by Neill Kovrig, Classified Senate President
The Classified Senate Nominations period closed at the end of June, and the following individuals have been confirmed as Senate officers for the 2016-17 year:
President: Neill Kovrig
Vice-President: Mary LeDuc
Senator, CE Mesa: Isabelle Mattar
Senator, Chavez: Ron Flores
Senator, ECC: Amanda Torres
Senator, Mid-City: Esther Anthony-Thomas
Senator, North City: Lily Mino
Senator, West City: Krystal Monal
The Senate additionally passed, by unanimous consent of all votes recorded, the passage of the following Bylaw amendments:
- Establishing the terms of office for President and Vice-President to be offset, so that the President is elected in even-numbered years, and the Vice-President is elected in odd-numbered years. Consequently, this year’s Vice-President will serve for one year, and the position will open again in 2017 for a full two-year term
- Combining the positions of Secretary and Treasurer, as the account of the Classified Senate has been incorporated under the auspices of the SDCE Foundation
- A series of resolution ideas which will be taken up by the Senate at the beginning of this term
Subsequent to the closure of nominations, the Senate was made aware that the Secretary/Treasurer who had been presumed confirmed would be unable to continue service; therefore, the position of Secretary/Treasurer is effectively vacant. If you are interested in serving, please drop a line to nkovrig@sdccd.edu; the Senate will consider applicants and make an appointment in accordance with the Bylaws.
Our deepest gratitude is extended to Phyllis Andrews, Mela Pettis, and Carmen Moi for their excellence in representing West City, ECC, and Mid-City respectively; and to Libbier Bakit, Jean MacDonald, and Ruben Leyva, for service on the Executive Board over the course of the past several Senate terms – their dedication to the Classified service is unparalleled, and on this occasion of their “retirement” from the Senate board, I want them each to know how very much their service is appreciated. Additionally, thank you to Karen King for coordinating the nominations effort!
Your President and Vice-President also had the opportunity to attend the California Community College Classified Senate (4CS) Classified Leadership Institute (CLI) at Ventura this past June – the conference featured many interesting speakers, workshops on participatory governance, and networking with fellow Senates from our region and across the state. In addition, thanks to a nomination submitted by President Carlos O. Turner Cortez and Acting Vice President of Administration Gabe Bakit, the Senate was honored in the form of an award for Outstanding Service as Classified Senate President for Neill Kovrig – an honor accepted with an eye towards the important recognition that none of the accomplishments our Senate has made would be remotely possible without the support and continued efforts of the supremely-talented and devoted Classified Staff of San Diego Continuing Education. Keep a look-out for many of the initiatives and proposals we learned at CLI to be shared here in Continuing Education; next year’s conference will be held near Lake Tahoe, and we would love to have more Classified staff experience this transformative leadership weekend.