From the President
Welcome to Fall Quarter
Sept. 27, 2023
Dear Colleagues,
It’s great to see so many of you – and so many of our students – back on campus this week. Fall quarter is off to an excellent start, following our successful Opening Day and Welcome Day events last week. I’m also pleased to report that enrollment is up more than 4% over last year.
For those who weren't able to attend the Opening Day program on Thursday, I want to reiterate my support for the plans underway to implement the initiatives set forth in De Anza’s Educational Master Plan. Thanks to all of you who helped develop the initiatives.
Next month, as part of strategic planning implementation, we will celebrate the good work that everyone at the college is doing. And later in fall and winter, we will continue with sessions for strategic initiative implementation. Thank you again to our strategic planning tri-chairs – Lydia Hearn, English instructor; Mallory Newell, supervisor of Institutional Planning, Research and Accreditation; and Marisa Spatafore, associate vice president of Communications and External Relations – for their leadership in all parts of the strategic planning process.
I also want to thank everyone who worked so hard to make Welcome Day a wonderfully successful event for our students on Friday. We estimate that there were more than 1,500 students in attendance, many bringing friends, parents and other family members to visit the Village and program tents on the Main Quad, as well as the Village Centers around campus. Their enthusiasm for meeting with instructors, counselors and classified professionals – and for learning about their Villages – is an extremely positive indicator for the year ahead.
Thank you, especially, to the Guided Pathways and Village teams, all who worked on the quad and in Village Centers, the Office of Communications, our College Operations crews, the Office of Outreach and everyone who helped to make Welcome Day fun and useful for our students. If you weren't able to attend, you can view a gallery of photos from Friday at deanza.edu/welcomeday. And please do complete the survey that you'll be receiving soon.
Finally, I want to again welcome our new chancellor, Lee Lambert, to the Foothill-De Anza Community College District and to De Anza College. It was great to see Chancellor Lambert at our Opening Day program last week.
Have a great quarter!
Lloyd