July 8, 2009
Introduction to Dr. Donald Averill
Dr. Averill was appointed by the Chancellor of the Contra Costa Community College CCCCD and the Board of Trustees to provide facilitation to the team working on the response to the ACCJC Commission sanction at Diablo Valley College. Included in his 47 years of extensive educational background, Dr. Averill has had extensive accreditation experience, including vast experience working on issues surrounding accreditation visits. His accreditation work is listed below followed by a more extensive review of his educational background.
- Accreditation Experience: Served on accreditation committees for the Accrediting Commission of Junior and Community Colleges (ACCJC); the WASC Commission for Schools (K-12) and the North West Accrediting Commission. The majority of that service has been as Visiting Committee Chair. The experiences have included comprehensive public community colleges, non-profit colleges and proprietary colleges. At the K-12 the experience has been with public high schools and private high schools.
COMMUNITY COLLEGES 31 Teams (Chaired 25)
- American River College
- Merritt College
- Modesto Junior College
- Sierra College
- San Francisco City College
- San Jose City College
- Heald College (2) + (3) Progress Visits - Chair
- Trans Pacific College - Chair
- American Samoa College - Chair
- College of Oceaneering + (2) Progress Visits Chair
- Phillips College - Chair
- MTI College - Chair
- Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (FIDM) - Chair
- San Joaquin Valley College (2) - Chair
- Kelsey Jennings College Progress Visit (3) - Chair
- Brooks College + 3 Progress Visits - Chair
- Grossmont College - Chair and District Coordinator
- West Valley College - Chair and District Coordinator
- El Camino College - Chair
WASC SCHOOLS VISITS 21 Teams (Chaired 13)
- Hemet High School
- John North High School (Riverside)
- Catholic Dioceses High School Woodland Hills
- Torrance High School
- Torrey Pines High School
- Grossmont High School
- San Diego City College Navy Program
- Oceanside High School - Chair
- Harvard Academy - Chair
- Frontier High School - Coachella Valley - Chair
- San Gabriel Adventist Academy + Progress Visit - Chair
- Loma Linda Adventist Academy + Progress Visit - Chair
- Glendale Adventist Academy - Chair
- Pacific Academy of the Arts Hawaii - Chair
- American Academy Ch'ing Mai Thailand - Chair
- American Academy Pompuri Thailand - Chair
- Glendale Christian School - Chair
- Banning High School (2) Chair
Don earned his Doctoral degree in Educational Management from the University of La Verne in 1982. He earned both his B.A. (1960) and M.A. (1965) from California State University, Los Angeles. He has been in the field of education for forty-seven years. He started as an adult education teacher for the Los Angeles Unified School District and has progressed through teaching and administrative positions in secondary and community college educational institutions.
Don started in the community colleges in 1978 as Vice Chancellor Educational Services for the Coast Community College District. In 1985 he moved to the Glendale Community College District where he served as the Dean of Instruction for Vocational Education and guided their economic development efforts. Before leaving Glendale, Don became the Vice President Human Resources and Technology, transitioning educational computing with administrative computing.
In July of 1996, Dr. Averill became Superintendent/President of Palo Verde College. During his tenure, the District started construction on a new campus, expanded its service area to include the community of Needles, California, initiated the Colorado River Educational Compact, created a Small Business Economic Development Center, revitalized the noncredit program, and pulled the District out of probationary status with the Accrediting Commission of Community and Junior Colleges.
In July of 2000, Dr. Averill became the Chancellor of the San Bernardino Community College District. The Board and the Chancellor established goals to increase college enrollment, improve the transfer rate of high school students to higher education, increase the role of the community college in economic development, expand the educational and broadcast services of KVCR, and complete the seismic retrofit and building replacement at Valley College. During his tenure, the community saw progress toward all of these goals. Enrollment in the two colleges of the district increased by nine percent, the enrollment of high school students in higher education in the community increased by 45 percent, the campuses experienced an extensive building program with the passage of a $190 million local bond issue in 2001 and a $500 million bond issue in 2008, the Public Broadcast system (KVCR) has had renewed growth and is engaged in a $90 million capital campaign.
Please join me in Welcoming Don Averill to our campus. He will be here July 13-15 for initial visits.
