PRESS RELEASE
For immediate release
June 5, 2019
Contact: WVMCCD Chancellor’s Office
Office: 408.741.2011
[email protected]
Bradley J. Davis Promoted to Chancellor of the West Valley-Mission Community College District
(Saratoga, CA) The Board of Trustees for the West Valley-Mission Community College District (WVMCCD) is pleased to announce that West Valley College President Bradley J. Davis, J.D., has been selected to serve as the District‘s next chancellor. Davis, identified as the top candidate through the District’s national recruitment search, replaces Chancellor Patrick E. Schmitt, Ph.D., who is retiring after a seven-year tenure with the District.
Davis, the second-longest serving president in West Valley College’s history, has been with the District for more than ten years. He began as a Vice Chancellor in the District office and has served the past seven years as president of West Valley College. In his new role as chancellor, he will oversee a district that encompasses both West Valley College (Saratoga, CA) and Mission College (Santa Clara, CA).
“The entire District will benefit from Brad Davis’s innovative ideas and his ability to collaborate with others, breaking down some of the greatest barriers facing current community college students while also opening up new opportunities for students and faculty,” said WVMCCD Board President Anne Kepner. “The citizens we serve throughout our District will benefit from his leadership.”
Davis’s contributions to the College and District are plentiful and have not gone unnoticed. As president, he shaped the College’s commitment to equity and diversity by creating West Valley’s first Office of Student Equity and Success and developed the President’s Commission on Diversity and the Faculty Fellows Equity Program. He helped launch the Community Grant Program, which provides free tuition, textbook vouchers, and meal coupons to more than 500 high school graduates every year, a program that continues to serve as a model for other community colleges throughout the state. Davis helped establish the Cilker School of Art and Design and the Che School of Professional Studies. In addition, veteran services were expanded at the Daniel Furtado Veterans Resource Center, also located on the WVC campus.
Davis has partnered with various organizations in the Valley to help the growing number of students who face food insecurity, mental health issues, and housing challenges. Additionally, he generated record levels of philanthropic interest in the college, raising more than $7 million in private gifts and $10 million in grants, including scholarships for students in need. He has strengthened relationships with the surrounding community and re-energized student life, including the creation of service-learning study abroad programs.
“I have been fortunate to be deeply immersed in our College and in our community,” said Davis. “I can think of no higher calling than to serve our District while helping meet the educational, business, and community needs of Silicon Valley. Our region desperately needs our West Valley and Mission College graduates in its quest to end socio-economic vulnerability and continue to promote social equity.”
Since 2012, the District has successfully passed two bond campaigns earmarked to improve classroom learning spaces and provide much needed upgrades in technology. Davis was not only involved in those bond measure campaigns, but has overseen the construction of seven new or renovated campus buildings at West Valley College, the most recent, a new 50,000 square-foot Student Services Center opening June 2019.
"Brad Davis has a passion for this District and I have seen first-hand how he cultivates relationships to bring new opportunities for students and partnerships for the community,” said Mission College President Daniel Peck. “I would like to thank Chancellor Schmitt for his years of leadership. We are in a good place and well-positioned to continue providing excellent educational opportunities for our students.”
Davis will assume the role of Chancellor on July 1. An interim president will be named in early July and a search for a permanent replacement will commence when the academic year begins in September.
###
The West Valley-Mission Community College District is committed to achieving student success through innovative and effective lifelong education and career opportunities, which include associate degrees, certificates, transfer, occupational programs, workforce development, pre-collegiate, global, and community education programs. The District strives to maintain and support institutional integrity, mutual respect, diversity, tolerance, rigorous evaluation, an exceptional workforce of faculty and staff, and partnerships between students, faculty, staff, administrators, the Board of Trustees, and the community. The District promotes an environment conducive to open dialogue and the free exchange of ideas leading to the achievement of successful student learning outcomes.