Diane Hollems knows a thing or two about pursuing a haphazard path. In her forties, as a mother of three who had careers as a stockbroker and flight attendant, she went back to school to get a Ph.D. in Communication at Louisiana State University.
In 1998, Hollems moved to Santa Barbara to take a temporary grant-writing job at SBCC before becoming a dean the next year. “I fell in everything,” she said, “Which is what we try to address in this program: Try not to do that.”
According to Hollems, who retired from SBCC last July, the program “Get Focused, Stay Focused” seeks to inspire students to cultivate skills for their college and career experiences so they are more successful once they get there. The curriculum is a semester course often paired with a semester health class.
