Presenting our renovated CVHEC Website: Meet our Board of Directors

The chancellors, presidents and superintendents of 30 institutions of higher education in the Central Valley nine-county region from Stockton to Bakersfield sit on the CVHEC Board of Directors. They meet quarterly in pursuit of CVHEC’s core mission to increase valley college-going rates and degree/certification attainment, providing a unified voice for their more than 250,000 students served jointly. See the board of directors section in our newly renovated website: https://cvhec.org/about-cvhec/ 

 

This fall, we unveil phase one of our renovated Central Valley Higher Education Consortium website which we hope will be easier to navigate as we showcase the work of the Consortium throughout the valley.

We will be featuring a different piece of our website as we continue to build it out in hopes of showcasing it as a resource for our members, colleagues and partners.

This month, we feature the professionals and experts who are carrying out the CVHEC mission. On the “About CVHEC” page, you can meet our CVHEC Board of Directors – the presidents and chancellors of our 30 members of higher education in the Central Valley’s nine-county region from Stockton to Bakersfield as well as the core staff that includes several former educational leaders who  now served as CVHEC regional coordinators/liasions,

Also, see our CVHEC News web page that is being finalized this fall featuring our newsletter stories and press releases where news media can connect with us as well as the members of our CVHEC PIO/Communicators Committee, consisting of the communications professionals handling media relations at each of the 30 campuses.

Our new calendar will keep you up-to-date on CVHEC and other higher education events on our radar. For considerations and modifications to our calendar please email centralvalleyhec@gmail.com.

CVHEC Member News: CLP Guidance Pathways

Four CVHEC Members Highlighted in Career Ladders Project
Look at Guided Pathways Redesign Challenges

The Career Ladders Project recently highlighted four CVHEC member organizations in stories illustrating how 15 California community colleges are redesigning their Guided Pathways programs and structures prompting college leaders across the state to share the stories to help clarify opportunities, spur conversation and motivate Guided Pathways redesign teams.

Founded by the California Community Colleges Board of Governors in 2002, Career Ladders Project is a nonprofit that operates under the fiscal sponsorship of the Foundation for California Community Colleges.

The project promotes equity-minded community college redesign by collaborating with colleges and their partners to discover, develop, and disseminate effective practices. CLP policy work, research, and direct efforts with colleges lead to system change—and enable more students to attain certificates, degrees, transfers, and career advancement.

The Guided Pathways stories are presented in one-page narratives — grouped into topics — produced by Career Ladders Project with funding from the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office.

The four CVHEC members highlighted are:

Bakersfield College

• Integrating Student Supports in Guided Pathways Redesign

• Aligning Redesign Across Campus

• Using Data in Guided Pathways Redesign

Madera Community College

• Centering Students in GP Design

West Hills College Lemoore

• Aligning Redesign Across Campus

• Supporting Students from a Distance

Reedley College

Managing Guided Pathways redesign and Engaging the College

 

See the CLP Redesign stories overview.

CVHEC BLOG: ‘WHAT THE CV-HEC IS HAPPENING’ (Dec. 2021)

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]The opening panel discussion at the CVHEC/UC Merced Transfer Project convening Nov. 4 in Merced included Shirley Asher, Jennifer Johnson, Karissa Morehouse, Sonya Christian, Gregg Camfield and Chenoa Woods.

 

The beat – serving student success – goes on!

An inside look at the CVHEC/UC Merced Transfer Pathways Initiative and Mapper

By Tom Burke
CVHEC Transfer Project Coordinator

(Photo Gallery below)

In June, when I stepped down as chancellor of the Kern Community College District, many thought I would embark on the typical “retirement” life of fishing, hunting, traveling and just resting after a 40-year career.

While I did enjoy some of that, I also soon found myself right back in the saddle in a “new” role with KCCD as Deputy Chancellor and as a coordinator with the Central Valley Higher Education Consortium. So for those of you wondering: no I’m not officially “retired!”

