CVHEC Master’s Upskilling Program making its mark
[UPDATE APRIL 24, 2025]: the WeWill Program has approximately three seats open for the English cohort. Interested high school teachers may sign up for an information session at the National University team’s calendly link.
Recruitment underway for
North Valley English HS teachers cohort
The Central Valley Higher Education Consortium (CVHEC) Master’s Upskilling Program – now successfully scaled across three California K-16 Education Collaboratives regions throughout the consortium’s 10-counties — is now recruiting for 12 North Valley and three more Kern County English high school teachers interested in earning a master’s degree that will qualify them to teach dual enrollment college courses.
An online information session is set for April 22 with registration now available.
The program, which provides tuition funding support, is open to English Single Subject credential holders who are interested in pursuing a master’s degree in English with a specialization in rhetoric. In addition to dual enrollment courses, the degree also qualifies them to work as adjunct instructors in a community college.
The CVHEC Master’s Upskilling Program was first launched in 2021 with the Fresno/Madera K-16 Collaborative. In 2022, the program was funded for the South Valley by the Kern Regional K-16 Education Collaborative and in 2024 for the North Valley by the WE Will! K-16 Workforce and Education Collaborative.
The program is in partnership with two CVHEC-members — Fresno Pacific University (math) and National University (English) — along with CVHEC member community colleges and their service-area high schools.
In addition to covering a large part of the cost of the upskilling coursework, the program provides the high school teachers with community college mentors to support them in their academic journey and in their eventual role as college instructors, said Tom Burke, CVHEC’s Master’s Upskilling Program coordinator.
For the North Valley participants (San Joaquin, Stanislaus, & Merced counties), CVHEC’s We Will! Workforce and Education Collaborative grant provides $12,500 per student. National University provides a 20 percent tuition reduction scholarship per student also in partnership with CVHEC.
For the South Valley participants receive $14,400 each from Kern’s Regional K16 Education Collaborative and the Central Valley Higher Education Consortium (CVHEC).
They also receive a 20 percent ($3,978) employee tuition reduction each from the CVHEC partnership with National University.
Classes are scheduled to begin Spring/Summer 2025 for completion in 12-months or less with 10 courses (45 quarter units) that are fully online, asynchronous instruction in a one-course-per-month format. The program uses a cohort-based model with 12 students per cohort.
Similar to the Fresno and Kern initiatives, National and CVHEC are now working with Merced, San Joaquin and Stanislaus Counties Superintendent of Schools Offices to recruit for the 12 slots open to high school English teachers in the three North Valley counties seeking this opportunity, as well as working with regional community colleges to identify mentors for the participating teachers.
The Kern program has been recruiting for 15 slots the past few months with 12 slots filled to date.
The April 22 info session webinar covers both North Valley and Kern participants, said Jessica Gladney, senior director of Educational Partnerships Workforce and Community Education (WCE) for National.
Burke said community college professors interested in serving as a mentor should contact the respective coordinators: Dr. Lori Bennett (math) at lori.bennett@csun.edu or Dr. Vikash Lakhani (English) at vikashlakhani@hotmail.com.
He provided this breakdown of the program’s progress since it began in 2022, with 188 high school teachers to date in the valley’s three K-16 regions completing the postgraduate degree requirements that will qualify them to teach California Community College courses in dual enrollment at their respective high schools:
- The Fresno/Madera K-16 completed eight cohorts in 2022 that produced 140 master’s degrees: four English cohorts resulted in 54 master’s degrees and in the math component, 86 degrees were conferred in four cohorts also.
- For Kern K16, 48 master’s degrees have been conferred: three English cohorts have been completed with 32 degrees and a fourth cohort will begin this spring for completion in May 2026 with 12 high school teachers currently recruited (recruitment is still open for three additional slots). In math, one cohort has been completed resulting in 16 degrees conferred and two cohorts are in progress with 12 students set to complete in May 2025 and 22 students in May 2026.
- The North Valley K-16 (WeWill) program began this year: one English cohort of 12 will begin this spring for completion in May 2026. Recruitment is still open with the April 22 information session. One math cohort also begins this spring for completion in fall 2026 with 10 students enrolled (recruitment for this math cohort is closed).
For questions about the English program cohort openings, contact Kondwani Prater, National University outreach specialist at kprater@nu.edu or text (818) 214-9044.
- CVHEC questions: contact Ángel Ramírez, operations and finance manager, at CVHECinfo@mail.fresnostate.edu or 278.0576.
- Media inquiries:Tom Uribes, CVHEC communications coordinator, text 559.348.3278 or cvheccommunications@mail.fresnostate.edu
See:
- Fresno Pacific University Math MA Program
- National University English MA program
- Kern Masters Upskill Program update – Sept. 2024
- Kern Master’s Upskilling Program: 2nd cohort graduates – next cohort recruitment underway
- CVHEC Teacher Upskilling Program for Master’s Degrees Supports Dual Enrollment in South Valley via Kern K-16 Collaborative Grant(June 23, 2022)
- Rozell, Lakhani Named CVHEC’s Kern Faculty Mentor Coordinators(February 22, 2023)
- CVHEC IN THE NEWS: KBAK features Kern Master’s Upskill Program(November 17, 2022)
- Tom Burke Named Kern Master’s Upskill Lead(November 16, 2022)
- Herrera to Head Kern Regional K-16 Education Collaborative(July 13, 2022)
- KCSOS Dr. Mary Barlow Announces $18.1M Workforce Grant (KCSOS press release – June 9, 2022)
- “Blurring the Lines Between High School and College: Dual Enrollment in the Central Valley”(CVHEC video – March 2022)
SPOTLIGHT: Dr. Bennett named CVHEC’s math faculty mentor coordinator
Dr. Lori Bennett, president-emeritus of Clovis Community College who joined the Central Valley Higher Education Consortium team this month, with Dr. John Spevak (left), CVHEC Math and English Task Forces lead, and Executive Director Benjamín Durán at her final CVHEC board meeting upon retirement from CCC in 2023.
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. Lori Bennett
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
MEMBER NEWS: Coalinga College: OER Teaching and Learning Forum is May 16
‘A morning of learning and strategizing about OERs’ – Goldrick-Rab to keynote
The Teaching and Learning Forum “Relevance & Application through Open Education Resources (OER)” will be presented by Coalinga College May 16 from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Harris Ranch in Coalinga (24505 W. Dorris Ave).
Sociologist Sara Goldrick-Rab will keynote the event designed to provide a morning of learning and strategizing about OERs. The event is funded through the Fresno Madera K-16 Collaborative.
The forum will feature students addressing barriers and fostering belonging and support
Participants will explore how OER enhances student access, affordability, and success; hear from faculty about their experiences developing and using OER; engage in meaningful discussions on the impact of OER in teaching and learning; and discover strategies to integrate OER into your courses effectively.
Goldrick-Rab is a scholar-activist who founded the #RealCollege movement “to support students’ basic needs and advance a more just vision of higher education.”
Her website describes #RealCollege as a global movement dedicated to addressing the challenges faced by college students:
“The work focuses on raising awareness about the real-life experiences and struggles of students, especially those from marginalized communities. It highlights often-overlooked issues reflecting students’ basic needs— food and housing insecurity, mental health, child care, transportation, and so on. The goal is to amplify students voices, foster dialogue, and drive systemic change in higher education institutions and public policies.”
Among her activism is spending six years learning from the experiences of thousands of low-income college students and writing an award-winning book, “Paying the Price: College Costs, Financial Aid, and the Betrayal of the American Dream” (University of Chicago, 2016).