"I
remember participating in the approval of the county-wide vote to establish
a junior college district back in 1948. At that time, I was the student body
president at Alhambra High School, and spent time speaking to community groups
like the Rotary, Kiwanis and Lions Clubs to vote yes on the ballot measure.I was hired in 1959 to my first job with the District as the assistant football coach and health science teaching position at East Contra Costa Junior College, which was later renamed Diablo Valley College. I was fortunate to be assigned a number of exciting positions within the District including the top administrative position of Chancellor from 1984-1991.
My most rewarding experience I encountered at the District was the appointment as founding president of Los Medanos College. We had to plan the facility, seek state funding for construction, hire faculty and staff, and work with the community to meet the needs of the students. The staff, faculty, and administration were creative, highly motivated, well educated, and totally student-oriented. There was an excitement and a creative spirit in the atmosphere at the college. I found it difficult to keep up with all of the ideas that faculty had to develop including curriculum and community programs. Even on the most difficult of days at the college, I found great satisfaction in building an educational institution from the ground up, that was meeting the higher education needs of east county."