Rather I am happy to report that the past few months have been quite a rewarding whirlwind as I plunged headlong into a new “assignment” as coordinator of CVHEC’s Transfer Project with the intent to enhance what has been my life’s work: serving students in general and in this case specifically, helping build effective pathways to our community colleges for a smoother, efficient transfer experience.

To that end, these past 45 days alone have seen the fruition of two great milestones.

First was the public celebration of the completion of Phase I of a joint program, the CVHEC/UC Merced Transfer Pathways Initiative, at a convening Nov. 4 on the UCM campus with community college partners Bakersfield and Merced Colleges.  Secondly, at that historic event, we also launched Phase II of this project that includes the participation of four more CVHEC member institutions: Porterville College, Reedley College, Clovis College and West Hills College-Lemoore.

 

Revolutionizing Positive Outcomes

The Transfer Pathways Initiative is the result of a $500,000 grant from the California Educational Learning Lab to Bakersfield College, Merced College and UC Merced for the development of 2+2 transfer maps that streamline and guide the transfer of community college students to the University of California system.

Last month’s convening, “Charting Better Maps to Degrees – Developing Transfer Pathways to UC Merced,” demonstrated how we can revolutionize positive outcomes across enrollment, completions and equity for students while emphasizing UC Merced’s commitment to significantly expanding transfer pathways for community college students within the San Joaquin Valley to UC Merced.

With about 172 participants representing all three segments of higher education, the hybrid convening itself was a hallmark of sorts being the first major gathering convened by CVHEC and its partners since the pandemic shut down the world in March 2020. The energy from seeing and hearing our colleagues in the flesh was very evident throughout the six-hour event that was also presented virtually via Zoom (130 virtual and 42 in person).

CVHEC member community colleges were well represented at the convening where we discussed how in Phase 1, our partner teams completed 14 Transfer Pathways from Merced College and Bakersfield College to UC Merced as well as Transfer Pathway work with California State University, Bakersfield.

The convening also further introduced interested colleges to the Pathway Mapper software program, particularly its ability to enhance the student transfer experience as well as early student success results from institutions utilizing the Pathway Mapper. Participants also received information on future Program Mapper software enhancements that are scheduled.

The topics of four breakout sessions portrayed the breadth and depth of our mission:

  • The Tech Behind Program Pathways Mapper
  • Student Impact of Program Pathways Mapper – On-path Percentage, Student Engagement
  • Getting Started with Program Pathways Mapper: Cleaning and Loading Your Curriculum
  • The Technology of Collaboration – How to set up effective intersegmental discipline faculty teams and develop 2+2 transfer Documentation of process and guidelines.

 

Implementation teams of faculty, staff working hand-in-hand

The second great milestone is the launch of Phase II which actually got its start in the summer when a convening of representatives from all 15 CVHEC community colleges included an update presentation on the aforementioned Phase I completion of the 14 Transfer Pathways from Merced and Bakersfield Colleges to UC Merced.

At that June 16 convening, significant interest was expressed for participation in Phase II project implementation so in the early fall CVHEC reached out to interested member community colleges with a call to form and submit their implementation teams.

The four Phase II community colleges mentioned above — Porterville, Reedley, Clovis and West Hills-Lemoore — established teams and scheduled convenings to commence the development of curriculum transfer pathways to UC Merced. They will now be individually convening in the next four months with the first held Dec. 2-3 at Porterville College.

That recent convening was my first as a coordinator and I was impressed with the commitment and excitement by the Porterville College, faculty, staff and administrators to develop nine transfer pathways directly to UC Merced including a new pathway in Spanish.

Perhaps the pinnacle of that enthusiasm was to observe, when a potential curriculum issue arose, how UC Merced staff collaborated and interfaced with community college faculty and staff for solutions on the spot.  They collectively brainstormed and developed options for resolving the issue.

