Interim CEO
Steven Gonzales is now interim chancellor of the Maricopa Community Colleges in Arizona. He has more than 20 years of instructional and administrative experience in higher education. From 2011 to 2013, Gonzales was acting associate vice president of academic affairs and chief academic officer at the Pinal County Community College District, which operates as Central Arizona College.
CEO kudos
Robert S. Shackleford, Jr., president of Randolph Community College (North Carolina), has received the inaugural Bert Lance-Stone Lifetime Achievement Award from the Archdale-Trinity Chamber of Commerce. Named for the current mayor of Archdale, the award is presented to individuals who have demonstrated a lifetime of exceptional public service and volunteerism in the community in multiple capacities with different organizations. It is only awarded when a nominee’s consistent volunteerism and service have a profound impact and whose leadership and/or philanthropic endeavors have improved the quality of life of Archdale-Trinity citizens.
CEO retirements
Constance M. Carroll, who has served as chancellor of the San Diego Community College District (SDCCD) since 2004, has announced that she will retire in 2021.
As chancellor, Carroll has overseen a transformation of San Diego City, Mesa and Miramar colleges and San Diego Continuing Education funded through $1.6 billion in bond measures passed in 2002 and 2006. She also is a national leader in the tuition-free Promise movement and launched the district’s San Diego Promise program, which now serves more than 3,000 students annually.
“The San Diego Community College District is indebted to Chancellor Carroll for her many years of service on behalf of our colleges and students,” said SDCCD Board President Maria Nieto Senour.
Carroll co-chaired the advocacy campaign which helped establish the California Community Colleges Baccalaureate Pilot Program, including a new bachelor’s degree program at Mesa College. Carroll also was appointed by former President Barack Obama for a six-year term on the National Council on the Humanities overseeing the work of the National Endowment for the Humanities. In addition, she has served on numerous local, state and national boards and committees committed to educational and economic excellence, including the American Association of Community Colleges.
Prior to being named chancellor, Carroll served 11 years as president of the district’s San Diego Mesa College. Before that, she was president of Saddleback College and president of Indian Valley colleges, where she also spent one year as interim chancellor of the Marin Community College District. Prior to her community college service, Carroll was an administrator at the University of Southern Maine and the University of Pittsburgh.
Carroll also has garnered many local and national distinctions throughout her career, including the 2007 Marie Y. Martin CEO Award from the Association of Community College Trustees and the 1992 President of the Year Award from the American Association of Women in Community Colleges.
While retiring from her full-time administrative role at the district, Carroll plans to pursue other avenues of service in education and in cultural organizations. She recently led the establishment of the California Community Colleges Baccalaureate Association (CCCBA), a nonprofit organization with the mission of providing assistance and expanding opportunities for the state’s 115 community colleges to offer four-year degrees in workforce fields that now require a bachelor’s degree.
Henry C. Giles, Jr., president of Spartanburg Community College (SCC) in South Carolina, plans to retire June 30, capping a 50-year career at the college. He started at SCC in 1969 as a math instructor. Before becoming its sixth president, Giles served as interim president as well as vice president and executive vice president of business affairs for 18 years. In that position, Giles was instrumental in facilitating the purchase of the Evans Building in downtown Spartanburg, now the SCC Downtown Campus, as well as the creation and expansion of the SCC Spark Center, an invaluable economic development tool for the county. He also served over his career as program manager, vice president for development and vice president for academic affairs. Giles brought a tenacious fiscal responsibility to all endeavors, which resulted in SCC receiving favorable audits and maintaining balanced budgets over the years, which positioned the college to serve more than 6,000 students across five campuses throughout its three-county service area.
