News Release

CONTACT: Della Elliott, Public Information, (619) 644-7690, della.elliott@gcccd.edu

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                           March 17, 2006

Dean C. Colli interim president
of Grossmont College

EL CAJON – – Dr. Dean C. Colli, vice president of academic affairs at Grossmont College since 1999, has been named interim president, while a search continues for a new president to take the college’s helm.

Colli, who chairs the 14-member presidential search committee comprising college and district faculty and staff, in addition to representatives of Grossmont’s student government, the college’s foundation, and the community at large, said a person is expected to fill the college’s top post by July 1 or “as soon as possible thereafter.”

In the interim, Colli said he will continue to work closely with college faculty and staff to ensure access to Grossmont College for those seeking high-quality education for university transfer, career enhancement, new workforce training, or improving learning skills.

“We have such high-quality faculty, support staff and administrators, and an excellent reputation that our employees have worked hard to develop and sustain,” he said. “During this period of transition, my goal is to work effectively with them to see that as many students as possible access our wide array of educational opportunities. Then, we’ll do our very best to help those students achieve their educational goals.”

Colli said it is an “honor” chairing a group of the caliber of the presidential search committee.

“We are now doing all we can to attract a large, high-quality, and diverse applicant pool and prepare for our upcoming review and interview processes,” he said. “Our goal is to advance a strong list of finalists to be considered further by the community, our college constituencies, our chancellor and the governing board.”

The application period for the president’s post continues until April 11.

Colli, who has a full platter of issues to deal with as interim president, including ongoing construction of three major buildings at Grossmont, is well suited to lead the college in this interim period, said Chancellor Omero Suarez.

“There is no better person to take the reins at this critical juncture,” Suarez said. “Dr. Colli’s administrative experience, his intimate knowledge of Grossmont and the well-earned respect he has of his colleagues make him the ideal person for this interim post.”

Colli has worked in education since 1972, when he started as a business teacher/work experience coordinator at Carpinteria High School in Carpinteria, Calif. He joined the working ranks of community colleges in 1975 as an instructor at Columbia College in Sonora, Calif. There, he began a career in community college administration, next serving as a dean of occupational education at Hartnell College in Salinas, Calif. Prior to his hiring at Grossmont College as vice president of academic affairs, he was division dean and then, dean of college services at Modesto Junior College from 1989 to 1999.

Colli has a bachelor of science degree in business administration from Fresno State College, a master’s in educational supervision from UC Santa Barbara, and a doctorate in educational leadership from the University of the Pacific, Stockton.

Filling in as the interim vice president of academic affairs is Dr. Don Low, who retired as dean in 1999 from Orange Coast College and has since assumed a series of interim administrative posts at community colleges throughout Southern California.

Grossmont College is a 16,000-student community college in El Cajon, Calif. For more information about Grossmont, go to www.grossmont.edu.

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