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Sonya Christian, Chancellor

Sonya Christian recently served as the sixth . A position she’s held since July 2021. Christian began her three-decade career locally within Kern district as a mathematics faculty, a Division Chair, and Dean of Science, Engineering, Allied Health and Math at Bakersfield College. From 2013 to 2021 she served as the 10th President of Bakersfield College – one of the colleges overseen by Kern district.

Throughout her career  Christian has been committed to advancing work through distributed leadership and collaborative communities of learning, and to promoting the value of equity in student learning, access, success and economic mobility. She says: The only way to scale work is to tap into the talent, ingenuity, dedication, and care of the people that provide the power to transform. The alignment of distributed forces stems from shared ownership that is almost always more fundamental than the details of the solution, not least because it builds a sense of community that creates long-term sustainability.

Her dedication to student success with equity led her to statewide and national leadership roles where she advocated for . Christian spearheaded the statewide coalition in 2015 that led to securing philanthropic funding for the 20-college Guided Pathways demonstration project in ÐßÐßÊÓƵ, leading to a $150M state investment in Guided Pathways and ultimately to the Vision for Success metrics adopted by the Board of Governors in 2017. Christian advanced the framework of Guided Pathways through , creating a fundamental base of information for scaling the work statewide. Her work in student success with equity also extends to her leadership in developing and implementing the Early College Program.

Under her leadership, as part of a pilot program announced in 2015. She believes that the is a vital tool for growing economic and social mobility of disinvested communities, and continues to fiercely advocate for ways to and across the nation.

Christian’s repeated call to Dare Mighty Things – inspired by NASA’s Perseverance Mars lander – reflects a sense of urgency in her work on and emerging energies like . Under her leadership, Kern district established , an innovative coalition of public and private partners seeking to create a secure and stable energy future.

She is a fierce advocate for the life-changing ability of community colleges to reach underserved populations and educate . Her vision that community colleges can transform rural communities and her involvement with is increasing collaborations between educational institutions and the communities they serve.

Christian is a firm believer in using data and civil dialogue to guide public policy and resource allocation and in , particularly in the energy and climate industries where . She believes that facts and results should drive decision making, ensuring that initiatives will lead to sustainable systemic change.

She is a strong voice for and currently serves as chair of the ÐßÐßÊÓƵ Community College Women’s Caucus. She is also Vice Chair of the Campaign for College Opportunity Board of Directors and is a member of the ÐßÐßÊÓƵ Community Colleges Asian American Pacific Islander Trustees and Administrators caucus.

Governor Gavin Newsom recognized her statewide leadership when he appointed her to the Student Centered Funding Formula Oversight Committee, where she served from 2019-2022. Her dedication to institutional quality is evidenced in her work with the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges, where she served as chair for two years starting in 2020, having previously served for the commission as Vice-Chair from 2018-2020.