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National Higher Education Month
CVHEC … a regional collaboration dedicated to
student access, retention and completion for students
Greetings CVHEC friends and colleagues …
We welcome you to our October newsletter and especially to National Higher Education Month!
It is fitting that this month we observe the value of higher education by presenting the direction the Central Valley Higher Education Consortium will undertake in the next three years or so following a strategic planning retreat by our board of directors in late August.
Composed of the CEOs of our 28-member institutions of higher education, the board was hosted by CVHEC Board Chair and UC Merced Chancellor Dr. Juan Sánchez Muñoz for the retreat where 23 of our 28 board members attended and participated in the day-long facilitated session held Aug. 20 at the beautiful UC Merced campus.
After revisiting the origins of CVHEC for the benefit of new leaders in the valley and discussing the vision and mission of the consortium, the group held an earnest and collaborative discussion about its future direction. The focus was on the next three years of CVHEC as we continue to foster and maintain a regional collaboration dedicated to student access, retention and completion for our students.
With this in mind, the Central Valley leaders of academia identified these four areas to pursue diligently, going forward:
- Data Sharing and Regional Dashboards
- Workforce Aligned Program Development
- Artificial Intelligence (AI)
- Enrollment & Reconnecting/Re-engaging students (who left prematurely)
As the board and CVHEC staff prepare to pursue the new work ahead, we are not abandoning the areas we have been focusing on in the last few years. We will continue to support initiatives such as the Central Valley Transfer Project and the efforts around implementing dual enrollment throughout the valley such as the Master’s Upskilling Program and its mentor component (both featured in our September e-newsletter).
Additionally, the English Task Force and the Math Task Force will continue their remarkable groundbreaking work. We have found that when faculty come together and collaborate across campus boundaries, they create solutions that no single institution could achieve alone. That’s what makes these task forces so powerful for our region and, most importantly, for our students throughout the Central Valley.
For students, the results of this task force work may mean not only passing a math or English class but truly unlocking the path to transfer, degree attainment and career success.
And in furtherance of National Higher Education Month, we hope you will enjoy this month’s “What the CV-HEC is Happening” Blog by Ekaterina Struett, CEO of College Advising Corps, a national nonprofit that has helped low-income, first-generation and underrepresented backgrounds navigate their path to higher education and career success, “Be the guide every graduate deserves.” I believe you will agree that it is a very relevant thought-piece, which Ms. Struett first wrote for EdSource and modified slightly for our audience, that is well worth reading as we all endeavor to strengthen support systems for student success in higher ed.
Please enjoy this month’s edition as much as I have.
Follow a manual added link
Dr. Benjamín Durán, CVHEC executive director (right), moderated the final panel of the day, “What the CVHEC is Happening in the Central Valley,” at the CVHEC Summit held May 9 in Fresno. Panelists were Dr. James Zimmerman, University of California administrator who served with CVHEC’s Transfer Project team; Dr. Lynn Cevallos, founder and president of College Bridge, the lead partner in the Math Bridge Program with CVHEC and the Rand Corp.; and Dr. Kristin Clark, chancellor-emeritus of West Hills Community College District who is now CVHEC’s Dual Enrollment lead.
A spring of productivity in uncertain times
Focusing on our mission to stimulate a college-going culture in the Central Valley
Greetings CVHEC friends and colleagues …
I hope you are all enjoying a well-deserved summer break and that your 4th of July with family and friends last month was a wonderful time. This traditional national holiday is especially important to us all today in these uncertain times.
With the launch of our summer edition of the CVHEC e-newsletter, we reflect on an eventful and impactful spring semester and summer recess as we head into the 2025/26 Academic Year. In this first half of the year, CVHEC colleges and universities engaged in several initiatives and projects that emerged organically in the region from faculty, staff and leaders who are dedicated to student success in all its forms. These productive efforts support our mission to stimulate a college-going culture for the improvement of the lives of our students and their families as well as improving the economic and social well-being of the Central Valley – the very essence of the CVHEC mission.
It is rewarding and heartwarming to see faculty and staff in the CVHEC region from the state’s four segments of higher education — community colleges, California State University campuses, University of California campuses, and our independent partners– all working collaboratively to implement strategies that reach across our ten-county region.
