One would think, based on this title, I might supply the summary of my year as your president. And although May 21st, 2013, the day I took office, was exciting and full of promise, it was actually 17 days later, June 7th, when a man with a gun stepped on our campus and terrorized our community for less than 10 minutes. He started his rampage 75 yards outside my office, and 3 lives were lost and families will live with scars forever. As will our campus community. And I want to emphasize, that these scars tend to burn and hurt when it happens again at Santa Barbara, or elsewhere in this country. And although the scars hurt and burn occasionally, they keep us aware, cautious and thankful. Thankful that we can pick ourselves up, support our neighbors, friends and colleagues and continue our mission of educating and providing hope and promise to our country and our world, via education. Do not, I repeat, do not let this kind of fear and intimidation keep us from moving forward in our mission.
Now, to take some of my own counsel, WACAC continues to move forward, offering professional development opportunities and services to members and communities around California and Nevada. The work of our Board members has been comprehensive and thorough, and they are always willing to look at ways to improve our service to our community. We don’t always ‘get it right’, but we keep coming back and try to make it better. Thank you to volunteers that helped those Board members make their events and projects happen!!
And I really want to thank the former leadership and members for including and embracing the community college professionals and our issues. We must continue to create opportunities, and reduce barriers and provide clear paths for members to help students take full advantage of what community colleges have to offer students.
By Dan Nannini