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Officials at the Contra Costa Community College District this month have begun the process of seeking a new leader to head the district, following the resignation of their last permanent chancellor early last year.
The district’s governing board voted on July 12 to launch the search for a permanent replacement for former chancellor Bryan Reece, who resigned amidst a flurry of controversy in February 2022 and was replaced on a temporary basis by Interim Chancellor Mojdeh Mehdizadeh.
“We look forward to the recruitment of our permanent Chancellor,” Board President Fernando Sandoval said in a statement on July 20. “I join my fellow trustees in welcoming our students, constituency groups, and community’s involvement on choosing the District’s next leader who is equipped to carry on our legacy of affordable and high quality higher education.”
The board is seeking to announce their selection by December, with the permanent chancellor set to begin in the role in January 2024.
District spokesperson Tim Leong said that Mehdizadeh is permitted to apply for the permanent basis should she choose, and that she has retreat rights to her previous position as executive vice chancellor of education and technology.
Reece’s resignation and the scandal leading up to it — during which investigators found evidence that he had engaged in an alleged quid-pro-quo scheme in the awarding of a $500,000 contract with a marketing company at which he knew several high-level employees that was later rescinded by the governing board — was the most recent incident in the district’s ongoing efforts to find a longterm replacement for former chancellor Fred Wood, who retired in 2020 after three years on the job.
Wood was succeeded on an interim basis by Eugene Huff, who was among three former cabinet members who the district settled a joint lawsuit and individual complaints with ahead of Reece’s resignation.
Mehdizadeh has been leading the district as interim chancellor since being appointed by the board following Reece’s resignation in February 2022, with her contract set to run through June 2024 if a permanent replacement isn’t selected before then.
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