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July 1, 2003
Dear Faculty and Staff,
I am pleased and honored to assume the position of chancellor beginning today, and look forward to deepening my understanding and appreciation of each college and Central Services from a broader perspective.
As a teacher in the 1960s and ‘70s, I knew that it took everyone in the community to enable students to succeed. As a dean, vice president and vice chancellor in the1980s and ‘90s, I understood this in a larger and more profound context. As a college president, I learned that the success of an institution is based on the passion and commitment of its leaders working together—board, administrators, faculty, staff and students—and the strong and trusted relationships they forge to assure educational opportunity.
Over the past decade, I have grown to love and value the distinctive history, culture and traditions of our district. In the months and years ahead, my vision, leadership and stewardship of our district will be devoted to moving us forward to new levels of excellence in four areas: opportunity, equity, accountability and sustainability.
In the area of opportunity, our district must support its colleges to increase access and success in the classroom. In the area of equity, we will work to ensure comparability in the levels of success that our students, our colleges, and our district as a whole will achieve, whether we examine that success through the lens of general education, workforce education, basic skills, culture, background, age, community or any other of the diverse attributes through which we define ourselves and our community.
In the area of accountability, I will work to see that our colleges and Central Services are highly respected by other colleges and universities statewide and nationally as a model of excellence in all aspects of accreditation, educational master planning, fiscal soundness and institutional outcomes. Finally, in the area of sustainability, I view the position of chancellor as that of steward of the public trust, with the responsibility for making decisions that will promote and sustain the excellence of our district for decades to come. Particularly in this challenging time of budget reductions and difficult decisions, it is vital to take the long-term view.
I understand that trust and respect for a leader are not values that can simply be awarded. They must be earned. In partnership with our board of trustees, our presidents, our faculty and staff, and our governance leaders, I look forward to earning your trust and respect in the coming years as we work together to create unparalleled educational opportunities for our students and our community.
Sincerely,
Martha J. Kanter
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