In particular, the level of commitment by host Porterville College to fulfill this mission for their students was further demonstrated by the active involvement and attendance in the two-day convening by the Vice President of Instruction Thad Russell, Vice President of Student Services Primavera Arvizu and President of the Academic Senate Robert Simpkins.  In addition, Porterville College President Dr. Claudia Habib made an appearance at the convening impressing upon faculty and staff the importance of their contributions to this project for their students’ success and thanked them for their work on the pathways.

Equally, I was impressed with the Transfer Project planning team, especially CVHEC colleague Stan Carrizosa, a former College of Sequoias superintendent/president, and James Zimmerman, senior associate vice provost and dean for Undergraduate Education at UC Merced.

We hope this level of partnership by all parties will be emulated by all our members, which I am convinced will only lead to a great reward: positive outcomes across enrollment, completions and equity for students.

And that will clearly make for happier fishing, hunting and traveling days along the way (when I can squeeze them in)!

Happy Holidays to all!

See UC Merced press release: https://news.ucmerced.edu/news/2021/uc-merced-offer-simpler-transfer-pathway-central-valley-community-college-students

See Merced Sun Star story: UC Merced announces partnership to encourage Valley community college student transfers

Dr. Benjamín Durán, CVHEC executive director; Dr. Sonya Christian, Kern Community College District chancellor; Lark Park, director of the California Education Learning Lab; and Dr. Juan Sánchez Muñoz, UC Merced chancellor.

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_images_carousel images=”6150,6118,6120,6119,6184,6171,6164,6162,6161,6147,6148,6149,6151,6144,6142,6141,6096,6140,6107,6170,6139,6138,6136,6135,6121,6122,6126,6127,6130,6131,6132,6133,6110,6109,6108,6143,6059″ img_size=”large” autoplay=”yes” title=”Gallery: CVHEC/UC Merced Transfer Pathways Initiative — UC Merced campus Nov. 4″][/vc_column][/vc_row]

MEMBER NEWS: CCO honors  8 CVHEC members with ‘Champions’ Awards

Campaign for College Opportunity honors 

8 CVHEC members with ‘Champions’ Awards

Eight CVHEC member institutions were honored as 2021 Champions of Higher Education and Equity Champions for Excellence in Transfer by the Campaign for College Opportunity.

Honored at CCO’s annual Champions of Higher Education for Excellence in Transfer virtual awards ceremony Nov. 16 were Bakersfield College; Clovis Community College; California State University, Bakersfield; College of the Sequoias; Fresno City College; Fresno State; Modesto Junior College; and Reedley College.

These colleges and universities are leading the state in: conferring the Associate Degree for Transfer (ADT); enrolling ADT earners on guaranteed pathways to a bachelor’s degree; and intentionally working to support Latinx and Black students on their path to a degree, said Michele Siqueiros, CCO president.

For a breakdown of specific awards, see the CCO announcement and video.

(CVHEC members are encouraged to submit items for this column: centralvalleyhec@gmail.com).

 

Charting Better Maps to Degrees

Historic UC Merced transfer initiative with Bakersfield, Merced Colleges launches Nov. 4

A hybrid convening at the University of California, Merced Nov. 4, “Charting Better Maps to Degrees,” will launch the historic UC Merced Transfer Pathways initiative between three Central Valley Higher Education Consortium member campuses and demonstrate how the new Program Pathways Mapper can revolutionize positive outcomes across enrollment, completions and equity for students.

UC Merced Chancellor Juan Sánchez Muñoz will be joined by Bakersfield President Sonya Christian, Merced College President Chris Vitelli and CVHEC Executive Director Benjamin T. Duran. Also speaking will be Dr. Craig Hayward, dean of Institutional Effectiveness at Bakersfield College and  Wayne Skipper, president of Concentric Sky.

