Glendale Community College Board candidates' Q&A

Partnerships with local businesses, industry, public/private sectors to develop/adopt programs at Glendale Community College must increase. Glendale Community College has joint programs with Cal State Northridge, and discussions are in the works with the Glendale Unified School District and Los Angeles community colleges. The college's garage photovoltaic solar panels resulted from collaborating with Glendale Water & Power, through which green energy is directed to Glendale Community College .

Close networking with generous donors results in additional funds. Our Glendale Community College Foundation is an excellent source as, through their efforts, Bhupesh Parikh donated $1 million for naming the Allied Health Building after his family.

Financial aid for our students from public/private donors is welcomed. Last year, our students received more than $350,000 in financial aid/scholarships.

What should Glendale Community College do to better meet the growing student demand for classes?

Many classes are offered away from Glendale Community College and its Garfield campus. Increasing these offering at different sites is growing. This also mitigates the traffic/parking issues.

Phasing out unpopular/dated programs needs to occur faster. Low enrollment is costly. Redirecting more students to newer programs and other community colleges will help.

Students, through their enrollment patterns, and industry, through their mandates, guide us as community colleges are very responsive to these demands.

Offering more online and hybrid classes.

Does the college adequately serve the educational needs of its community? How can it improve?

Establishing better measures (external surveys) to inform us of community needs.

When workforce needs change, with the advent of technology/computers, moving forward accordingly and rapidly is needed.

Community members need to recognize a diverse instructional faculty pool. As demographics change, Glendale Community College becomes more responsive to this issue.

Glendale Community College has higher community college transfer rates to universities/colleges than most, but the board has established this as one of its goals warranting improvements.

Improving televising board meetings and having a call-in segment will better address community/neighborhood issues.

College employees have raised concerns that the Board of Trustees has a tendency to micromanage. How involved should trustees be in managing and organizing operations at the college?