Baca Elected Mt. SAC Board President

December 14, 2017 - 02:42 PM

At its annual organizational meeting on Dec. 13, the Mt. San Antonio College Board of Trustees elected Dr. Manuel Baca as president, Robert Hidalgo as vice president, and Jay Chen as clerk. They will serve one-year terms, effective immediately.

Baca was elected to the Mt. SAC Board of Trustees in 1999 and reelected in 2003, 2007, 2011, and 2015. During his tenure on the governing board, he has served multiple terms as president. His professional experience spans the state university and community college systems. He currently teaches political science at Rio Hondo College in Whittier, where he has also held key academic and administrative positions, including an interim presidency. On the state level, Dr. Baca is past president (2012-14) of the California Community Colleges Board of Governors, which sets policy, establishes regulations, and provides guidance for the 72 districts and 113 colleges that comprise the nation’s largest public higher education system. In addition to other appointed positions, he served on the California Community Colleges System Strategic Plan Steering Committee (2005) and the Student Success Task Force (2011), which led to the formulation and passage of the Student Success Act of 2012. Long active with civic, educational and business organizations within the greater San Gabriel Valley, he is a member and past president of the Kiwanis Club of Walnut Valley, a mentor with the El Monte Union High School District’s Graphic Arts & Communications Academy, and on the executive committee of the Rio Hondo Boys & Girls Club of Bell Gardens.   He has also been a member of the 32nd Congressional District's U.S. Military Academies Advisory Committee.

Hidalgo was elected to the Mt. SAC Board of Trustees in 2013. Previously, he served on the Rowland Unified School Board of Education to which he was elected in 2005 and in 2009.  He has also served on the executive board for the California Latino School Board Association, Los Angeles County School Trustees Association, and the La Puente Valley Regional Occupational Program. He has over 15 years of experience in public education, having taught at both middle and high schools. He currently serves as assistant principal at Glen A. Wilson High School in Hacienda Heights.

Chen was elected to the Mt. SAC Board of Trustees in 2015. Previously, he served on the Board of Education for the Hacienda /La Puente Unified School District for 8 years, serving as board president twice. He also served two terms on the La Puente Valley Regional Occupational Program Board, was President of the Asian Pacific Islander School Board Members Association, and was a member of the Delegate Assembly for the California School Board Association and the Los Angeles County School Trustees Association. He previously worked at Bain & Company as a management consultant and currently owns his own real estate business. 

The other Mt. SAC trustees are outgoing president Rosanne Bader, trustee Judy Chen Haggerty, trustee Dr. David K. Hall, trustee Laura Santos, and student trustee Corey Case.