As part of the “transformation plan” for the Peralta Community College District from four to three colleges, Vice President of Student Services and Instruction positions at each campus will combine to serve in both duties. The transformation plan is a multi-year strategy developed by Peralta leadership and constituency groups to improve the district’s financial outlook.
District Chancellor Tammeil Gilkerson wrote to The Citizen that, “Traditionally, leadership in community colleges has been divided between instruction and student services. While that structure may have made sense historically, it can create silos [separations] that unintentionally impact the student experience and make it harder to remove barriers.”
Deputy Chancellor and Chief Operating Officer Greg Nelson told The Citizen that combining the positions can “provide leadership in both areas” of student services and academic affairs.
According to the job descriptions page from Peralta’s district website, the Vice President of Instruction at each college was previously responsible for coordinating the instructional programs.
The Vice President of Student Services at each college was previously responsible for coordinating enrollment development, student retention, and outreach.
Gilkerson, who previously served in a similar role as Vice President of Academic and Student Affairs at Contra Costa College, told The Citizen that the role helped her recognize that “aligned leadership helps reduce fragmentation and enables institutions to move more quickly from ideas to implementation.”
District Academic Senate President and Laney College Biology Instructor Leslie Blackie told The Citizen that, from a financial standpoint, consolidating the positions from eight vice president salaries to three is an advantage for the district in its efforts to balance the budget.
Blackie also pointed out that the Executive Vice President of Student Learning position previously existed at Laney in 2012, before the department was separated out into instruction and student services.
Peralta’s Board of Trustees approved the new management position at their regular meeting on Dec. 9, 2025. The job opened on Feb. 9, 2026 and closed on March 15. The position was advertised as a group of three VPs that will be hired as “a cohort who will lead collaboratively across the colleges.”
The Executive Vice President of Student Learning and Success will report to the college presidents and are responsible for the oversight of instructional programs and student services.
According to Peralta’s management salary scale, the individuals hired for the role will earn an annual salary between $184,003 and $212,312, with the initial hiring salary capped at $198,158.
Gilkerson wrote to The Citizen “If we continue to operate in the same ways, we should not expect different outcomes. […] This change is not simply an effort to reduce administration. It is focused on creating an environment where academic excellence and student support function as a single ecosystem in service to students, rather than as fragmented or competing structures that we’ve adopted.”
On Feb. 10, the Board of Trustees approved the non-renewal of 10 administrative positions, nine of which were announced as college positions. The Citizen has not yet been able to confirm the identities of the employees affiliated with the non-renewals.
