The Speakers

Noell Adams is the Chabot College Classified Senate President. In this role, her priorities have been to (1) engage classified professionals in the decision-making process, (2) support and strengthen professional and leadership development opportunities for classified professionals, and (3) provide opportunities for classified professionals to make an impact in the Chabot community. Noell also serves as the Degree Audit/Student Education Planning System Coordinator in the Office of Admissions and Records.

I have had the pleasure of working in the Budgeting & Fiscal Services office at Chaffey College for over 20 years. I started my career in January of 2000 as an Accounting Technician II, promoted to a Senior Accounting Technician in 2003, and obtained the position of Accountant in 2010.

I am currently serving as the Classified Senate President for my 14th year. I served as President for 12 years, took two years off and am now in the second year of my term. I have proudly served Chaffey College’s Classified Senate for 18 years. I also served two years as a Senator and two years as the Treasurer. I am interested in meeting and networking with other faculty, staff, and administrators at the local and state levels. I enjoy contributing in a positive way to meet our mutual goals and love the opportunity to learn from others.

I started my higher education journey at Chaffey College. I transferred to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and then to California State University, San Bernardino where I graduated with my B.S. in Business Administration with a concentration in Accounting.

I became part of the 4CS Board in 2015 as an Area Representative, was appointed to interim Secretary shortly thereafter, and in 2017 ran for the position of 4CS Treasurer where I am currently serving. I enjoy serving on the state senate and having the chance to meet and work with some incredible Classified Professionals. One of my favorite parts of serving on this board is being able to mentor new board members and help them grow.

Nashona Andrade Seals uses dialogue prompts and abstract activities through workshop and training, to explore the complexity of the connections we have to the human condition and experience. The activities that are folded into her work merges challenge with growth, personal strength with team-work, and effective communication with productivity. She has been effective at combining her education in Human Services and Community Psychology with an uncanny creativity which allows people to see and honor themselves and others from different lenses. Her passionate work can be seen through various projects which make tangible raw, and penetrating truths about the various ways in which we navigate our road-maps to professionalism through reflection, awareness, and responsibility. Nashona currently serves in the role of Professional Development Specialist with GCCCD, where she has joined forces with various departments to provide learning and development opportunities to district employees; faculty, staff, students, and administrators. She took lead in building the Classified Professionals, Professional Development Program at the District level and has worked very closely with Classified Senate at both colleges (Grossmont and Cuyamaca), as well as at District Services in development of their goals, retreats, and facilitating topics that directly impact Classified Professionals.

For nearly twenty-five years, Gilbert has been serving the students and staff of California in the K-14 system. A member of Classified Senates since 2008, Gilbert has served in various officer positions, including Senate President from 2016-2020. Now serving as a Senate member, Gilbert continues to find ways to serve the campus community with wellness programs, professional development seminars and recognition programs. A proud Alumni of Community Colleges, Gilbert earned his two Associates of Arts in Liberal Studies and Social & Behavioral Sciences, and his Bachelors of Science in Business Administration, with a concentration in Organizational Leadership.

Cindy Emerson approaches work through the lens of relational professionalism. Her compassionate leadership style encourages others to connect and collaborate in projects that range from self-development to building a senate. She borrows from various professionals, disciplines, and schools of thought. Her honest, open style disarms people and invites them to enter the brave space of relational professionalism. Cindy Currently serves as the Classified Senate President, and Administrative Assistant at the College Planning and Institutional Effectiveness Office at Grossmont Community College.

Katrin Field has been serving students in the assessment center at Chabot College since 1996. Katrin was born in Germany, where she went to high school and college before she came to the US. Katrin enjoys assisting students with the college onboarding process. She does outreach work at high schools to help seniors with their transition to college. Katrin is actively involved in Chabot’s shared governance process. For many years, Katrin has been serving on Classified Senate as well as on numerous committees. Katrin also is an outspoken member of Chabot’s Classified Union leadership team. In her free time, Katrin enjoys card making and travelling.

My name is Angela Fowlkes and I have been employed as a Classified Professional at Long Beach City College since 2000. During my tenure at LBCC I have worked in the capacity of Instructional Aide, Program Assistant, Program Coordinator, CalWORKs Program Student Advisor, EOP&S Office Assistant and Financial Aid Specialist. I have participated on the Development Teams of the LBCC 2016-2022 Strategic Plan, Classified Senate and Student Success Team. I served as the first Secretary of the Classified Senate, and was selected to participate on the LBCC Task Force on Race, Equity and Inclusion. I was a member of the prestigious LEAD Academy and LEAD Alliance. I Chaired the 2021 Black Heritage Month Kick Off Committee, and I am currently serving on the LBCC Accreditation Committee. I was recently invited to present to the LBCC Board of Governor's and was highlighted by the LBCC Foundation as an Alumni who opened a scholarship for my niece and nephew who were both alumni at LBCC. I am the single mother of five daughters and one granddaughter.

