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Pierce College has had an interim president for about two-and-half years, and come June, the position may be filled permanently.
Four candidates spoke at the Pierce President Public Forum in the Great Hall on April 23, each introducing themselves and answering prepared questions. The four candidates are Ara Aguiar, Wei Zhou, Carlos Cortez and Nathaniel Jones.
Aguiar is the Interim President at Pierce, Zhou is the Interim Vice President at Cerritos College, Cortez recently served as the chancellor of the San Diego Community College District and Jones serves as Interim Vice Chancellor of Finance and Administration with the Peralta Community College District.
“It’s interesting to see the candidates’ past experiences and what they can bring to the college,” said Garineh Avakian, an associate professor of music in voice and choir. Her music class performed during each intermission.
Moderator and search consultant Stan Carrizosa had a set of fixed questions to ask each candidate who went on stage. The questions were derived from a campus-wide survey, according to Carrizosa, and were the same for every candidate.
Aguiar said she has worked in the past to get grants that help ensure the support for students and programs at Pierce.
“In the last two-and-a-half years, we received close to $10 million in this college because of the team and submitting for proposals, and we have received those funds to support the programs and our students,” Aguiar said. “So that is something that I think we’re going to really need to pursue any opportunity that aligns with what we wanted to hear on campus.”
In response to a question about combating systemic racism and promoting racial equality, Zhou said it would be important to implement policies for zero tolerance against any discrimination.
“I do want to emphasize this is not my personal effort, but working with everybody,” Zhou said. “We look at the institution and also we look district-wide and at additional policies and procedures. Making sure we have zero tolerance against any discriminative behaviors and language use. As a first piece, it is important to talk about the equity piece, especially racial equity.”
Cortez said he understands the concerns that students have going to college and explained why he wants to create opportunities for them.
“I can identify firsthand with many of the fears and trepidations that our students have when they walk through these doors,” Cortez said. “That’s why I’ve committed my life to creating opportunities and pathways for them to be successful.”
Another question presented to the candidates was about the role of a college president in raising funds to support special student populations, such as veterans, foster youth, Dreamers and formerly incarcerated students. Jones said he believes that the president plays a major role in supporting these student populations.
“I got an opportunity to meet other students and provide them with some economic resources to help make their educational dream a reality,” Jones said. “The difficult part was only having one or two of these scholarships to be able to give out and having to make the top choice of deciding between compelling stories. Stories of great resilience, stories of students having overcome significant challenges to be where they are, and succeeding tremendously.”
Music major Jeffery Alvarado said he wants to see in a Pierce president someone who cares about students succeeding.
“I just want them to see us all as students who want to succeed, no matter their backgrounds, just someone who wants to pursue education,” Alvarado said.
