Gregory Smith, the newly appointed Chancellor of the San Diego Community College District, conducted a Chancellor’s Forum to address the plans of the district for the upcoming school year, including topics such as increasing enrollment, managing budget, and innovating changes within the district.
The Forum was a highly informative insight towards the new school year from San Diego Community College District Chancellor Gregory Smith, broaching topics such as updated district branding, budgets and enrollment, the introduction of the two new vice chancellors and many other important topics over the course of 90 minutes.
Smith was appointed as ‘acting’ Chancellor in March of 2023 and was announced as the new SDCCD Chancellor in February. This school year marks Smith’s first official school year as district chancellor.
While Smith had headed the previous year’s forum, this year doubled as an introduction of Smith’s own values and goals for the district going forward. The new mission statement is a direct reflection on this new era.
“The San Diego Community College District uplifts diverse individuals and communities through culturally affirming teaching, learning, and work environments,” the mission statement said.
As an introduction of his goals for the district moving forward, Smith highlighted his focus on actively making SDCCD an inclusive and uplifting district, for students and staff alike. The district’s new tagline, “Be. Belong. Become.” was an addition made by Chancellor Smith, who felt the time for an update was here. Along with a new tagline, the district boasts a new logo and district website.
The logo, which features an illustration of four sun rays over water, is meant to represent the four colleges of the districts above the water, which is the district office. Smith makes sure to mention that the illustration was intentional in every aspect. The colleges are put above the district, highlighting the fact that the district exists primarily to serve the colleges.
The forum delved into many topics, most among the list of chancellor goals set forth by Smith. Among those goals are topics such as academic excellence, financial health, and student success and well being. Smith explained his vision for each topic with detailed examples and goals.
As a major focus of the forum, Smith detailed the district budget and bonds granted by the state. The budget increases as the enrollment levels of the district increase. The current enrollment levels register at approximately 40,000 students, the highest it has been since 2019, before the pandemic. The increase in enrollment means that the money received as a result of a Student Centered Funding Formula will also be increased, and is projected to be about $323 million.
The focus on budget also came with ideas on how to expand the budget without simply “existing to build a reserve”. Smith repeatedly proposed the goal to expand the dual enrollment program between SDCCD and local high schools. This program would allow high school students to gain experience with college classes, and potentially graduate high school with not only a high school diploma, but an Associates degree, or a work certificate.
The benefits of expanding such a program would be seen on the financial side of things, with a potential increase in the district’s financial revenue. According to Smith the increase in high school students taking college courses would also function to “dispel the myth about who is or isn’t college material,” effectively inspiring a new wave of high school graduates to pursue higher education.
In addition, Smith proposed a new Campus Allocation Model, which essentially creates an improved way for colleges to retain the profits/revenue that they have made as opposed to the revenues being kept in one place, for purposes outside of the college that might have earned them.
As a part of this new district era, two new vice chancellors were also introduced. Jared Burns is the new vice chancellor of people, culture, and technology. The new vice chancellor of finance and business services is Dan Troy. Both men enter their first years at SDCCD with excitement and complete support of Smith’s vision for the district’s future.
In attendance was a crowd of approximately 50 people. The majority were faculty with classified employees, administrators and some students in attendance. The Forum took place on Sept. 17 on the Mesa Campus, and was the fourth out of five forums held across the district.
