Accomplishments
I am proud of the accomplishments during my tenure as Coast College Trustee and as Board President. I will continue working for the students and taxpayers of this great District. Here is a brief list of my efforts and accomplishments:
- Ensured the District maintained a strong fiscal position during the severe budget seasons caused by the COVID-19 pandemic
- Provided distance learning classes, equipment, and resources to enable students to complete coursework and obtain credits for transfer or graduation from our three Colleges.
- Led efforts to make our campuses safer by securing Federal and State aid for COVID-related supplies and personal protection.
- To protect faculty, staff and students during the pandemic, supported staff with tools to enable them to do their jobs at a distance.
- Kept our campuses open to Virtual Learning during the pandemic.
- Supported training for full-time faculty at all colleges to ensure technical knowledge to transition from classroom learning to virtual distance high-quality education for students.
- Fought for passage of Measure M, which secured $698 million in bond funds to build campuses of the future, developing teaching environments that are safe, sustainable, comfortable, technologically current, accessible, and aesthetically conducive to learning.
- Provided oversight for expenditures of Measure M funds. I thank the District voters for their trust and for the passage of this forward-looking initiative. We will be dedicating the last capital project in this program at Coastline College. You can be proud of the new buildings on the Coast College District campuses.
- Led the District search committees that successfully recruited key executive staff, including our Chancellor, and most recently our Chief Fiscal Officer.
- Elected by my peers to serve as President of California Community Colleges Trustees, the statewide policymaking board for community colleges.
- As president of California Community Colleges Trustees, improved Financial Aid for the 2.1 million California Community College students, especially our student Veterans. At Coast College District almost half of the students received the California College Promise Grant and less than three percent of students took loans. Avoiding debt helped our students and their families.
- As an Executive Board Officer, I led the Career Technical Education (CTE) Taskforce analyzing the differential costs of CTE programs and making recommendations to the State Chancellor’s Office that were the basis of a bill providing additional CTE funding approved by the legislature and signed by the Governor. This budget revision added $200 Million in CTE funding in the State Community College System’s budget on an ongoing basis.
- Spearheaded State Grants for solar panel technology training, and with full Board support established the Career Training and Education Taskforce to coordinate all three campuses in seeking grants and partnerships with local industry.
- Worked closely with college campus neighbors, faculty and staff to maintain good land use policies and project development, and was key in the location selection of Costco at Bella Terra.
- I am so proud to state that on my watch 165,000 students have succeeded by graduating, transferring to four-year universities, or receiving their Career Technical Education certification through their hard work and studies at our three campuses. I am so grateful we have the facilities, faculty, staff, and family support to make such great changes in the lives of our students.
- Worked with staff to follow instructions in the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund III funding that allows for relief of student debt or unpaid balances by discharging the complete balance of the debt as lost revenue. This action provided debt relief for 15,000 Coast College students in the amount of $4.1 Million. This effort should help our enrollment effort to help our students succeed.