The pilot transfer project and the hybrid in-person/virtual event are the result of a $500,000 grant from the California Educational Learning Lab to Bakersfield College, Merced College, and UC Merced for the development of 2+2 transfer maps that streamline and guide the transfer of community college students to the University of California system.

During the event, which will be from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the UC Merced Conference Center, the grant team will unveil the UC prototype of the Program Pathways Mapper that will make online, interactive transfer maps freely available for current and prospective students.

The convening also will be digitally mediated allowing both virtual and in-person attendees to interact and participate together while providing a higher education bridge across the valley floor.

“UC Merced was created in the Valley to help serve the Valley and we are dedicated to fulfilling that mission,” said Chancellor Muñoz, who will welcome the participants at 9 a.m. followed by the community college presidents and Duran. “This project to simplify transfer pathways means that more young people from our region will recognize a UC education as an achievable goal, and will help students, educators and families chart a course to that goal.”

Duran will discuss CVHEC’s support for the regional roll-out of the Program Pathways Mapper for colleges and universities in the Central Valley. CVHEC consists of 29 colleges in the nine-county region from Stockton to Bakersfield with the presidents/chancellors of each member institution serving as the board of directors.

He said this groundbreaking project, which supports CVHEC’s core mission to improve college completion rates while also supporting the valley’s only UC campus in collaboration with member community colleges, is unique in the state.

“Nothing like this is taking place anywhere else in California that I’m aware of,” said Duran a former Merced College president. “This kind of collaboration, especially intersegmentally, just isn’t happening. This is a big win for the Central Valley.”

Work is well underway to implement the same type of partnership transfer agreements between CVHEC’s CSU member campuses at Bakersfield, Fresno and Stanislaus, he said, with the intent to make this new model available for community college transfers in other regions of the valley.

Members and prospective members of the Program Pathways Mapper community are invited to attend the free event that will include breakfast and lunch. Space is limited but registration is available at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/program-pathways-mapper-convening-tickets-168987649609.

For additional information and updates, including details on speakers and breakout sessions, see www.foundationccc.org/ChartingBetterMapstoDegrees.

Additional event questions may be directed to Lori Ortiz,  executive secretary for the Office of Institutional Effectiveness at Bakersfield College at lori.ortiz@bakersfieldcollege.edu.

Pilot CVHEC/UC Merced Transfer Project improves process for students  

Rollout of Program Mapper software app for transfers set for Nov. 4

A pilot program developed between the Central Valley Higher Education Consortium and three member institutions — UC Merced, Merced College and Bakersfield College — is showing promise for outstanding results that can enhance a community college student’s transfer experience including a new web-based software application, Program Mapper.

This new initiative, the CVHEC/UC Merced Transfer Project, was presented to the CVHEC Board of Directors, made up the presidents and chancellors of CVHEC’s 29-member institutions, at its quarterly meeting Sept. 3.

Tom Burke, chancellor-emeritus of the Kern Community College District, has been recruited to serve as the Transfer Project coordinator, Dr. Ben Duran, CVHEC executive director, also announced to the board.   

The specific aim of the initial pilot project is to increase the number of successful and timely transfers from the Central Valley member community colleges in CVHEC’s nine-county region to UCM, reports Stan Carrizosa, southern regional coordinator for the consortium.

And work is well underway to implement the same type of partnership transfer agreements between Bakersfield College and CSU Bakersfield with the intent to make this new model available for community college transfers to the region’s other California State University campuses at Fresno and Stanislaus as well, Carrizosa reported. Project resource teams are currently being solicited from each community college with the goal to eventually begin replicating the faculty convenings and admissions/articulation alignments developed through the pilot.

“All of CVHEC’s 17 community college members have accepted our invitation to participate in the process developed by the colleges in the pilot project with the tentative timeline for completion projected for the end of the spring semester and summer,” added Carrizosa, a former superintendent/president with College of the Sequoias. “This tentative timeline would position all final transfer admission pathways to be approved by UC Merced for full implementation beginning in the fall semester, 2023.”

