Delta Superintendent/President Omid Pourzanjani will resign from his position in June 2022 following a special Board of Trustees meeting tonight.
The Board unanimously approved a leave of absence, requested by Pourzanjani, for the remainder of his contract which ends on June 30, 2022. His resignation was also accepted and will go into effect that same date.
“This is a very difficult decision to make, but I believe it is the right decision,” Pourzanjani said in a news release from Delta College.
With Pourzanjani’s resignation, Assistant Superintendent/Vice President of Instruction Dr. Lisa Aguilera Lawrenson will immediately take his place as acting superintendent/president.
Lawrenson sent a letter out to the college community thanking Pourzanjani for his service and announcing a public forum next week in regards to how Delta is moving on after Pourzanjani’s departure.
“On behalf of the Delta College Executive Cabinet, we would like to thank Dr. Pourzanjani for his leadership and service to the campus. We wish him well with his future endeavors,” Lawrenson said. “Additionally, please be on the lookout for an invitation to an open forum next week, where the Executive Cabinet and other campus leaders will listen to concerns and answer questions you may have with regard to our campus work moving forward.”
Pourzanjani said he was honored to serve Delta College and admired its employees’ hard work during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Serving as superintendent/president has been an amazing privilege for me,” he added. “Our employees’ resilience in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, in particular, has been absolutely inspiring. From the sudden shift to online learning, to the slow and difficult climb out of the pandemic, our faculty and staff have demonstrated courage and steadfast dedication to serving our students. They are thankful, and so am I.”
Pourzanjani was hired on July 2, 2019 replacing former Superintendent/President Kathy Hart, who retired in September of that year after seven years in the position and 25 years working at Delta.
Pourzanjani said one of his most important goals as superintendent was to make Delta a more inviting place for students and assured he knows very well about their problems.
“I’m very in tune with the challenges students face,” said Pourzanjani during a community forum on June 10, 2019, in the Tillie Lewis Theatre, when he was running as a candidate for the position.
Among Pourzanjani’s most notable accomplishments was the opening of the Student Health Center in 2020, intended to provide healthcare to students on campus, especially to those with limited resources.
During Pourzanjani’s run as superintendent he had to deal with some problems present at Delta College before his installment, including low enrollment and contract solidification to fill vacant positions for employees that had retired in Spring 2018.
The most difficult challenge for Pourzanjani in his responsibilities as Delta’s superintendent has been the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, in which the college transitioned to remote instruction in March 2020. COVID-19 vaccine mandates for students and employees was a significant action taken in response to mitigating the virus.
The MyDelta system was the most immediate issue as Pourzanjani’s tenure started in the Fall 2019 semester. During its rollout, some students encountered problems receiving disbursements for financial aid and enrolling in courses.
Delta College announced in its press release that it will not provide further details of Pourzanjani’s decision for his resignation given that this is a personnel matter.