From the President
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Susan Dressler has been a motivating and inspiring leader, champion of faculty professional development, master of how to get courses and degrees approved by the Chancellor’s Office, and a pace setter for continuous learning and quality improvement.
Barbara George is a pioneer, the builder of the Cuesta College Foundation. Thanks to her drive and determination, she leaves an impressive legacy of financial resources, college friends, and generosity.
Anne Bachmann has coordinated efforts with contractors, met countless budget and board report deadlines, and has kept track of Ken, Mike and Ed.
Susan Burchiel has been a careful instructor of our Nursing students and helped countless students through to licensure.
George Courtney helped to keep our campuses safe, patiently getting us to follow parking rules, and always quietly competent.
Pete Hagen was the guru of Matriculation who learned how to get our assessment tests accepted by Sacramento and helped us through many satisfaction surveys.
Claudia Hayner has dedicated her entire career to Cuesta, most recently handling a little of this and a lot of that to make the North Campus hum along.
Dwight Panter has been a leader of the faculty, a champion of vocational education who helped more than one college president get their priorities straight, and has been the kind of faculty member who builds quality programs.
Join me in thanking each of these outstanding colleagues and friends—we are really going to miss their input, effort, smiles, and friendship. Thanks to their hard work, they leave Cuesta a stronger and better institution.
We say welcome and good luck to Dan Chacon, Vice President Student Support; Harry Schade, Vice President Student Learning; Patrick Schwab, Director of Academic Support and DSPS; and Rachel Hamilton, Administrative Assistant to North County Campus’ Executive Dean. By January, we expect to also welcome the new Executive Director of Foundation/Institutional Advancement and the Administrative Assistant for the Vice President, Administrative Services. One year ago, I told you we would have 20 faculty, staff, and administrators and managers retire. I also told you it would take a personnel transition plan to guide us through 12 months of retirements, hiring committee meetings, and 20 successful hires. Believe it or not, we have completed the plan. Now let’s get to know our new colleagues, learn from them, teach them the best of Cuesta 101, and together let’s build the next generation of Cuesta College.
It’s been a semester of successes, stresses, and satisfactions. There are countless examples of student and faculty accomplishments—classroom performance, the Museum of Tolerance trip, athletic conference victories, concerts of soaring music, a drama production of stark reality, inspiring art shows, a faculty retreat that helped strengthen our sense of community, and committees that dedicated time to diversity, research, basic skills, benefits, academic calendar, planning and budget, sabbaticals, negotiations, and of course, hiring…and hiring…and hiring…and hiring.
For the collaborative effort we all put forward to help students have a productive semester, take a bow! As you celebrate the conclusion of a strenuous semester, be safe and please don’t let anyone you love drink and drive.
Enjoy this season with your family and friends, get some rest, have some laughs, learn something new. I’ll see you at Opening Day on January 14!
