As part of its search for a new president, Santa Monica College has created an advisory committee and held a forum yesterday to solicit ideas and opinions from the community, in addition to hiring an executive search
SMC is seeking a successor to Dr. Piedad F. Robertson, who resigned from the presidency January 31 to become CEO of Denver-based Education Commission of the States. Dr. Thomas J. Donner is interim president.
The SMC Board of Trustees’ newly appointed President Search Committee is comprised of representatives of, in a college spokesperson words, “all internal and external constituency groups.”
The committee, whose first meeting was also yesterday, is charged with assisting in the recruitment of a new president and recommending three to five candidates to the Board for final selection.On the 16-member committee are three faculty members, on the joint recommendation of the Academic Senate and Faculty Association: Academic Senate President Lesley Kawaguchi, Academic Senate President-elect Richard Tahvildaran-Jesswein and Faculty Association President Lantz Simpson, three classified employees: Giovanni Vela, president of Chapter 36 of the Classified School Employees Association, Leroy Lauer, payroll specialist; and Jim Serikawa, media services technician, three students: Sadia Afolabi, Associated Students’ director of academic services, vice president-elect; Mark Abraham and Erica Miles, three managers: Mona Martin, dean of learning resources; Jeffery Peterson, director of operations; and Teresita Rodriguez, dean of enrollment services, and four community members: Dr. Monika White, executive director of the Center for Healthy Aging, past president of the SMC Associates and current Associates board member, former Santa Monica Mayor Judy Abdo, a member of the SMC General Advisory Board, Dr. Matt Dinolfo, a physician and City Councilwoman Sharon Barovsky.
