The College Bridge Dual Enrollment Math Bridge Project, in partnership with the Central Valley Higher Education Consortium , was featured by KERO23-ABC in Bakersfield with reporter/anchor Ava Kershner interviewing Dr. Lynn Cevallos, founder and president of College Bridge, and Armin Rashvand, the Taft College dean of instruction.
Welcome to this month’s CVHEC e-Newsletter. As we move into the spring of 2023 with a little more daylight on our hands, we are happy to share some timely items following our last issue.
First, as we in the Central Valley continue to bask in the pride and excitement of our own Dr. Sonya Christian, chancellor of the Kern Community College District, being chosen by the California Community Colleges Board of Governors to lead the California Community College System, we are delighted to feature her in this issue’s “What the CV-HEC Is Happening Blog.” 
The Chancellor-select reflects on her time working in the valley with her fellow presidents and chancellors on the CVHEC Board of Directors and the strides we have made as a united voice for higher education in our nine-county region [or Kern Co if that is what the blog focuses on]. Please enjoy her guest blog in this month’s issue and, once again, congratulations Sonya!
Registration for the CVHEC Annual Summit is now open!
Please plan on joining us May 12 for this great event as well as our special CVHEC Welcome Reception the day before at Arte Americas. The summit – always historic in that it brings together the higher education leadership in our nine-county region – provides the opportunity to showcase the great work that is taking place in our Central Valley colleges and universities to provide meaningful pathways for our students seeking a higher education.
In furtherance of our mission to increase access to college for students, we are pleased to announce the Central Valley Math Bridge Kick-off May 18 in downtown Fresno with our partners College Bridge and the Rand Corporation. With this the formal launch, we are excited to shine a light on the great work that can come out of small colleges in the Central Valley that we will share with the rest of the state and eventually nationally as this project creates a model for meaningful dual enrollment math pathways and expansion that can be replicated in other regions of California.
This same spirit carries forth in the South Valley where our Kern Master’s Upskilling Project is now recruiting community college professors to serve as mentors for high school teachers enrolled in the project to earn master’s degrees in math or English. In collaboration with the Kern Regional K-16 Education Collaborative, we are working to improve student progress from high school to postsecondary education and ultimately into the workforce by 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 or math courses at local high schools.
We encourage Kern area community college math and English professors to join us in this innovative project.
And finally, as we close out March next week, let us acknowledge Women’s History Month by expressing our appreciation to the incredible women leaders who serve on the CVHEC Board of Directors as the presidents or chancellors of the colleges and universities in our region, led by board chairwoman Dr. Kristin Clark, chancellor the West Hills Community College District.
As you read through this issue, we hope you find inspiration in the many great higher education advancements taking place in the Central Valley. Thanks for being a partner and a friend of CVHEC.
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.
This month’s guest blog is presented by Chet Frantzich, an English teacher at Buchanan High School in Clovis who earned a master’s degree in June through CVHEC’s Master’s Upskilling Program. Chet earned his bachelor’s degree at Fresno State in 2010 (credential 2012) and has taught at BHS since 2018. He shares the value of the upskilling program and how it will benefit not just his personal and professional advancement but also his students through dual enrollment courses he plans to teach in the near future.
By Chet Frantzich
Buchanan High School
The Master’s Upskilling experience afforded me courtesy of the Central Valley Higher Education Consortium, National University and the Clovis Unified School District was a career altering one.
Not only did achieving my master’s in rhetoric open up pathways for me to teach dual enrollment courses and even courses at my local junior college, but it also impacted the way I teach. Graduating from the program has instilled in me a better sense of what my students need when it comes to functioning in college, yes, but also in life. 
The program was a revelation regarding what truly matters in education and regarding how to teach the whole student.
I knew going into the program that it would be demanding — not just the workload each class would require that would make it so, but also balancing teaching and extracurricular responsibilities. However, each class was so organized and each instructor so available and professional that it took hardly any time at all to fall into a kind of groove regarding the work. Before I knew it, the class was over, and hence, the program itself successfully completed.
