From the President
Interim Associate Vice President of Instruction
July 27, 2021
Dear Colleagues,
I am very pleased to let you know that longtime English faculty member Lydia Hearn will serve as interim associate vice president of Instruction beginning Aug. 1, and pending board approval. Thank you very much to the hiring committee for its thoughtful work on a position so critical to the college. The interim AVPI is a member of senior staff and oversees the Academic Services and Learning Resources Division, the Library, Online Education, Professional Development, the dean of Equity and Engagement, and a wide variety of related activities and roles.
Lydia brings exceptional breadth and depth to the position, and a rare set of experiences and skills. She joined De Anza College as a faculty member in 2000, previously served in the interim AVPI role from 2008-2010, and was interim dean of the Language Arts Division from 2007-2008. She served as president of the Academic Senate from 2005-2007.
Lydia holds a deep, demonstrated commitment to student equity, and has played key roles in collegewide initiatives with equity at their core. She is currently co-coordinator of De Anza's Guided Pathways program, and created the DARE (Development and Readiness Education) Task Force in 2009, serving as co-chair through 2010. From 2017-2019, she coordinated the campaign to expand use of Open Educational Resources as low- and no-cost alternatives to textbooks and class materials.
Deeply involved in our Learning Communities, Lydia has been an instructor and co-coordinator for the Puente Program since 2013. She co-founded and served as an instructor for REACH (Reading, English, Athletics, Counseling and Humanities), and taught for Sankofa Scholars -- a forerunner to the Umoja program. She has also taught in Summer Bridge and coordinated the Honors program.
Lydia has served as the English Department and Language Arts Division scheduler since 2011, playing an important role in the shift to new classes resulting from changes mandated by AB 705. She was the Title III/Basic Skills Initiative grants administrator and director in 2008-2010, and the budget coordinator for the grants in 2010-2012. She served as the instructional liaison on the first AANAPISI grant awarded to the college in 2008, and served on the work team for the current AANAPISI application. She was the instructional liaison for the major conversion to the Banner system in 2009, and the co-project manager for the curriculum management system conversion in 2018-2019.
We are fortunate to have such a dedicated instructor and former manager return to an administrator role during this critical period. Please join me in congratulating Lydia.
With appreciation,
Lloyd