MA Upskilling Project seeking

community college professors to mentor HS teachers

 

Dr. Lori Bennett, president-emeritus of Clovis Community College (CCC), is the latest addition of talent to the Central Valley Higher Education Consortium (CVHEC), announced Executive Director Benjamín Durán.

Bennett, who retired from CCC in 2023, will serve as Math Faculty Mentor coordinator for CVHEC’s Master’s Up-skilling Project for English and Mathematics.

She joins the MA Upskilling team of Tom Burke, the Kern MA Upskilling lead, and Dr. Vikash Lakhani, English Faculty Mentor coordinator.

Burke also announced that the project is currently recruiting community college professors to serve as mentors to the program participants for assignments starting in fall of 2025. The community college mentors receive two stipends of $1,000 each during their mentorship period.

To apply for a mentor position, contact Bennett (math) at lori.bennett@csun.edu or Lakhani (English) at vikashlakhani@hotmail.com.

The Master’s Upskilling Program is an innovative degree program that incentivizes dual enrollment delivery by providing Central Valley high school English and math teachers the opportunity to earn a master’s degree through CVHEC members Fresno Pacific University and National University that qualifies them to teach community college dual enrollment English and math courses at their respective schools.

The program is a partnership between CVHEC and three California K-16 Education Collaboratives throughout the consortium’s 10-county region. First launched in 2021 with the Fresno/Madera K-16 Collaborative, the program was funded for the South Valley in 2022 by the Kern Regional K-16 Education Collaborative and for the North Valley in 2024 by the WE Will! K-16 Workforce and Education Collaborative.

Program funding helps reduce the cost of tuition for participating high school teachers seeking a master’s degree in English and Math.

A key component of the program is the pairing of the participating high school teachers with community college professors who will serve as mentors. They provide support to the mentees along the way and help them navigate the process to becoming an adjunct community college faculty member.

As a Faculty Mentor Program coordinator, Bennett joins Lakhani in working cooperatively with Burke to recruit, assign and coordinate professors from community colleges as mentors for high school teachers participating in the MA Upskilling Project.

“I look forward to working with Lori and Vikash over the next couple of years on this very important project to increase the Central Valley’s capacity to deliver dual enrollment courses at our local high schools,” Burke said.

Dr. Bennett began her career in marketing, working for banking and consumer products
companies, including a Fortune 500 company. She also owned and managed her own small business.

She earned her Ed.D. in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies from California State University, Northridge; Master of Business Administration from the University of Chicago; and Bachelor of Science from the University of Southern California.

Dr. Bennett’s 30-year career in higher education began as a part-time instructor at Highline and Tacoma Community Colleges in Washington. After moving to California, she spent 20 years at Moorpark College serving as a full-time faculty member, department chair, dean and executive vice president of instruction and student services. In 2016, Dr. Bennett was named the second president of Clovis Community College.

Under Dr. Bennett’s leadership, Clovis Community College student enrollment grew more than 40 percent and the college was named a Champion of Higher Education five years in a row for its exemplary work in awarding associate degrees for transfer.

Dr. Bennett is a staunch advocate for student equity and success and in 2022, Clovis CC was also acknowledged as a Champion for excelling in equitable course placement in campuswide English enrollment, Latinx English enrollment and Black English enrollment. In addition to expanding the transfer and career technical education (CTE) curriculum, she focused college resources on innovative, targeted outreach and retention activities to create a direct positive impact on student access and completion.

Dr. Bennett has served on a variety of boards and organizations, including the CVHEC board when she was CCC president; the Clovis Chamber of Commerce; Fresno K-16 Collaborative; Fresno County DRIVE Initiative for Economic Development; and Chief Executive Officers of California Community Colleges. She is currently a board member for Community Health Systems.

Since her retirement in 2023, Dr. Bennett has enjoyed higher education consulting, working with a variety of California community colleges to develop comprehensive educational and strategic plans.

She said she is excited to continue her involvement with CVHEC through the MA mentoring program and encourages community college math professors to consider applying to serve as a mentor for the participating high school teachers.

See Related Links:

• WE Will! K-16: CVHEC dual enrollment projects in North Valley
• 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 Dr. 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) 
• 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