Davis Appoints Modesto Woman to UC Board
Gov. Gray Davis on Wednesday announced that he will fill the last vacancy on the UC Board of Regents with a longtime Modesto educator, making good on his pledge to install a San Joaquin Valley representative on the board.
Odessa P. Johnson, 59, dean of community education at Modesto Junior College, said she plans to use her 12-year appointment to champion the university’s plans to build a UC campus near Merced.
“In the [San Joaquin] Valley we have state colleges,” Johnson said, “but a University of California campus would bring enormous economic growth and open up a whole new horizon for our kids who don’t want to go too far from home.”
Johnson, who has a master’s degree from Columbia University, has been an educator for 37 years. She was a Modesto High School business teacher and counselor before rising through the ranks of the junior college. She is also a member of the Modesto Board of Education.
Her appointment as a UC regent must be confirmed by the state Senate.
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