Published in the March 16- 29, 2016 issue of Morgan Hill Life
Next year marks the centennial anniversary of the Ballard Act, passed in 1917 by the California legislature to provide state and county support for junior colleges. We consider this law one of the most forward thinking actions taken toward higher education, serving as a nationwide model for the community college system that has provided much economic and social benefit across America.
According to the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office, California community colleges are the largest provider of workforce training in not just the state but the nation. For every $1 invested in students who graduate from community colleges, California receives a net return on investment of $4.50. Students who earn a degree or certificate from a California community college nearly double their earnings within three years. And community colleges are California’s most cost-effective system of education, with about $5,000 a year in revenue needed to support one full-time student.
Gavilan Community College was started in Hollister as San Benito Junior College. In the 1960s, it moved its main campus to just south of Gilroy to serve a larger community base including Morgan Hill and San Martin. Ralph Schroder was the new campus’s first president, setting a tone of academic excellence and scholarly achievement. Another notable president was Rudy Melone, who established a tradition of student and faculty community involvement, most notably the creation of the Gilroy Garlic Festival.
The current president, Steve Kinsella, used his fiscal insight to guide Gavilan through the recession that started in 2008. No full-time Gavilan faculty were laid off during this difficult period of time for all community colleges. He was also a leader in gaining much-needed funding from Bond Measure E, which voters passed in 2004 to upgrade the Gilroy campus and to establish future campuses at Coyote Valley and San Benito County. With a firm knowledge on the ins and outs of budgeting as well as accreditation — the process by which colleges get evaluated — Kinsella is well respected by other community college presidents and chancellors throughout the state.
A Morgan Hill resident, Kinsella will retire June 30, ending a 13-year tenure at Gavilan. The search for the new president is well underway, with prospective candidates having until March 25 to submit an application for the job. A screening committee made up of representation from the various constituent groups of college employees, the board and students will then review qualified applications and recommend candidates to be invited for an interview.
A subset of this committee will form the interview committee. Trustees from each of the three geographic regions of the Gavilan district will appoint a community member to represent their part of the district as they augment the interviewing committee.
Following the first round of interviews, semifinalists will be interviewed by the Gavilan board members who will make the final decision on who replaces Kinsella as superintendent/president.
We hope Gavilan will find someone who has the high level of Kinsella’s expertise in finance and regulations for community colleges. With the changes now happening at the college, the newly appointed leader will also need to be a bridge builder. This bridge-building character quality is especially important in light of the fact that the Gavilan College district is made up of three unique communities with their own special needs — San Benito, Gilroy and Morgan Hill/San Martin.
One thing we especially want to see the new president achieve is more effective connection between Gavilan and the Morgan Hill Unified School District, an issue we’ve discussed with Kinsella. There’s an “anywhere but Gavilan” perception that many Morgan Hill high school graduates have that make them decide to attend other Bay Area community colleges. Kinsella told us that perception will change with the construction of the Coyote Valley campus. We hope so. But we also believe that the new campus alone won’t be enough to rebuild Gavilan’s brand in Morgan Hill.
We also hope the new president takes action to bring innovative ideas to Gavilan that might help graduating seniors see the community college as one firmly planted in the 21st century in learning opportunities. Perhaps one of these might be a partnership of dual-credit courses in Morgan Hill, Gilroy and San Benito County high schools where students receive college credit for classes taken in high school. This is something now being piloted with a geology course at Live Oak High School. We also see the potential of a strong partnership between MHUSD and Gavilan in career training education, something the school district is developing for the upcoming school year.
We hope to see the new Gavilan president involved in community building beyond academics. In past decades, Gavilan has served as a cultural as well as educational institution. At one time, it regularly brought esteemed authors, entertainers and political leaders to give evening lectures to a packed Gavilan theater. These built Gavilan’s brand.
We see the role of a college as providing not just classroom learning but dynamic and thought-provoking discussions with the broader community. Theater shows and the South Valley Symphony’s concerts do much now to bring Gavilan recognition, but we see many more opportunities for the new college president to work with nonprofit groups to enhance our region’s cultural reputation.
At nearly 100 years old, California’s community college system has proven itself an effective investment for the economy and learning.
It was innovative for its time. And we hope that the person who is selected as the new president of Gavilan Community College will be a leader with the vision and community-building skills to evolve our South Valley college as an exciting innovator in higher education.
