Editor’s note: This is the final installment in a three-part series of interviews with COD leaders.

Introducing Acting College of the Desert Superintendent/President Val Martinez Garcia

PALM DESERT —It was late on the afternoon of Friday, Dec. 20. Tension in the board room at College of the Desert was thick as some students and faculty, who were eager to begin the holiday break, awaited results of a closed-door meeting. Finally, trustees emerged. Then-Interim Director Laura Hope was placed on administrative leave effective immediately. Bombshell No. 1. Then, the name of Val Martinez Garcia was placed into nomination to fill the role of acting president. Bombshell No. 2. He was approval on a 4-1 vote; Trustee Ron Oden dissented.

He was in the board room as usual that day and said he was caught off guard when his name was put into nomination.

“It was very much a surprise,” Martinez Garcia, 52, told Uken Report in a telephone interview, ” I think overall in my life, it’s been something I’ve always aspired to have, was a presidency, but I definitely don’t think these were the ideal conditions. Right? It’s not something that I think anyone would want, but at the same time, I’m very, very, very thankful to the board for their belief in me and their trust in me. I’ve had a lot of really great responses from the community coming out in support of assisting me through this time as we, as a college, come together and really try to put our best foot forward and move this campus in the direction that we’ve been going on. But also, maybe take it a little bit different and a little bit further.”

Hearing your name in the context of the moment had to be head-spinning.

“What was going through your mind?” I asked.

Contemplating the enormity of the position

“The first thing that went through my mind was the enormity of the position,” Martinez Garcia said. “I know where we are as a college and where we are as a community, and I understand the magnitude of what was occurring before me. My first thought was, ‘I need a lot of help. I need this college and this community to rally for our students because I can’t do anything alone.” I’m just one person, right? It takes a full team to make sure that things occur and that students are served. It takes a lot of bodies and hands. So, my first thought really honestly was, ‘How do I help us see that vision of where we need to go as a college?’

“Amidst all the confusion that was occurring at that moment, I really felt strongly that I could do it. I felt very proud that the board was trusting me enough in that moment, and I wouldn’t be who I am … I wouldn’t be true if I didn’t tell you, I had a lot of self-doubt,” he added.

But as Martinez Garcia walked back to his office, a sense of comfort washed over him.

“I was really comforted knowing the community, students, but especially the team with whom I work with every day would be able to rise to the challenge and that we would be OK, because contrary to popular belief maybe that’s out there, the college is doing really, really well. We’re moving forward with our enrollment recovery. We are going to continue to really press and move forward through our continuous improvement and accreditation.

“And we’re also really trying to create this environment around us that really engages our students and engages our faculty and staff and celebrates our successes,” his voice growing more energetic as he spoke. “I know that we have great people here. So, like I said, my nervousness or anxiety, if you want to call it that, as I walked back to my office, started lightening up a lot because I knew that if anybody could do it, this college could do it. And that doing it is rising to the moment, which is making sure that we are serving our communities and our students.”

Do you believe you are prepared for this role at this time? And what does that preparation look like, I asked.

That’s a great question because I don’t know if you’re ever prepared for any role until you get into it, right, he said.

Prepared for the role

Martinez Garcia brings more than two decades of transformative leadership in higher education to the Coachella Valley. His career exemplifies a deep commitment to student success, institutional excellence, and community partnership, according to a bio and statement, Nicholas Robles, Interim Public Information Officer & Interim Director of Educational Partnerships, released.

At College of the Desert, Martinez Garcia has served as both Vice President of Instruction and Vice President Student Services, overseeing student services, academic programs, and instruction for more than 14,000 students. He was hired on Feb 1, 2023. Under his leadership, he expanded the dual enrollment program, streamlined academic processes and led the development of the Educational Strategic Master Plan.

Martinez Garcia has played a key role in major facilities projects, including the Indio Campus Expansion and Palm Springs Campus Design. He currently serves as Regional Representative for Chief Student Services Officers Association (CSSO) and contributes to various statewide education initiatives, according to Robles.

Previously, as Vice President of Student Services at West Hills College Lemoore, the institution achieved recognition as an Aspen Top 150 College and earned distinction as an Achieving the Dream College. His innovative approach included redesigning student services, expanding mental health resources, and building community partnerships.

