Gilkerson picked for college office
- September 13, 2013
By George Morin
The open position of college vice president at Contra Costa College was filled during the summer.
Hayward native Tammeil Gilkerson was chosen for the position of vice president.
College President Denise Noldon played a key role in the interview process of Gilkerson.
“Gilkerson is very intelligent and has what it takes for the position,” Dr. Noldon said. “She has done a great job so far. She’s intelligent and is able to see the big picture of things while still paying attention to the smaller details.”
During the All College Day event on Aug. 15 in the Knox Center,Gilkerson was unable to use the microphone comfortably. Instead of giving up, she decided to speak to the audience by projecting her voice across the huge auditorium room, Noldon said.
“That was just a perfect example of the kind of person Gilkerson is,”Noldon said. “She responded quickly to the situation and did a great job. That speaks volumes about her personality.”
The position of college vice president has many responsibilities.
“I worked around the clock to keep up with the demand, ”Senior Dean of Instruction Donna Floyd said.
Dr. Floyd was the interim vice president during the 2012-13 fiscal year.
Working with the president, deans and department chairpersons to form schedules is an integral part of the position as far as enrollment management, Floyd said.
The responsibilities include leading meetings with faculty, enrollment management, ensuring accreditation standards are met, class schedules, workloads for faculty, and faculty evaluations, Floyd said.
Gilkerson has experience with other community colleges.
She worked at Evergreen College as the dean of counseling and matriculation for four years.
She was also the vice president of San Jose City College.
Gilkerson’s peers had plenty of good things to say about her, Noldon said. “I was able to get a pretty good picture of who she (is),” she said.
She has done a great job at becoming acquainted and adapting to the college Noldon said.
Gilkerson has also worked in other types of groups which focus around working as a team. She plans to use these skills while working with faculty around campus.
“I did a lot of work with Greenlining which taught us to work as a group and dealt with a lot of coalition building with others,” Gilkerson said.
“I plan to take those skills that I learned and use them here.”
Gilkerson had other options of where to continue her career, but decided to work at Contra Costa College, Noldonsaid.
“The East Bay feels like home to me. I spent a good portion of my life here in the (East Bay),” Gilkerson said.
“I feel the demographic of this area is similar to where I grew up in Hayward.”
Hearing about the family atmosphere of Contra Costa College drew her to the college, Gilkerson said.
“I heard a lot of good things about this college and the people here,” she said. “This college has done a great job of keeping faculty and staff informed and I hope my past experiences can continue that.”
Gilkerson has many plans for the college.
She plans to promote the Student Success Task Force which is a online record of the student success of the college which anyone can access through the college website at www.contracosta.edu.
She plans to inform students and keep lines of communication open to understand the purpose and use of the Student Success Task Force.
Gilkerson was an orphan in Korea and was adopted and brought to America.
She grew up in Hayward and graduated from Hayward High School.
She earned her bachelor’s degree at UC Berkeley in history and master’s degree at Cal State East Bay in counseling.