California Community Colleges Chancellor Eloy Ortiz Oakley will join the Biden Administration as a special advisor on higher education policy, according to a release on Monday.
The temporary role begins July 26. No other details about the specifics of the position were given.
“Chancellor Oakley’s temporary assignment to work as a special advisor to Education Secretary Miguel Cardona is a win for California and the nation, providing more opportunity to improve higher education policy and help millions of American families,” Board of Governors President Pamela Haynes said. “Answering this call to service is a recognition of work our system is leading.
Deputy Chancellor Daisy Gonzales will serve as acting chancellor during the interim, “overseeing policy, fiscal and advocacy matters for the 116-college system that serves 2.1 million students,” the release stated.
Oakley served as head of the California Community Colleges since 2016, and “helped lead transformational changes that place equity and student success squarely at the front of every decision affecting our colleges." He was appointed to the University of California’s Board of Regents in 2014 by then Gov. Jerry Brown.
Prior to becoming state chancellor, Oakley was the president and superintendent of the Long Beach Community College District.
He temporarily leaves the system amid a steep decline in enrollment during the pandemic. In spring of 2020, community college enrollment fell by more than 60,000 students, or 4%, from the spring of 2019, according to a UC Santa Cruz study.
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