New and Old: A Message from Trustee Ransford

by Ann Ransford

Board of Trustees President

WORK TOGETHER – LET’S BE A TEAM – LET’S APPRECIATE EACH OF OUR UNIQUE ROLES AND CONSTIBUTIONS. Those are the words I heard from campus leaders at our recent faculty and classified institutes, from Parker Awardee, Michael Dulay, and certainly those have been among my goals since taking on the position of trustee in 2009. Because we all know our students are the beneficiaries of a harmonious campus.

I am pleased to say, that all of the puzzle pieces are available, however, they still need to be put firmly in place. Our internal struggles of the past few years are behind us and we now can look ahead to the myriad of external challenges we face as educators and as an institution.

Over the past month I have attended several workshops and conferences and the message is the same -- the challenges for community college are significant. To share just a few:

Restoring our resources -- according to Noah Brown, CEO ACCT, “There’s a lot of good conversation going on nationally (and state-wide) about the importance and value of community colleges. But, we have not been as successful in translating the newfound public awareness into real action – particularly where it comes to resources.”

Student success – while Glendale Community College is doing an admirable job (recent score card stats), the educational sector is under more scrutiny to produce greater numbers of educated individuals more quickly. Just witness the theme of the ACCT Conference, “Society Demands, Community Colleges Deliver. Moving the Needle.” (Albeit a clever play on words since the conference was in Seattle.) This involves looking at new and innovative models and methods of providing educational services. It might be as simple as looking at some of the ways we’ve always provided services and access. The recent SSTF recommendations address some of these issues.

At a recent workshop, Scott Lay, Executive Director of the Community College League of California, urges that we should also focus on the following:

• Boldly and bluntly confronting the issue of equity in higher education opportunity.
• Fighting for the financial aid resources to enable all students the ability to attend full time
• Reducing the number of students needing remediation through pre-assessment review, K-12 articulation and alternatives to traditional basic skills sequences.

These are just a few of the things I’ve been hearing, as I become a more informed trustee.

I am encouraged that at our GCC, each of us thinks about these ideas, discusses them with our colleagues, and does what is the best for our students. At our GCC, we recognize it is ultimately up to all of us, as a team, to create productive educational experiences.

Please know that your trustees are solidly behind the work that you all do and appreciative of the fact that when we are out and about and hear about “new models” many times we say to ourselves, “Wow, we’re already doing that at Glendale Community College."

Thank you.

Trustee Ransford posts information from various meetings and conferences she attends. They can be found at on the college website under Board of Trustees > Information from President of the Board of Trustees . 

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