Public community college system selects first woman and first Asian to head

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Sonia Christian made history on Thursday when she was appointed president of the California Community Colleges. It is the largest such network in the country and currently operates 116 schools across the state with over 1 million students.

Christian, 56, is an Indian immigrant and current Chancellor of the Kern County Community College in Bakersfield. She will be the first woman and the first person of Asian descent to lead a system that is struggling to hire more teachers from different ethnic backgrounds and reducing enrollment.

“I am honored to be elected head of the most important higher education system in the country,” Christian said in a statement. “We still face many challenges, but I truly believe that our biggest challenges are enabling us to do our greatest work.”

Also Thursday, the California State Auditor released a report showing faculty diversity in the community college system remains a problem, especially between Hispanic students and faculty.

The report comes at a time when racial demographics in higher education are once again under scrutiny. Its data, based on the 2021-2022 school year, shows that while only 18% of faculty are Hispanic and Latino, 47% of students are Hispanic or Latino. Asian, Black, and Pacific Islander teachers are relatively proportional to student demographics, but the percentage of white teachers is much higher than the percentage of white students in the system.

The system is also battling a steep drop in enrollment since the pandemic, spanning both rural colleges in the upstate and campuses in heavily urbanized Southern California. About 70% of students are considered low-income.

Gilbert Wong, a South Bay local college trustee and longtime friend of Christian, said he was proud to have an Asian American as chancellor.

“I think it’s very important that the rector be an Asian woman because the students are mostly people of color,” Wong said. “Her experience and experience in leadership make her qualified.”

Christian will start work on June 1st. Daisy Gonzalez, interim chancellor, will continue in that position until Christian takes office.

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