Dear neighbors,
Jun 26, 2014
As Board Chair of Houston Community College, one of the largest community colleges in the nation, I am proud of the partnerships we have cultivated over the years. In fact, the name of our institution reinforces our crucial mission – to serve and work with our community. During my seven-year tenure on the Board, I have worked hard to strengthen HCC’s ties with schools and our community partners, and this year we plan to work even harder to achieve our objectives.
This year the HCC Board of Trustees has identified a number of important goals to help us expand our community partnership goals for the future. First, we focused on selecting a new Chancellor to lead the institution. I am pleased to announce that we have chosen Dr. Cesar Maldonado as HCC’s eighth chancellor. Dr. Maldonado’s business acumen, academic pedigree and leadership skills are an ideal match for HCC. He successfully transitioned decades of private industry management and expertise into higher education administration. He previously served as the president of Texas State Technical College (TSTC) in Harlingen. We welcome Dr. Maldonado’s strong awareness of college and workforce readiness, and look forward to his leadership.
Second, we place the utmost importance on the financial stewardship and wellbeing of the institution, and are working to identify ways to streamline our budget, as we carefully provide oversight to the current bond initiative. The bond initiative is developing new buildings, infrastructure and improvements at each of HCC’s six colleges.
Third, we are committed to strengthening our partnerships with schools and community organizations that will help Houston’s economy grow with workforce-ready graduates. We are working with the area ISD’s and developing more offerings of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math-related programs, which are critical to student success.
Finally, we are proud to put students first in all aspects of the institution. From our bond initiative to our support of faculty, we are focused on improving student services to enhance teaching and learning, and ultimately graduation rates.
Our region’s future success depends on an educational system that meets the needs of our growing and diverse community. We have worked hard to listen to students, parents and the communities we serve to understand what they want and how we can better deliver our resources to them. Over the years we have been proud of our partnerships with local school districts to provide dual credit courses and Early College High Schools collaborations to provide area high school students the opportunity to earn college credit or their associate degrees, giving them a jump start on their future.
As our name reminds us, “community” is of utmost importance to our institution. HCC has played a unique role in this city, our local communities and our state since its inception 43 years ago, and we look forward to expanding our outreach to schools, communities, to area businesses, and forging lasting partnerships that benefit students, local industries and neighborhoods.
In service,
Neeta Sane
Chair, HCC Board of Trustees
Trustee, HCC District VII