PQ Resident New Grossmont College District Senior Dean

Posted on February 3, 2011

Jerry Buckley to Head Research, Planning and Institutional Effectiveness

Rancho Penasquitos resident Jerry Buckley can now put away one of the two hats he’s been wearing for the past year as both a Grossmont College dean and a district administrator.

Buckley, who holds a doctorate in educational leadership, has been appointed the senior dean of Research, Planning and Institutional Effectiveness for the Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District. For the past 14 months, he held the dual post of Grossmont College’s dean of Math, Natural Science, Exercise Science and Wellness, and acting senior director of the district’s Institutional Research office. Buckley assumed his new position in late 2010.

His previous job of heading the Institutional Research office has been expanded to include leading district strategic and long-range planning and assisting with improving institutional effectiveness. He will help develop and implement ideas on improving student learning and service outcomes and other measures of student success. As administrator of the Institutional Research office, he heads a team of analysts who collect data and produce studies on college and community demographics, population and enrollment projections, as well as research on specific programs and services for both Grossmont and Cuyamaca colleges.

“During his 20-year history with Grossmont College, Buckley has repeatedly proven his effectiveness in positions of leadership,” district Chancellor Cindy L. Miles said. “It’s clear that he is highly qualified for this critical position. As state budget dollars shrink and accountability demands escalate, we must be more efficient and transparent in our efforts to improve student success. Jerry brings the skills we need to increase our capacity for meaningful research as well as collaboration between faculty, staff, researchers, and administrators in applying these findings at classroom, program, and institutional levels.”

Buckley – a PQ resident since 1983 – said he is especially pleased to have the opportunity to expand research findings into new proposals to improve student outcomes. He added he has found the past year to be a welcome return to coordinating research projects, something he used to do in the 1980s with Sharp Memorial Hospital’s cardiac research program.

Buckley, a Grossmont College professor from 1990 to 2006 in the cardiovascular technology program, said he can offer insight into improving student success and has utmost confidence in his team of analysts in Institutional Research to produce the information needed to answer some of higher education’s toughest questions.

“Today the California community colleges are challenged to help students reach their educational goals while receiving less state funding,” Buckley said. “Institutional research can provide useful information that informs strategic decisions and helps our colleges better serve students.”

Buckley outlined specific short-term and long-term goals in his new role. “My short-term goal is to enable broader access to data used in college research and planning, as well as program evaluation. These functions are critical to understanding institutional effectiveness and maintaining a college’s accreditation,” he said. “As colleges and universities now exist in an era of greater scrutiny and accountability, my long-term goals include facilitating development of new processes, database and reporting systems that support our educational programs and services, linking their planning and budgeting activities. Our objective is to offer students the best educational opportunities and experiences possible, even with economic limitations.”

Buckley’s many awards and recognitions from Grossmont College include a Distinguished Faculty Award in 1998, the Business and Professional Studies Division Award in 2000, the President’s Leadership Award in 2005, and a Commitment to Service Award from the Grossmont College Foundation last spring.

He received the William E. Piland Leadership Award from San Diego State University, where he received his doctorate in June in educational leadership with a specialization in community college/postsecondary education.

He received a certificate in community college instruction from the University of California, San Diego in 1992; a Master of Arts in biology with an emphasis in comparative physiology from California State University, Fullerton in 1980, and a Bachelor of Science degree in biological sciences from the University of Southern California in 1976.

“The most rewarding aspect of my career with the Grossmont College and our college district has been to see the success of our students. I still get phone calls and emails from graduates sharing successes in their own lives,” said Buckley, reviewing his career at the college. “As a Dean, my role has been to facilitate the design of appropriate class schedules, recently managing limited class offerings, opening new courses or course sections to help meet student needs, if possible, and resolve conflicts. In short, I help students achieve their goals through the application of strategic and operational planning.”