It was announced during last Wednesday’s Board of Trustees meeting that Dr. Jose Fierro is now the new Cerritos College president.
Fierro said, “I’m extremely excited, extremely pleased. I’ve been receiving emails from the board congratulating me and it’s great to start off at a high note.”
He is from Cheyenne, Wyoming and is currently the vice president of academic affairs and chief academic officer at Laramie County Community College.
He added, “It’s bittersweet. I’m excited for this opportunity to become a Falcon and build good relations and friendships with my current team and faculty,” Fierro said.
After more than 40 years of working in education, President Dr. Linda Lacy announced her retirement in June 2014.
According to Dr. Linda Lacy, there was a preliminary committee that did a screening of all the original applicants and the committee had narrowed it down and interviewed about 12 candidates.
From there it was down to five and those candidates were invited to the campus to do open forums.
The Board of Trustees unanimously voted, 7-0, for him on Wednesday, May 6.
A formal announcement and proposed contract will be discussed during the next Board of Trustees meeting.
At this point Fierro does not have a starting date as it will be arranged with the board.
According to Lacy, “Right now the process of negotiating his contract and any time after July 1, the contract is ratified and it could be ratified in June, obviously, with a start date of July 1.”
She added, “From what I can tell, he’s probably ready. He needs to find a place to live and different things of that nature so he’s got some things to do, but I would say no later than July 1. He’s ready to go.”
He was very interested in the fact that a majority of students at Cerritos College are hispanic since at his current school, only about 10 to 15 percent of the students are hispanic or a minority. Fierro wishes to understand the culture of the institution and become involved with the students and faculty.
Fierro looks forward to the campus and wants his first act as president to meet the students and faculty so they can get to know him as a person.
“I think it would be pretentious of me to say I have a plan without getting to know the institution and the people. Any changes potentially made in the future will be around the students as we move forward on what we do to enhance student experience and passing rates,” Fierro said.
