Rene Anderson
Candidate Statement: One of the first things I did when I started working at the community college level
(at De Anza College) 13 years ago was to join the Academic Senate as a part-time representative
for Language Arts. I knew that this was the place to be if I wanted to learn about
and participate in the important work of both the college and district. But for me
personally, it was about getting out of the silo of only working within my division
and department. I wanted to interact with folks from across campus in the spirit of
collaboration on centering student success—after all, the students in my English classes
are the same students in my colleagues’ math, sociology, PE, business, computer science,
and economics classes (and sometimes, we need to remind ourselves of this fact). So,
for me, serving as a division representative on the CSM Academic Senate was a given
from the day I set foot on campus back in 2015. I got that opportunity when CSM offered
me a full time position, and at the first opportunity, I stepped forward to contribute
and serve. To date, I have done two, 2-year Senate rotations as a LAD representative.
During that time period I served with Senate presidents Arielle Smith, Jeramy Wallace,
and Todd Windisch. In that same spirit of “diving right in,” when I came onboard as
a full time faculty member in the Fall of 2017, I joined the Guided Pathways Steering
Committee as a LAD representative, and it was through this five years of service that
I worked with folks from all over the campus. Through that GPS service (and in addition
to my division and department responsibilities), I served on the Educational Equity
Committee, Strategic Enrollment Management (SEM) , California Guided Pathways Cohorts
(and through this work took part in the RP SSSC’s Leading with Clarity & Purpose as
well as the Strengthening the Role of IRPE in Support of DEI & Anti-Racism), Leading
from the Middle Cohorts, College 1 Educators Cohorts, Guided Pathways Transitional
Team (creation of the Academic & Career Communities). I would greatly appreciate your
consideration for the opportunity to serve in a leadership role on Academic Senate.
