Reports to the Board of Trustees

Each month, President Torres gives a report on college activities, honors and achievements during the regular meeting of the Foothill-De Anza Community College District Board of Trustees.

For previous reports, please see the board reports archive.

board reports archive

Board Meeting of Jan. 12, 2026

This month's report includes items on

Leadership Academy Sessions 3 and 4: Community Partnerships, Framing the Future

Session #3 of the President's Leadership Academy on Dec. 12 featured an Advocacy & Legislative Insights Presentation and Government Relations Panel and Q&A with guests from the Community College League of California (CCLC) and the California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office (CCCCO).

Guests were: 

  • David O'Brien, Vice Chancellor, CCCCO
  • Dr. Linda Vazquez, Assistant Vice Chancellor, CCCCO
  • Andrew Martinez, Sr. Director of Government Relations, CCLC
  • Kristal Padilla, Sr. Policy Advocate, CCLC

Session #4, held Jan. 9, included a visit to Institute for the Future (IFTF), with presentations by:  

  • Dr. Bob Johansen, Distinguished Fellow, IFTF 
  • Dr. Lyn Jeffery, Foresight Essentials Director, IFTF 

Above left: Leadership Academy session 3; right: Leadership Academy session 4

Recognizing Outstanding Service 

Each year, members of the League for Innovation in the Community College have an opportunity to nominate faculty, classified staff professionals and administrators for an Excellence Award.  

This year, the Senior Leadership Team (SLT) at De Anza nominated four campus community members for their outstanding service to our college community, their engagement across our campus community and state and the impact their contributions continue to make in service to our students and colleagues. They are:  

  • Adrienne Hypolite, associate dean, Learning Communities 
  • Erik Woodbury, president, Academic Senate; chemistry instructor 
  • Shagun Kaur, vice president, Academic Senate; communications studies professor 
  • Duc Nguyen, client systems technician

Award recipients will have the opportunity to attend the league's upcoming March 2026 conference in Indiana. 

The SLT nominated these four because of the impact of our learning communities and how we are a four-time qualifying institution for the national Aspen Prize; our local/regional/statewide leadership through the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges and immense progress made on Zero-Textbook-Cost instructional materials; the integrity of our technology systems and willingness to always support our campus community in this era of rapidly evolving innovations; and so much more. Each of them is a bright star and representative of the best of our college (and district).  

I thank them for the leadership, enthusiasm and heart they bring to their work every day. Congratulations to each of them on this honor!  

Top to bottom: Adrienne Hypolite, Erik Woodbury, Shagun Kaur and Duc Nguyen


Cupertino Mayor’s Initiatives Wrap-Up Reception

I was honored to attend Cupertino Mayor Liang Chao’s Mayor’s Initiatives Wrap-Up reception on December 11 at Cupertino Community Hall. The event celebrated a year of community-focused programs launched under Mayor Chao’s “Mayor’s Initiatives.” 

Over the past year, the Mayor’s Initiatives have focused on bringing neighbors together, supporting youth, celebrating culture and the arts, and encouraging civic dialogue through events including Monthly Mayor’s Chats at local restaurants, Dance in the Plaza events, a Volunteer Appreciation Dinner, a Multicultural Juried Art Show and more.  

Immediately following wrap-up, the Cupertino City Council met and selected a new mayor and vice mayor. The council appointed Kitty Moore as mayor and Chao as vice mayor. 

I look forward to continued partnership with both Mayor Moore and Vice Mayor Chao! 

Above (left to right): Randy Bryant, Vice President, Workforce Innovation and Economic Advancement, De Anza; Elizabeth Smith, Associate Vice President, Communications and External Relations, De Anza; Cupertino Vice Mayor Liang Chao; Omar Torres, President, De Anza

Bob Stockwell: Advocate of the Year

Political science instructor Bob Stockwell will be honored with the Dean Murakami Advocate of the Year Award at the Faculty Association of California Community Colleges (FACCC) Advocacy and Policy Conference on Feb. 22. 

The award recognizes an outstanding faculty member whose leadership, service and commitment to public higher education has made an impact statewide. 

In addition to being a political science instructor, Bob is a cofounder and faculty adviser of the Public Policy School. He has been teaching at De Anza since 2004 and will be retiring at the end of the academic year.  

The keynote speaker for the event will be Assemblymember Patrick Ahrens, a De Anza alumnus and former member of the Foothill-De Anza Community College District Board.

