Manuel Baca, Mt. SAC

[CCC Chancellor’s Office] – The California Community Colleges Board of Governors elected officers Tuesday for the 2013 calendar term during its bimonthly meeting held in Sacramento. The board, appointed by the governor, nominates and elects its president and vice president each November. The chosen officials serve for a one-year term.

The new officers are:

Manuel Baca of Diamond Bar, is the new president and succeeds Scott Himelstein, who will continue to serve on the board as immediate past president until his term ends in 2013. Baca has been on the board since 2009 and is a professor of government at Rio Hondo College where he has served on the Academic Senate Executive Committee. His previous experience includes having held a number of positions within the state university (California State University, Fullerton) and community college systems. Baca is a current member and past president of the Governing Board of the Mt. San Antonio Community College District and has also served as a member on Colleges System Strategic Plan Steering Committee where he and other state leaders developed the Community College System Strategic Plan for California. He holds a Ph.D. in education from the University of Southern California. Baca serves or has served with numerous community-based and civic organizations.

“I am honored to be elected by my colleagues as president of the California Community Colleges Board of Governors,” Baca said. “Our board has worked very hard over the past year to implement key reforms designed to improve student success. I look forward to my tenure as president to continue to move recommendations of the Student Success Task Force forward and to try to restore access for students who have been shut out of our colleges because of recent state budget cuts.”

Geoffrey L. Baum of Pasadena, is the new vice president and has been a board member since 2008. Baum is president of the governing board of the Pasadena Area Community College District. He works at the University of Southern California, where he serves as managing director of the Center on Communication Leadership and Policy and previously as assistant dean of the Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism. He also serves as director of communications and public affairs for the Annenberg Foundation Trust at Sunnylands. He  previously worked for C-SPAN as executive producer and as assistant vice president of Claremont McKenna College. He has been a high school English teacher and a journalist for ABC News, public radio’s Marketplace and the Army, Navy and Air Force Times. He holds a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Southern California and a bachelor’s degree in economics from Claremont McKenna College.

“I look forward to working with President Baca and Chancellor Harris in moving system priorities forward in the coming year and continuing our focus on student success,” Baum said. ”California’s economy needs more college-educated workers, and our board is committed to helping colleges develop the workforce that will allow our state to prosper.”

The California Community Colleges is the largest system of higher education in the nation. It is composed of 72 districts and 112 colleges serving 2.4 million students per year. Community colleges supply workforce training, basic skills courses in English and math, and prepare students for transfer to four-year colleges and universities. The Chancellor’s Office provides leadership, advocacy and support under the direction of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges.