SACRAMENTO – California Community Colleges Chancellor Eloy Ortiz Oakley on Wednesday announced that Laura Hope, dean of instructional support at Chaffey College, will join the state Chancellor’s Office as executive vice chancellor for educational services beginning in August.

Hope will replace Dr. Pamela Walker, who has announced she is retiring after serving three years in the Chancellor’s Office and 25 years of total service in various leadership positions in the community colleges system.

“We are grateful for Pam Walker’s leadership and longstanding commitment to our colleges and students,” Oakley said. “Fortunately, we have found another outstanding leader who is stepping up to guide our academic affairs and student services divisions as we enter a critical phase in improving student outcomes. Laura Hope has a track record of implementing strategies that help students succeed, and we are excited to have her on board.”

Oakley said Hope will play a central role in the widespread adoption of the Guided Pathways framework in California community colleges.

The approach, supported by a $150 million investment contained in the recently signed state budget, involves redesigning colleges to provide students with much clearer roadmaps for achieving their goals along with the support services needed for academic completion.

Hope started at Chaffey College in 1990 as an English professor, and during nearly 20 years as a faculty member, she served on the Academic Senate, was elected Faculty Lecturer of the Year, co-founded Puente and Turning Point in the California Institution for Women.

She also served as a primary architect for Chaffey’s Basic Skills Transformation, which led to the college’s Success Center network, an effort that has been widely emulated throughout California.

In 2008, Hope became dean of instructional support, which included the Success Center, Faculty Success Center, distance learning and student learning outcomes.

Laura Hope earned a bachelor’s degree in English and a master’s degree in rhetoric and composition from California State University, San Bernardino.

In her new role, Hope will oversee the Chancellor’s Office division of student services and special programs – which provides leadership and technical assistance for policy and programs that support student access, equity and success – as well as the division of academic affairs, which provides leadership and technical assistance to enhance the capacity of colleges in the areas of academic planning.

The California Community Colleges is the largest system of higher education in the nation composed of 72 districts and 114 colleges serving 2.1 million students per year. For more information about the community colleges, please visit http://californiacommunitycolleges.cccco.edu.