Above: Bob Stockwell 

Next Chapter of Silicon Valley Reads

De Anza is once again proud to host the Silicon Valley Reads kickoff on Thursday, Jan. 15, at 7 p.m., in the VPAC. Silicon Valley Reads is an annual community reading campaign that hosts a variety of events centered on a specific theme. This year’s theme is "Bridges to Belonging," which will focus on how to navigate the complexities of our modern world with empathy, and how to find the common ground that exists even in divided times. 

The event will be moderated by Sal Pizarro, a Mercury News columnist, and will feature a panel of authors. You can register for the event or the livestream on the Silicon Valley Reads website.


A Sense of Belonging

Before the Silicon Valley Reads kickoff, attendees can check out the new Euphrat Museum of Art exhibit, A Sense of Belonging, which also opens Jan. 15. The exhibit explores what makes people feel connected to themselves and their community. It will be open from 6-7 p.m. and 8:30-9 p.m.—before and after the Silicon Valley Reads discussion. 

Right: Josie Lepe's "Sunrise Ceremony 1"


Embracing the Future of Work 

I am delighted to congratulate our AI Faculty Fellow, Chesa Caparas, who will help lead our campus to further explore AI's implications for teaching, learning, equity, privacy, data and environmental impact. With thanks to our Academic Senate, Classified Senate and district ETS, and in collaboration with the California Community Colleges-Google AI partnership, free access to AI training; Google Career Certificates; and some of Google's cutting-edge AI tools, including Gemini for Education and NotebookLM, will be available to our faculty and classified staff professionals.  

This opportunity for our faculty and staff to access tools with Google represents a significant expansion and investment in workforce development within higher education, positioning California's community colleges to be at the forefront of the AI-driven economy. Thank you to Chesa and our Senates for working collaboratively to determine ethical options that we might further consider for implementation across campus as we embrace the future of work and best prepare students for successful entry into the workforce. 

Above: Chesa Caparas

Educational Master Plan 

With our Strategic Plan 2027-2030 approved in December, the campus will now begin the next phase of planning on its Educational Master Plan, which will be led by the Academic Senate and the Office of Instruction.  

Please join me in thanking Dr. Erik Woodbury (Academic Senate President), Shagun Kaur (Academic Senate Vice President) and Dr. Ram Subramaniam (Vice President of Instruction) for their leadership in collaborating with our students, faculty, staff and administrators on this important work that will be conducted throughout 2026 and will also inform our next Facilities Master Plan. 


Year 2 Listening Tours and Winter Quarter Open Office Hours

As I begin my second year, I am committed to doing a second round of listening tours—I did a first round in my first year—and also starting winter quarter open office hours to continue to hear from students, faculty, staff and administrators on what is happening in their areas, their ideas for the future of our college and how I can best support them and their departments.

Here are details: 

Winter 2026 Office Hours

Wednesdays:
• 9–10 a.m. and 4–5 p.m. (weekly)

To schedule a time, please reach out to Nathaly Aguilar (aguilarnathaly@deanza.edu) in the President’s Office. 

I look forward to hearing and learning from each member of our campus community!

Scholarships: Auto Tech and Nursing

Our Auto Tech students are nothing if not driven — and it showed this past December when three Automotive students applied for scholarships, and all of them won! 

The students earned top scores from the California Transit Training Consortium's 2025 Jim Ditch Scholarship committee and will receive awards. Student Quoc Hung Pham received the highest score of all applicants. 

Jim Ditch was the founder of the Southern California Transit Training Consortium — which is now known as the California Transit Training Consortium. He was passionate about training and education, and the scholarship in his name provides support to students who wish to pursue and/or advance careers in public transportation. 

And a big thank you to the Susan & Charles Berghoff Foundation, which gave two $1,000 scholarships to De Anza College nursing students Thuy Pham and Kali Jan Alhambra. Members of the foundation came to the De Anza Nursing All Student Assembly to give out the special awards. 

The Berghoff Foundation is dedicated to increasing dementia education, caregiving resources and research, with a special focus on Lewy body dementia. They proudly support De Anza College's Nursing program. 

Congratulations to all of these scholarship winners on their well-deserved awards!  

Above, left to right: Chuck Berghoff, cofounder and chairman; Kali Jan Alhambra, De Anza nursing scholarship recipient; Robin Shepherd, executive director; Bonnie Broderick, community health adviser; and Thuy Pham, De Anza nursing scholarship recipient

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