Larry Galizio has served as the President & CEO of the Community College League of California since 2015. Dr. Galizio earned his undergraduate degree from UC Berkeley, a Masters from San Francisco State, and his doctorate from the School of Urban & Public Affairs at Portland State University. Prior to becoming League CEO, Dr. Galizio served 5 years as President of Clatsop Community College in Astoria, Oregon. Before that, Dr. Galizio was the Director for Strategic Planning in the Chancellor’s Office for the Oregon University System, as well as Director of Speech & Debate and Full-Time faculty member at Portland Community College for 16 years. Dr. Galizio is co-author of the textbook: Elements of Parliamentary Debate: A Guide to Public Argument. In 2004, Dr. Galizio was elected to the Oregon Legislative Assembly where he served 3 terms – including stints as Chair of the Ways & Means Education Committee responsible for all of the public education budgets in the State.

I work at Long Beach City College in the Fiscal Services department as a Lead Cashier. I have worked at LBCC for over 15 years. In 2019, I became active with the Classified Senate and this experience has change my experience at LBCC. I became the Classified Senate, Treasurer and connected with classified professionals on my campus and throughout 4CS. I enjoy working on shared governance and being an advocate for classified professionals.

Amy Hunter has been a Classified professional at Irvine Valley College (IVC) since 2015 and is a Senior Administrative Assistant within the School of Business Sciences and the 2019-2021 IVC Classified Senate President. In addition to her senate role, during the past two years she has also taken on leadership roles as a board member of the IVC Foundation and the college’s COVID-19 Incident Command Team. Since the beginning of her Classified Senate president term in July 2019, she has championed and/or led initiatives and professional development activities that include Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) training, virtual Classified Chats with college administration, Guided Pathways/Caring Campus, Franklin Covey’s Speed of Trust and 7 Habits Foundations professional development series, connecting Classified to California Community College Chancellor Office (CCCCO) virtual webinars and statewide meetings, and much more. With the support of the college’s administration and Guided Pathways program, Hunter launched in fall 2019 the IVC Classified Caring Campus program, an Institute of Evidence-Based Change (IEBC) national movement to improve the connectedness of students to the college. Prior to her current governance roles, she has been an active member of Classified Senate in the areas of professional development, fundraising, treasurer, and much more. Amy has a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism, with an emphasis in public relations from California State University, Long Beach and has a background in hospitality, marketing, event planning and media relations. When not in this pandemic lockdown, Amy enjoys traveling with her husband Scott and spending time with her friends and family.

I have worked at De Anza College for fifteen years full-time in the Financial Aid Office, and was a Federal Work-study student for two years. During my time at De Anza, I graduated from San Jose State with a Bachelor’s in Geography, served on the Classified Senate, represented the classified professionals as their Classified Senate President for two years, and was the team leader for the district’s Classified Professional Development Day for three years. I have encouraged the classified professionals to be leaders every day; their title on campus is not a limitation as the classified professionals are leaders in student success. I am currently the Bay 3 Area representative for the California Community Colleges Classified Senate (4CS) and the California Community Colleges Segmental Representative for the California Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (CASFAA). I have implemented and support equitable practices within financial aid and classified to support student success.

Karen Jimenez has been a classified professional for Irvine Valley College since 2008 and served as its Classified Senate President from 2015 to 2017. She became a 4CS board member in 2013 and is currently serving as its President. She enjoys the opportunities she’s had to meet classified professionals from across the state and serve them on a statewide level. She adores her husband, friends, cats, and hopes to retire (in the far, far future)to a place where she can help rehabilitate sloths.

Courtnee has worked as a full-time Los Rios Community College employee for 6 years. She was first hired at American River College as a temporary Student Personnel Assistant, and in 2015 was hired as a full-time Admissions and Records Evaluator. In the last 6 years Courtnee has been promoted multiple times working as a Career Center SPA, Outreach Specialist, CalWORKs Supervisor and STEM Success Coach.

Courtnee earned her degree in Kinesiology with an Athletic Training emphasis from the University of La Verne and a master’s degree in Leadership in Higher Education Administration from Capella University. She is also a graduate of the 2019 Faculty Diversity Internship Program and the 2018 Classified Leadership Academy.

