SRJC president on Petaluma Campus

Dr. Frank Chong, the new president of Santa Rosa Junior College, acknowledges that he doesn't know what the future of the college's Petaluma Campus will be - yet. "It is really up to the community," he says. "I want to hear from the community and find out what they want."

Chong has already met with several community and business leaders, including members of the Petaluma Area Chamber of Commerce, to get their thoughts on the campus and its future. That learning process continues today when he meets more area residents at a reception to formally introduce him to the Petaluma community.

The reception will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. in the Mahoney Library reading room on the campus, located at 680 Sonoma Mountain Parkway. The reception is free, but there is a $4 fee required for campus parking.

Chong has already met many community members informally as neighbors after moving into a home on Petaluma's west side.

He is just over two months into his new job, replacing Robert Agrella, and becoming just the fifth president in SRJC's 94-year history.

Chong has lived for the last two years in Washington D.C. where he served as deputy assistant secretary for community colleges for the Obama Administration. He had previously served as president of Laney College in Oakland and Mission College in Santa Clara.

While he listens to the community to determine what it wants on the Petaluma Campus, Chong already knows it is underutilized. "We have an excellent facility there," he says, "but we're at 50 percent capacity. We have the ability to grow to 12,000. We would be larger now if the state would fund us more."

Even with the tough economy and constricting class offerings, Chong says the Petaluma campus has a lot going for it, pointing to what he calls "a very forward-thinking faculty" and innovative programs like its multi-media program.

"In 1995, the people in Sonoma County had the vision and the foresight to build the Petaluma campus. It was the right thing to do," he says. "We're trying not to duplicate programs on the two campuses. We have to develop our own niche at Petaluma, and to do that we have to find out what the community wants.

"Santa Rosa has a 70-year head start on Petaluma," says Chong. "Its campus is still evolving. It has a great location, great facilities and an excellent faculty."

Chong said he would like to see a program that would allow high school students to complete their final two years at the junior college while at the same time taking some college courses to get a jump start on that stage of their education.

One problem facing many students on the Petaluma campus is that they cannot complete their course work for an Associate in Arts degree solely on the southern campus, but must take some classes on the Santa Rosa campus.

"Ideally we would like to offer an AA program where students could take their classes exclusively at the Petaluma campus, but there are so many majors it is impossible to offer them all on the Petaluma campus," Chong says.

He notes that he would like to see the Petaluma Campus become a cultural hub for South County in much the same way Santa Rosa is for the central part of Sonoma, with social programs, plays, movies and other cultural events.

"We would like to offer programs like we did when Willie Brown spoke at Santa Rosa," he says.

The biggest problem, as it has been for all California education the last several years, is funding. Chong points out that over the last three years, community colleges in California have lost 20 percent of their funding. He says that means junior colleges are going to have to get more creative in the way they obtain their funds.

"We can't rely on the state," Chong explains. "The state is never going to get back to where it was in terms of funding. We are going to have to look for federal, state and private grants and work with the community for more funding."

Chong is admittedly optimistic about the future of the Petaluma campus, Santa Rosa Junior College and California junior colleges in general.

"California still has one of the lowest fee structures in the country for community colleges," he points out. "It is still a very affordable system. It is not the tuition that hurts the students as much as it is books and gas."

With an opportunity to obtain an Associate in Arts Degree, transfer credits to a four-year college or university, vocational education programs, high school classes, adult education programs and social and cultural programs, Santa Rosa Junior College and its Petaluma campus offer something for just about everyone in the community.

"We serve the top 100 percent," Chong says. "Anyone who walks through our doors can take a class."

(Contact John Jackson at johnie.jackson@arguscourier.com)

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