The San Mateo County Community College District’s (SMCCCD) presidential search for a new Skyline College president has come down to three candidates: Davin Brown, Nathan “Nate” Carter, and Rebecca “Becky” Opsata.
The finalists visited Skyline College on March 10 and 11, where they participated in public forums that provided each candidate the opportunity to share their priorities and vision to the Skyline community. Each candidate also responded to questions gathered from the campus community, including Academic Senate, Classified Senate, Associated Students, and Management Council.
Feedback for the finalists is due on Friday, March 28 by 5 p.m. Faculty, Classified Staff, administrators, students, and community members are encouraged to submit feedback on the candidates.
Skyline College’s next president is expected to be announced by the SMCCCD Chancellor by May.
Davin Brown
Davin Brown is currently the Vice President of student services at Sacramento City College, which she has held for almost six years. Prior to her role at Sacramento, she served as the Dean of Student Success at Folsom Lake College and was a faculty member for many years before.
During her public forum, Brown discussed her familiarity with the Skyline College community, having grown up in San Francisco.
When asked what her biggest goal would be if elected, president Brown said that she has yet to define her overall goal, as it must be based on the needs of Skyline College.
“I’d say in order for me to establish a goal, it would have to be rooted in the collective interest of all of our constituency groups, not solely my goal,” Brown said.
However, she said if she had to choose a goal it would be to discover what students most need on campus.
“The goal would be, how do we, collectively as members of Skyline community, address our students’ interests and needs,” Brown said.
One of the groups Brown mentioned was the undocumented students of Skyline College.
“For me, one of the priorities is really doubling down on California’s commitment to equity and anti-racism, and dismantling systems of oppression,” Brown said. “That means protecting the members of our undocumented community and supporting the members of our undocumented community.”
Brown said, in her experiences as a student in higher ed, she learned about the importance of supporting student success.
“I learned a lot about the student experience with regard to student success and how students feel welcome and a sense of belonging, and they would recommend Skyline to anyone who asks them,” Brown said.
At her public forum, Brown discussed the value of being a candidate that her students and faculty can relate to on a personal level beyond just an administrator.
“As a presidential candidate, it’s important that an individual is relatable, because while the vast majority of my time will be spent in meetings, you better believe the other time I’m walking around the campus engaging with you all afternoon,” Brown said.
Nathan Carter
Nathan “Nate” Carter is the Chief Institutional Effectiveness and Inclusion Officer at Northern Virginia Community College. With 20 years of experience in education, Carter believes that effective leadership depends on communication with all members of the campus community.
Responding to a forum question about building consensus on campus, Carter said that he would work on building relationships with all of Skyline’s different communities.
“I think when you’re engaging stakeholders, whether it’s students, teaching faculty or classified professionals or the business community, you have to spend some time with trying to understand their ‘why’,” Carter said. “You need to think through that and you need to invest in that relationship building process to do that.”
Carter said that though many might view this current political climate as frightening, he sees it as an opportunity for commitment to equitable practices. He encourages “everyone to be warriors in higher ed, but not worriers, warriors.”
“I don’t think it’s a scary time,” Carter said. “It’s an important time for community colleges to be courageous. Skyline, what I can see, is that this is a college that is out in front and fully committed to doing equity and anti-racism work.”
Carter emphasized that even though there is a lot of distrust right now for higher education, colleges need to do more to solidify their role during these uncertain times.
“We are not bipartisan. I always have to remind them in my work that we are nonpartisan. We don’t take any particular side,” Carter said. “We are for higher education, for all. We are for power of knowledge, the freedom to pursue knowledge and we are about equitable access. That’s what we do and we’ve been doing this for years.”
Looking to the future, Carter spoke about furthering Skyline College’s development to advocate for the college’s and community’s needs.
“It’s about the 1-to-1 strategic thinking about the future of the district, the future of our surrounding cities, and where the future of work is and where we are well-positioned,” Carter said. “We’re building a future for Skyline 2040 together. But for me, it starts with making sure the foundation of understanding is there.”
Carter is also a presidential finalist at Fresno City College.
Rebecca Opsata
Rebecca “Becky” Opsata currently serves as the Vice President of Instruction at Laney College. Before her role at Laney, Opsata was at Diablo Valley College, where she worked as a Dean for three years and a faculty member for 11 years. For Opsata, collaborative leadership with an emphasis on improving student success and furthering employee professional development is central to her work in education.
If chosen to be president, Opsata hopes to bring a staff mentorship program she helped establish at Laney College to Skyline College. The program matched volunteer mentors with volunteer mentees to help employees advance professionally. Opsata personally mentors four student services employees. She said that being a mentor makes her a better leader because she knows more about the services offered and what employees at the college do.
Shared governance is important to Opsata’s leadership philosophy because she believes that everyone has the right to participate in the decisions that impact the college.
“The reason that we work in higher ed is because we are not for profit,” Opsata said. “We are not being ruled by some sort of dictator who makes decisions and tells us that we have to do that. We are good critical thinkers, and we’re all working here. So I value having that be part of our decision-making process as well.”
Noting the concerns that many students have about the current political climate, she said she is committed to supporting and advocating for students.
“It is the president’s job to be public and to speak in public and to be confident in public and to defend all of our students any way that we can,” Opsata said. “Not just in private here in campus, but also in public. I think it is our job to advocate at the state, advocate at the federal level, advocate locally, for our students and for what they need.”
Opsata explained that she is committed to maintaining Skyline College’s supportive environment.
“I think that it’s important that every person feels welcome at the college and feels supported at the college, and I would definitely work with all the great existing things that you have going on here,” Opsata said.
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