Dr. Jennifer Taylor-Mendoza serves as the 13th president of West Valley College. President Taylor-Mendoza is the first African American educator to lead the College. She is a longtime leader in the Bay Area with twelve years of service in the San Mateo County Community College District, having recently served as the President of the College of San Mateo, Vice President of Instruction at Skyline College in San Bruno, founding Dean of Academic Support and Learning Technologies at College of San Mateo (CSM), and as the Director of the Learning Center at CSM.
President Taylor-Mendoza has over twenty-three years of higher education experience in both instruction and student services, mainly in the California community college system. In her various roles as a classified professional, tenured faculty leader, director, dean, vice president, and now president, President Taylor-Mendoza has found inspiration in the brilliance, power, and endless potential of community college students. She leads for social justice and liberation, recognizing our shared responsibility to address the historical legacy of racism to create a more just system of access, reward, and long-term equitable outcomes to inspire individual achievement and generational impact. The “obligation gap,” a term she coined, speaks to institutional responsibility. She is co-author of Minding the Obligation Gap in Community Colleges: Theory and Practice in Achieving Educational Equity. President Taylor-Mendoza is also an Aspen Institute Presidential Fellow and American Leadership Forum, Silicon Valley Senior Fellow.
President Taylor-Mendoza’s areas of expertise include accreditation, dual enrollment, educational policy, enrollment management, global learning, guided pathways, online learning, organizational development, professional development, and workforce partnerships. As Chief Instructional Officer, President Taylor-Mendoza served on the State Chancellor’s Office’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Statewide Implementation Workgroup in developing, implementing, and assessing DEI strategies to improve systemwide equitable outcomes for California’s 116 colleges. In addition, she was an adviser to the State Chancellor’s Office on the Trustee Fellowship and provided strategies to support trustees in their role as district leaders identifying regional workforce gaps and measuring student equity goals.
As a public servant, President Taylor-Mendoza believes that healthy, vibrant communities increase enrollment, build public confidence, attract funding support, and impact local legislation. She serves on a variety of county councils and boards, including Cabrillo Education Foundation, California Community College Athletic Association, California Community College Women’s Caucus, Coast Pride, San Mateo Police Activities League, and StarVista. She is also an Umoja Community Education Foundation legacy founder and former board of director.
A proud, distinguished El Camino College alumna, President Taylor-Mendoza holds a B.A. in Psychology, California State University, Los Angeles, an M.S. in Counseling, California State University, Northridge, and a Ph.D. in Education, Claremont Graduate University.