An Interview With Dan Walden
Dr. Daniel Walden has served as the Vice President of Academic Affairs at Los Angeles City College for the past two-and-a-half years. He has a Ph.D. in Education with a focus in Higher Education Administration from Claremont Graduate University, as well as diverse background in teaching, research and administration.
The interview was conducted by Ed Buckley, editor of ‘News & Views’, the publication that first published this article.
EB: Tell the story of your coming to LACC and becoming its chief instructional officer.
DW: I moved into higher education over fifteen years ago, after serving as a CEO in a non-profit corporation for many years. I worked at Claremont Graduate University, Scripps College, and Cypress College in North Orange County, and then for the past twelve-and-a-half years in the LA Community College District. I came to LACC two-and-a-half years ago after serving in LA Southwest College as an institutional researcher for three years and Dean of Academic Affairs for six years. Both LASC and LACC are part of the nine colleges of the Los Angeles Community College District.
EB: What would you consider to be your most significant duties and responsibilities?
DW: I have served as the Accreditation Liaison Officer (ALO) at both LASC and LACC for the past seven years. In addition, I have been charged with facilitating campus planning (including program review), facilitating the SLO process, and overseeing the Office of Institutional Research. I am particularly committed to addressing the needs and concerns of a very diverse student body.
I have worked with a wide range of racially and economically diverse peoples, having lived and/or worked in Los Angeles County for over thirty years. I completed college courses in five degree programs specifically focused on ethnic and cultural diversity and worked with academic programs to improve effectiveness in serving under-prepared students coming from socio-economically depressed areas. Currently a pressing goal of mine is to provide effective leadership to enhance the academic affairs division and the LACC community in a way that will facilitate student learning and success.
EB: What makes LACC unique?
DW: LACC is the oldest of the nine colleges in the LA Community College District. Located in the heart of Hollywood, it occupies the original campus of UCLA. After UCLA moved to Westwood in the 1920s, the campus opened as Los Angeles Junior College, in September of 1929, with 1500 students, making it the 4th largest community college in the nation at the time.
EB: Given the Hollywood connection, I image there are some well-known LACC alumni.
DW: That’s true. Many actors have attended LACC, included Alan Arkin, Billy Barty, Albert Brooks, James Coburn, Mark Hamill, Hugh O’Brian, Rosie Perez, Paul Winfield, Clint Eastwood and Morgan Freeman. That’s just a partial list, and there are many more alumni with other jobs in the entertainment business.
EB: What are the major strengths of the college? Why should students choose LACC over other choices?
DW: Well, as you may imagine given our alumni, LACC is the place for students interested in the performing arts, such as music, dance, theater, cinema, television, journalism and photography. We also have some of the nation’s top rated allied health programs, such as Dental Technology, Radiological Technology, and Registered Nursing. LACC has stellar program in the liberal arts along with its science, technology, engineering, and mathematics programs.
Also, the college and its students benefit from the generosity of a strong college Foundation, which pays for its expenses with its commercial ventures so that all the money donated or raised by the Foundation goes 100 percent to the students and to college programs. Hundreds of thousands of dollars each year are directed to students from the LACC Foundation’s student scholarship program.
And as I mentioned before, LACC is one of the most diverse community college in California. Over sixty languages are spoken on campus.
EB: What do you like about your job?
DW: I love the energy of Los Angeles City College. I believe there is a collective brilliance on campus that makes it one of the most unique institutions in California. I love being a part of a senior staff team that collaborates with faculty and other college constituencies to form policies and processes that are making a difference in the lives of students. LACC is a place where you can see students’ lives change for the good on a daily basis.
Of course, the best single thing about LACC is its students. You only have to look in their eyes, watch them walk across campus, or better yet, walk across the stage at the famous Greek Theatre every year to graduate with their associates degree. I love hearing their stores as they share how the college has made a difference in their lives.
EB: What’s tough about your job?
DW: The toughest part of my job is prioritizing the distractions that come with people, wherever you are! LACC is no different. In any human institution, there are always people who seem to be more of a drain than an addition. Thankfully, they are in the minority. So I try to make sure to give the right amount of attention to those folks by helping them resolve conflict and problem-solve so that the work can go forward unhindered. I am the kind of leader who seeks to nurture trust and communication and provide teambuilding leadership in planning and organizational learning. As such, I hope to nurture the pursuit of excellence in higher education and service to the LACC community.
EB: What major challenges has the college addressed over the last ten years?
DW: I can sum that up with three terms — budget, building construction, and improving student success. The third — student success — is the biggest challenge. We must keep the focus on the ultimate goal of seeing lives changed, allowing the knowledge acquired through higher education to empower our students, earn certificates that lead to gainful employment, transfer to four-year institutions, and graduate with their AA or AS degree.
EB: What major planning initiatives will the college implement over the next three to five years?
DW: The college is committed to solving its structural budget challenges, moving the needle on key indications like increasing the number and quality of certificate completions, increasing the number of degree completions, and increasing the number of students to transfer to four year institutions. We hope to find ways to matriculate successfully 100 percent of our applicants and provide them the support they need to complete their goals in a timely fashion. The college plans to have representatives in every feeder high school helping to prepare our future students for college, working to articulate courses with the high schools, and offering every high school student in our top feeder high schools a letter of admission and acceptance into our institution when they graduate from high school, whether or not we are the school of choice.
EB: Tell us a little about your family.
DW: I would be glad to. I have a beautiful, supportive wife, two lovely grown daughters from a previous marriage, and the world’s best fourteen-year-old stepson, who affectionately refers to me as his “permanent” step-dad.
EB: Thanks for taking the time to talk to us.
DW: You’re welcome.
