Teaching is the most rewarding thing I do, and I’ve been privileged to do so every semester for the past 12 years at Santa Barbara City College. Today is the first day of the first time SBCC is holding two summer sessions, and I expect to receive an email from SBCC’s president Lori Gaskin before class starts.
It won’t be exclusively for me, because ever since she took office in 2012, Dr. Gaskin makes a point to send an email every Monday with a warm greeting and weekly report to every SBCC teacher and staffer. Occasionally, her email simply reminds us all to reach out to our students and offer them encouragement.
This is an example of how open to communication she is, no matter how challenging it can be at the time. For that and other reasons, I’ve quickly grown to admire her commitment to academic leadership.