Glendale Community College professor Mona Field was elected vice president of the Los Angeles Community College District Board of Trustees on July 10 in a unanimous vote by fellow board members.
First elected to the LACCD Board in 1999, Field will be next in line to Board President Warren T. Furutani.
In regards to her position in the neighboring district, she does not believe it affects her position at GCC.
“I will try to keep my hats on straight,” says Field. “My position in L.A. is a completely separate part of my career and I try very hard not to let it affect my work at Glendale.”

Field said that the position of vice president is rotated among the seven members of the board, and it was simply “her turn.” However, the votes went 60 percent to Field over incumbent Julia Wu.
After serving as vice president for a year, Field plans on becoming president of the board in 2003, but that position is not guaranteed. If she does become president, she will take a sabbatical from her teaching duties at GCC.

Field is a professor of political science and sociology at GCC, and she will teach California politics this year.
She has been a faculty member since 1982, and has taught courses in American Political Ideals, California Government, Introduction to Sociology, Introduction to Community Volunteerism and Introduction to Social Science.

A prolific writer on topics relating to education and government, Field wrote the best-selling college textbook “California Government and Politics Today.”

She is also an honored lecturer and facilitator of workshops for organizations such as the Faculty Association of the California Community Colleges.

She received a bachelor?s degree in social relations at Immaculate Heart College in Los Angeles, and a master?s in social sciences at California State University, Los Angeles.

Field has also worked to move welfare recipients into higher education, to help elementary level teachers gain tutoring experience and college credits simultaneously, and to develop service learning programs that encourage students to volunteer in the community while attending college.

Field has been recognized with numerous awards, including the William Parker Faculty Service Award from Glendale Community College.”

“Always follow your heart,” said Field. “Do what you believe in and it will lead to great opportunities,” she advises students.

“I?m in it for the students,” she says. “I want all of you to be super-successful.”

This article was printed on Page 1 of the Sept. 3 issue of El Vaquero.