GROSSMONT COLLEGE NAMES FINALISTS FOR PRESIDENT
Grossmont College is down to its final three candidates for the position of president of the El Cajon campus, and will be interviewing the candidates at separate online public forums later this month.
Finalists Denise Whisenhunt, Mary Gutierrez and Marsha Gable are all educators with extensive experience working at community colleges. One is expected to be chosen later this spring and begin in July to replace Nabil Abu-Ghazaleh.
Abu-Ghazaleh led Grossmont since 2015 and announced his retirement in the fall of 2020. According to the Transparent California website, Abu-Ghazaleh’s total salary without benefits in 2019 was $233,828. The incoming president’s salary will range from $201,432 to $217,872, according to the district.
Whisenhunt has been vice president of student services at San Diego City College since 2013. She served for 14 months beginning in May 2016 as interim president of the college until a permanent president was hired. She also served as interim vice president of student services at San Diego Mesa College.
At San Diego City College since 2001, she has been dean of student affairs, interim dean of student development and matriculation, and associate dean of student services/outreach. She was previously transfer center coordinator at the University of California at Merced.
Whisenhunt earned her law degree from the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., and her bachelor’s degree in political science and English literature from UC San Diego.
Gutierrez has been vice president of instruction at Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill in the San Francisco Bay area since 2018. She served six years as dean of language arts at Skyline College in San Bruno in San Mateo County. Gutierrez also was an associate dean at Cascadia College in Bothell, Wash., a program director at the University of San Diego and a director of early college at Highline College in Des Moines, Wash.
She earned a doctorate in educational leadership at
San Francisco State, a master’s degree in English from Virginia Polytechnic Institute, and a bachelor’s degree in English education from VPI.
Gable has been Grossmont College’s vice president of student services for the past five years and has been serving as interim president of Grossmont since January. In 2019, she was interim president of San Diego Miramar College for eight months when a permanent president was selected.
Gable was previously dean of counseling services at Cuyamaca College from 2013-15. She also worked at Santa Ana College and at Cal State San Marcos.
She earned a doctorate in educational leadership from San Diego State, a master’s degree in sociological practice from CSUSM, and a bachelor’s degree in social sciences from CSUSM.
Each of the candidates will appear in a virtual forum that will be open to the public — Whisenhunt on Monday, April 26, Gutierrez on Tuesday, April 27, and Gable on Wednesday, April 28. The forums will be held from 2 to 3 p.m. and will be broadcast on the college’s YouTube channel at https:// www.youtube.com/channel/ UC1WYSdr5n7KdcTggxTjNArw
The link to the forum and to submit questions to the candidates can be found on the Grossmont College President Search page at https://www.grossmont.edu/ about-grossmont/president-search.php
Because of the virtual format, questions will only be taken in advance and should be submitted by noon on April 23. Feedback from the forums will be accepted until noon the following day after each forum.
Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District Chancellor Lynn Neault is anticipated to recommend one of the nominees to the district’s governing board in May.
Grossmont College annually draws 15,000 students, and is known for its high transfer rates to fouryear universities and top career education programs including nursing and allied health, administration of justice and culinary arts.