Professor, Student Begin Board Terms

A Ventura College professor and a Moorpark College student took the oath of office Tuesday as members of the state’s Board of Governors for the California Community Colleges.

Student Mike Madrid and professor Yvonne Gallegos-Bodle raised their right hands at the Ventura County Community College board meeting and promised to serve their second terms as voting members on the prestigious board.

The board, which meets seven times a year, sets policies for the entire 107-community college system. All members are appointed by the governor.

“It’s been a great learning experience and really opened my eyes to state government,” Madrid said.

Madrid, who began his third year at Moorpark College this month, is the sole student representative on the 16-member board, which includes business people and educators from outside the community college system. He was first appointed in November.

Madrid, Moorpark’s student body president, was accepted to Georgetown University last spring when he decided to defer rather than miss a chance at a second year on the board.

Gallegos-Bodle, who was appointed to her first term in 1991, is one of two faculty representatives on the board.

“I’m a real believer in community colleges because that’s where I got my start,” she said.

The Ventura College business administration professor grew up in Oxnard and attended Ventura College before finishing her undergraduate education at San Jose State University. Gallegos-Bodle later received a combination master’s degree in education and business administration from Columbia University in New York City. She went on to earn a Ph.D. in policy and organizational studies from the UC Santa Barbara, she said.

Gallegos-Bodle said she teaches part time in order to attend to her Board of Governors’ responsibilities.