Each class had a curriculum that was engaging and impactful, relevant to my cohort’s subject area, even to the point where I would read about a strategy or an idea on a Wednesday and apply that idea or enforce that strategy the very next week. It dawned on me early in the program that I was not just earning a postbaccalaureate degree; I was improving as a teacher day-by-day, week-by-week.
Here is an example of what made the program so navigable: from the outset of each class, we (each cohort member) knew exactly what the end goal was we were striving for. From week one on, we would engage with texts and perform activities and interact with one another and building ideas – one upon the other, never in isolation of each other – so that, come the final week of the class, a lot of the work we would have to do for our month’s final project has been completed.
Not only did this help me manage my time and make me feel like my work was consequential, but it also illuminated an idea: why don’t I do this with my students?
And so I did, almost right away. Not long after joining the cohort and being confronted with this realization, my students read a novel where I could show them the result we would be striving for before actually starting the book. This was not something foreign to me. What was new though, was the importance of revealing to people what they are doing, what the end result is, that way how they go about getting to that end destination is of the best quality possible.
The program elevated my teaching abilities in numerous ways, but understanding what my students needed to excel in their next stage of life was the chief way I improved. It is not that I did not know what they needed, but more so that I came to better understand how to get what they needed to them.
My mentor, Jeff Burdick, was a key piece in helping me understand how to help my students. His wisdom and experience in the college classroom revealed some things and affirmed others: that students need to be given a space to be creative, that they need to be shown tough love, that understanding how basic language works is essential to being a great communicator, that writing is the best way to teach people how to think.
Without the program, I think my grasp on those ideas would be decent, vague; graduating from the program, my grasp on those ideas is iron-like.
I cannot wait for the opportunity to teach dual enrollment classes. I have not been granted the chance to teach them yet, but when I do, I know I will be ready, and the Master’s program is a big reason why.
I do not think there is a topic or issue in the English classroom I cannot tackle, so expansive was the breadth of my experience earning my master’s. Going through the program is an experience I will never forget, and it is one I will forever be grateful for. There is no question that the program has made me a better, more well-rounded teacher, and it has inspired me to keep learning about my craft, that way my students get the best version of me year-to-year, month-to-month, week-to-week, day-to-day.
More specifically, I am confident they will find inspiration in the taking dual enrollment courses I hope to soon teach that will lay a foundation for a successful and meaningful higher education experience.
See Mr. Frantzich communicating with his student’s parents for Back to School Night 2021.
Dr. Kim E. Armstrong was named president of Clovis Community College by the State Center Community College District (SCCCD) Board of Trustees Nov. 1.
President-select Armstrong will take office Jan. 3, 2023 when she will also join the CVHEC Board of Directors , which is made up the presidents and chancellors of its 30 higher education institution members. She will replace President Lori Bennett, whose retirement is effective Jan. 4.
Dr. Armstrong currently serves as the Vice Chancellor for Student, Equity, and Community Affairs at Arkansas State University Three Rivers.
She earned her B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. from Howard University in Physiological/Neuropsychology and has Strategic Leadership and Management Specialization certifications.
See the CCC press release.
CCC media contact: Stephanie Babb at stephanie.babb@cloviscollege.edu.
Congratulations to Dr. Debra Daniels who will retire as president of Taft College this month, she announced at the West Kern Community College District Board of Trustees meeting July 13. Brock McMurray, the executive vice president for Administrative Services will serve as interim superintendent/president while WKCCD conducts a search.
“We are grateful for President Daniels exemplary career in higher education and for her service to West Kern students as well as her service on our CVHEC Board of Directors,” said Dr. Benjamin Duran, executive director of the Central Valley Higher Education Consortium. “We wish her all the best in her well-deserved retirement.”
Congratulations to Dr. Lisa Aguilera Lawrenson who was named San Joaquin Delta College’s 12th superintendent/president. She will be the first Latina and the first woman of color to serve in that role.
A former English professor with nearly three decades of community college experience, Dr. Aguilera Lawrenson has been serving as Delta’s acting superintendent/president since September 2021 when she also joined the CVHEC Board of Directors, which is made up the presidents and chancellors of its 30 higher education institution members.
See the San Joaquin Delta College press release.
