El Vaquero, CA
May 27 2006
New College President Officially Announced
By ALISON GELLER
El Vaquero Staff Features Editor
May 26, 2006
When John Davitt retires from his position as
superintendent/president of GCC this summer, he will be succeeded by
Audre Levy, currently president of L.A. Southwest College.
`The board has unanimously decided to appoint Dr. Audre Levy to the
position of superintendent/president of Glendale Community College,’
announced Kathleen Burke-Kelly, president of GCC’s Board of Trustees,
at the beginning of the meeting. Her announcement was followed by a
standing ovation from the audience in Kreider Hall.
`Thank you, all of the board, for your vote of confidence and trust
in me and, for the audience, for your vote of confidence and trust in
me as well,’ said Levy after the applause had died down. `I hope to
live up to what you have in store for me as your incoming president.’
Levy hit a soft spot with the audience when she complimented Davitt,
who has been the leader of the college for 21 years. `I would also
like to express my thanks to Dr. Davitt for his years of service to
this college,’ said Levy. `Let me say this is an awesome task, to
follow behind such a giant who has spent so many years in the
community college ranks. You will discover that my feet are quite not
the size of his but a little higher because I wear heels [and] that
means that I will be stepping high; but I want you to know that I am
here because of all of you and I will remember why I am here. I am
here because of the students and because of you, the faculty and
staff.
`Always know that my door is open I will be welcome to hearing the
good things as well as the not so good things, because it’s from the
not so good things that we all grow; and so I am looking forward to
being part of the history of this institution.’
During a brief reception for Levy before the regular board meeting
resumed, Burke-Kelly said that it was `a combination of things’ that
led to choosing Levy. She said it was her experience in all levels of
education, having taught at the K-12 level as well as at community
colleges and universities. It was also her ability to connect with
people.
`Dr. Davitt is very much like that and I think the campus would miss
that.’
Davitt expressed his support of Levy during the comments portion of
the board meeting, as did every other member of the board. `We’re
looking forward to having you here and you and I will hopefully get
some good time in the next month or so to tell you what our problems
are and to welcome you to the community. I think you’re going to like
it here. I think you’re going to find that it’s a real
family…Everyone is committed to making your administration a very
successful one for Glendale College.’
Anita Quinonez Gabrielian, a board member who was president of the
board during most of the hiring process, added her welcome to Levy
and also said, `You can definitely count on our cooperation,
partnership and all of our support.’
Board member Victor King added that `Although you are replacing a
legend, you are a legend in your own right. We’ve heard so many
wonderful things about you that you really stood out of the crowd of
applicants.’
`You were a star from the first moment that we met you and we are
glad that you’ll be shining in our skies – and we’ll be there to
polish you,’ said Armine Hacopian, vice president of the board. After
the meeting ended Levy said `I am more looking at excitement and the
task of learning all the names and faces and issues and challenges
here at the college.’
Burke-Kelly said that Levy will be assuming the position of
superintendent/president on July 1.
Other items that were covered at the meeting: Three professors were
given tenure: David Martin, instructor of architecture; Paul Vera, of
the ESL department; and Monette Tiernan, of the English department.
Sharon Combs and Ron Nakasone presented a proposal to borrow the
number of Full Time Enrolled Students (FTES) from the first summer
session to claim on the 2005 and 2006 year, so funding will not be
cut by failure to reach the state-mandated quota for enrolled
students. Nakasone said that a lot of colleges are doing it and have
done it. The foreseen funding shortfalls come from an overall pattern
of declining enrollment. Nakasone said that many colleges employ a
strategy of `borrowing’ students from one semester to meet quotas and
then take the loss in the next semester to ensure even funding over a
period of several years.
Jane DiLucchio presented a proposal for GCC to offer its own high
school diploma for continuing education adults. For many years, the
Garfield campus has offered a diploma in conjunction with the
Glendale Unified School District. This proposal would allow GCC to
tailor the program to serve adult students better and the diploma
students would be able to meet some of the graduation requirements by
taking credit classes on the main campus.
According to Davitt, GCC received a proclamation from Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger of resolution that the week of April 23 to 29 be known
as `The Days of Remembrance of the Armenian Genocide.’ After having
been the interim associate dean of the library for this past year,
Linda Winters is now officially the associate dean of the library.
There will be a retirement party on June 2 for staff and faculty who
are retiring this year.
In a future board meeting, Burke-Kelly said she would like to revisit
the board’s compensation, since it has been such a good year for the
budget and their compensation has not been restored since it was cut
because of a low budget.