In addition to her various student services experiences, Courtnee served as a two-term Classified Senate President at Sacramento City College. During her tenure as Senate President she led the charge in reviving the Classified Professionals Educational Scholarship and increasing the number of student scholarship funded by the Classified Senate.

Courtnee’s teamwork and ability to collaborate with Faculty, Administration and her peers was recognized in 2019 when she won the Sacramento City College Leadership Award for being an exceptional Classified Professional and positive role model on campus. Finally, in 2020 Courtnee was nominated by the Los Rios Community College District, to be the State Classified Employee of the Year.

I am the Professional Development Program Coordinator at Diablo Valley College (DVC) and a Regional Ambassador for the Vision Resource Center (VRC). My roles overlap through use of Cornerstone and the VRC. I am a system administrator for my district’s professional development portal, Cornerstone Learning Management System, provided by the VRC.

Part of my role as a classified employee is to create and share professional development opportunities, materials and spaces that are functional and relevant for DVC and our district. This is now primarily done through use of our PD portal, made possible by the VRC. In this process, I have accidentally become one of the more experienced Cornerstone system administrators and am now working with the VRC to assist other college system admins (often other Classified professionals) statewide in the development and implementation of their Cornerstone LMS.

Andrew Martinez serves as the Director of Government Relations for the League since May of 2020. As the Director, Andrew is responsible for budget and policy analysis, strategy development, and engaging the legislature and administration on issues critical to the community colleges.

Prior to that, he served as a Senior Legislative Advocate for the California State University System. In that capacity, he has been the lead advocate before the state legislature on numerous policy issues for the system, including labor relations, contracts, student affairs, public safety, auxiliaries and foundations, and athletics.

Before joining the CSU, Andrew Martinez worked in the capitol for more than a decade. During his time in the legislature, he has worked for two Speakers of the State Assembly and the Chair of the Assembly Appropriations Committee. Mr. Martinez is a graduate of California State University Fresno and Moorpark Community College.

Assistant Vice Chancellor Martinez, who has dedicated her career to eliminating educational inequality, leads the Institutional Effectiveness Partnership Initiative (IEPI) in deploying professional development and technical assistance aimed at advancing equity and success strategies. She comes to the Chancellor’s Office from Woodland Community College, where she served as Dean of Student Success & Institutional Effectiveness and Interim Dean of Student Services and where she co-led an 11-person interdisciplinary Student Success Committee overseeing the development of a three-year Student Equity Plan.

A Los Angeles native raised in Compton who was the first in her family to attend college, Martinez began her higher education career at the University of Southern California where she served as assistant director in the Office of Admissions and Associate Director of Academic Affairs in the Computer Science Department. She was recruited in 2007 to work for UC Riverside’s Bourns College of Engineering as its Graduate Student Affairs Manager, then worked for nearly two years at Palomar College as its Title V/Hispanic Serving Institution Project Supervisor providing leadership in supporting the retention and academic success of Hispanic and low-income students at the San Marcos campus.

In 2011, Martinez returned to her alma mater, UC Davis, as Director of the Ronald E. McNair Scholars program guiding first-generation and low-income students to pursue doctorate degrees in their respective fields. While working with first-generation students, Martinez conducted research during her doctoral program that examined student experiences in community college developmental learning communities. She has been at Woodland Community College since October of 2015.

Martinez holds a bachelor’s degree in rhetoric and communication from UC Davis; a master of education, postsecondary administration and student affairs, from USC; and a Ph.D. in higher education from Claremont Graduate University.

Amparo currently serves as Classified Senate President at Oxnard College, in Oxnard, CA.

Karen (K) Metcalf has been a proud Classified Professional at Chabot College for over 15 years. K has learned the art of building community as a student services senator and as a union leader at the college for 8 plus years. K has gained a deeper appreciation for the skills gained in building connections throughout the campus, with administration, faculty and Classified Professionals.

K has also had extensive experience volunteering and serving on several boards in the non-profit sector. She has co-facilitated trainings on how to build community and foster engagement from within the organization. She is confident that the way of transformational change within community colleges; must start with building community. She likens it to riding a train to a given destination; therefore, building community is the first stop on the train travelling to transformation for community colleges.

Donald (Donnie) Mineo has participated in many college and district committees at the South Orange County Community College District, at Saddleback College since starting there as a student and student leader. Donnie has held many Classified positions including Student Development, Matriculation, Admissions, and has been working with Career and Life assessments and counseling for the last 20 years. His master's degree is in Career Counseling from Chapman University. He has participated in the union (CSEA) and is a past president of Classified Senate at Saddleback College.

