Outlined below is an overview of my philosophy and experiences as a
student-centered advocate and Chancellor of the SOCCCD:
·
I have
implemented principles of shared governance/collegial consultation as I routinely
made my decisions and recommendations to the Board of Trustees based on genuine
collaborative input from faculty, staff and administration since such decisions
affect current and future students as well as employees.
·
I place high
priority on building mutually trusting and respectful relationships through
two-way communications by a variety of means with the internal and external
stakeholders about the colleges’ visions, assets, needs and successes.
·
As an Asian
American with utmost respect for different viewpoints, I wholeheartedly embrace
the agenda of bridge-building, opportunity, equity and celebration of diversity
while we educate and prepare our workforce for the competitive global economy. I advocated for hiring the best candidates
for various positions, including men and women of all diverse backgrounds and
ethnicities. I promoted internationalization and pluralization of curriculum to
enrich the learning experiences of students in our globally competitive
environment.
·
I advised the
Board of Trustees on the development of prudent long-term district wide
strategic plan and annual goals with action plans in the areas of academic and
career technical education; enrollment management; facilities, construction,
renovation and maintenance; and investment in technology. Annually I provided
the Board with comprehensive reports on progress and accomplishments which were
simultaneously shared with faculty, support and management staff, college
foundations and members of the community in the spirit of my personal integrity,
transparency and accountability.
·
I led the
selection of consultants and the establishment of genuine collaborative process
for the development of education and facilities master plans. District wide and
college based steering committees ensured the critical involvement of faculty, support
and management staff in creating a meaningful master plan. Master plan
priorities and delineation of funding sources and timelines were clearly
specified for the Board in agenda items related to new educational programs,
technology infrastructure needs, and building construction, renovation and
maintenance projects.
·
I spearheaded
efforts to wisely leverage local, state and federal funding; public and private
partnerships; and other funding sources including grants in support of
educational programs and student services at our colleges and continued
development of a new campus, the Advanced Technology & Education Park
(ATEP) in Tustin. I have extensive experience in utilizing limited resources in
a fiscally astute manner and ensuring alignment with the institutional vision,
mission and goals.
·
As college
president and chancellor, I managed first-hand the delicate balance of budget
realities versus increasing student needs per collegial prioritization process.
As a multi-college district chancellor I applied these lessons and set
financial principles and parameters for budget allocation by the District
Resource Allocation Council (DRAC), a collegial consultation council. I take
great pride in the participatory process of responsive and responsible budget
development and operation within financial means.
·
I provided
leadership in increasing enrollment demand by promoting a district wide
initiative for online education and technology solutions. The result has been
that online education now accounts for 20% of Full-Time Equivalent Students
(FTES) and plans are being developed to offer certificate and degree programs
online. SOCCCD has award winning technology accomplishments that provide
quality services to faculty, administration, staff and students.
·
I have extensive
knowledge and experience based on three cycles of successful negotiations of
collective bargaining agreements with faculty, staff and police officers unions.
As a college president and chancellor I have extensive experience in providing
leadership in the conflict resolution of highly complex issues by working with
the Board of Trustees as well as faculty, staff and management.
·
I supported the
College Presidents/ATEP Provost in their efforts to strengthen “friends and
fundraising” efforts by participating in key meetings with potential donors and
introducing business and community leaders for foundation membership. I
encouraged administrators and managers to serve as our ambassadors by
participation in community organizations which resulted in raising funds for
student scholarships, in particular.
·
I consistently
supported efforts to promote the history and accomplishments of the diversity
of students, faculty and staff. In addition, I encouraged mutually civil and
respectful consideration of all diverse
viewpoints.
·
I ensured the
allocation of funds, either entirely from the district’s reserves or as a match
to leverage state funds, for construction and renovation of numerous buildings,
campus infrastructure, scheduled maintenance, technology initiatives and
instructional equipment upgrades. I recommended these allocations to the Board
of Trustees as part of our prudent planning and expenditures to support faculty
and students with classroom as well as online instruction.
·
I enlisted the support
of faculty, support and management staff, particularly the College Presidents
and the Academic Senates, in increasing efficiencies in instruction, student
services and administrative functions. For example, we placed an increasing
number of documents and interactive processes on the district and college
websites. All three campuses and district services are actively involved in
business continuity, efficiency planning and implementation initiatives.
·
I worked
collaboratively with the colleges in identification, development,
implementation and financial support of new academic, career technical
education, fine arts and athletics programs. Also, I encouraged the colleges to
consider data from Orange County Business Council and Orange County Workforce Investment
Board studies of employment and market analysis in our efforts to plan for new
educational programs and thus meet students as well as local business/industry
needs.
·
During my first
year as chancellor, I initiated the District Leadership Team (DLT) consisting
of all administrators and managers throughout the district. We met monthly to
keep them informed on major district/college initiatives, policies and
processes, and engage in problem solving. I established the Technology and
Learning Services Coordinating Council with college representatives in order to
promote coordination in the areas of technology, curriculum, instruction, and
student services. Also, I established the Chancellor’s Coordinating Council
consisting of our colleges as well as local K-12 school districts and
university representatives in efforts to strengthen communication,
coordination, and alignment with them for the benefit of our students.
·
On a daily basis,
I provided leadership by reminding everyone in our district that we exist,
first and foremost, to meet the educational needs of our students. I encouraged faculty to attend workshops on student
learning outcomes. I supported reassigned time for faculty so that they can
provide leadership and coordination in development of assessment and
documentation of student learning outcomes at course, program and degree
levels.
·
Some of my
proudest achievements that benefitted students relate to technological
advancements and the facilitation of a data based decision making culture. The
Student Information System (SIS) project’s final major software rollout
occurred this year, on-time and on-budget. Building upon it, our new “Sherpa”
project made SIS the first in the nation to provide customized recommendations
for each user. Information Technology had begun a “Mobile” initiative in order
to make us only the second community college in the country to bring a variety
of college and district services content to cell phones. We improved business
continuance by testing “Cloud Computing” capabilities that allowed us to shift
processing to a remote location in the event of an emergency. In research, we
implemented a business intelligence project that “pushed” key performance
indicators out to decision-makers, and beginning a project that made data from
the new inFORM Data Warehouse available to all intranet users.
·
I have extensive
experience in succession planning for administration, faculty and staff with
focus on building competent and high performance teams that work in a mutually
trusting, respectful, collegial and high integrity environment.
·
As an individual,
I model and reflect accountability, transparency and visibility in the colleges
and the community.
