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Welcoming Dr. Levy |
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Displaying the same confidence and enthusiasm on the phone that she showed at the presidential candidate forum April 12, Dr. Levy said she was thrilled to be chosen as the next superintendent/president of Glendale College. “It was an honor to be part of the process, starting with the interviews with the search committee and the forum on campus,’’ Dr. Levy said. “I consider Glendale College a shining star among community colleges.” Dr. Levy was introduced to the campus and community May 15 at the Board of Trustees meeting. She comes to Glendale with 25 years experience as an educator and 10 as an administrator, the last five as president at Los Angeles Southwest College. She is energetic, hands-on and determined to experience the same issues that students face on a daily basis, starting with finding a parking space. She calls herself a career student, as her bachelor’s degree, four master’s degrees and a doctorate would demonstrate, and as she said at the presidential forum, “I want to experience what everybody does on campus, from the students to staff and faculty. I want to stand in lines with students and engage people in conversations everywhere I go. I liken myself to a relay race runner, in that the baton has been passed to me. And I will take that baton and run as far and as fast as I can at this institution.’’ The nation-wide candidate search to hire a new superintendent/president started last year; the pool was narrowed down to four individuals for the April 12 candidates forum by the 21-member search committee, headed by Dr. Vicki Nicholson and including faculty, staff and students. “The Board of Trustees is grateful for the dedication and professionalism of the community members, staff members, and the students throughout the selection process,” said Kathleen Burke-Kelly, President of the Board of Trustees. “The broad constituencies representing every facet of college life assisted in making this a smooth, thorough, and thoughtful search process, which led to the selection of Dr. Levy. “Dr. Levy is an excellent choice for Glendale College because of her broad experience in the field of education and her ability to work collaboratively with people. All of the board members are looking forward to the future under Dr. Levy's leadership.” Alternating from being playful and serious on the phone, Dr. Levy addressed several topics, from confusion about where people can and can’t park on campus to the possible perception that she will come in and make immediate changes. “I’m not coming in with a cookie cutter or a magic wand,’’ she said. “Anyone taking on a job at this level has to get to know the institution first. At the college I’m at, I didn’t do much the first year.’’ To bolster the idea that she won’t be making wholesale changes, Dr. Levy recited a quote from one of her favorite books, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Dr. Stephen Covey: “Seek first to understand and then to be understood.’’ Asked how she likes to spend her free time, she said with a laugh that free time is something she has “very little of.’’ Told that Glendale will host L.A. Southwest in a home football game on Saturday, September 23, Dr. Levy said she is very supportive of activities and athletics on campus. “But I might have to excuse myself during games if the score gets close, because I just can’t bear to watch.’’ Asked for her first impressions of Glendale College, Dr. Levy was very complimentary about how beautiful and ideally located it is, and how well built, “with just a few bungalows, not like all the ones we have in Los Angeles.’’ she said. “The L.A. Southwest campus was more like a piece of coal when I got there, and we have worked hard to shine it up quite a bit. Glendale is more like a twinkling star.’’ Dr. Levy’s willingness to be the driving force behind project development at her Los Angeles campus was demonstrated when she operated a backhoe/loader in 2003 at Southwest, according to a 2003 campus press release, to officially launch a multi-million-dollar campus transformation program. Trustees and college officials then donned hard hats and wielded golden shovels for media photo opportunities, but the sight of the college president operating heavy machinery stole the show. As the interview was concluding, Dr. Levy took the opportunity to address again the perception that she might intend to make immediate changes on campus. “Everyone can relax in thinking I’m going to come in and make changes,’’ she said. “It should be looked at as an exciting time rather than one of uncertainty.’’ & |
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