Currently the Moorpark College Marketing, Communications and Web Coordinator, Dina is in her 11th year working with the Ventura County Community College District where her first job was to create a marketing program where none existed. Dina has a 40 year background in the communication arts. Magazine and book publisher, Film maker and web mastery gives dina real world skills in storytelling and marketing strategies. Her goal is to continue to create new ways to communicate to both traditional and non-traditional students, as well as develop new inreach methods for staff.

Dina has a passion. It is how she spends her time when not dedicated to campus marketing and enrollment goals. Dina is a death doula. She feels her true calling is to help individuals and their families with the process of dying. Dina believes that end of life quality of life is a right. And part of dying is also leaving a legacy behind. So along with the end of life process, dina captures people's' stories. It is a storytelling gift to their family and friends. Or it is an opportunity for family to tell the story of a beloved lost as part of their grieving process. Dina's goal is to create her own End of Life Academy, teaching others about EOL care and Legacy projects.

David Rodriguez is the Las Positas College Classified Senate President. In this role he has focused on improving senate goal-setting, representation in shared governance, and leadership and professional development for classified professionals. David serves as a Research Analyst in the Office of Research, Planning, and Institutional Effectiveness.

Sebastian currently serves as Classified Senate President at Ventura College, in Ventura, CA, and is also a 4CS Area Representative.

Carrie Smith is the Manager of the Vision Resource Center, working with a great team in the Foundation for California Community Colleges who support the platform on behalf of the Chancellor’s Office. Her education is in marketing and business administration, and she’s been working in higher education for 10 years, supporting a variety of projects.

I work for Los Medanos College (LMC) as an Administrative Assistant, Sr. in the Office of Instruction. LMC is part of the Contra Costa Community College District (CCCCD) along with Contra Costa College (CCC) and Diablo Valley College (DVC). I have been working within the CCCCD for over 20 years, starting my career at CCC.

My experience as a classified professional has been a rewarding experience. While working in the Student Services arena for over 13 years supporting students, staff, and administrators navigate through the community college process, it inspired me to actively participate in the shared governance process; known as participatory governance. My journey as a participatory member has helped me to become familiar with district policies and procedures.

At first, I attended meetings to gain insight of my work responsibilities, not recognizing the value of sharing input would flourish into becoming an advocate for classified. I discovered empowerment by participating on various committees; planning – mission statement; curriculum – degree planning; college council – campus policies; district governance – board procedures.

I have served as a senator for LMC and before then, I served as the Classified Senate President at CCC. I joined the 4CS Board in 2014 as the Bay Area 1 Representative which allowed me to connect with classified professionals to discuss senate business, in turn, taking on an advocacy role statewide. As my statewide responsibilities increased, I progressed into the position of North Vice President leading into 4CS President.

As Past-President of 4CS, it has been a pleasure to inspire and empower classified professionals to support the mission, vision, and goals of community colleges. I will continue to take a proactive stance in assuring classified have a voice in participatory governance both locally and statewide. I recommend everyone seek opportunities to promote our engagement in the advancement of student success.

On leave as the Dean of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Cosumnes River College, Dr. Tonya Williams serves as a Visiting Dean of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Leadership Development consultant at the California Community Colleges Chancellors Office. Prior to her administrative appointments, she was an Assistant Professor of Political Science in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences and the Pre-Law Scholars Program Coordinator at Johnson C. Smith University, a Historically Black University in Charlotte, North Carolina. Her research interests and publication record are anchored in the study of race/ethnicity, gender, reproductive politics and representational behavior at the elite and grassroots levels. During her tenure as faculty, Dr. Williams was awarded the Par Excellence Teaching Award at Johnson C. Smith University for “her significant continuous and personal contributions to the pursuit of teaching excellence” in addition to a national mentorship award named in honor of the first Black women to receive a Ph.D. in political Science, Dr. Jewel Limar Prestage.

Prior to administrative and faculty appointments, Dr. Williams received the Academy for Educational Development (AED) New Voices Gulf Coast Transformation Fellowship, where she founded and served as the National Campaign Coordinator of the US Human Rights Network’s Hurricane Katrina Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) Human Rights Campaign. She went on to lead the Speak Justice Take Action Program at SPARK Reproductive Justice NOW, a community-based organization in Atlanta, Georgia. As a Program Director, she coordinated movement-building projects and mobilization efforts, engaged in community based participatory research, and advocated for reproductive justice informed policy solutions. During her tenure working in social justice organizations, she also edited two popular education social justice publications and has (co-)authored articles for progressive online publications.

Dr. Williams is currently the Vice-President of Membership of the Western Region Council of Black American Affairs.