CVHEC Board Member Dr. Christian Makes History as CCC’s First Woman, Asian-American Named Chancellor
A post-announcement selfie statement with Interim Chancellor Dr. Daisy Gonzales, Board member Pamela Haynes (standing), Board of Governors President Amy M. Costa, Chancellor-Select Dr. Sonya Christian, and Board of Governors Vice President Hildegarde B. Aguinaldo.
Congratulations to Dr. Sonya Christian, CVHEC board member, on her historic appointment Feb. 23 as chancellor of the California Community Colleges System, the largest and most diverse system of public higher education in the nation.
Chancellor-select Christian is the first Asian-American and the first woman to serve as chancellor for the CCC as well as a first-generation college graduate.
As current chancellor of the Kern Community College District, and previously as president of KCCD’s Bakersfield College (2013- 2021), Dr. Christian serves on the Central Valley Higher Education Consortium Board of Directors.
“I am honored to be selected as chancellor, and I am grateful for the leadership and collective work that has created the largest and best community college system in the nation,” said Chancellor-Select Christian. “I do feel a sense of urgency and moral obligation to the job at hand.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom said, “Dr. Christian is one of our nation’s most dynamic college leaders, with a demonstrated record of collaboration and results in the Central Valley. She understands what is needed to deliver on record levels of higher education investment to make real improvements to the lived reality of our students. I look forward to continuing to partner with Dr. Christian to ensure our community colleges are engines of equity and opportunity.”
Her appointment to head the state CC system drew praise from her colleagues on the CVHEC board, which is made up of the presidents and chancellors of 28 member institutions of higher education in the Central Valley’s nine-county region from San Joaquin to Kern Counties including 15 community colleges and four multi-campus community college districts.
“It will be wonderful to have a leader in the system office that understands the unique complexities of leading institutions in rural communities,” said Dr. Kristin Clark, chancellor of WHCCD who serves as chair of the CVHEC board.
Dr. Benjamin T. Duran, CVHEC executive director, said “The CCC Board of Governors made a wise choice by selecting a leader who has proven she understands California’s community colleges and will advocate on their behalf at the state and national level.
“Chancellor-select Christian’s CVHEC colleagues in the nine-county Central Valley are delighted because, as the new chancellor, she understands the needs and challenges of community colleges in the rural areas of California and the students and communities they serve,” he said in a statement Feb 23 upon the announcement.
“They join me in conveying the region’s pride in the selection of a talented and dedicated Central Valley woman as the chancellor of the California Community Colleges,” added Dr. Duran who also is president-emeritus of Merced College.
Chancellor-select Christian will begin her duties June , 2023 filling the position vacated by Chancellor Eloy Ortiz Oakley in August when he stepped down after leading the community college system for nearly six years. Dr. Daisy Gonzales will continue to serve as interim chancellor until Christian takes office.
See the CVHEC statements.
See the CCC press release.
See CVHEC blogs: PART 1 • PART 2
See media coverage of CCC Chancellor-Select Christian:
• Los Angeles Times • San Francisco Chronicle • EdSource • LAist • Cal Matters • Diverse Issues HE • Bakersfield Californian • Inside Higher Ed • The Renegade Rip • KGET (NBC) • KBAK (CBS) • KERO (ABC) • Community College Daily
CVHEC IN THE NEWS: College Bridge Dual Enrollment Math Bridge Project
The College Bridge Dual Enrollment Math Bridge Project, in partnership with CVHEC, was featured in several media outlets the past month including live interviews with Fresno (KSEE24-NBC) by Dr. Lynn Cevallos, founder and president of College Bridge. She was joined by Reedley College Math professor Jim Gilmore, who worked with high school teachers for College Bridge’s Math Pipeline Readiness Project (M-PReP).
