Chancellor visits Delta campus

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Dr. Brice Harris, Chancellor of the California community college system, speaks to attendees of the Chancellor's Circle luncheon. PHOTO BY ORLANDO JOSE

On Wednesday, Feb. 24 the Chancellor of California Community Colleges, Dr. Brice Harris visited Delta’s campus as part of a Chancellor’s Circle event.

Dr. Brice Harris, Chancellor of the California community college system, speaks to attendees of the Chancellor's Circle luncheon. PHOTO BY ORLANDO JOSE
Dr. Brice Harris, Chancellor of the California community college system, speaks to attendees of the Chancellor’s Circle luncheon. PHOTO BY ORLANDO JOSE

Harris was given a tour of the campus that highlighted the many different programs students are involved in at Delta, including the MESA Student Center, the heavy equipment program and the L. H. Horton Gallery.
The Chancellor then joined President Dr. Kathy Hart, members of the board of trustees and other distinguished guests for a lunch served on campus by the Student Chef.

“I believe this should be their college of choice. I think this is the best deal, it’s the best value, it’s the best education,” said president of Delta College, Kathy Hart.

Later, the Chancellor outlined the current state of California community college statistics. These analyzed the growth of diversity in community college students over the past ten years.

“What we have to do is remain focused on the driving challenges facing our system, the driving opportunities that we have,” said Harris while addressing the crowd.

According to Harris’ Student Success Scorecard, the number of Associate degrees for transfer awarded has increased by almost 10,000 in the past academic year.

“We unfortunately had to turn more than half a million Californians out of the system between ’08, ’09 and when we bottomed out in ’12, ’13 and that was a tragedy for all of us who believe in open access and the concept of community colleges in America being the place anyone can go to get an education. We’re proud of saying that we have the responsibility of taking one hundred percent of every graduating class in this state and everyone else who didn’t graduate as well,” said Harris.

Editor’s Note: News Editor Megan Maxey and Collegian Adviser Tara Cuslidge-Staiano were invited guests to the luncheon.