Delta College is seeing changes in administration at the beginning of the Spring 2021 semester, including within the Student Services department.
As of December 2020, Dr. Elizabeth Coria has taken over the role of Interim Assistant Superintendent/Vice President of Student Services.
Coria, who last served as Associate Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs at City College of San Francisco, has over 18 years of administrative experience within the California Community Colleges system.
Coria enters her position after Dr. Lisa Cooper-Wilkins. Cooper-Wilkins was named Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs at City College of San Francisco. Coria is the second new vice president in a year period at Delta College.
Dr. Lisa Aguilara Lawrenson was hired as a permanent replacement for Dr. James Todd who left Delta College for Sierra College during the summer. Lawrenson’s position became permanent and Coria’s interim at the Nov. 17 Board of Trustees meeting.
One of the main characteristics that drew Coria to Delta College is its diverse student population. According to Coria, Delta College is a Hispanic Serving Institution (HIS), with more than 50 percent of the student population identifying as Hispanic.
“We have the responsibility and opportunity to provide access to our students who have been primarily underserved,” Coria said. “I wanted to be a part of a team with such a rich history and a community that I can identify with personally and provide the leadership to remove barriers for students so they can attain their educational goals and be our leaders of tomorrow.”
Coria said she can relate to some members of the institution’s Hispanic student population as her parents immigrated to the United States from Mexico. She is also a first-generation college student.
“I wouldn’t have been blessed with my career if it weren’t for achieving a higher education,” Coria said. “Through my personal experience, I understand the challenges that students face trying to navigate our educational system.”
Coria said her path towards obtaining a higher education wasn’t easy.
“I am the youngest of three siblings,” Coria said. “My siblings tell me that they were my role models on what not to do.”
Coria said her older brother has been in and out of the jail system for most of his life and her sister became a mother at the age of 17. She was the only one in her family to graduate from high school and seek a college education.
“Education was not instilled at home,” Coria said. “My parents wanted us to graduate from high school in order to get a job, but there was no understanding or conversations of education beyond high school.”
Coria said she didn’t have anybody to guide her until her junior year of high school. That’s when her counselor, Victoria Cuevas, sat her down and discussed her options after graduation.
Coria said she expressed to Cuevas she didn’t think she could afford to go to college. Cuevas pointed her to many resources, including application fee waivers and scholarships.
With the help of Cuevas, Coria applied to three colleges and was accepted to Whittier College and University of California, Santa Barbara.
“Ms. Cuevas guided me and helped me aspire to have educational goals beyond attaining my high school diploma,” Coria said.
Coria said making education attainable to students with her similar background is what motivates her to help students succeed.
“I was the underrepresented minority female from East Los Angeles, I was expected to be a typical statistic of my environment,” Coria said. “If I was able to successfully get through our education system, I want to pay it forward for our communities to have the same opportunity.”
Coria said there are challenges that come with being a community college leader, such as facing limited resources and limited state funding, along with complex federal and state regulations and mandates.
“These are the challenges we deal with year after year,” Coria said. “However, I see these challenges as opportunities. Opportunities to be innovative, creative and resourceful in serving our students and communities.”
Coria said the COVID-19 pandemic presents a new opportunity for Delta College to transform education and how it delivers services to students.
“I hope to provide leadership and work with my team for transformational changes in order to increase student success outcomes,” Coria said. “I want our work to contribute to higher degree, certificate and transfer rates, an increase in students receiving Federal Pell Grants and providing basic needs to our underrepresented student population.”