Peer Review Visit Team Roster

Chancellor
Yosemite Community College District

Henry Yong has spent over 35 years of service in academia, ranging from high school vocational training, adult education, to community colleges. Currently serving as the Chancellor of the Yosemite Community College District in Central California, he has served on multiple accreditation teams as a member, and as well as serving as chair. West Valley will be the third time he is chairing a team, and he is also serving as the Chair of Chairs to the district. Prior to serving as Chancellor, he served as the President of Evergreen Valley College in San Jose. Other previously held positions include Vice President of Instruction at Taft College, Dean of Academic Programs at Victor Valley College, and Associate Dean of Occupational Education at West Hills College. Prior to joining the community college system in an administrative capacity, he served as an administrator for the Regional Occupational Program in Central Orange County. His previous faculty experience was teaching ESL, and Employment Skills to immigrants in Orange County.

Vice President of Instruction
Columbia College

Brian has served as the Vice President of Instruction and Accreditation Liaison Officer for Columbia College since 2016. He has a Doctorate in Educational Leadership, a Masters in Mathematics, and Bachelor’s in Mathematical Sciences. He served for thirteen years as a Professor of Mathematics at Modesto Junior College. He then served as Dean of the Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Division at MJC from Fall 2008 through October 2015, when he took a position as Interim Vice President of College and Administrative Services at Columbia College. Brian has served on three ACCJC site visit teams prior to joining the West Valley College team, his first as team assistant.

Dr. Janet Fulks has an MS in Biological Sciences (Emphasis in Microbiology) and a Doctor of Education in Higher Education Leadership. Janet served as both a faculty member and an administrator at Bakersfield College for 25 years and retired in May 2019. She has served as an ACCJC peer reviewer on many accreditation teams and helped train visiting peer review teams for the last 2 years. She is currently serving as an ACCJC staff liaison to act as a resource for both the college and the peer reviewers.

Business and Computers
College of the Siskiyous

Shawn Abbott is a long term faculty member at College of the Siskiyous (roughly five hours north of West Valley College). She enjoys teaching a variety of subjects including economics, accounting and business. As an active member of her local Academic Senate, Shawn has participated in campus committees including Distance Learning, Curriculum, Budget Oversight and Equivalency.

Vice President of Instruction
San Bernardino Valley College

This is Dr. Dina Humble’s second visiting team and she is thrilled to be a contributing member to the team for West Valley College. Dr. Humble has a passion for student success and the community college mission of access, success, and inclusion. Dina spent the first thirteen years of her career as a music faculty member in the Riverside Community College District where she served as the curriculum committee chair, district curriculum chair and was instrumental in the writing of a curriculum process to transition from a three-campus district to a three-college district. As Dean of Social Sciences and Arts at Long Beach City College, Dr. Humble led the departments of Social Sciences, History and Political Science, Business Administration and Economics, Performing Arts and Visual and Media Arts. Active also in the state, Dr. Humble Co-chaired the Mentor Program for the Association for California Community College Administrators (ACCCA) and was a visiting team member for the Accrediting Commission for Junior and Community Colleges (ACCJC). Dr. Dina Humble currently serves as the Vice President of Instruction at San Bernardino Valley College in San Bernardino, California. Dr. Humble holds a Master’s in Music Education from the University of Northern Colorado and Bachelor’s degrees in Music from the University of Minnesota in performance and education. She recently completed an Ed.D. in Educational Leadership and Management.

Chair, Science & Engineering
Cuyamaca College

Dr. Kathryn Nette is Professor of Biological Sciences at Cuyamaca College where she has worked for the past 22 years. She served as the Department Chair of Science & Engineering for 12 years and is currently the Chair of Biological Sciences. She has served on nearly every shared governance Council and Committee, as a member and officer of the Academic Senate, and also chaired or co-chaired two accreditation self-studies for the college. Currently she is also the Transformational Teaching Specialist for the department’s Title III HSI-STEM grant, leading the STEM transition to Guided Pathways, and the conversion of STEM courses from traditional lectures to active learning mode. She is also currently serving as the college’s Instructional Faculty Guided Pathways coordinator. This is her third experience as a member of an ACCJC site team. Prior to coming to Cuyamaca, Kathryn worked for over 15 years in the Biotechnology industry. She holds a Doctorate (Ph.D.) in Microbiology from the Institute of Microbiology at Rutgers University, and a Bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences from Douglass College at Rutgers University. She also held a post-doctoral fellowship appointment in Immunology in the Department of Rheumatology at UCSD medical school.

