Candidate for
Trustee; Desert Community College District; Trustee Area 1

As COD board trustee, I bring my 30 years of business experience and my total commitment to the education and advancement of our youth. Since moving to the desert in 1975, I have been involved with our community through public service. 4 out of 10 college students attend a community college. There are as many reasons for them making that choice as there are students and families. Whatever the reason, our residents deserve the opportunity to improve their work skills.

There are two major challenges facing students. The first is that of entering the college. Many first generation college attendees have parental support but the parents lack the skills of helping their children with the process. We must reach out and help those students "cross that bridge" to college.

Students need better access to the college. This means that the college needs to be more accessible to students trying to enter. There is to be a new campus in the Mecca area and hopefully soon there will be plans for another satellite campus in the West end of the valley. These communities have different needs and each campus should reflect the needs of those students.

Once a student enters the school he/she must focus on their goal of obtaining a certificate, an AA, or transferring on to another institution of higher learning. Currently this is time consuming and frustrating. Classes and programs need to be streamlined. Students that register need assurance that they will graduate or complete their studies in a timely fashion.

I will honor the community mandate of Bond Measure B by encouraging and supporting the college's expansion of the Public Safety Academy and the Allied Health Nursing School. Our valley sorely needs persons in these professions. We need to attract the best faculty so that we can accommodate the best students.

Since Dr. Sheehan has announced her retirement (effective the end of summer term 2207) the Board will be charged with the task of selecting the next president. This has to be done as a team effort. All of staff, faculty, adjunct faculty, classified personnel, students, and other interested community members need to have some say in the selection process.

I can provide local leadership. As a resident of the East Valley, I would like to see the East Valley Campus develop into a major force in the uplifting of this community so that they can support the development of the total valley.