MEDIA ADVISORY: CCC Chancellor-select Christian /CVHEC Statements
APPOINTMENT OF DR. SONYA CHRISTIAN
as Chancellor of the California Community Colleges System
Statements from the Central Valley Higher Education Consortium,
on behalf of the CVHEC Board of Directors
FEBRUARY 23, 2023
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The California Community Colleges Board of Governors today announced the unanimous selection of Kern Community College Chancellor Sonya Christian as the next permanent chancellor to lead the largest and most diverse system of public higher education in the nation.
The announcement comes following an extensive and nationwide search over the past seven months. Christian is an historic choice, becoming the first woman and the first person of South Asian heritage to be appointed as permanent chancellor.
“Dr. Christian is one of our nation’s most dynamic college leaders, with a demonstrated record of collaboration and results in the Central Valley,” said Gov. Gavin Newsom. “She understands what is needed to deliver on record levels of higher education investment to make real improvements to the lived reality of our students. I look forward to continuing to partner with Dr. Christian to ensure our community colleges are engines of equity and opportunity.”
See CVHEC story
As chancellor of the Kern Community College District, and previously as president of Bakersfield College, Dr. Christian serves on the Central Valley Higher Education Consortium Board of Directors. Statements from the executive director and board chair:
Benjamín T. Durán Ed.D.
Executive Director – Central Valley Higher Education Consortium
As executive director of the Central Valley Higher Education Consortium (CVHEC), it is my pleasure to convey congratulations to Dr. Sonya Christian named today as the new chancellor of the California Community Colleges System.
The CCC Board of Governors made a wise choice by selecting a leader who has proven she understands California’s community colleges and will advocate on their behalf at the state and national level. Chancellor-select Christian’s CVHEC colleagues in the nine-county Central Valley are delighted because, as the new chancellor, she understands the needs and challenges of community colleges in the rural areas of California and the students and communities they serve. They join me in conveying the region’s pride in the selection of a talented and dedicated Central Valley woman as the chancellor of the California Community Colleges.
Kristin Clark, Ed.D.
Chancellor – West Hills Community College District
Chair – Central Valley Higher Education Consortium Board of Directors
It will be wonderful to have a leader in the system office that understands the unique complexities of leading institutions in rural communities.
| MEDIA AVAIL:
(Zoom or phone)
|
• Dr. Benjamín Durán, CVHEC executive director (president-emeritus Merced College) CONTACT: Tom Uribes: text 559.348.3278 (tom@uribes.com) • Dr. Kristin Clark, chancellor of WHCCD and chair of the CVHEC Board of Directors CONTACT: Amber Myrick: 559-934-2132 (ambermyrick@whccd.edu) |
| ONLINE: | https://www.cccco.edu/ |
| ABOUT CVHEC | The Central Valley Higher Education Consortium is made up of 28 institutions of higher education in the Central Valley’s nine-county region from San Joaquin to Kern Counties including 15 community colleges and four multi-campus community college districts. The presidents and chancellors of each institution serve on the CVHEC Board of Directors. A goal of the consortium is to increase Central Valley’s certificate and degree attainment rates. CVHEC is a regional convener on post-secondary equitable work that speaks in a single voice on higher education policy issues affecting our region. |
Drs. Rozell, Lakhani Named CVHEC’s Kern Faculty Mentor Coordinators
MA Upskilling Project Will Seek Community College Professors to Mentor HS Teachers
Two veteran Kern County educators have been named faculty mentor coordinators for the Central Valley Higher Education Consortium’s Kern Master’s Upskilling Project that was launched last year to help high school teachers earn master’s degrees in Math or English so they can teach dual enrollment courses on their campus.
Dr. Vikash Lahkani
Dr. Liz Rozell
Dr. Liz Rozell and Dr. Vikash Lakhani will coordinate the Kern program, announced Tom Burke, the Kern MA Upskilling lead for CVHEC.
The Kern Master’s Upskill Program is a partnership between the Kern Regional K-16 Education Collaborative and the Central Valley Higher Education Consortium that was launched in 2022 as part of an $18 million statewide competitive grant awarded to the collaborative to improve student progress from high school to postsecondary education and ultimately into the workforce.
