President's Update

continued President's message

Through the leadership of Academic Senate officers, division chairs, deans, vice presidents, and the Planning and Budget Committee, as well as the District Bond Planning Committee, we are accomplishing one of this year’s college goals to update the 2001 Education and Facilities Master Plan and getting closer to making informed decision about whether to pursue a local bond measure. By mid-November Board members, Ed Maduli, June Stephens, and I will have met with all mayors, Board of Supervisors, several city council members, all the K-12 Superintendents, and the Chamber of Commerce board presidents and executive directors to share the plans for Cuesta’s future, listen to their advice about what kinds of programs and facilities different parts of the county need, answer their questions about our planning, and interest them in joining our quest. The Cuesta College Foundation’s Board of Directors has passed a resolution of endorsement for the college’s plans for educating the next generations in facilities and environments that will produce successful college students, smart workers, and great citizens.

By the end of this semester we will have conducted two campus forums, one for the SLO Campus and one for the NC Campus. Faculty leaders, division chairs, directors, and deans will have talked with their unit and cluster members; many more of you will have sent me e-mail messages and responded to surveys. The Associated Students have already had an introductory discussion and they will have more discussions before they take final exams. By December the Academic Senate will have provided their vision of the classrooms, technology, and offices that will achieve student learning and stimulate creativity. When we wish one another a good holiday as we take a break in December, all of us should have learned more about the vision for Cuesta’s future, given advice, and imagined the teaching, serving, thriving campuses of Cuesta in 2020.

I don’t know how many of you reading this column remember Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I Have A Dream” speech in 1963 or who won the World Series that fall. But in April 1963 the voters of San Luis Obispo County took the first step on the journey to create an outstanding community college. In the 42 years since then Cuesta College has graduated 17,000 students, awarded 20,000 degrees, planned and built both the SLO Campus and the temporary North County Campus, developed shared spaces as South County Centers, and become highly respected and generously supported by our community for producing students who successfully transfer and work in this community. In 1963 we started on the journey. In 2005 we step farther into the future on Cuesta’s Quest.