West Valley-Mission Community College District Chancellor Bradley Davis has announced that Stephanie Kashima has been named the 12th President of West Valley College. She has been with the district since 1994, starting at Mission College as an associate faculty in the ESL department. She served as a faculty member for 16 years, and more recently as Dean of Instruction/Student Success and Vice President of Student Services at West Valley.
“I am humbled and grateful to serve as President of West Valley College. To be able to lead this group of outstanding faculty and dedicated staff is a true honor. Our mission to help students along their pathway to reach transfer and career goals has never been more urgent. The local community support for West Valley allows us to address historic opportunity gaps for our underserved students and demonstrate that all students can reach their highest potential in a community that truly sees and values them. In order to address unprecedented income inequality, and a new global order that yearns for wisdom and equanimity in its leaders, we are committed to cultivating the world leaders of tomorrow through enlightened education and real-world opportunities to serve the global community,” said Kashima.
“President Kashima’s exceptionally strong commitment to equity and student success, coupled with her teaching background, administrative fluency across multiple operational areas, and understanding of participatory governance makes her the perfect fit for this new role. I know she will be an inspiration to the entire West Valley community as we chart the next phase of our beloved college’s evolution,” said Chancellor Davis.
During her time on the faculty, Kashima took on a variety of leadership roles including student learning outcomes coordinator, academic senate president, faculty accreditation liaison officer, equivalency committee chair, and chair of the division of business and technology. She also served as the director of the Title V Hispanic serving institutions grant and coordinator of the basic skills initiative grant.
Following her teaching career, she then served for one year as Dean of Instruction at Mission College before moving to West Valley College in 2012, assuming the newly created role of Dean of Instruction and Student Success. She served as dean for six years before being named Vice President of Student Services in 2018.
President Kashima earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from New York University, and her Master of Arts in English with an emphasis in applied linguistics from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. She is currently enrolled in the Doctor of Education program at the University of Southern California with degree conferral anticipated in 2020.
President Kashima’s appointment was presented to the Board of Trustees and was unanimously approved at the Jan. 21 meeting at Mission College.
Chancellor Davis also recognized Charles Bullock and thanked him for his service as Interim President of West Valley over the past six months.