Los Banos Merced College campus dean leaves to become VP in Stockton

Talented people often move on to bigger responsibilities.

That’s true for Lonita Cordova, who is leaving her position as dean of Merced College’s Los Banos Campus to become the vice president of student services at San Joaquin Delta College in Stockton.

Cordova was selected from among many candidates by Delta College’s president, Omid Pourzanjani, and approved by Delta’s board of trustees on Feb. 16. She assumes her new assignment on March 1.

“I threw my hat in for the vice-presidential position, but I didn’t expect to get it,” Cordova said. “I knew there would be many excellent candidates applying. I was surprised when I got the call that I was selected.”

Cordova has been commuting from Stockton since she started working for Merced College in Merced in 2017 and continued that commute then when she became dean of the Los Banos Campus in 2019. She and her husband Alex thought it best they keep their home in Stockton until their son graduated from high school there.

Her new job will require much less of a commute and will enable her to stay in her current home.

Her new job, however, will require more of her time, as she takes on the role not only of vice president but also of Delta College’s assistant superintendent. She is returning to the college where she once taught as an adjunct professor of psychology.

Lonita accomplished much since she became the Los Banos dean. She made sure the Los Banos Campus was an essential part of Merced College’s new educational master plan, having a goal to increase career technical education in Los Banos while keeping a strong transfer curriculum.

She also connected with Los Banos high schools, increasing the number of dual enrollment courses offered for local high school students, and she came to know many people in the community, including her fellow members of the Los Banos Rotary.

Cordova follows in the footsteps of several Los Banos deans who advanced to become vice presidents, including Anne Newins, who moved from being dean at the Los Banos Campus to become vice president of students services for Merced College.

Many of my loyal Los Banos readers will remember a column I wrote about Lonita in 2019 when she was named the new dean in town. Having read her resume and interviewed her at length, I knew she was an “educational star.”

As I wrote at that time, “She has incredible energy and dedication. She believes in servant leadership and is committed to helping all students succeed.” I knew then she had the talent to move on to a position of greater responsibility.

Like many other Los Banosans, including the campus’s staff, its students, and the community members it serves, I am grateful for all she’s done. Like many other Los Banosans, I will miss Lonita, but I’m happy for her.

As someone who once made a long commute for years, I know how wearing that can be. And as someone who believes in the importance of community college education, I’m pleased that she will be advancing in a leadership role with increased responsibility.

In the last few years, many community college leaders in California have retired, creating a need for new and younger persons to assume executive leadership roles. Lonita is responding to that need to serve at a higher level.

Education at all levels has a continuing need for “servant leadership,” a term that was first used by Robert Greenleaf in 1970. Collegiate servant leaders are not concerned with power but with the well-being of their colleges, their faculty and staff and especially their students.

As I did in 2019, I predict Lonita will succeed in her new role and one day may very well become a college president.

Merced College President Chris Vitelli will have a challenge filling the position Dr. Cordova is leaving.

While the dean’s job is being posted, Vitelli has assigned Jessica Moran as acting dean of the Los Banos Campus. Moran has been serving as the Dean of Adult Education, Noncredit and Workforce Development at Merced College.

In selecting the permanent dean, Vitelli realizes the next several years will be a critical time in the history of the Los Banos Campus, which will celebrate 50 years as a full-time campus this fall.

The new dean will need to ensure that the Los Banos Campus continues to maintain its own identity while being an integral part of the Merced Community College District.

As Los Banos continues to grow, the campus may someday become a college within the district, just as the Madera Campus recently became Madera Community College within the State Center Community College District.

In the next few years the Los Banos Campus, like all college campuses, will need to find the best path to creating a new normal as the world emerges from the COVID lockdown, blending online instruction with in-person education.

The campus will also need to make sure it effectively serves all segments of the community equitably, as it continues to provide a solid college curriculum.

The new dean will have to be actively involved with not only the local high schools but local businesses, the chamber of commerce and the city of Los Banos as the campus works to meet the needs of the local workforce and the community.

Like so many other Los Banosans I wish Lonita well in her new role, and I thank her for all she’s done for the local campus and the city. I also wish President Vitelli well as he searches for the next dean who will lead the campus into the next 50 years of serving the community.