Dual enrollment is one pathway the K-16 state grant will achieve its objectives with the upskill program providing 100 South Valley high school teachers the opportunity to earn a master’s degree that achieves state qualifications for teaching community college dual enrollment English and math courses at local high schools. The participating high school teachers will be paired with community college professors who will serve as mentors.
The first cohorts of 21 math students and 25 English students in the Kern Master’s Upskill Program began courses last month through Fresno Pacific University and National University respectively.
With the faculty mentor coordinators now in place, Burke said the project will begin planning to launch its mentor recruiting campaign this summer. Community college professors who serve as mentors will be paid two stipends of $1,000 each during their mentorship period. Details about the application process will be available in the March issue of the CVHEC newsletter, Burke added.
As faculty mentor coordinators, Rozell and Lakhani will work cooperatively with Burke to recruit, assign and coordinate professors from community colleges as mentors for high school teachers participating in the Kern MA Upskilling Project.
“I look forward to working with Liz and Vikash over the next couple of years on this very important project to increase Kern County’s capacity to deliver dual enrollment courses at our local high schools,” Burke added.
Dr. Lakhani, who will serve as the English faculty mentor coordinator, has over 20 years in higher education administration.
Most recently, he was the vice president for Student Services at Palomar College in San Marcos, CA serving as: the chief Student Services officer providing direct oversight to Enrollment Services; Counseling, Equity and Student Success; College Health Services including Behavioral Health; Student Life and Leadership and Athletics. Previously he was the assistant vice president for Student Success/Student Affairs at California State University, Bakersfield and the associate vice president for Enrollment Management at Humboldt State University.
Dr. Lakhani holds a BSc. in Information Technology from United States International University-Kenya, a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from CSU, Bakersfield and a Doctorate in Educational Leadership (Ed.D.) from Fresno State (the latter two are CVHEC member institutions). He is currently working on establishing a center that provides a globally known math and reading enrichment program in the Bakersfield area.
Burke said that during his tenure at CSUB, Dr. Lakhani provided leadership to numerous initiatives and programs that advanced the campus in meeting its student success goals.
“Some of his noted career accomplishments include his leadership on K-12 partnership programs such as the launch of the University Promise at CSUB, partnerships developed with Bakersfield College where he provided leadership for the Finish in 4 Program and the Program Pathways Mapper — and his success in securing funding from external agencies,” said Burke, who also is chancellor-emeritus of Kern Community College District.
Dr. Rozell, who will serve as Math faculty mentor coordinator, currently serves as the senior adviser to the Kern Community College District chancellor in the areas of Baccalaureate Degrees and Energy.
Dr. Rozell retired in 2019 after 30 years at Bakersfield College serving in various roles including mathematics and engineering faculty, faculty chair, dean of Instruction and vice president of Instruction.
One of the highlights of her administrative career was leading the college in the development of its first baccalaureate degree in Industrial Automation.
She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics and Physics from Houston Christian University, a Master’s of Engineering degree in Industrial Engineering from Texas A&M, and doctoral studies in Industrial Engineering at Texas A&M University and Colorado State University.
For more information and a mentorship application, contact the mentor coordinators:
(Math) – lizrozell@gmail.com; (English) – vikashlakhani@hotmail.com.
See Related Links:
- CVHEC Teacher Upskilling Program for Master’s Degrees Supports Dual Enrollment in South Valley via Kern K-16 Collaborative Grant with Central Valley Higher Education Consortium
- Tom Burke Named Kern Master’s Upskill Lead
- KCSOS Mary Barlow Announces $18.1M Workforce Grant (KCSOS press release – June 9, 2022)
- State announces recipients of $108.6 million in grants to streamline transition from school to college and career– (EdSource May 26, 2022)
- D Herrera to Head Kern Regional K-16 Education Collaborative– (CVHEC e-Newsletter July, 2022)
- “Blurring the Lines Between High School and College: Dual Enrollment in the Central Valley”(CVHEC video – March 2022)
- ‘Dual Enrollment Upskilling Teachers Master’s Program’ Advances Equity(CVHEC e-Newsletter January 2021)
- Kern Education Pledge
- B3K Prosperity
CVHEC SUMMIT 2023 NEWS: SAVE THE DATE OCT. 20
CVHEC’s Higher Education Legislative and Policy Summit Set for Oct.20, 2023
The Central Valley Higher Education Consortium Legislative and Policy Summit 2023 will be held Oct. 20 at the Fresno Convention Center in Fresno.
