Sunday, December 8, 2013

Profile of Linda Fontanilla, IVC's VP for Student Services

     Just who is Linda Fontanilla?
     As you know, she began work as Irvine Valley College's Vice President of Student Services on August 13, 2012—sixteen months ago.
     —Well, she grew up in Fresno. Graduated from McLane High School there in 1968.
     Soon thereafter, she enlisted in the Air Force, where she was an air traffic controller.
     After her four years of service, she continued as an air traffic controller with the FAA—in northern California—until the air traffic controller’s strike of 1981 (August).
     Then, as a single parent, she set about earning her Masters in Organizational Behavior (CSPP in Fresno) and Doctorate in Educational Leadership (La Verne U) while working as a social services administrator.
     She went into higher education, first as the Campus Director of San Joaquin Valley College, a for-profit junior college in Visalia, just south of Fresno.
     She also served as the executive director of the YWCA/Marjoree Mason Center in Fresno.
     Later, she became Dean of Student Services at College of the Sequoias (2004-2008), also in Visalia, CA, and then Assistant Superintendent/Vice President of Student Services at Cuesta College, near San Luis Obispo (2008-2012), about 150 miles southwest of Visalia.
     According to an IVC campus profile,
     Linda is married with one son. Her husband [Walter Deissler] is [a corporate]... architect for In n Out Burgers [sic] and her son [Robert Briggs] is an engineer with the Visalia Fire Department, but will soon transfer to the Long Beach Fire Department. During the week Linda and her husband reside in San Dimas, but return often to Visalia where they maintain their home of 25 years and can check in on Linda's 91 year-old mother-in-law.
     According to IVC, her education is as follows:
- AA, Sacramento City College [communications]
- BA, Loyola Marymount University [Los Angeles] [speech pathology and audiology]
- MS, California School of Professional Psychology [part of Alliant International, a private, non-profit higher education institution; it became accredited by WASC in 1977; it has a campus in Fresno]
- EdD, University of La Verne [a private not-for-profit university in La Verne, in north LA County; it has a Bakersfield campus]
     In the above profile article, Fontanilla is quoted thus:
     "Education and helping others understand the importance of valuing other's differences are two cornerstones of my life. I am a certified diversity trainer and have spent much of my professional career working with organizations in the San Joaquin Valley. Because of the very diverse population we serve it is imperative for California community college administrators to be open-minded and keenly aware of those whom we serve."

     "I am extremely humbled and honored to have been selected for the position of Vice President of Student Services at Irvine Valley College. Each day I grow even more excited about coming to work at IVC. I am anxious to meet my co-workers and begin the work of serving students. My professional philosophy is 'Students are our business, therefore students come first.' I plan to demonstrate this throughout my career at IVC."

… "My top three priorities will be: 1. To get to know the students, staff and faculty at IVC. I want to understand the culture of the organization so that I can become an effective and productive member of our college. 2. To ensure that the Student Services programs are ready and positioned to make the necessary changes as required by the Student Success Task Force recommendations. 3. To ensure that programs are funded, stable and prepared to serve students to the fullest extent possible."

…" Over the next three to five years I would like to see all student services programs be in a position to fully support the District's goals, our institutional goals and strategic objectives, while giving every student at IVC an opportunity for access and success. Our student services programs will work in concert with the rest of the college and on a daily basis to prepare for accreditation while striving to meet the standards."
     In her Epsilen bio, she (apparently) says: “I have a passion for seeing young people, particular underrepresented students, change their lives and a second passion for ensuring that we all understand how important it is to value other's [sic] differences.”
     In the above “campus profile,” she tells us: "My varied and unique careers have given me great life experiences in preparing me to serve students, under-represented staff and students, and to work with individuals from all walks of life."
     Eight months ago (April 10, 2013), the Irvine Rotary Blog featured a (not terribly revealing) piece on Fontanilla: Linda Fontanilla - Craft Talk.

* * *
     ACCREDITATION TURMOIL. It seems that, at the time of Fontanilla’s exit from Cuesta in 2012, turmoil prevailed there, owing to years-long accreditation difficulties. You can get some sense of the turmoil here:

     Cuesta College removes ‘underperforming’ vice president (6/27/12)

     The vp referred to was, not Fontanilla, but Cathleen Greiner, who, a year later, was named as IVC’s dean of Online and Extended Education in July of 2013. (See also Cuesta puts ex-accreditation official on leave.)
     In the above-mentioned article, Fontanilla’s exit is also reported:
     Also, Linda Fontanilla, vice president of student services, is leaving the college to take the same job at Irvine Valley College. Her replacement has not been named.
     Fontanilla had been pursuing jobs in Southern California for several years to reunite with her husband who moved there five years ago for work. Her decision to leave Cuesta College had nothing to do with the turmoil the college faces, she said.
     “I’ve made it very clear that I am not running away,” Fontanilla said. “The timing is coincidental and unfortunate.”
     According to Wikipedia (here),
Ornelas 2008
     In 2012, Cuesta College's regional accreditor Western Association of Schools and Colleges placed the college on "show cause" status, warning the college that its accreditation might not be renewed. A year later, the college's accreditation was renewed and its status upgraded to "on warning." The Tribune, the local newspaper of San Luis Obispo, described this as the result of a "years-long struggle to fix several deficiencies identified by the commission [that] came at a cost: lower enrollment, difficulty recruiting applicants and damaged morale."
     Another among Fontanilla’s colleagues at stormy Cuesta was Nohemy Ornelas, Cuesta’s dean of student services.

