President's Office

Reports to the Board of Trustees

Each month, President Kristina Whalen gives a report on college activities, honors and achievements during the regular meeting of the Foothill-De Anza Community College District Board of Trustees.

View Board Reports Archive

May 5, 2025 Board Meeting

AWARDS

TIAA Award to Science Learning Institute

One of five projects funded. Awarded $10,000 for a grant that will fund 3-5 interns in the cohort of 30 in the FLI-SLI STEM Internship Scholarship Program (FLI-SIP). 

Pictured: Winter SLI 2022 Micro-Internships Celebration

SLI created the First-Generation Low-Income Science Learning Institute STEM Internship Scholarship Program (FLI-SIP) to be that “foot in the door” for first-generation, low-income (FLI) students.

FLI-SIP recruits mentors from research institutions and local tech companies who commit to hosting at least one intern in a part-time paid summer internship. Thirty FLI Foothill students are selected through a vetting process that involves SLI staff and partner mentors.

The 30 students form a learning community through the summer and receive support through biweekly seminars and one-on-one check-ins, and they all complete the program with a final presentation.

Already, this program has been operating for four years, a unique program in the community college system where, more often than not, community colleges do not have capacity to set up their own internship program, but instead focus on encouraging students to apply for the many opportunities that exist in nearby four-year institutions or companies.

SLI has been able to create it's own homegrown internship program with tangible impact on both the interns and the partners. Students get their first internship with real hands-on experience in a lab or a company, and they are better positioned for ongoing internships and research opportunities when they transfer to a four-year institution.

It is also a learning experience for the mentors who also gain support for their work. We have had several students get published in research articles for their contributions to cutting-edge research that the mentors are involved in. Congratulations, Sophia Kim!

---

Partnership with San Mateo County Office of Education

SMCOE and Foothill will partner on two projects. The first is a summer intensive cohort for Transitional Kindergarten educators. The second project is to offer Child Development courses in Spanish to select members of the community. The current plan is to pilot an Infant and Toddler course to begin in mid-April with the potential to offer additional Child Development courses in Spanish as needed in future quarters. Congratulations, Aaron Korngeibel &  Child Development Faculty.

---

Teresa Ong recognized by the Silicon Valley Business Journal as a Woman of Influence 2025 

Foothill College is proud to announce that AVP Teresa Ong will be recognized as a Silicon Valley Woman of Influence for 2025. Teresa’s great work will be celebrated at the June 26 Silicon Valley Business Journal awards ceremony.

Congratulations, Teresa!

RECOGNITION

Foothill Goes Global! VPI Stacy Gleixner Travels to Japan this Past April

 

VP of Instruction Stacy Gleixner recently visited Japan, starting with a stop at the University of Tokyo to meet with contacts there who have visited Foothill twice in recent years and to give a talk to college of education faculty and students that had about 40 attendees and lots of really great questions to build a better understanding of the California Community College system. She also continued talks with them about the possibility of University of Tokyo Design students coming to Foothill for a quarter. (This is their only degree taught in English currently.)  

VP Gleixner then moved on to Kyoto to visit with our two faculty and 31 students who are there now for an eight week Global Experiential Learning trip. The students are taking a mix of data analysis, coding, and business classes with the theme of data for the social good. They are staying in homestays and have a couple of excursions a week to deepen their understanding of Japanese culture. While on her visit, VP Gleixner spent a day in class, seeing firsthand how instructors Eric Reed and Laurence Lew are getting the students to actively engage with data in ways that examine and integrate social justice themes and current Japanese issues.  

VP Gleixner also joined the students on a trip to a shibori museum (traditional scarf dyeing—yes, they all got to dye a scarf and VP Gleixner is modeling hers at the Board meeting), a full day trip to Hiroshima visiting the Peace park and museum, and a hike in the Kyoto hills. In addition, she met with our host agency CIEE to learn more about how they are supporting our current students and their other offerings that Foothill may utilize in the future.

RECENT EVENTS

April 10–11 • AANHPI Group at APAHE

Foothill College was well represented at the recent Asian Pacific American in Higher Eduction (APAHE) conference on April 10 and 11 with our following Foothill colleagues in attendance— Valerie Fong, Jordan Fong, Peter Chow, Scott Tsuchtani,  Anju Vriksha, Elaine Kuo, Chris Yang, Ajani Byrd, Trizha Aquino Loren, and students.

