November 15, 2024
Dear Colleagues:
Thank you to everyone who participated in constituent group meetings and open forums with the De Anza College president finalists this week. Without exception, the candidates commented about the warm welcome they
received, the thoughtfulness of your questions, and the obvious depth of your dedication to the college and our students. They were particularly impressed with how well our student leaders
had prepared for the visit and how elegantly and eloquently they expressed themselves.
For those unable to attend the candidate open forums, links to the livestream recordings are now available on the De Anza president search website. The recordings will be available to view until Monday, Nov. 18, at 5 p.m.
Whether you attended meetings in person or virtually this week or will be viewing
the forum recordings, I want to hear from you regarding your impressions of the candidates. Links to feedback forms for each
candidate are available on the De Anza president search website. Please provide your input no later than 5 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 18, while your thoughts are still fresh in your mind.
I look forward to reading your comments and thank you for your help in making this
important decision.
Please join me in thanking the following individuals and groups, who took on extra
work to make the search and this week’s visits successful:
- Nathaly Aguilar and Pippa Gibson for meeting the candidates early each morning for a tour of campus, transporting candidates across campus for meetings, and jumping in to help with anything and everything without fail.
- Marisa Spatafore, Brandon Bailey, Alex Harrell, Steven Nguyen and Jonathan Guillen for lending their time and expertise for the position profile, search website and forum livestreaming.
- Patrick Gannon, Crystal Phan, Jorge Rodriguez, Manny DaSilva, Sally Gore, Ana Ferreira and Jose Avila for behind-the-scenes help with facilities and transportation.
- Debbie Lee, Michelle Hernandez, Dennis Shannakian, Luca Paliska, Erik Woodbury, Dennis Cima and the Foundation staff, senior staff, and the executive leadership team for leading meetings with the candidates all week.
- Hyon Chu Yi-Baker, Dennis Shannakian and the College Life staff for helping our student leaders with their impressive preparation.
- Search committee chair Kristina Whalen and committee members Archana Sathaye, Sam Bliss, Mehrdad Khosravi, Michele LeBleu-Burns, Marisa Spatafore, Dave Capitolo, Carlos Mujal, Tim Shively, Erik Woodbury, Diana Martinez, Mallory Newell, Luca Paliska, Aura Ozturk and Nicole Gray for dedicating extensive time and attention to screening candidates, conducting first round interviews, and recommending the finalists.
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Search consultants Jim Riggs, Pam Walker and Robert Griffin at PPL for guiding us throughout the search process.
- Keisha Sentosa for facilitating the nationwide recruitment effort and helping the search committee access candidate applications.
- Carla Maitland and Paula Norsell for supporting the search process from start to finish.
I hope to make an announcement about the next De Anza president before the end of the quarter.
Sincerely,
Lee D. Lambert, J.D.
Chancellor