COLLEGE OF THE CANYONS : Van Hook to Help Lead Task Force

Dianne Van Hook, president of College of the Canyons, has been named co-chairwoman of a statewide task force that will study how to use community college facilities more efficiently to accommodate growing enrollment.

The task force is one of three within the Commission on Innovation, formed this month by the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges. At the end of 18 months, the commission will present recommendations to the board that will be developed into a plan for the state’s community colleges in the 21st Century.

In forming the commission, the board noted that the state’s community colleges are facing a period of unprecedented enrollment demand with increases not only in numbers but in the diversity of students seeking an education in two-year schools.

The commission’s purpose, said Board of Governors President Timothy Haidinger, is to devise new strategies “recognizing that funding limits require new thinking, and that business cannot continue as usual.”

Van Hook, who also serves as superintendent of the Santa Clarita Community College District, was appointed chairwoman of the commission’s facilities task force by Community College Chancellor David Mertes. Commission chairman is Michael R. Peevey, president of the Southern California Edison Co.