A calm, smooth demeanor and a knack for solving problems can get you far at Cuesta – or at least, help you win a few awards. Academic Senate President and English Instructor Dennis Baeyen is this year’s recipient of the President’s Leadership Award, for his efforts on facilitating shared governance on-campus.
Baeyen has become a common mediator at many campus meetings. His accomplishments include changing the Academic Senate to make it more inclusive, and working especially hard on the process for decision-making by consensus. He played a primary role in developing the shared governance council.
The award is reserved for any employee who uses leadership skills to tackle a problem, take some risk, use a lot of patience and persistence, and achieve a result that brings institutional change.