With the recent budget issues and changes in administrative positions, Bakersfield College has hired on several new deans and other administrative personnel to fill vacant positions. Among them is Zav Dadabhoy, the new Vice President of student services.
The Vice President of Student Services is responsible for supervising and overseeing different departments, the matriculation process, academic counseling and advising, as well as the athletic and P.E. departments. Dadabhoy was the Dean of students for six years at Colorado State University and supervised student affairs programs, a similar role to his current position at BC.
Dadabhoy believes he’s a good fit for BC, bringing both his experience and attitudes to the position to better help the student body.
“I think my job is to make sure that every single student succeeds, and for me that’s a passion,” said Dadabhoy. “I’m going to bring my own bag of tricks with me. I’m going to bring my repertoire, my experiences, my education, my professional contacts, and more than anything else, you’ll see energy and passion. For me this is not really just a job, it’s more than that, it’s a cause.”
While Dadabhoy already has some ideas to help students succeed, he says he’s currently at the stage where he’s asking a lot of questions.
“I’m examining the entire process, the overall matriculation process. From the time the students contact the college, all the way to admission forms, to registration process, to counseling, and saying how can we improve the process in such a way that we can actually help each and every single one of our students succeed.”
Among his first concerns is BC’s orientation process, citing the lack of a campus Welcome Center.
“What is it that students see when the first get onto campus? How do we welcome them? How do we show them what the campus is all about? How do we show them where the different buildings are? How do we help them through the registration process? How do we make sure they are taking the right classes? So those are questions that I’m asking, and in some cases we have wonderful answers, and in some cases we’re going to come up with wonderful solutions.”
During his brief two months with Bakersfield College, Dadabhoy says he’s had to do a lot of fact gathering. He has talked to fellow administrators, faculty, and some students, but he feels he hasn’t had enough exposure with the students.
“I’ll have more thoughts when I get out there and meet more students, for me that’s the critical piece.”
Some may be concerned over the high rate of turnovers among administrative officials over the last few years, but Dadabhoy isn’t worried. “I’m going to stay much longer than any of the previous vice presidents have stayed. I’m not moving across country . . . so mark my words . . . I’m here.”