Dr. Benjamin Duran, CVHEC executive director, announced the date on behalf of the presidents and chancellors of the consortium’s 28 member colleges and universities as the CVHEC’s 2023 calendar of events takes shape.
Sponsored by the College Futures Foundation, the summit draws between 150-200 higher education officials and educators, legislators and partner representatives.
The summit will feature conversations on:
- Dual Enrollment
- Central Valley Transfer Model
- Math Pathways & more
Other coming events will address core issues of dual enrollment, the CVHEC Transfer Project, the Math Task Force and Equity Task Force, said Dr. Duran.
Also on the calendar this spring is the Math Bridge/EIR Kick Off convening May18. This event is in concert with College Bridge, which received a $4 million federal Education Innovation and Research (EIR) grant for dual enrollment.
Additionally, the first CVHEC Board of Directors meeting this year is set for May 11. The board will again meet the day before the summit, Oct.19.
For registration and event details for both the summit and the Math Bridge convening, keep up-to-date with our CVHEC Summit 2023 page or our news page.
(UPDATE May 26, 2023) – See Math Bridge coverage.
WHAT THE CV-HEC IS HAPPENING GUEST BLOG (February 2023): College Bridge and Dinuba HS
This month’s “What The CV-HEC Is Happening” guest blog is presented by Agustina Sanchez, a counselor at Dinuba High School in Tulare County who has participated in the College Bridge Math Pipeline Readiness Project (M-PReP) since it was implemented in 2013. During the three-year project in concert with CVHEC-member Reedley College, Dinuba students not only acquired the necessary skills to become college-ready, but also passed college-level math classes through M-PReP, all in the span of their senior year. Mrs. Sanchez, who earned a bachelor’s degree at Fresno State in 2001 and master’s and PPS Credential in 2003, has been counseling for 19 years. Here she shares her experience with College Bridge and how its life-changing strategies helped high school students through initiatives such as M-PReP and its new Dual Enrollment Math Bridge Project announced last month.
Hard Pass? No more!
A rural Central Valley high school teams with College Bridge and
a CVHEC member for student math success through dual enrollment
BY AGUSTINA “AUGGIE” SANCHEZ
Dinuba High School – Dinuba CA (Tulare County)
Hard Pass! This was the typical response I received when registering high school juniors for a senior year math experience.
AP Calculus? AP Statistics? Pre-Calculus? No. No Way. Hard Pass!
As a high school counselor, I knew that our college-bound students were going to see math again (and, most likely, again and again). I did everything in my power to get college-bound students to take a math course, and while some took my advice, many did not because they “didn’t want a hard senior year,” or they would “just wait and take their next math in college.”
In fall 2018, I was introduced to a new partnership for Dinuba High School (DHS) with College Bridge. The goal of this partnership was to increase the number of students in a senior math experience, namely Dual Enrollment (DE) Math.
The concept was actually quite simple.
DHS partnered with a local community college to offer Dual Enrollment (DE) math courses to our seniors in areas of statistics, college algebra, college trigonometry and calculus. College Bridge literally created a bridge between DHS and Reedley College to ensure our students’ success in this area. Our senior students enrolled and successfully completed these DE math courses with a C or better, many of them finishing their general education math for their bachelor’s degree while still high school students.
To build a foundation for student success, College Bridge created a system of support in all areas — administrative, instruction, counseling and student learning:
- To train in course curriculums, from statistics to calculus, DHS teachers received professional development in cohort with Reedley College professors.
