Tammeil Gilkerson is Laney College’s next new president. The Peralta Community College District Board of Trustees approved her nomination on Feb. 21 after Chancellor Jowel L. Laguerre submitted her name from a pool of three finalists.
“I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the presidential search committee for its work in finding Laney its next president,” Laguerre stated in a Feb. 16 email to the campus community announcing Gilkerson’s selection.
“My appreciation goes to the faculty, staff, students and administrators who participated in the open forums and supporting the process.”
A Bay Area native, Gilkerson currently serves as Contra Costa College’s vice president of academic and student affairs.
She’ll begin her tenure at Laney on March 30.
“I am humbled and honored at the opportunity to join this great District and particularly Laney College,” Gilkerson said at the Board of Trustees meeting. “During the interview process, I had an opportunity to meet many of the wonderful people at the college and district, including a number of visionary and articulate students, and am excited to work with and support this talented, resilient and clearly committed group of individuals.”
Background
One of seven children, Gilkerson grew up in Hayward where her parents still live.
“My siblings and I truly reflect the diversity of the Bay Area — African American, Latino, white and Asian — and from a young age this instilled in me a deep respect and appreciation for diversity, but also a direct view of the social and institutional inequities that plague our society and directly impact the lives of our students,” Gilkerson said during her presentation at the Laney President Candidate Forum on Jan. 30.
Gilkerson was the first in her family to attend college — obtaining a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of California, Berkeley.
She also went on to pursue a master’s degree in counseling, and she is currently completing her doctorate in educational leadership.
Gilkerson began her community college career as a faculty member in psychology-counseling at Chabot College.
She also served at Evergreen Valley College, overseeing all of the counseling, transfer services and key categorical programs, including Disabled Students Programs and Services, EOPS/CARE & CalWorks, and the foster kinship care program.
Gilkerson also served at San Jose City College as Interim Vice President of Academic Affairs where she championed the college’s accreditation issues.
In addition to her work in community colleges, she served as the Academy and Education Policy Director at The Greenlining Institute and in positions at UC Berkeley in the Office of Student Life and the Early Academic Outreach Program.
At the Feb. 21 Board of Trustees meeting, Gilkerson said that her education and previous job experience had prepared her to serve at Laney College.
“I am excited to be joining a community so focused on student success and helping nurture and lead Laney in pursuit of its adopted mission and vision,” she said.