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nohemy Ornelas will soon occupy the position of Assistant Dean and oversee Financial Aid and the Veteran's program. The position that was formerly held by Darryl Cox - Director of Financial Aid was eliminated (according to the last BOT Agenda) and replaced by the assistant Dean Position. This was done to facilitate Ornelas qualifications for the job here at IVC as she held a similar position at Cuesta. She is currently on leave from Cuesta.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, let's hire more people from "show cause" Cuesta. Maybe their leadership style can help us get the same accreditation results here...we are certainly headed down that road.

Anonymous said...

You mean our VP that parks in a handicap parking space when she walks perfectly fine everyday isn't as amazing as she claims to be?
No, I never would have guessed it.

Anonymous said...

Please no more Cuesta Fiesta rejects.

Anonymous said...

I think it is great that we already know who is going to get the job so we do not waste our time with applying! Thanks!

Anonymous said...

It's a very efficient process. And it saves time with reference checks too!

Anonymous said...

Why apply, if there candidate doesn't get the job, they reject the finalists and form a new committee so the one they want makes it to the final 3. Then they get to pick the one they wanted in the first place. Glen learned this trick from Ragu. Its the same process just a different person carrying it out.

Anonymous said...

I have seen that Ornelas lady on campus before. Oh that's right, when Linda fired Darryl for no reason this lady showed up the very next day in the veteran center in Darryl's office. She was hired for 4 weeks to "look over Darryl's work and help with the transition" according to Linda. I wondered why Linda got a financial aid administrator from so far way to come and help, this makes much more sense. She came to scope out her new office for her new job. Seems legit.

Anonymous said...

Isn't it amazing how that all happened so quickly. No pre-planning on axing Darryl on Linda's part. No wonder he felt like he had a target on his back. Ornelas was holding the bow and Linda was aiming the arrow. Just get rid of the good folks and let Glen's buddies in A100 bring in their friends.

Anonymous said...

I Highly suggest that whomever is on the hiring committee for this Assisting Deans position not put Onelas in the top three. IVC is not a place where friends can fire our friends and then turn around rewrite the job positiion and then hire one of their cronies from their former crappy school. Who is on the committee? I want to talk with them personally.

Anonymous said...

Sure it is. That is exactly what IVC has become. Why? Glen - and of course the Board and the Chancellor who seem to care less about what is obvious most of us here. I hope everyone filled out that survey. Though I don't trust the results because it seems to always be filtered through that PR machine which sees the positive in everything and covers up any mistake that happens.

Anonymous said...

Helen (the Director of ASIVC) was escorted off campus today.
20$ says Linda gives that job to another moron from Cuesta College.

Anonymous said...

They stack the committee with enough people to get their friends into the top 3....after that it's a done deal.

NEWSFLASH ----LINDA HAS NOW GOTTEN RID OF HELEN LOCKE THE DIRECTOR OF ASIVC....CHECK IT OUT!

Anonymous said...

According to Item 5.21 of the October board agenda, Nohemy Ornales was awarded an $11,000 independent contractor agreement "to complete reports, conduct a Financial Aid Office audit and submit recommendations." Was she already under contract for consulting the very next day after Darryl was removed, or was the contract already in the works the very next day after Darryl was removed? Did she actually perform work without an executed contract in place? This is just another situation that smells to high heaven.

Anonymous said...

Linda (aka: the lumberjack) she knows how to wield the axe. So sad we have so little respect for our long-tenured staff.

Anonymous said...

5:57PM, yes it stinks to high heaven. Just imagine, we couldn't find anyone (not anyone) in this area to do the work. We had to go all the way up to Cuesta country to spend $11,000.

Anonymous said...

First Darryl now Helen, pretty soon Linda will have gotten rid of all her staff and replaced them with her friends. But don't place all the blame there because Glen is the one who is either directing this or allowing this to happen.

Anonymous said...

As a hiring incentive, VPs at IVC are allowed to bring along a certain number of their buddies from their former place of employment, no questions asked. Now that the chaff from Chaffey has settled in and demolished the instruction side of the house, we're ready for the Cuesta questionables to come in and finish off student services. While the people who built IVC from the ground up may be knowledgeable, experienced, and highly competent, they just don't align their goals and objectives properly, prepare for Student Success, or provide certified diversity training. So of course they had to go.

Anonymous said...

Most colleges provide people an opportunity for upward mobility, at IVC we provide outward mobility. Does anyone know why Helen was let go? I guess we'll have to wait for the email from Linda and Glen. It will be distributed to the campus right after the email informing us that Darryl Cox is no longer here.

Anonymous said...

Now I know what #1 in the State and #2 in Orange County transfer rate on the webpage is all about. It's about getting good people moved out and their buddies transferred into IVC!

Anonymous said...

11,000$ just for being Linda's friend huh? It pays pretty well to have no soul.

Anonymous said...

Don't cross Linda in a meeting. REALLY defensive and pouts if she doesn't get her way.

Roy's obituary in LA Times and Register: "we were lucky to have you while we did"

  This ran in the Sunday December 24, 2023 edition of the Los Angeles Times and the Orange County Register : July 14, 1955 - November 20, 2...