University of La Verne President Devorah Lieberman Joins Gov. Jerry Brown’s Education Roundtable
California Gov. Jerry Brown has invited University of La Verne President Devorah Lieberman to serve on the California Education Leaders Roundtable, which brings together the state’s top college and university leaders to help ensure that Californians will continue to have access to postsecondary education into the 21st century.
Joining Lieberman on the roundtable will be Janet Napolitano, president of the University of California; Eloy Ortiz Oakley, chancellor of the California Community Colleges; Tim White, chancellor of the California State University, Glen Price, chief deputy superintendent of public instruction, Karen Stapf Walters, executive director of the California State Board of Education; and Kristen Soares, president of the Association of Independent California Colleges and Universities.
The group will also include Rebecca Eisen, chair of the Board of Trustees of the California State University; Cecilia Estolano, president of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges; Michael Kirst, president of the California State Board of Education; and Tom Torlakson, superintendent of public instruction.
“I am proud to accept Governor Brown’s invitation to serve on the roundtable, and I look forward to partnering with these visionaries to help shape the future of our great state,” Lieberman said.
The roundtable will assemble the leaders of all of the state’s higher education segments, which include the UC and Cal State systems, community colleges, and private nonprofit institutions.
Lieberman, who serves as chair of the executive committee of the Association of Independent California Colleges and Universities (AICCU) as well as president of the University of La Verne, will represent the private nonprofit higher education sector.
As president of the University of La Verne and AICCU board chair, Lieberman has worked closely over the past two years with the governor’s office, lawmakers, and the AICCU staff and membership to stave off cuts to the Cal Grant for students at private nonprofit universities and to improve transfer pathways between community colleges and private schools.
In his invitation to Lieberman, Brown said higher education is undergoing rapid transformation, and the pace of the change is accelerating.
“Now more than ever before, our state needs education leaders who can come together and can shape the postsecondary educational ecosystem of the future, while attending to regional economies and local needs,” Brown wrote.
The governor is urging the roundtable to discuss topics including future capacity and enrollment, community college transfers, and coordination of general education requirements across segments.
The roundtable will begin meeting in February.
Lieberman became president of the 126-year-old University of La Verne in 2011. She has nearly four decades of higher educational leadership, and is a passionate advocate for civic engagement and inclusivity.
She was named President of the Year in 2015 by the Association of College Unions International.
