The Hartnell Community College District Board of Trustees on July 9 selected Dr. Patricia Hsieh, president of San Diego Miramar College, to succeed Superintendent/President Dr. Willard Lewallen, pending agreement on terms of her employment.
The Governing Board voted unanimously to pursue a contract with Dr. Hsieh, one of three finalists for the position who visited Hartnell June 20-21 to participate in public forums and interview with trustees.
Dr. Lewallen, who became superintendent/president in May 2012, announced in January that he would retire effective Sept. 30.
Dr. Hsieh (pronounced SHEE-ah) is in her 14th year as the top executive at Miramar, which is one of three colleges in the San Diego Community College District and has an enrollment of approximately 12,000 students. She has broad experience and background in teaching, student services and community college administration.
“I am excited to receive this vote of confidence,” Dr. Hsieh said. “I look forward to completing negotiations and going to work with Hartnell’s visionary board and dedicated faculty and staff in support of students from throughout the Salinas Valley and beyond.”
Board of Trustees President Aurelio Salazar Jr. said the board has chosen a candidate who can maintain and build on the momentum the college has established during Dr. Lewallen’s seven-year tenure.
“Hartnell College’s profile and reputation have grown significantly over the last decade in the California Community College System, and Dr. Hsieh clearly demonstrated the ability to deliver on student success,” he said.
Following a nationwide search coordinated by PPL Inc., an executive search firm specializing in community college leadership, a board-appointed search committee recommended finalists for board consideration. The other finalists were Dr. Anthony (Tony) Kinkel, executive director of the Minnesota State Board for School Administrators, and Dr. Peter Maphumulo, executive vice president for instruction and student services at Victor Valley College.
The 18-member search committee was composed of three faculty, three administrators, three classified staff, two students, two board trustees and five community members representing specific community interests such as education, business and industry, community-based organizations and the arts.
Following two campus-community forums in early April to help prioritize qualifications for consideration, the committee selected and interviewed semi-finalists in early June. More than a hundred people attended the finalists’ individual public forums on June 20 in Hartnell’s Steinbeck Hall, where candidates introduced themselves and responded to written questions submitted by the audience.
Trustees Irma Lopez and Candi DePauw subsequently traveled to San Diego to visit Miramar College and meet with students and employees who have worked with Dr. Hsieh.
“I am humbled by the hours of effort put forth by so many people for whom this search has been so important,” Salazar said. “On behalf of the board, I would like to thank everyone who has taken part in this effort.”
During her years as president of Miramar, Dr. Hsieh has expanded student access, guiding growth from an annual enrollment of fewer than 5,000 full-time-equivalent students (FTES) to more than 10,000. Like Hartnell, the college also has achieved consecutive yearly gains in student completion.
In 2017-18, Miramar increased its associate degree awards by 32 percent, followed by an additional 15 percent in 2018-19. Its total certificate awards were up by 8 percent in 2017-18 and another 29 percent in 2018-19. Total associate degrees for transfer jumped by 57 percent in 2017-18 and 34 percent in 2018-19.
Dr. Hsieh also has been instrumental in transforming college facilities by completing a Facilities Master Plan to improve teaching, learning and student completion. When she joined Miramar in 2005, the campus had just two permanent buildings. Since then, it has used funds from two bond measures to complete eight new instructional and career training facilities, seven new campus support facilities, five major renovation projects, a major public safety project and numerous infrastructure projects.
From 2000 to 2005, Dr. Hsieh was interim president and vice president of student services at Sacramento City College. She served as vice president of student services at San Bernardino Valley College from 1998-2000, and from 1997-98, she was dean of student learning and development at Moorpark College. She also has been a faculty member, teaching courses in the classroom and online.
Among honors she has received are the National Chengchi University Outstanding Alumni Award in 2019, the San Diego Higher Education Leadership Award in 2018 and a Fulbright Grant for the International Education Administrators Program in France in 2016.
Dr. Hsieh studied at the Harvard University Management and Leadership in Education (MLE) Program and Institute for Educational Management (IEM) and received her doctorate from Pepperdine University in Institutional Management in Higher Education focusing on Community College Administration.
She received a Master of Arts degree in Guidance and Counseling from Wayne State University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Western Languages and Literature from National Chengchi University in Taipei, Taiwan.