Current print subscribers can create a free account by clicking here
Otherwise, follow the link below to join.
To Our Valued Readers –
Visitors to our website will be limited to five stories per month unless they opt to subscribe. The five stories do not include our exclusive content written by our journalists.
For $6.99, less than 20 cents a day, digital subscribers will receive unlimited access to YourValley.net, including exclusive content from our newsroom and access to our Daily Independent e-edition.
Our commitment to balanced, fair reporting and local coverage provides insight and perspective not found anywhere else.
Your financial commitment will help to preserve the kind of honest journalism produced by our reporters and editors. We trust you agree that independent journalism is an essential component of our democracy. Please click here to subscribe.
After a nationwide search, the Maricopa County Community College District and GCC announced Wednesday that Dr. Tiffany Hernandez is the next president of the West Valley school.
She will replace Interim President Dr. Ernie Lara, who assumed the role in October 2022.
“I am honored to be returning to my home state of Arizona to serve communities in the West Valley at Glendale Community College,” Hernandez shared in a statement. “I look forward to leading collaboratively with the college faculty, staff, students and colleagues throughout the Maricopa Community Colleges.”
GCC has a main campus at 6000 W. Olive Avenue and a north campus at 5727 W. Happy Valley Road.
Hernandez currently serves as vice president for student success at San Antonio College, and as that school’s accreditation liaison to the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, Commission on Colleges.
She also led the change review and site visit for approval as a baccalaureate-granting institution to offer a bachelor’s degree in nursing, the first baccalaureate degree approved in the Alamo Colleges District.
“The selection committee was impressed with Dr. Hernandez’s enthusiasm, energy, and expertise. Her recent experience with baccalaureate degrees and the accreditation process will be invaluable as MCCCD launches our high-demand bachelor’s degrees this fall and works to develop future program offerings,” MCCCD Chancellor Dr. Steven R. Gonzales stated.
Hernandez’s leadership at San Antonio College contributed to the college receiving the 2021 Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence, the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, and the Seal of Exceléncia from Exceléncia in Education.
She holds a bachelor’s degree in Russian language from the University of Arizona, a law degree from the University of Utah College of Law, and a doctorate of philosophy in criminal justice from Texas State University.
Hernandez will assume her new role on July 10.
Lara succeeded Dr. Teresa Leyba Ruiz, who had served as GCC’s eighth president since 2018, having previously served as interim president for two years, before stepping into retirement in September 2022.