Students from Bakersfield College participate in an Intro to EV class.
Courtesy: Bakersfield College
I was introduced to community colleges when I left my hometown, Kollam, in southern India, to attend graduate school as a foreign student in California. The idea of open access, that anyone, even older adults, could attend college was astonishing to me.
Now, 30 years later, I’ve been given the opportunity to lead the nation’s largest institution of higher education — the 116-campus, 1.9-million-student California Community College system, where almost half of our students are older adults.
The Community College System is one of our state’s most valuable assets, our main engine of social mobility. We generate $128 billion in annual income for California, amounting to more than 4% of the state’s gross product.
We are essential to the state’s achieving its ambitious goals in everything from climate policy, to…
