The Glendale Community College Board of Trustees on Monday announced its selection of Anita Quinonez Gabrielian as interim trustee.

Gabrielian, 43, is a vice president at SBC Pacific Bell and former Glendale College Foundation board member. She lives in Glendale’s Verdugo Woodlands section with her husband and three children.

Gabrielian was named “Woman of the Year” by the California Assembly’s 43rd District in 1997 and received Women at Work’s “Model of Excellence Award” in 1999. She has been involved with community groups including the Glendale Hispanic Business and Professional Organization and the Glendale YMCA.

To President of the Glendale Community College Guild Lynn McMurrey, Gabrielian was “simply the best” among choices. Her connections to the college stood out professionally through her experience on the Glendale Community College Foundation in 1997 and personally as well, since her children have attended this campus. Gabrielian is the first Hispanic woman to serve on the Board.

Gabrielian says she always had a dream to become a college professor. Directing a college and teaching at are two different professions, but her philosophy is that one must know about policy-making in any business in order to work well. “When I get involved in something, I like to see all the aspects of it,” she said.
Board rules will prohibit Gabrielian from running for the Trustee position when her interim term is over, next April. She will have to wait at least three years, when her successor has finished his or her term, before she can seek another term on the board.

Gabrielian’s appointment will become effective May 1. In the absence of any petition calling for a special election filed, an election for a full-term board member will be held. She will make the fifth of five trustees.