After a months-long national search, the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges announced the appointment of Dr. Sonya Christian as its new state chancellor on Feb. 23.

The board’s decision to select Christian marks a historic appointment.  She will be the first woman and first person of South Asian descent to serve as Chancellor. According to a press release from the Campaign for College Opportunity, Christian’s position as state chancellor allows her to “serve as Chancellor of the country’s largest system of higher education, with over 1.8 million students, 54% of which identify as female and over 70% identifying as Latinx, Black, Asian American, Native Hawaiian, or Pacific Islander.”

Currently, Christian is chancellor of the Kern Community College District, a position she was appointed to two years ago. Prior to that, she served as president of Bakersfield College where she also spend many years as an educator in the classroom. According to a press release statement created by the California Community Colleges, Christian had been appointed as the “sixth chancellor of the Kern Community College District, where she implemented a call to action with a focus on advancing student success and closing achievement and equity gaps.”

Christian’s term as state chancellor for the board of Calif. community colleges is set to begin on June 1.