The Peralta Community College District’s Board of Trustees, at its annual organizational meeting held on December 13, 2016, swore in a new Trustee, Karen Weinstein (Area 6), pictured left, and also three reelected Trustees, Meredith Brown (Area 2), Bill Withrow (Area 1), Nicky González Yuen (Area 4). In addition, the Board elected new officers for 2017.
Julina Bonilla, representing Area 7, pictured right, was elected President, and Meredith Brown was elected Vice President. Jowel C. Laguerre, Ph.D, Chancellor of the District, was elected Board Secretary. Outgoing president, William Riley, who will continue to represent Area 5, and Cy Gulassa, retiring Trustee who represented Area 6, were honored for their service at the meeting.
Student Trustees Dave Ivan Cruz and Marquita Price will also continue to serve on the nine-member governing board.
“I am extremely honored to serve the Peralta community and look forward to cultivating high quality educational programming and training for our students,” said President Bonilla.
President Bonilla is a Solano Community College graduate and received her B. A. from U. C. Berkeley. She is a former Oakland elementary school teacher and eventually moved into workforce development providing education and job training to young adults in Northern California. Her community work and active memberships include serving as the Board President of Tradeswomen Inc. and in the National Women’s Political Caucus-AN. She has served as a member of the Oakland Workforce Investment Board and co-chair of the Oakland Youth Council. Currently, she is the Program Director of the West Oakland Job Resource Center. She was first elected to the board in 2014.
Vice President Brown was elected to the Peralta Board of Trustees in 2012 and has an extensive background in community service, including working as literacy volunteer for the Super Stars Literacy Program at Hoover Elementary School and serving as a delegate at the 2008 Democratic Convention. In addition, she is active raising awareness of the importance of early childhood education by working on the Alameda County Pre-School for All Campaign and working on a community task force for our local assembly representative. Brown is a graduate of Cornell University and also graduated from Boston University School of Law.
Karen Weinstein, who was elected to fill retiring Trustee Gulassa’s seat, has served on the Peralta District Citizens’ Oversight Committee, is a Board Member of the Berkeley Public Schools Fund and is Vice-Chair of the Berkeley Commission on the Status of Women. Trustee Weinstein serves as Co-Chair of the California Democratic Party’s Affirmative Action Committee and is a member-elect to the Alameda County Democratic Central Committee. She also serves as community liaison for the Dreamers and Undocumented Student Task Force. Trustee Weinstein received her Ph.D. in Counselor Education, with a concentration in college counseling from the School of Education, State University of New York at Buffalo. She is a Licensed California Psychologist.
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