From the President
Reaffirming Our Commitment to Classified Professionals
March 18, 2021
Dear Colleagues,
As I have said many times, I am incredibly impressed with the work that you do. Every day I continue to learn more about different programs, different classes, and different people and their contributions. What is so clearly the same -- across the college -- is the depth of commitment you have to our students: in person and online, in more typical times and in a pandemic. This was apparent to me from the very beginning.
That's why I was sorry to hear, in some of the many individual and group meetings I had, that not all members of our college community -- specifically, our classified professionals -- feel as respected and recognized as they should. And that's why, when I had the opportunity to address you on Opening Day, I said that one key area of focus is to ensure that each and every one of our colleagues feels valued and respected. I asked the Classified Senate to create a proposal to help address some of the issues presented by our classified professionals. You may recall that I spoke about this at the Senior Staff Conversation and Q&A earlier this week.
Building upon what we heard, we have developed a statement that reaffirms -- from senior staff -- our commitment to our classified professionals, and their full participation in the governance and life of the college. This includes specific actions that will help facilitate their participation. You can see the document at deanza.edu/president/classified-professionals-2021 and linked from the governance webpage at deanza.edu/gov.
I say "reaffirms" because it is clear to me that all members of senior staff, and beyond to the ​management team, hold our classified professionals in the highest regard, appreciate them deeply, support their engagement, and always have. I would simply like to formally acknowledge this commitment on behalf of the entire college.
To our faculty members and administrators, please join me in thanking our classified professionals for their invaluable service to our students and De Anza College. To our classified professional colleagues: We appreciate you.
Best wishes,
Lloyd