Normally, when a new college president takes office, there’s a lot of handshaking, sitting in the dining hall with students and getting coffee with faculty members.
But not for Dr. Angélica Garcia, president of Berkeley City College. Previously the vice president of student services at Skyline College in San Bruno, Calif., she started her new role on May 7 in the thick of the coronavirus pandemic.
“… I haven’t been able to interact in-person with a single colleague,” Garcia says. She helped distribute meals to students, but from multiple feet away, “in proximity but not really able to connect.” Meanwhile, day-to-day, informal opportunities to build relationships, like just passing in the hallways, aren’t an option.
It’s a challenge, “though not one that’s insurmountable,” she added. “I feel nothing but love and warm welcome in all the virtual by phone and videoconferencing spaces that we have.”
In addition to social distancing from colleagues, Garcia is coming into the presidency at a time when big decisions need to be made about how to keep students safe and how to offer quality online learning as the crisis continues.
The Peralta Community College District — of which Berkeley City College is a part — plans to start the fall semester fully online. Garcia praised the “collective wisdom” and collaborative, participatory governance style of the college system during this time, as well as its response to previous financial struggles. The district was put on probation by accreditors for persistent financial troubles in January, according to The San Francisco Chronicle, after a 2019 report offered 75 recommendations for change, which Garcia says leaders are tackling.
“As I came to BCC, I knew it was a part of a district that experienced some challenges, but it was also a district that had shown monumental strides,” she added.
