Veteran Educator Is 1st Woman to Head Golden West College

Judith Valles, a veteran teacher and administrator at San Bernardino Valley College, on Thursday was named president of Golden West College in Huntington Beach.

Valles, 54, becomes the fourth president in Golden West’s 22-year history and the first woman ever to head the 14,000-student community college.

Valles will be paid about $72,000 a year, said college trustee Sherry Baum. “The board voted to pay the new president the same salary we currently pay the presidents of our other two colleges, Orange Coast and Coast Community College . . . “ she said.

She will succeed Golden West President Fred Garcia, who announced last fall that he planned to retire this year. Valles is scheduled to take over as president about Sept. 1, college officials said.

Excited About Challenge

In a brief statement Valles said, “My life has been a series of challenges which I have met head-on, and I am excited about meeting this new one.”

Valles, a Latino and San Bernardino native, is executive vice president of academic and student affairs at the 12,000-student San Bernardino Valley College in San Bernardino. She has been with that college since 1964.

“This is a real loss for our district,” said Otto Roemmich, interim chancellor of San Bernardino Community College District. “Judith Valles is an outstanding person. She has a lot of class, a lot of personality, and a terrific sense of humor.”

Roemmich said Valles works harmoniously with faculty. San Bernardino Valley College faculty leader Janet Green, who is president of the college’s Academic Senate, agreed. Green said: “She (Valles) is the most people-oriented person I’ve ever known. She’s open to people, a good listener and she will converse on a problem until it’s solved, usually as a win-win situation. She is a very nice lady. Huntington Beach’s gain is our loss.”

Valles’ selection came after the Coast Community College District, which governs Golden West, conducted a national search and screened 60 applicants for the president’s job.

‘The Board Is Delighted’

Walter G. Howald, president of district’s Board of Trustees, said “the board is delighted with Valles’ acceptance. We are looking forward to her exciting instructional leadership.”

The salary Valles will receive at Golden West was not immediately available late Thursday.

Valles becomes the second woman to head one of the county’s eight community colleges. Constance Carroll became the county’s first woman community college president at Saddleback College in 1983.

Valles said she thinks faculty members deserve special attention. “Because I strongly encourage the right of faculty members to grow, I believe that all instructors have the right to implement their own teaching style and the institution has the responsibility and obligation to support them in their teaching and learning endeavors.”

Valles is a lifelong resident of San Bernardino and graduated from San Bernardino Valley College. She then earned her bachelor of arts degree in English from the University of Redlands in 1956 and her master’s degree in Spanish literature at UC Riverside in 1966. She is currently working on a doctoral degree.

She was hired in 1966 as an instructor at San Bernardino Valley College, and she later was promoted to many posts, including two positions as a dean and a term as chair of the college’s humanities division.

Her husband, Harry Smith, is a retired dean of occupational education at San Bernardino Valley College. Valles has three grown children--a son and two daughters--by her first husband, who is deceased.

Declining Enrollment

The new president comes into a community college that has been suffering declining enrollment during most of this decade.

Founded in 1966, Golden West reached its peak enrollment with 23,112 students in fall, 1981. State funding cutbacks and state-imposed tuition are generally blamed for Golden West’s enrollment drop since then. But the college also has been overshadowed, according to many educational observers, by its bigger, more visible sister institution, Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa.

Coast Community College District officials have said they wanted the new Golden West president to be strong on community ties and open to “marketing” the college to attract more students. Valles’ background fits, according to Les Dabritz ), executive vice president of the San Bernardino Area Chamber of Commerce.

Dabritz said Valles has been an active chamber board member. “She really works with the community and the businesses,” Dabritz said. “She’s got tremendous leadership. Our chamber hates to lose her.”