Position Announcement

Position Announcement

Foothill College President

The Foothill-De Anza Community College District invites nominations and applications for the position of president of Foothill College in Los Altos Hills, California. Located in Silicon Valley midway between San Francisco and San Jose, Foothill and sister college De Anza make up the Foothill-De Anza district. Both college presidents report to the chancellor of the district, who reports to a locally elected Board of Trustees. Silicon Valley is home to many of the world’s largest and most innovative technology companies.

The College

Foothill College was founded in 1957 with a commitment to “educational opportunity for all.” Described by the San Francisco Chronicle as the “most beautiful community college ever built,” Foothill College is an internationally renowned institution situated on 122 acres of rolling foothills. The spectacular main campus features Pacific-rim style architecture and complementary landscaping that has earned the American Institute of Architects’ most prestigious design awards.

Foothill’s distinctive architecture is matched by its distinctive legacy as a leader in academic innovation, measures of student success and educational technology.

Foothill’s enrollment in fall 2021 was 13,837 students. Although the college is located within an affluent area of Silicon Valley, many Foothill students are socioeconomically disadvantaged, and more than 70% are people of color. The college draws students from throughout the region, and its demographics reflect the diversity of the San Francisco Bay Area.

Foothill’s commitment to equity is expressed in its Strategic Vision for Equity, which offers a sustainable and systemic vision and framework for dismantling oppressive systems – structural, cultural and individual – and creating a college community where success is not predictable by race. 

In addition to its main campus in Los Altos Hills, Foothill College operates the Sunnyvale Center in nearby Sunnyvale, CA, which serves as a regional hub for training and internships in new and emerging technologies in the Bay Area. Built on property the district obtained at no cost through the federal public benefit conveyance process, the Center is well located to support business and industry partnerships at the gateway to one of Silicon Valley’s premier technology parks, with tenants including Google, Juniper Networks, Lockheed Martin, Amazon and NetApp. The college partners with Joint Venture Silicon Valley and the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, the major regional conveners of business, government, academia and labor, to serve the broader community.

The Mission

The mission of Foothill College states in part: “Believing a well-educated population is essential to sustaining and enhancing a democratic society, Foothill College offers programs and services that empower students to achieve their goals as members of the workforce, as future students, and as global citizens. We work to obtain equity in achievement of student outcomes for all California student populations, and are guided by our core values of honesty, integrity, trust, openness, transparency, forgiveness, and sustainability.”

These core values are essential to authentic and sustainable institutional equity at Foothill College. Institutional equity is embedded not only in the college’s Educational Master Plan and Strategic Vision for Equity but in its planning, hiring and evaluative processes.

 

COLLEGE PROFILE: THE OPPORTUNITY