Interim leader to stay on for three years
The college board voted to extend interim Superintendent/ President Raúl Rodríguez’s contract to three years.
SALINAS>> The Hartnell College board voted Wednesday to extend interim Superintendent/ President Raúl Rodríguez’s contract to three years.
Rodríguez replaced Patricia Hsieh July 6. Hsieh started as superintendent/president in August 2019 and resigned in July following a family medical crisis. Rodríguez’s original agreement was for him to serve through June 2021.
According to a press release, board trustees said Hartnell will continue to benefit from Rodríguez’s decades of management and leadership experience in the California Community College System while they prepare to choose a new permanent superintendent/president in early 2023, following a national search.
“Working with Dr. Rodríguez over the past two months, we have seen in action all the strengths that drew us to him for this crucial role,” board President Aurelio Salazar Jr. said in the release. “He is a hands-on, proactive and strategic leader who understands the Salinas Valley and cares deeply about the success of every Hartnell student.”
Rodriguez served as interim president at East Los Angeles College this past year. Before that, he spent nine years as chancellor of the Rancho Santiago Community College District in Orange County, which is one of the largest in California with an annual enrollment of 80,000 students. He also served as superintendent/president of San Joaquin Delta College in Stockton for eight years.
“I am extremely pleased to extend my partnership with this outstanding board,” Rodríguez said in the release. “They have high expectations for student success, workforce development and the enormous contributions Hartnell makes to communities throughout our district. Hartnell is an impressive college, and thanks to our dedicated and talented staff and faculty, I am certain we will maintain that standard of excellence.”
Board Vice President Pat Donohue said a longer leadership transition makes sense while Hartnell prepares to complete facility construction and expansion funded by Measure T bonds while meeting the challenges of maintaining instruction amid COVID-19 and the pandemic’s potential impact on budgeting.
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“Dr. Rodríguez offers us both a steady guiding hand and a vision for excellence gained from his years leading colleges whose students share many characteristics with our own,” Donohue said in the release. “He will keep us moving steadily ahead during this unprecedented time.”