It is especially rewarding to see this power of collaboration through the eyes of an out-of-state partner and observer who joined us at our CVHEC Higher Education Summit in May: Dr. Brandon Protas from our partner organization, Complete College America. In addition to serving on a summit panel regarding the importance of data, Dr. Protas authored this month’s “What the CV-HEC is Happening” Blog where he aptly shares his thoughts on what he has experienced working with CVHEC. I know you will enjoy reading about his national perspective of the unique culture he observes in the CVHEC universe.
Also, in our annual mid-year review, you will see a recap of the great work our intersegmental partners produced in these first six months around such initiatives like a regional transfer project that is a statewide model; and implementation of dual enrollment throughout the valley. This includes collaboration with K-12 partners towards student success in gateway courses like math and English by providing upskilling opportunities for high school teachers to earn master’s degrees in those two subject areas thus qualifying them to teach dual enrollment community college courses at their respective high schools).
We are looking forward to the second part of this year and all that the fall semester promises to bring.
To further strengthen our internal structure and objectives so we can support our consortium member institutions, the CVHEC Board of Directors will meet this summer to strategically plan for the next three years. These valley higher ed leaders will identify and deliberate new initiatives and approaches to serving and continue lifting our student populations as they pursue their academic goals.
The board will also examine how the region can come together to deal with the current national environment that is hostile to higher education and the decades-long mission of universities and colleges in the United States. Stay tuned with our fall newsletters for updates regarding the direction of the consortium for the rest of 2025-26 and beyond.
I truly hope you enjoy this summer edition of the newsletter and find it worthy of your time. We encourage you to forward it to colleagues and urge them to subscribe to become part of the communications network we are building in the Central Valley for higher education professionals and partners locally, statewide and nationally.
Until the next issue, we wish you a productive but restful and enjoyable summer.
Dr. Sonya Christian, California Community Colleges chancellor (second from left), and Central Valley Higher Education Consortium executive director Benjamin Duran (third from left) greeted high school student panelists at the Dual Enrollment In the Central Valley Convening 2025 – CVHEC/CVDEEP where she delivered keynote Feb. 3: Jonathan Alfaro and Ailyn Morales of Mendota High School with Principal Travis Kirby; and Isaac Dircio and Andres Medina Zapien of McFarland High (McFarland Unified School District) with Jill Jimenez and Jordynn Jimenez of McFarland High School Dual Enrollment.
CVHEC: power of collaboration – the ‘Central Valley Way’
Greetings CVHEC friends and colleagues …
This February edition of our Central Valley Higher Education Consortium newsletter continues sharing with you the great work that the boots-on-the-ground folks at our member institutions are doing to serve our students.
You will read about two convenings, the recent Central Valley Dual Enrollment Convening with 140 attendees and the Central Valley Math Task Force Convening scheduled for March 28. These two high-powered collaborations showcase the work our colleges and universities are doing in both the expansion of dual enrollment providing opportunities for high school students to take college courses while in high school, and addressing the challenging college level math courses that are essential for them to be successful in college.
Also, please make sure you read about our unique-to-California Central Valley Transfer Project. The project has provided academic transfer pathways for Central Valley community students from our regional community colleges to the three California State Universities in the valley and UC Merced. The outcomes from these efforts have been impressive in terms of dramatically improving transfer rates while closing the gaps between the general student population and valley students of color. The project was designated a California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office Demonstration Project in 2023, by Chancellor Sonya Christian. We are proud to report to her that it is now ready to be disseminated to the rest of the state as a model that is ready to be replicated.
This month’s “What the CV-HEC is Happening” blog is an entry by a local attorney, Ashley Emerzian, about the legal aspects around hazing on higher education campuses. Please enjoy her entry and we hope you learn more about the topic as you peruse the article. Ashley has graciously offered to submit articles highlighting higher education legal issues relevant to our region for future CVHEC newsletters as well.
This CVHEC Board of Directors also has a busy schedule this spring as its members – the chancellors, presidents and campus directors of our 28 member institutions of higher education in the valley — prepare for the spring quarterly board meeting and a strategic planning retreat.
Additionally, as they move forward under the leadership of CVHEC Board Chair, UC Merced Chancellor Juan Sánchez Muñoz, we look forward to the annual CVHEC Higher Education Summit scheduled for May 9. Please mark your calendars and stay tuned for further details. We look forward to having you join us to continue collaborating “the Central Valley Way!”
Please enjoy our newsletter and feel free to share it with your colleagues and friends and encourage them to subscribe.