Community Colleges chief to join Biden team
The chancellor of the California Community Colleges system, who also serves as a University of California regent, will be joining the Biden administration as a special adviser in education, a release said Monday morning.
Chancellor Eloy Ortiz Oakley will serve in a temporary role as a special adviser to Education Secretary Miguel Cardona providing advice on higher education policy, starting July 26, Board of Governors President Pamela Haynes announced.
Haynes called the assignment “a win for California and the nation,” in a release.
“Answering this call to service is a recognition of work our system is leading,” she said.
Deputy Chancellor Daisy Gonzales will serve as acting chancellor until Oakley returns in late fall, overseeing policy, fiscal and advocacy matters for the nation’s largest college system, with more than 2 million students and 116 schools.
Oakley departs as the state’s community college system attempts to recover after the pandemic. A UC Santa Cruz study found that student enrollment took a dive in the past year. In the spring of 2020, community college enrollment fell by more than 60,000 students, or 4%, from the spring of 2019.
Appointed as chancellor of the state’s community college system in 2016, Oakley formerly served as the president of Long Beach City College. In addition to his role as chancellor, he serves on the University of California’s Board of Regents, to which he was appointed by Gov. Jerry Brown in 2014.
Oakley grew up in South Los Angeles as the son of a father who was schooled in Mexico and a mother who was a Mexican immigrant. After four years in the Army, he enrolled at Golden West College and then transferred to UC Irvine, where he earned his bachelor’s in environmental analysis and design and a master’s in business administration.
At the time he was appointed as chancellor, Oakley said he would focus on helping students transfer more quickly from community colleges to universities and work closely with businesses to strengthen classes that prepare students for vocations, rather than degrees.