---

April 17 • TEDxFoothill College

On April 17, Foothill College hosted its first ever TEDxFoothill event, organized by Foothill student Harini Nagappan. Four students and one staff member talked about how small gestures and changes in life can make a huge positive impact. Our next TEDX will be in the fall of 2025.  

---

May 1 • Student Services Conference 2025 • Remember. Resist. Rise. 

Resisting systems of harm.  And rising to rewrite the rules.

This day-long conference, led by VP of Student Services Laurie Scolari, explored how Foothill College can decolonize our approach to student services—across counseling, wellness, and beyond. Through workshops, creative reflection, and ancestral practice, participants envisioned new ways of serving our students with heart, justice, and joy.

Workshops included:

• We Were Never Meant to Heal Alone: Community Approaches to Student Wellness
• Stories in Stone: Ancient Wisdom for Modern Customer Service 
• Beading New Pathways: Restorative Justice as Resistance, Healing & Heart Work
• Mosaic of Liberation: Disability in Every Life: From imposed barriers to collective care, our shared experiences create a new picture of belonging

This was not just a professional development day—it was a declaration that we refuse to be passive in the face of injustice. 

STRATEGIC UPDATES

White Paper with SVLG on AI Curriculum

Through an initiative, led by the Silicon Valley Leadership Group’s Institute for California AI Policy (I-CAP) and the SVLG Foundation, in partnership with the Foothill-De Anza Community College District, Zach Cembellin, STEM Division Dean, shared a new white paper detailing an innovative, first-of-its-kind AI curriculum developed for community colleges in California. The paper addresses the critical AI talent shortage in the Bay Area while also focusing on increasing diversity in the tech sector.

INVITATION TO THE BOARD

May 14 • Global Issues Summit • Wednesday, May 14

Join our Foothill Fund the Future Club from Noon-1:30 in the Dining Hall for this annual event, which serves to motivate students, faculty and staff to engage with global issues — by offering an array of spectacular local organizations actively making a difference. We invite faculty to bring your classes, offer extra credit, or otherwise market the event so that the leaders coming to our campus are well-received. Food will be provided as well.

Below is a list of the organizations that will be participating — along with a short description of their work. I hope you find this a worthwhile event to support and attend.

Click on the organization title below to learn more about it.

• Greater Good Haiti
  An accelerator school that successfully brings youth up to grade level in Haiti.

• Rise Against Hunger
  Provides an easy way to contribute to fighting extreme poverty by coming together to package nutritious meals sent to the most vulnerable populations on the planet. Kids cannot study on an empty stomach. 

• Dream Volunteers
  Sponsors education, local changemakers and global community among youth through service-learning trips 

• The Cambodia Academy
  Wholistic support for an impoverished Cambodian community 

• Empower Sports Academy
  Supporting female student athletes in Pakistan 

If you have an organization you believe in and want to promote, please email Foothill economics professor Brian Evans at evansbrian@fhda.edu, who serves as Fund the Future Club advisor. He will work with club members to add your suggestions to next year's summit!

---

May 22 • Research & Service Leadership Symposium • 9–5 p.m.

Please join Foothill College students, faculty, staff, and community members for the 8th annual Research and Service Leadership Symposium. The event will feature more than 150 student presenters. Thank you to Allison Herman and Lisa Schulteis, our faculty organizers, for their commitment to this yearlong effort culminating in this daylong RSLS event.

VIEW RSLS PROGRAM DETAILS

---

May 29 • Foothill Innovation Challenge • Noon–5 p.m.

Every year, our challenge emphasizes a specific social issue for students to center their innovative projects on. This year, we're concentrating on tackling AI and Education. Students will share their ideas in a poster board session from. From there, six teams will be selected to present their ideas live "Shark Tank style" in front of a panel of distinguished judges, including Peter Landsberger, President, Foothill-De Anza Board of Trustees! Please join us in the Dining Hall for all or part of Foothill Innovation Challenge on Thursday, May 29.