Bakersfield College will have two new Deans of Instruction this semester and BC president Greg Chamberlain is pleased with the choices made. Stephen Eaton and Rebecca Flores were announced Sept. 14 as the new deans.
“We’re thrilled to have Stephen and Rebecca joining us. We are looking forward to them coming,” said Chamberlain.
Chamberlain talked about the process that was taken to choose the new deans.
“We went through a comprehensive nationwide search and believe we have two outstanding employees,” he added, “The process starts with a screening committee that goes through and forwards finalists to the president. I interviewed the finalists as well as went through a multi-day process with the finalists.”
Eaton earned a bachelor’s degree in speech and theater from Central Michigan University and a master’s in Higher Education Administration from the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Eaton’s past experience was serving as Dean of Occupational studies at Mid Michigan Community College in Harrison, Mich.
Eaton will join BC on Oct. 4 and will be dean for behavioral science, communication, performing arts, philosophy, art and social science departments.
Flores, a native of Australia, earned her bachelor’s degree and a Ph.D. in English from University of Southern Queensland in Australia. She also earned her master of arts in English from Texas A&M. Flores has over 10 years teaching experience at Texas A&M and Del Mar College. Flores will oversee English, ESL, academic development and foreign language when she joins the BC staff on Oct. 11.
“Both of these new candidates bring skill sets that will fit right in, and they’ll both have experience and hit the ground running,” said Chamberlain when asked how the two new deans will impact the campus.
Chamberlain is pleased that the deans will make the administration process easier at BC.
Additionally, Joyce Ester was named the associate vice president of student services, and Nan Gomez-Heitzberg was named executive vice president of academic affairs and student services.