold policy champions who advance equity-focused solutions amid mounting pressures to college access and student success, delivering impact, informing significant state investments in higher education, transforming placement and transfer, and more. 

Join us on January 13, 2026 at the historic Crest Theatre in Sacramento for Dean’s List: Class in Session. This special invitation-only celebration will bring together California’s most influential education, policy, and philanthropic leaders to honor trailblazers in the state legislature who have unapologetically advanced student-centered policy transformation and the key allies who have championed partnership and strategies that have cemented California’s reputation as a leader in advancing equity in higher education.  

We are proud to celebrate this year’s Dean’s List honorees, leaders whose vision and partnership have helped make college opportunity a reality for every California student.  Our 2025 Legislative Cycle honorees include Assemblymember Patrick Ahrens (D-26), Senator Sasha Renée Pérez (D-25), Senate President pro Tempore Monique Limón (D-21), Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi (D-66), and Nichole Muñoz Murillo Chief Deputy Legislative Secretary, Office of Governor Gavin Newsom, alongside two outstanding education champions: Professor Rose-Margaret Ekeng-Itua of Ohlone College and Jenn Galinato, Graduate of the Campaign for College Opportunity Student Leadership Institute Senior FIERCE Fellow at Ed Trust-West.

For over two decades, the Campaign for College Opportunity has championed bold policy reforms, strategic partnerships, and research that advance student access and success. Thanks to the dedication of leaders like our honorees, we have opened the doors of higher education to hundreds of thousands of historically underserved, first-generation, low-income, and undocumented students, ensuring that college remains a pathway to equity and lifelong opportunity.  

The evening will feature a special screening of The Class, a powerful documentary series created by our partners at Three Frame Media. Following the screening, we will host a panel conversation with policymakers, students featured in the film, the film’s producers, and Mr. Cam, the advisor who guided students in the series through their journey.  

Together, they will share inspiring first-hand perspectives on the barriers and opportunities facing today’s students, and how, together, we can reimagine a higher education system that truly delivers its promise of opportunity for all.  

ABOUT THE CLASS: 

The film follows the journey of six students from the East Bay community of Antioch, California, as they navigate their futures in higher education amid the turmoil of a pandemic year. With exceptional passion and determination, their college adviser, Mr. Cam, empowers the seniors at Deer Valley High School to overcome the challenges they face while ceaselessly fighting for their dreams of a college degree. 

From Tony- and Grammy-winning Executive Producer Daveed Diggs (Blindspotting, Snowpiercer, Hamilton), Executive Producer Nicole Hurd (President, Lafayette College), and award-winning filmmakers Jaye and Adam Fenderson (First Generation, Unlikely), this dramatic six-part series, filmed over the course of the 2020-2021 school year, captures an unprecedented moment in time and the universal stories of hope, resolve, strength and success found in the most unexpected places. Learn more