Meet Dr. Rick Perez

by Henan Joof, Outreach Office

This fall semester, the Student Services area not only ushered in a new academic year but also a new Vice President, Dr. Ricardo Perez. This man of many accomplishments comes to us from Riverside City College, where he served as Vice President of Student Services.

     As we took a seat for this interview, Rick, as his friends like to call him, immediately displayed the signs of the “Servant Leader” that he professes to be. Being the head of the area, directly charged with maintaining the excellent rapport the thousands of students have with our institution seems to come as second nature to him.

     Dr. Perez’s extensive qualifications and journey of professional growth began at UCLA as a Coordinator of the Pre-College Program; then he took on the position of Director of University Outreach and Information Services and School Relations at Cal State Dominguez Hills. Dr. Perez also served as the Director of the Extended Opportunity Program & Services (EOPS) and Cooperative Agencies Resources for Education (CARE) at Long Beach City College. For six years, he was the Dean of Counseling and Student Development at Fullerton College.  In this position he provided leadership in the development, organization and administration of counseling programs and services, assessment and orientation, transfer, career and life planning, CalWORKs, Workforce Center (VTEA), International Student program, matriculation, Saturday Student Services (Puente), and high school outreach.

     As he gazes out his office window, he speaks fondly of his experience touring the college during his interview process. Dr. Perez was impressed with the campus' location and the level of detail that has gone into planning new construction projects. The campus was lively, the grounds well kept. It had a home feel to it—a commuter campus that still found a way to keep students engaged and active, enhancing their learning experience outside the classroom. Dr. Perez aims to maintain this atmosphere and would like to focus on bolstering our noncredit program, providing leadership opportunities for our staff and administrators, and continuing to meet our enrollment targets without sacrificing services. An area that is of much interest to Dr. Perez is finding better ways to incorporate the Garfield Campus into the main campus' day-to-day events and operations. Increasing the types of programs that students are seeking in the area of workforce training is also one of his goals. He feels that our shared governance structure, and the fact that it works, makes us the envy of other community colleges.

     On a personal note, Dr. Perez has been married for 21 years to his wife Adriana, a teacher. They have two children, Richard and Sabrina.  He enjoys golfing, basketball and conditioning, so look out for him in the Fitness Center on campus in the evening. Most of his weekends are spent traveling with his daughter’s athletic teams: softball and soccer.  He collects coins, enjoys selected red wines, and loves to travel to different places each year. Dr. Perez received his Ed.D. in Educational Leadership from  UCLA in 1999 and his Masters of Arts in Education with a Counseling focus from Cal State, Dominguez Hills in 1991. &

back to top