by Catherine Garcia on 2016-06-01
As she reflects back on her time at Crafton Hills College, several moments stand out for Dr. Cheryl Marshall.
She remembers getting the call that she had been selected as the college's seventh president and immediately phoning her husband to share the good news; spending weeks writing her opening day speech as interim president and receiving a standing ovation from most of the audience; her inauguration and the community that gathered to celebrate the college; and Graduation 2015, which she says was "symbolic of moving toward our vision and achieving our mission."
The rain didn't keep people away — it was a standing room only crowd with more graduates, friends, and family than ever before.
"We came together as a campus to show the students how important they are to us," Marshall said. "When we ran out of chairs for the graduates, some managers and faculty gave up their chairs and sat on the steps. It was also very touching to honor two of our very special students who had passed away, Adam Diaz and Amanda Markey. Friends and family members walked across the stage to accept their diplomas and we had photos of them on chairs in the front row. All of these things made it an extraordinary event that made me feel as though the college was moving forward in a lot of positive ways."
After nine years at Crafton as vice president of instruction and president, Marshall has accepted a new position as chancellor of the North Orange County Community College District, starting July 1. She's looking forward to "changing another corner of the world," especially when it comes to collective impact work, the concept that to make large-scale social change work, several agencies and organizations in a region have to come together and focus on common goals.
"Some of this work is happening in the Inland Empire and I’ve had the privilege to be a participant in the early stages," she said. "I would like to use this same approach in North Orange County in my role as chancellor. My aim will be to build on existing partnerships or to create new ones in ways that will benefit students and the community we serve. A related goal is about transforming how education is delivered. I think we are at a critical turning point in education and we have the opportunity to build seamless educational pathways with multiple entry and exit points, to implement more high-impact practices that will increase success and close the achievement gap, and to provide training and education in traditional and non-traditional ways."
Marshall says she fell into education — after spending ten years in private industry as a trainer and organizational development consultant, the department chair of management at Cal Poly Pomona offered her a class. At that moment, she started going down a new path in life.
"I fell in love with teaching and decided to pursue a doctoral degree so I could become a tenure track professor – which never ended up happening," Marshall said. After seven years of teaching and consulting, and another brief stint in private industry, Marshall accepted a position at Mt. San Antonio College as a grant manager, and later as associate dean. Nine years ago, she arrived at Crafton as vice president of instruction.
"Each new position has allowed me the chance to broaden the number of students and community members who are positively impacted by my work," Marshall said. "I am very happy that I ended up spending the majority of my career in education. It has been very meaningful."
Being president is not an easy task, and in order to move forward and face challenges, Marshall continues to work on growing a thick skin and learning not to take criticism personally. As president, Marshall hopes she has "contributed to transparency, inclusiveness, growth, and innovation," and says the foundation is in place to take Crafton to new heights.
"We’ve established an infrastructure for making decisions in a collaborative, evidence-based way," she said. "We’ve built a culture of openness and innovation that is focused on student success. We have new buildings that have transformed the look of the campus. Our diversity, both among students and employees, has increased and will continue to do so. We’ve reached almost 5,000 full-time equivalent students and hope to grow to at least 6,000 in the next five years."
Marshall says she will miss the people and beauty of the Crafton campus, and special events like the Student Recognition Dinner.
"It's honoring students for who they are and having a particular strength or achievement in a given discipline," she said. "It's not about GPA, or you're the smartest kid in the class. It's about having a talent or a strength and accomplishing something really hard. I love the nature of the whole event, and I think that's what we're about. It's representative of how we are inclusive and how we want to empower students and make them better, and lead them on their developmental journey."
As she says goodbye to Crafton, Marshall has a message for the students, faculty, and staff.
"Keep up the great work," she said. "I will miss you and have the utmost respect for you. I wish you all the best with much love."
Marshall also has some advice for the president that will follow her.
"Trust and respect the people at Crafton," she said. "They have great ideas and will continue to improve the college under good leadership."