We have received this note from Maryam Rostam.
I recently had an opportunity to attend a leadership conference in Washington DC. We visited U.S. Department of Education and met with Dr. Ochoa, Assistant Secretary for higher education to discuss the issues and concern regarding community colleges. We had the honor of attending a talk and meeting personally with Senators Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer.
In her keynote speech, Senator Feinstein focused on how the future of higher education may depend on the challenges facing community colleges. She addressed “the critical role of community colleges in educating and training students and adults for the jobs needed to keep America economically competitive.” I had a chance to speak to her personally and expressed our concern regarding the budget cuts that we are facing in our college. She completely understood our concern. She assured me that she is urging all leaders to support her efforts to implement policies that will address the community colleges crisis. She passionately believes that adequate financing for community colleges is an absolute necessity, and that this is the only way “student success will be achieved, ” i.e. student access and affordability leads to higher success rates.
The leadership conference made a tremendous impact on both my educational training and growth.
You are welcome to share my email and the pictures to the LATTC community.
Respectfully,
Maryam Rostam
Child Develoment/ Adjunct Since 2000
Doctoral Candidate
Peperdine University
