College of the Desert’s new Interim Superintendent/President Laura Hope is settling into her position. Although Hope is new to COD, she comes with 34 years of experience in the California Community College system.
Hope was a community college student herself at Chaffey College, she expresses relatability with COD students. From being a commuter student to working full-time through her college education, Hope said a lot of the challenges that students face while pursuing a higher education are challenges she faced as well.
Hope worked for Chaffey College while she was a student there, and eventually became a faculty member in the English Department after her education was complete. Her experiences working at Chaffey opened her eyes to what she deems an educator is today at COD.
“I think every single person who works at this college is an educator, they all just have a different type of classroom,” said Hope. She recalls her time working at the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s office as executive vice chancellor of educational services and support for two years. There, she oversaw and ran the educational enterprise of 117 community colleges. Hope said she was able to see what other colleges were “setting themselves up organizationally and how they engage with students differently,” and uses that in her current position.
President Hope started her position on July 1 of this year and has been in her new position for 11 weeks now. She enjoys meeting students, “If I have students in the day, it is the best part of every day.” Hope said it is easy to get caught up in administrative work, but meeting and speaking with students truly reminds her that she is there to better their lives and educations.
Hope said the most challenging part of her position is working through the college’s transitional period with some time-sensitive challenges such as funding recalculation, accreditation and filling vacancies in key areas. Despite these challenges, Hope said College of the Desert is very innovative and said she feels privileged and honored to be there.
Hope holds Candid Community Engagement Sessions where she provides the Coachella Valley community a place to dream of and discuss what College of the Desert will live into in the future. There, she has heard a strong desire for more overt and explicit support, representation and inclusion of tribal communities largely due the the college’s location.
The community has also been requesting the diversity of healthcare careers such as growing the nursing programs and providing additional healthcare pathways. Another discussion is the possibility of a baccalaureate degree. Hope said this specifically is taking careful planning with different options that are distinct and unique.
President Hope feels the weight of her responsibility at College of the Desert deeply, but says with the care of the community along with the students and faculty, she is up to any task.
