April 18, 2009 (El Cajon)--– Talk about a baptism by fire.
Dr.
Cindy L. Miles has started a new job as chancellor of the Grossmont-Cuyamaca
Community College District at a time of fiscal uncertainty amid what some economists
still expect to be the deepest recession in the modern era. Limited funding
by the state at a time of escalating enrollment and expanding costs presents
the college district with major fiscal challenges.

A budget deal brokered by lawmakers in February offers only a temporary respite.
The pact hinges on a May 19 special election containing six ballot propositions
intended to close what was previously estimated to be a $42 billion budget
gap. Add an additional $8 billion shortfall, analysts say, noting overly optimistic
revenue projections.

In the face of this conundrum and with the specter of a prolonged recession
looming, it is the most challenging fiscal situation the state, and by extension,
the district, has ever faced.

Dealing with budget issues is nothing new for the Texas native who now calls
La Mesa home.  But the new chancellor, for whom a welcome event is planned
4:30-6:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 5, at the La Mesa Community Center, said she’ll
have to be a quick study of California’s byzantine budget process. With the
state’s immediate financial outlook depending on the vagaries of voters, she
said it is impossible to predict with certainty what’s in the cards for the
East County district.

“What I’m seeing on the horizon is a much more challenging financial
picture,” said Miles, the president of the Hialeah Campus of Miami Dade College
in Florida before taking the helm of the 29,000-student Grossmont-Cuyamaca
district March 1. “I’ve got to get up to speed on the California budget process
to help lead this district’s response to the budget cuts we know are coming
next year.”

The mismatch between community college needs and resources call for creative
solutions demanding the colleges’ and district’s best talents, she said.

“The goal is to protect the learning core, the front-line services to students,
and to keep access as available as possible,” Miles said. “And, of course,
this district has a commitment to its employees to try to protect positions.
We have some 800 full-time employees and another 2,000 part-time employees.
We are a major employer in the East County and we don’t want to see the kind
of layoffs that other school systems are experiencing. We know that the outlook
is very poor and we need to be prepared for this.”

Miles began her career in higher education in 1989, teaching developmental
mathematics at Paris Junior College in Texas while pursuing her master’s in
secondary and higher education at Texas A&M Univeristy-Commerce. This while
raising her now 30-year-old son, Gabriel, a business administration major at
Florida International University.

Creative solutions

Chief operating officer from 1999 to 2001of the League for Innovation in the
Community College, a national think tank and advocacy group for community colleges
in the United States and Canada, Miles values finding creative answers to educational
challenges and sharing the knowledge with others. She remains a lead consultant
for the League and she is a national speaker on education and leadership. Much
of her research and publications on community college issues can be found on
the Web.

“My years with the League for Innovation gave me the opportunity to work with
institutions all over the country and to see best practices. I’ve looked at
solid research into what makes a difference, what works,” she said.  

In 2002, Miles began a three-year stint as vice president of learning and
academic affairs at the Community College of Denver, followed by her hiring
in 2005 as the founding president of the Hialeah Campus of Miami Dade College,
or MDC. With 160,000 students enrolled at its eight campuses, MDC is the largest
college in the nation.

Coming from a campus where 91 percent of its 11,000-student population is
Hispanic and 70 percent native Spanish speakers, Miles has had key roles in
developing programs to improve retention and academic success.  One program,
called Project V-Coach, is a virtual student advising, tutoring and support
system for Hispanic and low-income students pursuing the fields of science,
technology, engineering and math. The five-year project, funded with a $3 million
federal grant targeting Hispanic-serving institutions, is an example of a creative
approach to enhancing decreasing revenue, Miles noted.

“It’s really linking a lot of existing programs,” said Miles, whose grant
writing secured the Title V monies, part of the $40 million overall she’s acquired
over the years in grants and gifts for various institutions. “The creative
aspect of Project V-Coach comes in the use of technology to provide holistic,
high-level support to students at an affordable cost.”

Miles has been a leading proponent of serving under-represented groups and
promoting diversity.  During her years with the League for Innovation,
she helped launch the Digital Divide Project targeting the technology gap in
certain populations, as well as the League Tolerance Project advancing  respect
for racial, ethnic and lifestyle diversity. She has carried what she describes
as a passion for social justice to the national level via service on the American
Association of Community Colleges’ National Commission on Diversity, Equity,
and Inclusion, as well as involvement with Habitat for Humanity.

Miles will receive a $245,000 salary, which may make her the highest paid
public employee in East County.  According to a 2008 San Diego Business
Journal listing, the highest salary for an  East County official then
was $240,000 to Grossmont Union High School District Supervisor Bob Collins.
www.thefreelibrary.com/Highest-paid+public+employees:+ranked+by+salary+for+2007-2008+fiscal...-a0173021321

Personal history

A glance at the chancellor’s resume and long list of honors and accomplishments
is enough to sap the strength of even the most energetic, but Miles just laughs,
calling it a family trait. A younger sister has a master’s and law degree and
is an officer in the Army Reserve.

“I guess you could say I took a rather circuitous route in my career,” said
Miles, who “in another life,” worked for a decade as a medical technologist
after earning a bachelor’s in biology from the University of Texas at Austin
in 1976.

She discovered from her part-time post at Paris Junior College that she loved
teaching and changed her career focus from the medical lab to education. In
1997, she received her doctorate in educational administration from the University
of Texas.

The oldest of three siblings and the first in her family to be awarded a college
degree, Miles speaks with pride about her mother, who returned to school after
raising her children, earning her bachelor’s degree at age 50, and helping
troubled youth as a social worker until her death at 70. Miles’ father is retired
from a job building electric control panels for oil rigs.

Miles exudes warmth with a ready smile and the easy familiarity of a native
Southerner.  Her years living out of the state of Texas have erased any
hint of a twang that may have once existed, but an interesting turn of a phrase
will occasionally spring from her lips. She described the comparison between
the budgeting process in Florida with what’s in place in California as “apples
and washing machines.”

As for what brought her to her present job, Miles said she wasn’t looking
for a new position, but was “intrigued and curious” when approached by a district
consultant. The post became vacant with the retirement of longtime chancellor,
Dr. Omero Suarez.

“After (the consultant) contacted me, three individuals whose opinions I trust
urged me to pursue this opportunity,” Miles said. “I knew this district has
a really good, solid reputation. It’s a very good institution poised on the
edge of greatness…what’s readily apparent is a huge commitment to students,
to academic excellence and to the mission of community colleges – making a
difference in people’s lives. Those were the kinds of things that attracted
me, in addition to the colleges’ close ties to the community.”

The Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District, established in 1961,
is located in East San Diego County and currently enrolls more than 29,000
students each semester in credit classes and an additional 8,000 students
in non-credit classes. For more information about the district, go to www.gcccd.edu