Professor, Biology and Microbiology
El Camino College

Dr. Palos is a Professor of Biology and Microbiology in her 16th year at El Camino College (ECC). She is actively involved in both departmental and non-departmental activities. She is the lead for Program Review and Annual Planning in Biology, Co-Chair of the Institutional Review Board, and a participant on the Honors Transfer Program Advisory Council. She has also contributed to the accreditation Standard IIA effort at her institution and has participated in multiple hiring and faculty evaluation committees. She was previously Co-Director for a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) STEM Grant and Activity Coordinator for a Collaborative HSI STEM Grant. Collectively, both 5-year federal grants funded academic support endeavors, research opportunities, and outreach activities. Early in her career at ECC, she participated on the Natural Sciences Division Curriculum Committee and the college’s Academic Senate. She enjoys working with students in and out of the classroom and takes advantage of mentoring opportunities with two student support programs, MESA and the Honors Transfer Program.

Director, Institutional Research, Evaluation, and Planning
Clovis Community College

Alex Adams has been the Director of Institutional Research, Evaluation, and Planning at Clovis Community College since August 2018. Before that he was a Senior Research and Planning Analyst at Fresno City College. His work focuses heavily on planning, research, and evaluation, much of which directly supports the college's accreditation efforts. Currently, he is leading the college's Quality Focus Essay Project #1, which is about strengthening the college's use of data in decision making. In addition to his work in community colleges, he has over ten years of experience in social science research and is a PhD candidate in Political Science at the University of New Mexico with a specialization in Survey Methodology.

Vice President Student Services
Santa Rosa Junior College

Pedro Avila is the Vice President of Student Services at Santa Rosa Junior College. He was born in Guadalajara, Mexico and his family migrated to Castroville, California in 1984 to find opportunity. As a kid, Pedro and his family worked in the strawberry fields of Salinas, CA. Pedro went on to earn a master’s of business administration from Rockhurst University, bachelor degrees in both Business Administration and Latin American Studies from CSU, Fresno, and a Certificate in Institutional Performance Assessment from Harvard University’s Higher Education Institute. Currently, he’s enrolled in a Doctoral program at University of Maryland. Prior to his current position, Avila served as Vice Chancellor of Enrollment Management at State Center Community College District in Fresno, and Vice President of Student Services at West Hills College Coalinga. Avila has worked in the community college system for 18 years and in the private sector for six years. He has led a number of successful community college innovative strategies resulting in transformational change.

Interim Vice President of Administrative Services
Grossmont College

Bill was appointed as the Interim Vice President of Administrative Services at Grossmont College in El Cajon, CA in August of 2018. He first served as the Grossmont Academic Dean of Arts, Languages and Communication for 1-1/2 years. He was previously Dean of Instruction and Campus Director for Red Rocks Community College in Lakewood, Colorado. At Red Rocks, Bill oversaw the day-to-day operations and budgets of the site and several divisions. He was involved with major construction projects, including the opening of a $22.5 million expansion of Red Rocks’ Arvada satellite campus, and has overseen staffing and operational arrangements within new facilities. Before joining Red Rocks, he served as the Assistant Dean of the Morgridge College of Education at the University of Denver (DU) where his varied responsibilities included budget administration, marketing, recruitment, and admissions, and serving as the owner’s representative on the construction of a $21 million facility. Prior to joining DU, he served as Assistant Dean for Colorado Mountain College, serving as site administrator for two commuter sites and overseeing their budgets. He holds a M.Ed. in Higher Education Administration and a bachelor’s degree in Journalism. He held administrative positions at University of Missouri campuses in Kansas City and St. Louis before moving to Colorado.