A Message from the Board President

Creating New Realities for Women of Color: The Kaleidoscope Leadership Institute

In the United States, only 23 percent of colleges and universities have women presidents, and minority women are a scant subset of that population (American Council on Education 2007). On my own journey to the presidency, I seldom saw other women like me. I often wondered, “Where are the minority women on the track to higher education leadership, and who is leading the way for them?” Most importantly, I wondered, “Whose footsteps are they following?” Like many women, I found an answer—and the role models I was seeking—at the Kaleidoscope Leadership Institute.

The Power of Role Models

Educators have recognized the importance of role models. But I don’t believe we have yet realized the true power of role models. Until a person sees someone with whom she can identify achieving the success of which she dreams, she may not be able to internalize the real possibilities that exist for her. Such was the case in my experience.

As a Chinese woman transplanted to America’s Midwest (and then later to California), I found it challenging to locate other young women with stories similar to mine. Although many minority women presidents tried to inspire me, encourage me, and instill in me the belief that I could be a college president, that reality didn’t hit me until I met Evelyn Wong—the first Asian woman president I had ever encountered—at the Kaleidoscope Leadership Institute. At that time, I was just entering the higher education field as a matriculation coordinator at Saddleback College (in Orange County, California). I will never forget the moment when my presidential aspirations turned from an empty dream into a reachable reality.

I wasn’t the only one to find new possibilities at Kaleidoscope. Many women have encountered new realities at the institute that have forever changed their subsequent leadership journeys. It was with this very need in mind—the need to create new realities for women of color—that the Kaleidoscope Leadership Institute was born. The program was designed to meet the unique needs of women of color and inspire, develop, and validate their leadership potentials.

Connecting New and Experienced Leaders

The first Kaleidoscope Leadership Institute was offered in Minnesota in October 1991. Carolyn Desjardin secured funding to kick-start the institute after she learned from participant feedback that a leadership workshop she was conducting did not meet the needs of women of color. Twenty-six women attended that first institute, and since then hundreds of Kaleidoscope participants have been able to chronicle experiences as enlightening and empowering as mine. Addicted to the institute since I first attended during its second year, I now have the annual privilege of hosting Kaleidoscope at Coastline Community College in Fountain Valley, California, where I have served as president for seven years.

In the tradition of the original institute, Kaleidoscope workshop sessions help participants discuss issues facing leaders of educational institutions, explore workplace challenges specific to minority women, and build skills for success. These skills are all based in real-world and real-use concepts so participants can immediately apply them in their everyday lives. One of these skills is the process of finding and maintaining a mentor. We stress how valuable a professional mentor can be, and we encourage women both to seek out mentors who will support their career growth and to serve as mentors to others. Participants not only learn about themselves through mentoring relationships, but also learn about their sisters from other cultural backgrounds. These intercultural exchanges are priceless, and the mentoring component—along with the career planning element—provides women with a compass for their next steps.

The Kaleidoscope mentors who lead the institute are of monumental importance. They are women of various ethnic backgrounds and include successful college presidents and CEOs from institutions of higher education around the United States. These women are “giants,” as I like to call them, based on their remarkable levels of success. I have stood on the shoulders of these giants, including founding and current facilitator Jacqueline Belcher (president emerita of Georgia Perimeter College), Ruth Burgos-Sasscer (chancellor emerita of Houston Community College District), Zerrie Campbell (president emerita of Malcolm X College), Evelyn Wong (president emerita of West Los Angeles Community College), Valeriana Moeller (president of Columbus State Community College), and many others.

After nearly twenty years, Kaleidoscope is still going strong, with participants from all over the country and from a range of institutional locations (two year and four year, public and private) attending the annual event. We are seeing participants who are younger, stronger, and ever more confident about who they are and where they are going. Yet as participants’ stories attest, the need remains for guidance, mentoring, validation, and skill building that fulfill women of color’s unique needs. My heart fills with joy when someone like Xin Liu, a participant from last year’s Kaleidoscope, e-mails me to report that after applying everything she learned from us, she won the job she was seeking even though she thought she didn’t have a chance. Charmagne Shearrill, a 2007 participant, wrote, “Kaleidoscope changed my life! I was able to advance with a new job with newfound leadership potentials.”

Nurturing New Leaders

Seeing someone like oneself in a prominent, successful career sends a message that is difficult to convey in words. It invokes a feeling that is a mixture of empowerment, validation, and fearlessness. Sometimes women of color come to Kaleidoscope as broken-winged birds, and it is our mission to send them home feeling that they can take off and achieve the highest flight.

Kaleidoscope’s impact is beyond measure. Every time we inspire a participant to believe that she can move up, we guide one more woman of color through the pipeline. When these women reach the top, they will go on to serve as mentors and role models for other women of color. For higher education at large, the result is an expanded pool of women-of-color leaders— leaders who uphold values anchored in a global and intercultural frame of reference.

We can practically write a book about all we have learned from our participants—both students and instructors—over the past twenty years. For now, we pass these lessons on orally at the institute, helping new groups of women grow and mature. Kaleidoscope’s story includes all the makings of a novel—a fight to overcome adversity, a changing social dynamic, and building intercultural awareness, acceptance, and pride.

