On the first day of the holiday break at Blinn College, the board of trustees have chosen an interim district president.
Dr. Ana Guzman was president the last two years in Santa Fe New Mexico and before that led San Antonio’s Palo Alto community college for 12 years.
Trustees president Douglas Borchardt says Guzman was on campus last week, then she and two other finalists went through Skype interviews with the board Monday morning.
Guzman will start around January 15th, about two weeks before district president Dr. Harold Nolte retires.
Borchardt says the interim will not be considered for the job on a permanent basis. And he hopes to have a search committee selected by the end of next month.
Click below for comments from Douglas Borchardt, visiting with WTAW’s Bill Oliver.
News release from Blinn College:
Blinn College has named Dr. Ana Margarita Guzmán, a national leader in education for more than 30 years, its interim district president.
Guzmán was identified with the assistance of the Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT) and will begin her duties around Jan. 15. Blinn’s 14th district president, Dr. Harold Nolte, announced in September that he is retiring effective Jan. 31, 2015.
Guzmán comes to Blinn after serving as president of Santa Fe (N.M.) Community College from 2012-14, where she oversaw a 47 percent graduation rate increase, a 12 percent retention rate increase and a 12 percent enrollment increase.
Prior to that, Guzmán served 12 years as president of Palo Alto Community College. During her tenure, she increased enrollment 61 percent, saw retention rates increase from 62 to 84 percent and increased continuing education revenues by 400 percent. Shew oversaw the establishment of 14 new programs and 28 additional certificate programs were submitted to the U.S. Department of Education for approval for Pell Grant eligibility.
Guzmán was confirmed by the U.S. Senate to serve a four-year term on the National Security Education Board, a 13-member panel which develops criteria for scholarships and grants for students who express an interest in national security issues or a career in a national security position. She also serves on the Board of Directors for the national early childhood and family support organization, AVANCE.
Guzmán served as the chair of the White House Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans from 1993-2000 and served on the Board of Trustees for the College Board, a not-for-profit membership organization. She was named to the San Antonio Women’s Hall of Fame in 2006.
Guzmán began her career as a public school teacher and has taught at the University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi. She served as Associate Vice Chancellor of the Texas A&M University System and as Executive Vice President for Institutional Advancement, Administration and Community Relations at Austin Community College.
She has attended the Institute for Educational Management at Harvard University as well as the Training for Corporate Boards. She holds and Ed.D. in education from the University of Houston, a M.A. in sociology from Texas Southern University and a B.S. in education from Stout State University in Wisconsin.