Congratulations to Dr. André Stephens who will assume the Fresno Pacific University presidency on July 1. He will join the Central Valley Higher Education Consortium Board of Directors, succeeding Dr. Joseph Jones, who completes five years of Pacific service upon retirement July 1 and also served on the CVHEC board’s executive committee.
Described as a leader with a long commitment to Christian higher education and expertise in student services and enrollment, Dr. Stephens brings 30 years of experience in Christian higher education in California, most recently as vice president for student development at Biola University since 2016.
See Fresno Pacific press release.
Congratulations to Dr. Robert Pimentel who was appointed president of Fresno City College Tuesday by State Center Community College District trustees effective July 1, replacing former President Carole Goldsmith who became chancellor for the district in January. Dr. Marlon Hall was serving as interim president (see Goldsmith and Hall stories below).
Dr. Pimentel is vice president of Educational Services and Institutional Effectiveness at Fresno City College where he has been serving since 2018. Before beginning his work at Fresno City College in 2018, he worked in leadership positions at West Hills for 11 years and as a classified staff member for more than six years.
He is a first-generation college student and a product of three CVHEC member institutions. He transferred from West Hills College Coalinga to Fresno State, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in social work. He earned a master’s degree in social work with an emphasis on mental health at California State University, Bakersfield, and a doctorate in educational leadership, higher education, at Fresno State.
Congratulations to Dr. Joseph Jones, who will be retiring as president of Fresno Pacific University this summer after nearly five years of faithful service.
FPU Board of Trustees Chair Joshua Wilson, J.D., announced the retirement last fall saying, “On behalf of the FPU Board of Trustees I want to thank Joe and Yvette for their faithful service to the university and to the communities the university serves. We wish them all the best in their future journey and pray for God’s blessing on them.”
A search for a new president is now underway. See the retirement announcement. See President Jones bio.
Congratulations to Dr. Lori Bennett, who informed the Central Valley Higher Education Consortium Board of Directors earlier this month that she will retire as president of Clovis Community College effective January 2023.
President Bennett was appointed to serve as the second president of Clovis Community College in July, 2016.
Congratulations to Dr. Marlon Hall on his appointment to serve as interim president of Fresno City College by State CenterCommunity College District Chancellor Carole Goldsmith in January.
He replaces Dr. Goldsmith who was appointed SCCCD chancellor in December. A search for the next FCC president is currently underway.
Dr. Carole Goldsmith, who was named the 11th chancellor of the State Center Community College District last month, was confirmed by the SCCCD Board of Trustees Dec. 14 and begins her new position on Jan. 1. She fills the position vacated when Dr. Paul Parnell retired on July 6.
Dr. Goldsmith was serving as the president of Fresno City College at the time of her appointment and in that capacity was a member of the CVHEC Board of Directors, which is made up of the presidents and chancellors of its 29-member institutions in the nine-county region from San Joaquin to Kern counties. She will remain on the board now as SCCCD chancellor. Dr. Goldsmith has also previously served as president of West Hills College Coalinga.
Dr. Goldsmith earned a bachelor of arts degree in history at Fresno State, a master of science in educational administration from National University (both CVHEC member institutions) and a doctorate in educational administration from the Joint Doctorate program offered by Fresno State and University of California, Davis.
In addition to Fresno City College , the district’s campuses are Reedley College, Clovis Community College, Madera Community College, Madera Community College at Oakhurst and the Career & Technology Center.
SCCCD Board President Annalisa Perea said, “With more than 20 years of experience in a variety of educational leadership roles along with her knowledge of this district and the community, she is the right choice for this significant position.”
Dr. Carla Tweed, a Central Valley native, will lead her alma mater as the 6th president of West Hills College Coalinga effective January 14, 2022 when she also becomes a member of the Central Valley Higher Education Consortium board of directors.
Mr. James Preston, former vice president of Educational Services who was serving as interim president of West Hills College Lemoore, was selected earlier this month to serve as the college’s 4th president effective January 1, 2022.
Congratulations to Sonia Gutierrez-Mendoza, director of UMass Global’s Visalia Campus, (formerly Brandman) on her appointment as assistant vice chancellor for Admission Operations of the independent university. The appointment was effective Nov. 29 when Sonia moved to her new office in the Irvine central office. She participated in her final CVHEC Board meeting during the recent quarterly Zoom call Dec. 2. Gutierrez-Mendoza joined UMass Global in 2009 and the CVHEC board in 2018. She has led multiple university campuses in the Central Valley since 2012 and in 2018-2019 she spearheaded the initiative for a new campus location established in Visalia.
