Heather Hiles, a former deputy director at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and technology entrepreneur, was named the first CEO and president of California’s one-of-a-kind online community college.
The college was the brainchild of former Gov. Jerry Brown, who pushed it through the Legislature last year to become the state’s 115th community college with $240 million in state start-up funding over seven years.
Hiles will be taking over the leadership of a college that holds great promise amid skepticism and scrutiny. Community college faculty were intensely opposed. Key lawmakers questioned the college’s need. But in Brown’s last year as governor, the college and its funding were ultimately approved.
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