Duran said this groundbreaking project, which supports CVHEC’s core mission to improve college completion rates while also supporting the valley’s only UC campus in collaboration with member community colleges, is unique in the state.

“Nothing like this is taking place anywhere else in California that I’m aware of,” Duran reported to the board. “This kind of collaboration, especially intersegmentally, just isn’t happening. This is a big win for the Central Valley.”

This new initiative builds on the 10-year effort by the state’s community colleges to expedite a successful transfer by implementing the Associate Degree for Transfer (ADT) agreement, specific lower-division course sequences for approval by the California Community College Chancellor’s Office and CSU campuses, to fulfill the 60-unit transfer requirements for various majors offered throughout the colleges in the CSU system.

Specifically for this pilot, UCM faculty were invited to review the CSU-approved ADT’s developed previously, and which are becoming more widely known by Central Valley community college students. They were asked to consider approval of selected ADTs to fulfill the lower division transfer requirements for these same discipline majors at UCM.

“To date, the work of the pilot project colleges is progressing nicely,” Carrizosa reported. “These intersegmental teams have reviewed and approved up to 15 different ADT discipline majors. They adjusted and aligned course syllabi where needed — to be approved by UCM faculty — to fulfill the lower division requirements for successful transfer admissions to UCM.”

In addition to the review and approval of the various ADT discipline majors, Carrizosa said the teams are also identifying the specific upper division courses required for students once admitted to UCM and aligning these with the ADT to show a four-year sequence to be called the “UCM transfer admission pathways for students.”

Once completed and approved, the courses are being uploaded into the new web-based software application Program Mapper.

“This application enables students to select the community college they are attending and identify the ADT they may be interested in being enrolled in,” Carrizosa said. “From there, Program Mapper will automatically display the required community college courses for their ADT and the required upper division courses for that major at UC Merced in the format of a four-year Transfer Admission Plan (TAP).”

Plans are underway to unveil the Transfer Project and Program Mapper application at a special event Nov. 4 at UC Merced. (Event details of the Program Mapper and launch will be forthcoming in the October CVHEC e-newsletter).

Funding for the Transfer Project is provided in part by the Fresno K-16 Collaborative with support from California Governor Newsome’s office and by the College Futures Foundation.

Interim Presidents Named at Bakersfield College, Columbia, West Hills Lemoore

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_gallery type=”image_grid” images=”5751,5790,5789″ img_size=”240×300″][vc_column_text]Congratulations to three interim presidents appointed recently and joining the CVHEC Board of Directors:

• Bakersfield College – Dr. Zav Dadabhoy was named to replace Dr. Sonya Christian who is now the chancellor of the Kern Community College District.

• Columbia College – Dr. G.H. Javaheripour, effective  July 1, to replace Dr. Santanu Bandyopadhyay, who is now president of Modesto Jr. College.

• West Hills College Lemoore – Dr. James Preston, effective July 1, following current President Kristin Clark’s selection as West Hills Community College District Chancellor.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

COMMUNITY VOICES: BC, CSUB positioning Kern County students for decades to come

Sonya Christian and Lynnette Zelezny

January 20, 2019

Bakersfield is home to two major institutions of higher education — Bakersfield College and Cal State Bakersfield. Each has a rich history and tradition of serving students and meeting the needs of the Bakersfield community. Since opening its doors to 13 students in 1913, BC has grown to serve more than 33,000 students annually. And since its founding in 1965, CSUB has grown to serve more than 10,000 students annually, with more than 70 percent of its 50,000 graduates remaining and working in the Central Valley. Though each institution has a different focus, both share a common goal: to position Kern County students for success that will advance the economic vitality and the health of our community.

The challenge is clear, however. According to data reported by the California Department of Education, Kern County’s educational attainment rates are below state averages, with adults over 25 years of age earning bachelor’s degrees at half the rate statewide, and in some surrounding rural communities, rates drop to below 2 percent.

