Acting Vice President of Instruction
June 29, 2018
Dear Colleagues,
I look forward to seeing you this evening at graduation, together with what we believe will be a record number of graduating student attendees: close to 600. We should all be very proud of our students, who will receive 2,900 degrees and certificates this year.
As we prepare for the commencement ceremony, I want to give you an update on the college's Instructional area. Following an internal search and interview process, I have appointed associate vice president of Instruction Lorrie Ranck to serve as acting vice president of Instruction when current vice president Christina Espinosa-Pieb assumes the duties of interim president on July 1.
Many of you have been fortunate to work with Lorrie, who did an excellent job of leading Instruction -- and the Instructional Planning and Budget Team's budget reduction process -- in Christina's absence this winter. In 2016-17, in collaboration with Academic Senate and classified professionals in the Online Education Center, Lorrie oversaw the successful transition of the online course management system to Canvas. In addition, she did incredible work on the Substantive Change Proposal for online degrees and certificates, submitted to the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC); portions of the Institutional Self-Evaluation Report; and, significantly, the Follow-Up Report to ACCJC.
Lorrie has served as associate vice president of Instruction since December 2016, and held the interim role for the three months prior. While interim and for a time beyond, she continued to fulfill the duties of the dean of Learning Resources, the position for which she came to De Anza College in 2014. Prior to joining De Anza, Lorrie worked at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon, first as director of Curriculum Support/Instruction -- with areas of responsibility including Professional Development and management of the Curriculum review process -- and then as director of Information Technology and Innovation.
Her previous experience also includes serving for five years at the University of San Francisco as Director of the office focused on Learning Communities, and for three years as program coordinator for a comprehensive, interdisciplinary Learning Community for first-year USF students. Lorrie earned a master's degree from USF in International and Multicultural Education, and a bachelor's degree in Education from the University of Wyoming.
Congratulations to Lorrie on her appointment as interim vice president of Instruction, a role in which she will serve for the next 18 months.
Best wishes,
Brian Murphy