Bakersfield College welcomes the return of William Cordero as the temporary vice president of student services for the remainder of this semester.
Cordero is well-versed on handling matters involving academic affairs and student services, having spent the majority of his career at Santa Barbara City College as director, dean and associate vice president as well as vice chancellor of student services in the chancellor’s office in Sacramento.
He has held a number of positions throughout the years in the student services department and financial aid at SBCC and Allan Hancock College.
Cordero is returning as the vice president of student services, having held the position at BC in 2004-05.
Cordero had initially retired from his career in student services to manage a real estate company. Not long after he had begun applying his skills in that field, the company was sold. During that time he traveled, belonged to a country club, played golf and sailed.
“It was nice being retired, but you don’t get the feeling that you’re contributing,” said Cordero. “Very few people can say that every day they were paid to go to work and to help other people improve their life.”
Upon this realization, he submitted his name to a group that takes retirees and offers their services to colleges when they have a vacancy.
Cordero has held the philosophy for many years that with every job he takes on, he must leave it having made an improvement and impacted the lives of students. This is the kind of work ethic that he intends to apply during his time at BC.
In an effort to keep student services moving forward, Cordero explained that there are a number of things that must be done.
“We need to help students get more counseling appointments so they can stay on target.”
He would like students to be aware of BC’s early-alert system in an order to decrease the number of students who are on probation. He commented that students should also be aware of the changing financial aid regulations that will have an impact on the amount of Pell Grant eligibility one can receive over the course of their life.
“The challenge during this time is that we have declining resources and student need is actually increasing,” Cordero said.
He explained that the other issues we face are that there are fewer classes available, and they are much more difficult to get into.
Cordero assured students that he will work to see that all of the things he has the capacity to correct are corrected.
“I believe in what we’re doing. I believe in the community college mission,” said Cordero. “I want BC to be better because of my presence. That is the goal.”
Cordero will be leaving BC on June 30 and explained that although the new vice president has not been chosen at this time, the college will go through the normal hiring process and should have someone to fill the position by July 1, 2012.