Many leadership institutes exist across the country, and each has its own unique features. For women of color seeking a group that understands their challenges, discusses productive coping strategies, develops personal power, introduces them to mentors, and welcomes them into a nationwide “sisterhood” network, Kaleidoscope is the perfect place. I invite women of color to an unforgettable, life-changing experience at our next Kaleidoscope Leadership Institute. We will be waiting with welcoming smiles and arms wide open for a heartfelt embrace.

For more information about the Kaleidoscope Leadership Institute, held each year in late November or early December, visit www.coastline.edu/divisions/president/kaleidoscope/.

References

American Council on Education. 2007. The American college president: 2007 edition. Washington, DC: American Council on Education.

CCCD Manager of the Year, Bill Kerwin

Bill Kerwin, the District’s Risk Services Manager, was named the 2009 District-site Manager of the Year at the annual management association picnic. Bill is responsible for minimizing risk for the District’s students, faculty and staff and was honored for his commitment to recognizing and mitigating potential problems before they come up.

“Bill is truly deserving of this recognition,” said Vice Chancellor of Administrative Services CM Brahmbhatt. “He shows initiative, integrity and tenacity in performing his duties and always goes above and beyond what is required of him. His dedication to helping the District and the campuses navigate the complexities of Risk Management is a great benefit to all of us and I am happy that his peers recognize his outstanding contributions to our colleges.”

He has been with the District for 17 years, beginning his career at Orange Coast College as a campus safety officer while attending law school. Bill’s law degree often comes in handy when he is deciphering and explaining the District’s complex contracts and obligations.

Bill and his wife, Kim, their daughter, Abbigail, and their dog Maggie live in Huntington Beach. Bill was in the U.S. Army and served in Operation Desert Storm; he graduated with his law degree from Whittier Law School in 2002.

At the picnic, the District’s three colleges also announced the managers of the year. Coastline Community College selected Dan Jones, Administrative Dean of Independent Studies; Golden West College selected Ron Lowenberg, Associate Dean of Criminal Justice; and Orange Coast College selected Melinda Nish, Vice President of Instruction.

Early College High School Added to Distinguished School List

Coastline Community College’s Early College High School (ECHS) – a unique high school operated in partnership with Newport-Mesa Unified School District—has been named a California Distinguished School.

The elite list is produced annually by the state education department and only 11% of California’s middle and high schools have been selected for the award. This year, 31 out of the 261 distinguished schools were from Orange County and ECHS was the only school in the Newport-Mesa Unified School District to receive the label.

With selection based primarily on test scores,
California Distinguished Schools must show remarkable results and/or tremendous improvement year upon year. At ECHS, API scores jumped from 786 last year to 861 this year. “These extraordinary middle and high schools have shown they are able to increase the achievement of all their students and have provided evidence that they are closing the achievement gaps that, unfortunately, exist at many schools,” said State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Jack O’Connell, in a congratulatory statement.

“This is one of the highest awards a school can earn,” said Betty Disney, ECHS Dean of Instruction. “We are extremely thrilled to know our staff, faculty and students are being acknowledged for all of their hard work.”

ECHS allows students to graduate in five years with both a high school diploma and an A.A. degree. Students start as ninth-graders and follow the program curriculum for five years.

Recipients of the California Distinguished School award can also be nominated for the national Blue Ribbon School awards. The Blue Ribbon awardees will be announced in the fall.

Coastline Recognized for its Commitment to the U.S. Military

 Each year, the Council of College and Military Educators (CCME) recognizes an institution for its significant contributions to the cause of military education. Recently, Coastline Community College was chosen as the top institution that supplies quality educational programs to the armed services and received the 2009 CCME Institution Award. The ceremony was held as part of CCME’s annual symposium in Honolulu, Hawaii. Ed McKenney, Dean of Coastline’s Military Programs; Shawn Mann, Manager of Military Program Outreach and Recruitment; and Joycelyn Groot, Director of Contract Education were all present to accept the award.

In addition to the CCME Institution Award, Coastline was also named one of the top 20 military-friendly schools in the United States by Military Advanced Education, a publication dedicated to U.S. servicemen and women stationed worldwide. This is the second year in a row that Coastline has been cited as a top 20 school. “Let me congratulate you and the entire staff at Coastline Community College for the inspired effort you put into making it easier for our men and women in uniform to advance their careers by enhancing their educations,” wrote Military Advanced Education Publisher, Glenn Berlin, in the announcement.

Thousands of servicemen and women stationed worldwide are taking classes at Coastline Community College through the college’s distance learning program. They complete their classes online or through other distance learning modes (independent study, PDA courses, CD/DVD-rom courses, etc.) and often acquire enough credits to complete a degree without ever setting foot on a Coastline campus. Recently, Coastline launched the “Military Spouses Program” that enables military-dependent spouses to take online courses at a reduced tuition rate and also features the benefit of free textbooks and no application or registration fees. The program has been wildly successful.

“Military spouses require and deserve the same types of educational support and opportunities enjoyed by our service-members,” said Shawn Mann, exemplifying the college’s commitment. It’s this dedication that drives the college’s Military Education department and the reason Coastline will continue to be recognized as a military-friendly school for years to come.