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