Download the Press Release

LOS ANGELES, CA (May 26, 2010) -- Dr. Kathleen F. Burke-Kelly has been named President of Pierce College.

Burke-Kelly, who has served as vice president of academic affairs at Los Angeles Trade-Technical College since August 2009, will assume the post at the Woodland Hills campus on August 1.

"I am deeply committed to the role community colleges play in providing access to quality higher education for diverse populations," said Burke-Kelly. She noted that she had completed her general education requirements at Glendale Community College.

"Dr. Burke-Kelly's 29 years of experience as a community college educator will greatly benefit the more than 22,000 students at Pierce College," said Mona Field, president of the Los Angeles Community College Board of Trustees.

Dr. Daniel LaVista, who will become LACCD Chancellor on August 1, said: "Kathleen Burke-Kelly has rich and deep understanding of the purposes of community colleges and she will bring her mind and heart to the challenge of leading Pierce College. Her commitment to student success, and her ideas for implementing that commitment, will form the foundation for the college's next stage of growth and development."

Before her assignment at Trade-Tech, Burke-Kelly had served as vice president of academic affairs at Los Angeles City College from August 2007 to June 2009. She also had been vice president of academic affairs at Los Angeles Mission College and dean of academic affairs at East Los Angeles College.

Burke-Kelly, who joined the LACCD in July 2001, had served for 10 years as division chairperson for visual and performing arts at Glendale Community College. She also had been an associate professor of art history at Glendale Community College and served as president of the Board of Trustees at Glendale College, where she completed her general education requirements.

Burke-Kelly, 56, earned a doctorate of education in institutional management at Pepperdine University. She also holds a Master's in art from California State University, Northridge, and a Bachelor's in studio art from the University of California, Irvine.

She succeeds longtime Pierce administrator Dr. Joy McCaslin, who was named Pierce's interim president in July 2009 after Robert Garber, the college's president since February 2006, announced his retirement. Since 1996, McCaslin had been the chief student services officer, serving first as dean and then as vice president.

ABOUT THE LACCD

The Los Angeles Community College District, the nation's largest community college district, serves one-quarter million students a year in more than 36 cities in Los Angeles County. The District covers nearly 900 square miles and has educated and trained the region's diverse workforce since 1969.

# # #