The Santa Monica Community College Board of Trustees has authorized the issuance of a Request for Proposal (RFP) for a consultant to assist with the search for a new college president.
The purpose of this request for proposals is to find an experienced search firm to assist a search committee to be appointed later by the Board in recruiting a new president for Santa Monica College.
SMC President Dr. Chui L. Tsang announced last month that he would be retiring at the end of the academic year.
At their meeting Tuesday night, the Board also appointed current Executive Vice President Jeff Shimizu to the role of Interim Superintendent/President, effective July 1. SMC anticipates appointing a new president on or about January 1, 2016.
The Santa Monica Community College District is a single campus district governed by a seven member Board of Trustees, elected at large, and a student trustee.
The District serves the cities of Santa Monica and Malibu, and draws a large number of its students from the greater Los Angeles area due to its open access policy.
The Superintendent/President reports to the Board which is currently chaired by Rob Rader, and is actively engaged with the Santa Monica College Foundation, the Broad Stage Foundation, and the KCRW Foundation. SMC has a total adopted budget of $557 million.
Santa Monica College was founded in 1929 and today has approximately 33,000 students, 1,400 faculty members (full-time and part-time) and 543 non-teaching staff.
Its primary missions include transfer, career technical education, developmental education and life-long learning.
SMC has offerings in over 80 fields of study and continues to be a pioneer in developing programs to prepare students for emerging careers: entertainment promotion and marketing production, graphic design, and recycling and resource management, to name a few.
SMC has held a reputation for 24 consecutive years as California’s number one community college in transferring students to the University of California, the University of Southern California and Loyola Marymount University.
The college – which boasts five satellite campuses in addition to its 38-acre main campus two miles from the Pacific Ocean – also has the highest international student population of any community college in the state, approximately 3,300 from over 100 countries.
Among its innovative facilities and programs for students and the community at large, are the Academy of Entertainment and Technology, an Emeritus College for older adults, the Broad Stage at the SMC Performing Arts Center and the John Drescher Planetarium. KCRW (89.9 FM), the flagship station of National Public Radio, is also licensed to SMC.
The scope of services for the potential search firm and other details such as the timeline of the RFP process are included in the RFP document which is available at: www.smc.edu/SMCPresidentialSearch2015/RFP.
