BY TOM URIBES
CVHEC Communications Lead

(OCT. 13, 2026) – A regional student survey planned for the spring semester is being developed to better understand why students leave college, the barriers they face in returning and what services could help them re-enroll as one of four new strategic priority initiatives the Central Valley Higher Education Consortium Board of Directors launched last year.

At its upcoming Oct. 14 board meeting, the directors — made up of Central Valley college and university CEOs — will hear updates on that initiative, Enrollment Reconnect, along with three other task forces the board created 14 months ago: Data Sharing; Workforce Alignment; and Artificial Intelligence (AI) & Innovation.

Dubbed CVHEC’s New Strategic Priorities, the four initiatives were identified by CVHEC’s board at its Strategic Planning Retreat Aug. 20, 2025 as key areas of focus for the next three to five years after examining the region’s most pressing higher education challenges and identifying opportunities for CVHEC members to work collectively rather than independently.

The process resulted in the creation of task forces charged with developing regional strategies and identifying areas where collaboration can make a difference for the 250,000 students serviced by CVHECs 28-member institutions of higher education across the Valley’s 10-county region.

In February 2026, CVHEC announced the appointment of former Central Valley higher education presidents and chancellors to serve as regional liaisons and strategy leads and coordinate the work of their respective task forces as the four regional priority initiatives move from vision and planning toward action. (See full list of CVHEC strategy priority task force leads below). 

The progress of all four initiatives will be presented by the leads to the CVHEC Board of Directors at its Oct. 14 meeting to follow up their first report at the May board meeting.

“We’re seeing the work move from identifying regional challenges to building practical strategies that can benefit our institutions and, ultimately, our students,” said CVHEC Executive Director Dr. Benjamín Durán when the committees were launched. 

The goal, he said, “is to maintain a regional collaboration focused on student access, retention and completion.” 

Here is a look at the progress of each strategic priority:

Enrollment Reconnect Taskforce

The regional student survey being planned for next semester by the Enrollment Reconnect Task Force will set the stage for addressing one of the region’s most important student-success challenges: how to help students who leave college before earning a degree or certificate return and complete their educational goals.

Led by Tom Burke, chancellor-emeritus of Kern Community College District, the taskforce is working to better understand why students stop attending and what barriers prevent them from returning.

The regional student survey — a major component of the initiative — is  being developed in collaboration with the Data Sharing and Regional Dashboards Taskforce. The survey will gather information about students’ educational and career goals, their experiences in higher education, barriers to returning and the services that could help them re-enroll.

“The CVHEC Enrollment Reconnect Taskforce is working to develop a regional approach to re-engaging students who leave higher education before earning a degree or certificate,” Burke said.

The taskforce also is mapping existing degree-completion programs, re-engagement services and referral resources throughout the region, he added.

“The goal is to help institutions move beyond simply identifying students who have stopped out and toward coordinated strategies for reconnecting them with educational pathways and support,” Burke said.

Data Sharing and Regional Dashboards Taskforce

Led by Dr. Kristin Clark, chancellor-emerita of West Hills Community College District, the Data Sharing and Regional Dashboards Taskforce is working to create a stronger regional foundation for collecting, analyzing and using higher education data.

“The CVHEC Data SharingTaskforce is working to streamline regional data collection and reporting across member institutions,” she said. “By sharing and analyzing data regionally, institutions can gain insights that extend beyond their own campuses and examine regional patterns in student enrollment, persistence, completion and mobility.”

The work also is laying the groundwork for a potential regional data dashboard that could give CVHEC members timely and consistent information to support planning and decision-making.

Clark said such a dashboard could strengthen regional collaboration by helping institutions identify trends and opportunities that may be difficult to see through campus-level data alone.

“Ultimately, the initiative is intended to help turn better regional information into better regional decisions — and improved outcomes for Central Valley students,” said the former West Hills Community College District chancellor who joined the CVHEC core team in spring 2025. She was also previously president of WHCCD’s Lemoore College.

Talent & Workforce Alignment Work Group (TWAG) 

Led by Stan Carrizosa, president-emeritus of College of the Sequoias, the Talent & Workforce Alignment initiative is focused on helping Central Valley colleges and universities better connect academic programs with the workforce needs of the region.

Carrizosa reports that the initiative made significant progress during the summer, including completion of an inventory of current college programs and curriculum across the region. The team also further refined its analysis of 10 major Central Valley studies projecting workforce needs through 2035.

“Together, the research is providing a broad picture of both the programs already available to students and the occupations and skills expected to be in demand in the years ahead,” Carrizosa said. “Over the summer we continued building the foundation for a coordinated regional approach to workforce development.”

He emphasizes that an important principle of the initiative is that CVHEC does not intend to duplicate the substantial workforce development efforts already underway throughout the Central Valley/Mother Lode region.  

“Instead, the work is designed to identify where CVHEC can add value through greater alignment, collaboration and shared action,” Carrizosa explained. “With this foundation in place, the Talent & Workforce Alignment Work Group will reconvene this fall to continue moving the initiative from research and planning toward regional action.”

The next phase will focus on translating the research and program inventory into a clearer regional path forward, he added.

AI & Innovation Strategic Initiative Task Force

As artificial intelligence transforms higher education at a rapid pace, CVHEC leaders recognize that institutions can benefit by sharing knowledge and developing regional approaches to emerging opportunities and challenges says Dr. Lori Bennett, president-emerita of Clovis Community College.

She now leads CVHEC’s AI & Innovation Strategic Initiative Task Force that has established four primary areas of focus: policy; workforce preparation and professional development; teaching and research; and operational efficiencies.

The AI & Innovation Taskforce now includes approximately 50 members participating in subgroups aligned with those four areas:

• The policy subgroup is collecting and reviewing existing institutional AI policies to identify common themes, gaps and potential areas for collaboration. 

• The workforce subgroup is exploring a regional framework for AI literacy and professional development.

• Teaching and research discussions are examining curriculum, instruction and research practices, with an emphasis on sharing promising approaches. 

• The operations group is identifying opportunities to use AI to improve institutional business processes and efficiencies.

Bennett said the taskforce reflects the importance of addressing AI collaboratively.

“Recognizing that artificial intelligence is evolving rapidly, CVHEC leaders identified regional collaboration as an important way for institutions to learn from one another and respond to emerging opportunities and challenges,” she said.

Subgroups are meeting throughout the fall semester, while the full taskforce convenes monthly to share progress, exchange ideas and identify opportunities for collaboration.

Bennett said the taskforce also is exploring a regional convening where Central Valley institutions could share promising practices and strengthen connections around AI.

“Through this collaborative effort, CVHEC members are working together to build regional capacity and develop thoughtful approaches to the rapidly evolving role of AI in higher education,” she said.

CVHEC STRATEGIC PRIORITIES – LEADS

DATA SHARING TASK FORCE

LEAD: Dr. Kristin Clark, chancellor-emerita of West Hills Community College District  

AI & INNOVATION TASK FORCE

LEAD: Dr. Lori Bennett, president-emeritus of Clovis Community College

WORKFORCE ALIGNMENT TASK FORCE

LEAD: Stan Carrizosa, president-emeritus of College of the Sequoias;  

ENROLLMENT / RECONNECT TASK FORCE

LEAD: Tom Burke, chancellor-emeritus of Kern Community College District.

See:

http://cvhec.org/board-retreat-produces-4-advisory-boards-for-goal-development/ 

https://cvhec.org/cvhec-names-team-liaisons-for-its-strategic-advisory-boards/