- Reedley College faculty not only came to mentor our teachers, but they were also released from the college to come and teach weekly at DHS while our teachers observed.
- Reedley College faculty members then observed our teachers in action and guided them throughout the semester until our instructors demonstrated comfort in, and a comprehensive understanding of, curricular content and methodology.
- To engage students, a counseling mentor was provided to help promote, market, entice and enroll students into courses.
- Parent nights were held, classroom presentations were conducted in Math 3 classes, and College Bridge helped interested students complete the necessary steps to apply to Reedley College.
- Our DHS math instructors taught the Reedley College content three days a week, offered tutorials the other two days, and additional after-school assistance was available three times per week.
- Students were monitored and interventions applied early to ensure positive student learning outcomes.
DHS now had a new approach and convincing talking points to encourage students to enroll in a senior math experience:
- Do you want to complete your math for your bachelor’s degree here at DHS?
- This is your chance to complete your first year of calculus at DHS with the support of our teachers.
- Why wait until you get to Reedley College or Fresno State; this is your chance to finish your math here at DHS with your teacher’s support and interventions.
Needless to say, senior math enrollment increased.
In our first year of implementation, DHS just focused on Math 11 (Statistics). College Bridge took things a step further, deeply investing efforts in the “striving math student.” A pre-Statistics course was offered in the fall and then the magical Math 11 (statistics) DE in the spring, thus preparing students for a full semester before enrolling them into the DE course.
Our more advanced students took the Math 11 DE in the fall term, and a Quantitative Reasoning course in the spring (non DE). DHS senior students achieved their goal and entered college “math done” for their degrees. Over the next three years, DHS added algebra, trigonometry and calculus to DE math course offerings.
Now, nine years after the first implementation of College Bridge, dual enrollment math is still strong.
We have two full-time teachers who teach DE courses for a total of 10 sections and are currently registering current 11th graders for next year. Our student math conversations are not difficult; many students have already made a DE math choice, and compelling arguments and evidence — including the pros and cons of dual enrollment math — typically convince those students who are hesitant to choose the path to college credit.
The senior math experience “hard pass” era is no longer viable. Instead, our current students will “hardly pass” up this amazing opportunity to excel.
(UPDATE May 26, 2023) – See Math Bridge Kickoff May 18 coverage.
CVHEC DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE (February 2023): CVHEC Summit 2023
Spotlight on Unique Approaches To
Transfer and Dual Enrollment in Central California
Greetings …
February ushered in what promises to be a very productive and exciting spring and that is well illustrated here in the final week of the month with the historic appointment of our esteemed colleague and CVHEC board member, Dr. Sonya Christian, as the 11th chancellor of the California Community College System.
From all of us at CVHEC: congratulations Chancellor-Select Christian! See our story in this issue.
Also, in this month’s e-newsletter, we are happy to announce a SAVE THE DATE for the annual CVHEC Education Policy and Legislative Summit May 12 in Fresno with our quarterly CVHEC Board of Directors meeting the day before.
The annual summit provides an opportunity to showcase the impactful work being accomplished by our member colleges and universities in the Central Valley to our partners, friends and legislators who serve our region. Please plan on joining us later this spring to learn more about this work, including the unique approaches to transfer and dual enrollment in the valley — just to mention a couple of topics that will be covered. Registration info will be forthcoming in March.
In the South Valley, we are pleased to present the addition to the CVHEC family of two respected Kern County higher education professionals who will serve as faculty mentor coordinators for our Kern Master’s Upskilling Project: Drs. Vikash Likhan and Liz Rozell.
The Kern project, which assists high school teachers earn an MA in math or English qualifying them to teach dual enrollment, includes a mentoring component that joins high school teachers with community college professors. Drs. Likhan and Rozell will work with our project lead, Tom Burke (KCCD chancellor-emeritus), to identify and recruit South Valley community college professors to serve as mentors.
If you are interested in serving our students in this way, or know potential candidates, I invite and encourage you to connect with our team.
There is much more in this month’s edition. Please read on and enjoy.