President/ Superintendent, Teresa Dreyfuss has been recently working with the community to voice Rio Hondo positive progression.
On Jan. 29, she attended The Next Generation of Global Leadership: A Conversation with Honorable Madeleine Albright, an event at UCLA’s Royce Hall, as the guest of Ruthie Retana, the Director of Marketing and Communications, who is on the UCLA Alumni Association Board of Directors.
Michael Dukakis, the former Governor of Massachusetts introduced the Honorable Albright. Honorable Albright is the 64 Secretary of State of the United States. She was presented with the UCLA Medal, which is given as the highest honor for extraordinary accomplishment. Albright spoke of her experiences as an immigrant from Czechoslovakia, her family background, and more recent topics like her opinions on the Syria talks, the NSA and WikiLeaks.
Just two days after on Jan. 31, President Dreyfuss co-chaired the President’s Advisory Committee with Jake Alarid of the American G.I. Forum. Pres. Dreyfuss gave a brief update of the first week of new semester and the Governor’s Budget for 2014-2015.
Vice President of Student Services, Henry Gee, gave an update on the Student Success Initiative that was followed by a question and answer session. Following after Vice President Gee the Director of Government and Relations, Russell Castaneda-Calleros, who introduced two Governments Relations Ambassadors for Community Events (GRACE) who shared with the committee their background, career goals and experiences as Rio Hondo Ambassadors. They were greeted with applause and congratulated for their services.
Later, Retana gave an update on the Marketing and Communications Department accomplishments by showcasing a variety of recent marketing materials, press coverage, and social media and digital tools such as the recently produced “Transitway” electronic media kit.
Representative of Senator Ron Calderon’s office, Luis Gonzales, complimented the Marketing and Communications Department for the President’s monthly updates that are emailed to the community. He voiced his interest in forwarding these updates to Senator Calderon’s constituents.
Pres. Dreyfuss also gave an update on the Taste of Rio event, which will be held May 2 at Café Rio. This event was formed to help raise scholarships for Rio Hondo College students. The next meeting will be in late spring/early summer.
The Board of Trustees also met on Saturday, Feb. 1, where they participated in a presentation on the Brown Act, which was given by Richard Padilla of the law firm of Olivarez and Madruga.
The Board also received updates on the Education Master Plan provided by Dean Howard Kummerman; Facilities Master Plan provided by Peter Mitsakos of West Edge Architects; and the Information Technology Plan given by Gary Van Voorhis the Director of Information Technology.
Dean Kummerman reviewed the climate survey with the Board, as well as the draft Board Self Evaluation Instrument.
