Dual Enrollment Master Upskilling program
sees first cohort conferred degrees
The first cohort of 17 National University graduate students participating in the Central Valley Higher Education Consortium Dual Enrollment Upskilling Teachers Master’s Program in English will complete degree requirements for an M.A. this month, marking a milestone for this innovative project that benefits thousands of the region’s dual enrollment students.
The Master’s Upskilling Program for area English high school teachers, which addresses equity and access issues, began in January funded by grants from the Fresno K-16 Collaborative in
partnership with National University. Eddie Cunha, director of the National University-Fresno Center, said a degree conferral ceremony will be Dec. 19.
A second cohort of 23 Fresno-area high school English teachers began their National English M.A. program in July for conferral in June 2022.
An inside look at the newly-launched CVHEC/UC Merced Transfer Pathways Initiative and Mapper by CVHEC's new Transfer Project coordinator, Tom Burke, former chancellor of Kern College Community District.
The beat – serving student success – goes on!
Helping build effective pathways to our community colleges
for a smoother, efficient transfer experience
By Tom Burke CVHEC Transfer Project Coordinator
In June when I stepped down as chancellor of the Kern Community College District, many thought I would embark on the typical “retirement” life of fishing, hunting, traveling and just resting after a 40-year career. While I did enjoy some of that, I also soon found myself right back in the saddle in a “new” role with KCCD as deputy chancellor and as a coordinator with the Central Valley Higher Education Consortium. So for those of you wondering: no I’m not officially “retired!”
Rather I am happy to report that the past few months have been quite a rewarding whirlwind as I plunged headlong into a new “assignment” as coordinator of CVHEC’s Transfer Project with the intent to enhance what has been my life’s work: serving students in general and in this case specifically, helping build effective pathways to our community colleges for a smoother, efficient transfer experience.
To that end, these past 45 days alone have seen the fruition of two great milestones.
Mini-Grant Success Story – California Health Science University
Pre-Med Pathway Bootcamp Helps Local Students
with CHSU-COM Medical School Applications
CVHEC Mini-Grants are awarded to member institutions in support of our mission to increase degree attainment rates. We highlight how our member institutions’ innovative uses of the grants positively impact students.
A Pre-Med Pathway Bootcamp helped 25 local students prepare to apply to California Health Sciences University College of Osteopathic Medicine (CHSU-COM) thanks to funding from Central Valley Higher Education Consortium’s Mini-Grant project.
CVHEC’s $6,000 mini-grant offset course fees for students so they only had to pay $25 to reserve their seat. The grant also provided all MCAT prep supplies and instruction, T-shirts, certificates of completion and a catered lunch for the attendees.
The Central Valley Higher Education Consortium congratulates these board members for their respective new appointments. The CVHEC Board of Directors is made up of the presidents and chancellors of our 29-member institutions in the nine-county region from San Joaquin to Kern counties.
Goldsmith Named SCCCD Chancellor
Dr. Carole Goldsmith, who was named the 11th chancellor of the State Center Community College District Board last month, was confirmed by the SCCCD Board of Trustees Dec. 14 and begins her new position Jan. 1. She fills the position vacated when Dr. Paul Parnell retired in July.
Dr. Goldsmith was serving as the president of Fresno City College at the time of her appointment and in that capacity was a member of the CVHEC board of directors. She will remain on the board now as SCCCD chancellor. Dr. Goldsmith has also previously served as president of West Hills College Coalinga.
Thank you Sonia for your service to the CVHEC Board Congratulations to Sonia Gutierrez-Mendoza, director of UMass Global’s Visalia Campus, (formerly Brandman) on her appointment as assistant vice chancellor for Admission Operations of the independent university. The appointment was effective Nov. 29 when Sonia moved to her new office in the Irvine central office. She participated in her final CVHEC Board meeting during the recent quarterly Zoom call Dec. 2. Gutierrez-Mendoza joined UMass Global in 2009 and the CVHEC board in 2018. She has led multiple university campuses in the Central Valley since 2012 and in 2018-2019 she spearheaded the initiative for a new campus location established in Visalia. Preston Selected to lead West Hills College Lemoore Mr. James Preston, former vice president of Educational Services who was serving as interim president of West Hills College Lemoore, was selected earlier this month to serve as the college’s 4th president effective January 1, 2022. See the WHCCD press release.
West Hills College Coalinga Names Tweed President Dr. Carla Tweed, a Central Valley native, will lead her alma mater as the 6th president of West Hills College Coalinga effective January 14, 2022 when she also becomes a member of the Central Valley Higher Education Consortium board of directors. See the WHCCD press release.
Dr. Benjamín Durán, executive director of the Central Valley Higher Education Consortium, was interviewed by ABC30 reporter Elisa Navarro for her story on passage of the Biden Infrastructure Bill in early November and what the broadband portion means to area students and colleges. See the ABC30 news clip.