He holds an M.S. in School Counseling and a B.S. in Sociology from the University of La Verne and is pursuing an Ed.D. in Organizational Leadership. As Acting Superintendent/President, Martinez Garcia leads College of the Desert’s mission to provide excellent educational opportunities that support student success and enrich the Coachella Valley communities through collaborative, data-informed leadership focused on equity and access.

What has prepared him for role?

“What really has prepared me is I’ve been a vice president for 10 years and I’ve served in multi-college districts, single-college districts, and I’ve had some excellent mentors, some of whom who’ve already retired, some who are still in the system, and I call them friends,” Martinez Garcia said. “I call them mentors, I call them colleagues, and I’m able to refer to them, rely on them, call on them anytime I need to. I believe my experiences in higher education over the last … at least decade in the vice president’s chair have allowed me to see what great colleges do and how great colleges function. And we are a great college.

“I think I’m very well positioned and prepared for this moment or this time,” he said. “Going back to what I said earlier, it really comforts me that College of the Desert is an amazing place with amazing people, who do amazing work and serve amazing communities. And I think given my experience, paired with the professionals that I work with, the team that I work with, I really believe not only am I prepared for the moment, but we’re going to meet the moment, we’re going to meet the challenge, we’re going to overcome whatever comes in front of us and we are going to really push COD in kind of a back to the future state of mind. We’ve been Bellwether. We’ve been Aspen. Those are things that we will need to aspire to achieve again. And that’s something that I really want to … in the next couple months is really set that tone as we move forward.”

In modern slang, that’s called taking ’em to church.

Setting priorities

The first thing he wants to do during this acting period is to look inward with the campus community, so the faculty, staff, and leadership at the college really “feel stabilized. That we are OK.”

He plans to have a series of discussions with the campus leadership, unions, and student body, to hear them out and “to reassure them that we are OK as a college.”

Later, he said he plans to look outward and perhaps re-engage the communities in different types of events. But we will, we being the board and I, continue our two-by-two talks with each city. I think that’s bore a lot of fruit over the past 18 months to two years. I want to continue those to engage the cities and city leadership, so to make sure that they know that COD is a good partner and that we are looking in ways to support them. And that should be done by anybody who’s in this chair moving forward to really keep up that open dialogue with our city partners.”

Trustee Ron Oden describes COD as being in a state of chaos. Do you see it that way? I asked.

“I have to tell you, I don’t know what Trustee Oden’s intentions were on that comment, and I won’t comment on his comment, but I’m going to tell you what I see. How’s that? I see College of the Desert literally as a diamond, and I think it’s a diamond in California for a number of reasons, but here’s my largest reason why. I’m a first-generation community college student. I come from Kern County. Bakersfield College was my college that I went to. I’m very familiar with the type of communities that the Coachella Valley has.

“Central Valley is almost like a mirror of the Coachella Valley,” he added. “The reason why I call COD a Diamond is because unlike Bakersfield College or some of the larger colleges that are in districts, we are a single college district in a valley that gets to serve all students from all the communities in the valley. That means we have the opportunity to be able to partner in ways that other colleges cannot partner with their high school partners, with nonprofits, with cities, because we are, what I like to call, the best hope for students who come from disproportionately impacted areas to achieve equitable status. And an equitable status is choosing your education. And we are that. We are low-cost to no-cost in a lot of ways. We are one valley. We are one COD. And I believe very strongly that this diamond is just ready to shine bright again.”

His plan is “Communication, communication, and communication.”

Will he apply for the permanent position?

The million-dollar question is: Will he apply for the permanent position?

“Right now, at this time, I’m just focusing on the responsibility the board has given me,” he said. “I do not plan on engaging or talking about the permanent position. I don’t believe that that’s something that I need to do at this point. And when, and if, I decide to apply, I’ll let that happen through the normal process for obvious reasons. I just want to focus on right now, not so much on my future, but I do want to focus on the future of this college and the people who work here every day that work really hard.”

Martinez Garcia is married; he and his wife Denise have four children. The oldest is 26 and a grad student at San Francisco State. The youngest is a sophomore at Garces Memorial High School in Bakersfield,