The Clovis Community College President’s Breakfast on Oct. 25 featured President Lori Bennett’s final State-of-the-College Address before her retirement Jan. 4 culminating nearly 30 years in higher education with the last seven as the head of CCC. She is also a CVHEC board member.
During President Bennett’s tenure, Clovis Community College introduced 70 new degrees and certificates and a competitive athletics program.
Student retention and completion rates have improved and the college has been honored for the high rate of student transfers to four-year colleges including the Campaign for College Opportunity formally recognizing the college four years in a row for its work in increasing the number of students receiving associate degrees for transfer that guarantees transfer to a California State University.
Among the highlights was a presentation on the PODER Program (Title V grant) and a video presenting its successes in increasing the number of Latino and low-income students in the Central Valley who have access to and complete degrees or certificates in STEM disciplines through guided pathways and partnerships that support increased transfer into four-year university STEM programs.
The campus is now preparing for the 6th Annual “Giving Tuesday” Nov.29.
Related stories
Two Central Valley Higher Education Consortium members held milestone events this fall with the resumption of their pandemic-delayed President’s Breakfast and State-of-the-College Address: Madera Community College and Clovis Community College Oct. 25.
Madera Community College made campus history Oct. 21 with its first President’s Breakfast since gaining full college status in July 2020 when it became the 116th and newest campus in the California Community College system. The event was kept on the drawing board during the corona virus pandemic until this fall.
Additionally, President Angel Reyna delivered his first State-of-the-College Address during the breakfast held at the Madera County Superintendent of Schools Office where among the many highlights was the screening of an award-winning video, “Sentido de Pertenencia” – a sense of belonging – that won the nationwide “Million Dollar Community College Challenge” sponsored by the Lumina Foundation.
Chosen from among ten finalists announced in August, Madera earned A $1 million grant from Lumina for the winning video that was created by student ambassador Jennifer Hernandez and featured recent alumna Marisela Maciel, an immigrant and mother of three children. The MCC video was also featured in a Forbes article.
The president said the $1 million grant will support several projects such as murals reflecting the community (Chicano art and migrant farmworkers), a multicultural center, web site re-design and initiatives to support students age 25+ as well as identify gaps affecting underserved students.
President Reyna, who was appointed by the State Center Community College District Board of Trustees effective May 20, 2019, reported that Madera Community College will open its 35,000 square-foot Academic Village later this year.
He also announced he is partnering with Dr. Robert Pimentel, Fresno City College president and fellow CVHEC board member, to present a Men of Color Summit set for April 23, 2023 at FCC.
Related stories:
CVHEC’s Kern Master’s Teacher Upskilling Pathway for English and Mathematics was featured on KBAK’s Eyewitness Mornings with host Tony Salazar interviewing project coordinator Tom Burke and Dr. Krista Herrera, director of the Kern K-16 Collaborative.
The program is currently recruiting South Valley math and English teachers for the cohorts to be presented next spring.
See: KBAK interview (Oct. 19, 2022).
Thomas J. Burke
Tom Burke, chancellor-emeritus of Kern Community College District, was honored by the Association of Chief Business Officials/California Community Colleges with its ACBO Achievement of Excellence Award last month.
Burke, who now serves as coordinator of the Central Valley Higher Education Consortium Transfer Project and this month was named to lead the Consortium’s Kern Master’s Teacher Up-skilling Pathway for English and Mathematics, was presented the prestigious award during ABCO’s annual conference (Oct. 24-26) in Indian Wells, CA.
Formerly the Walter Star Robie, the award is presented to professionals in California community college business administration who have demonstrated outstanding achievements and exemplary service as chief business officials in their respective districts and the state of California.
Burke served the California Community College system for 24 years including 15 as KCCD chief financial officer before being named the district’s chancellor in 2016. He retired in July, 2021 and in December, Burke was conferred chancellor emeritus by the KCCD Board of Trustees.