And yet, as presidents of your community college and state university in Bakersfield, we believe that we are living in the best of times for higher education serving the Bakersfield community.

We have statewide support

At the state level, each of our systems are seeing major reforms designed to advance timely completion. The CSU’s ambitious Graduation Initiative 2025 aims to increase graduation rates, while the community college system is implementing a new funding formula that incentivizes completion, particularly of the Associate Degree for Transfer (ADT). Senate Bill 1440 legislation guarantees students who complete an ADT at BC can transfer with 60 credits to a CSU with junior-level status. These reforms have positioned each college to maximize the dollars that flow to our community from Sacramento.

We have an award-winning collaborative model

After launching the Kern Promise and later the Finish in 4 project with fully-mapped four-year transfer programs from BC to CSUB, both have received statewide accolades and secured additional funding to strengthen our partnership. In December 2017, CSUB earned recognition as a transfer champion because of the increase of the ADT degree holders it was enrolling and graduating, most of whom are BC ADTs. In September 2018, Bakersfield College earned the California Community College Chancellor’s Student Success award for our work with CSUB on transfer pathways. As a result of that collaboration, CSUB also has received national recognition for the social mobility of its graduates and its quality education at an affordable price.

We have local support

Just last year we received an outpouring of support from business and industry leaders, community leaders and political leaders for the co-location of a BC facility on the CSUB campus. These letters were publicly presented to the Kern Community College Board of Trustees at its December 2018 meeting.

Now is the right time to implement our bold vision for a BC-CSUB co-location.

A co-location model is a smart move for our students and our community. By creating the conditions for BC students to enroll in BC courses on the CSUB campus, we will streamline transfer pathways and create efficiencies that result in savings for the student and the taxpayer. Imagine 1,000 students per term each take one less three-unit course to earn their degree due to lower waitlists, less wandering through non-degree-applicable courses and a clearer focus on their end goals. That savings equates to $370 per student, or $370,000 per term for those 1,000 students. Over a 20-year period, that’s a savings of $14.8 million.

A co-location model is a model of opportunity for leadership among faculty, staff and students to become a model of quality education for the state and for the nation. This will be a model through which students learn the 21st century skills of creativity, innovation and problem-solving that will serve them well in our quickly-evolving, automated work. These tangible skills will serve them well as we diversify the industry base we attract to our region.

This partnership is essential to make the San Joaquin Valley an economically booming, vibrant community. By expanding educational opportunities and focusing on completion of the baccalaureate, we will bring communities out of poverty to engage in active citizenship and lead healthy, productive lives.

It is a great time to be in Bakersfield.

Sonya Christian, Ph.D., is starting her sixth year as Bakersfield College’s 10th president. Lynnette Zelezny, Ph.D., in July 2018 began her tenure as Cal State Bakersfield’s fifth president. Christian can be reached at president@bakersfieldcollege.edu, and Zelezny can be reached at 661-654-2241.

Original post can be found at:

https://www.bakersfield.com/opinion/community-voices-bc-csub-positioning-kern-county-students-for-decades/article_a5d16c62-185c-11e9-842b-331edcf7537d.html

COC Brings Leaders Together for ‘Doing What Matters’ Institute

May 6, 2018

More than 50 presidents, CEOs, college chancellors and board of trustee members representing more than 30 colleges attended the “Doing What Matters” CEO Institute at the Dr. Dianne G. Van Hook University Center Thursday.

Hosted by College of the Canyons, the one-day symposium, which also attracted representatives from various Economic Development partnerships throughout the state, focused on what it means to lead campuses and make a positive impact in surrounding communities through the DWM initiative.

Doing What Matters for Jobs and the Economy is a California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office initiative and statewide program that invests more than $200 million dollars annually into career education among the state’s 114 community colleges.

