The double doors of the Student Activities office closed for the last time behind the man who managed student life and student government among other services for the past two years.

Summer 2016 saw the departure of Dean of Student Services Gilbert Contreras from Cerritos College giving way to Interim Dean Frances Gusman.

Gusman was chosen to fill in Contreras’ position for the time being, having served as Vice President of Student Services for College of the Sequoias in Visalia, located in Tulare County.

Her job at College of the Sequoias before retiring was to oversee all of student services, student activities being a small fraction of it.

Contreras is currently serving as Vice President for Student Services at Fullerton College.

College President Jose Fierro said, “We congratulate him on this important new role in the Student Services professions.”

Gusman noted that now her responsibilities include keeping the flow of every day operations going.

“I am interim dean since Contreras has departed from the campus, and I think first and foremost [my role is] to serve students and I think my responsibility is to kind of keep the flow going and to keep things moving to the extent possible.

“A perfect example, I just signed a stack of requisitions this big,” she said, her hands holding a big invisible stack of papers.

She continued,”It is just continuing the day to day operations of the unit so that it doesn’t interrupt service to students in any way and to represent student activities at various meetings throughout the campus to ensure that the voice is heard.”

The interim dean stated that she is hopeful that the 2016-17 Student Activities budget will be passed by the incoming senate.

She said, “I think that things are pretty well, I mean there are things that are already set in motion and that is certainly one of the items, I’m hopeful that it is going to be smooth sailing and that it is going to pass, but really my role is advisory.”

In the first three weeks of the semester, Gusman has already met with student government leaders and embraced her role.

“I’ve had meetings with [ASCC President Saul Lopez] and with [Student Trustee Karen Patron], I’ve enjoyed meeting both of them, I think that they are fine young people that are representing the college really well,” she added.

Patron said, “I’ve spoken with Dr. Gusman twice and I can tell you that she is a very kind lady, she is willing to hear you out, provide you with the best advice, and most importantly she puts the students first.”

The interim dean expressed that in her role, advisor to student government will be one of her prime responsibilities.

Gusman said, “My role is advisory and I think that we have to keep in mind that it is a learning process for students, it is students first.

“If and when I’m called upon then that is my role, but in terms of making any of those types of decisions I wouldn’t say that I would be completely hands off, when you use that term, I guess to extent I am hands off, my role is advisory.”

She left retirement to take on this role while a permanent replacement is found and noted she will not be seeking this position full time.

“I kinda have been called back for this interim position. I’ve kind of done my thing already, I’ve spent my entire career in student services, so I have a thirty year background in student services and like I said retired as a vice president,

“This is just like a little interim gig if you will and I’ll go back to being retired,” she concluded.