“The conference created the perfect opportunity for college chancellors and CEOs to learn about major influences and shifts to the state economy and labor market, as well as how community colleges can work with business leaders to help meet the needs of employers now and into the future,” said COC Chancellor Dr. Dianne G. Van Hook.

“We look forward to seeing how we can work together to move forward strategically and advance workforce and economic development through innovative partnerships strategy development and collaboration,” Van Hook said.

After opening remarks made by Van Hook, Jim Mayer, president and CEO of California Forward, spoke about the need for partnerships and the integration of government agencies to adapt to an ever-changing world.

“Even in booming times, we have to learn how to do more with less,” Mayer said. “We need the ability to anticipate changes that are happening so we can respond. This will be easier if we have a robust set of partnerships.”

Other speakers at the conference included Bill Allen (President/CEO of Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation and Co-Chair of the California Stewardship Network), Kish Rajan (Principal of KRPA), Bill Scroggins (President of Mt. San Antonio College), Paul Granillo (President/CEO of Inland Empire Economic Partnerships), Ben Duran (Executive Director of the Central Valley Higher Education Consortium).

Each presentation was followed by a facilitated dialogue session to encourage the exchange of ideas among attendees.

Original post can be found at:

https://scvnews.com/2018/05/04/coc-brings-leaders-together-for-doing-what-matters-institute/

Gornick named chancellor emeritus by WHCCD board of trustees

July 4, 2017

COALINGA — In recognition of his 23 years of service to the West Hills Community College District, Dr. Frank Gornick has been named Chancellor Emeritus by the WHCCD Board of Trustees.

The honorary title was presented to Gornick on the eve of his retirement after two decades of dedication to the WHCCD. Gornick has served as the district’s Chief Executive Officer since 1994 and retired on June 30.

“It’s been a privilege to work alongside Dr. Frank Gornick for almost 24 years,” said Jeff Levinson, a long-time board member. “His contribution to our college district and communities will not go unnoticed. Frank very much deserves the Chancellor Emeritus title.”

Gornick was hired in 1994 as superintendent-president and transitioned to chancellor when WHCCD became a multi-college district in 2001.

As the leader of WHCCD, he has helped oversee the physical growth of the district including the addition of West Hills College Lemoore and the expansion and revitalization of West Hills College Coalinga.

“I’ve been excited to come to work every morning for nearly 23 years,” Gornick said. “It’s not often that one is provided an opportunity to have a dream job. For me, being the CEO and working with the Board of Trustees, faculty and staff, and community leaders was a privilege. The district is in a better place now, and poised for great things in the future because of everyone’s hard work and dedication to student success.”

Awards Gornick has received include the MetLife Foundation Community College Excellence Award, the Executive of the Year Award from the Public Relations Society of America for college communications, and honors from the California Community College system for best practices in the fields of Diversity, Technology, and Highest Performing Institutions. He was also the recipient of the 2017 Harry Buttimer Distinguished Administrator Award from the Association of California Community College Administrators.

Gornick was a Governor’s appointee for higher education on the California Partnership for the San Joaquin Valley and served as past Chair of the Central Valley Higher Education Consortium. Additionally, he has served as a public representative for the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges since 2009. He was elected by his peers to serve as Chair of the Chief Executive Officers of the California Community Colleges Board.

Gornick is an alumnus of West Hills College Coalinga—known then as Coalinga College—where he received his associate’s degree in 1966. He also holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from California State University, Sacramento and a Ph.D. from St. Louis University.

Prior to serving as the CEO of the WHCCD, he was Dean of Student Services at Bakersfield College for nine years. He also held college administrative positions in Illinois, Texas and Maryland.

Dr. Stuart Van Horn, former WHCCD vice chancellor of educational services and workforce development, took over as Chancellor on July 1.

Original post can be found at:

https://hanfordsentinel.com/news/local/gornick-named-chancellor-emeritus-by-whccd-board-of-trustees/article_1d2f990c-40a4-51dc-bd9e-5ee8472a3cf3.html

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