Reports to the Board of Trustees

President TorresEach month, President Torres gives a report on college activities, honors and achievements during the regular meeting of the Foothill-De Anza Community College District Board of Trustees.

For previous reports, please see the board reports archive.

board reports archive

Board Meeting of Dec. 8, 2025

This month's report includes items on

Making Plans: Strategic, Enrollment, Student Equity Guides Finalized

All of our hard planning work has paid off, and we now have several key, integrated planning documents completed:  

The Strategic Plan 2027-2030 is a comprehensive road map that will guide us through the next transformative chapter of our journey. This plan is our foundation for building a more equitable and innovative future for our students and the communities we serve. 

The Strategic Enrollment Management Plan lays out a three-year program with specific goals and metrics for measuring progress. It identifies seven key areas in which to promote moderate enrollment growth — about 3-5% from 2027-28 to 2029-30. 

 And last, our Student Equity and Achievement Plan establishes clear, measurable goals aimed at increasing enrollment rates and other metrics for groups experiencing disproportionate impact in educational attainment. 

These planning documents, created with input and collaboration among administrators, faculty, staff and community members, will serve as invaluable beacons and guideposts as De Anza continues to serve all students and provide an accessible, vibrant center of learning, growth, discovery and opportunity.


Leadership Academy Session 2

The second session of our President’s Leadership Academy on Nov. 7 included strategic planning work and a  Q&A session with a panel of CEOs. Our panelists were: 

  • Dr. Seher Awan, President, Mission College 
  • Dr. Beatriz Chaidez, Chancellor, San José-Evergreen Community College District 
  • Mojdeh Mehdizadeh, Chancellor, Contra Costa Community College District 
  • Charles Sasaki, Superintendent-President, Ohlone College 
  • Dr. Jennifer Taylor-Mendoza, President, West Valley College 

We rounded out the session with networking, solution team projects and assignments.  

In session three, we’ll hear from staff representing the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office (CCCCO) Government Relations Division and the Community College League of California (CCLC).

Serving with World Food Movement

During the World Food Movement's (WFM) weekly visit on Nov. 12, I joined WFM volunteers and Foothill-De Anza Foundation board members and staff to  serve hot lunches to De Anza students. It was amazing to hear about our students' experiences. Thank you to our partners and donors for supporting this effort and to the amazing team at The Hub at De Anza. (Read more about The Hub and its ribbon-cutting below.)

View the full gallery of photos of the visit by photographer Thomas Clark.

Honoring our Veterans 

In honor of Veterans Day, I attended both the De Anza and Cupertino Memorial Park events.  

The De Anza Veterans Resource Center honored and supported our veterans with talks, a resource fair and lunch. The Veterans Resource Center received a Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition from Congressman Ro Khanna's office. 

The Memorial Park event, where I spoke, included remarks, music, recognition of veterans, presentations and more. Chancellor Lee Lambert spoke about his experience as a veteran, and Assemblymember Patrick Ahrens presented me with a certificate of recognition.  

Cupertino Mayor Liang-Fang Chao also attended and spoke at the event. 

TEDxcellence

I was honored to be among the speakers at the TEDxDe Anza College event on November 10. My talk, “Community Colleges to Success: Boundless Opportunities,” covered AI integration, digital literacy, stackable certificates and micro-credentials and other topics.   

TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. The events are designed to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. 

In addition to me, the speakers were: 

  • Austin Pereira, a De Anza and UC Berkeley graduate 
  • Manija Ansari, De Anza International Students Program (ISP) counselor, who has helped hundreds of international students transfer to four-year institutions 


De Anza Hacks 4.0

Students launched into the world of STEM through an exhilarating two-day coding marathon on Nov. 21 and 22. Specifically designed for students, De Anza Hacks is the college's biggest hackathon. 

During the code-athon, students worked together to design prototypes and presented their creations to judges for the chance to win a prize. The event, sponsored by the De Anza Student Government and the Business, Computer Science and Applied Technologies Division, brings together creative and passionate students to build innovative solutions, collaborate with peers and showcase their talents in solving real-world problems. 


College Programmers Convene to Compete

On Nov. 15, De Anza hosted the Pacific Northwest Regional International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC) in the Computer Information Systems Lab. More than 200 students attended the event, along with their coaches and ICPC staff. 

De Anza was chosen as a host site for the event because our teams have been consistently earning a top-five spot in ICPC’s Division 2. We are also the only two-year college ever invited to participate in ICPC’s Division 1. 


Our Students Mean Business

De Anza’s Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) chapter took home several awards over the weekend of Nov. 8-9 at the State Fall Business Leadership Conference in La Jolla. 

Eleven schools and over 200 students participated in the five events at the competition. De Anza earned the most amount of first- through fifth-place rankings in the competition – double the amount that the second-place college earned. 

Above: Om Bathija, Shakil Musthafa, Timothy Nguyen and Bryant Vo won first place in the entrepreneur pitch category.


Founders’ Forum Showcase

The Innovation Center hosted the “Innovation That Matters — 2025 Founders’ Forum Showcase” on Nov. 20. The event featured eight finalist teams presenting their ideas to a world-class panel of industry leaders and De Anza faculty members.

It was the culmination of five weeks of intensive workshops, where student founders created business ideas grounded in humane technology, ethical design and United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Students competed for prizes ranging from $100–$500. 


Football Team Makes News, Breaks Records

Our Mountain Lions football team not only made the news when it was featured in an NBC Bay Area junior college sports segment on Nov. 8 — it also shattered records because of our win over Cabrillo College with a score of 99-3 (!), which is a school record and believed to be a state record.  

The news segment also highlighted student Akeem Wright, who had an incredible touchdown catch.

The Lions continued on to their second straight 10-0 regular season, remaining in the state Top 20 and landing at No. 30 in the national rankings by JCGridiron.com. 

We hosted Feather River College in the Northern California Football Conference American Division Championship Bowl game on Nov. 22. Alas, we came away with our first loss—42-21—but what an incredible season. I’m already looking forward to next year!  

Women’s Cross-Country Sprints to Championships

The women’s cross-country team captured the California Community College Athletic Association Northern California Regional Championship, the team’s first regional title since 2012. Before the championships, the team was ranked fourth in the nation.

Then the team competed in the 2025 3C2A State Championships at Woodward Park on Nov. 22, where they finished in fourth place overall — one of the best performances in school history! The finish ties the program’s best result since 2012 and officially marks De Anza as the top-placing Northern California team in this year’s championship field. The top-five finish also secured the Mountain Lions a place in the 2025 State Championship Program, permanently recording the team in the state’s record books. Additionally, four of the team’s top five athletes ran personal bests on the historic Woodward Park course. 

Congrats to the team and coaches for these impressive results!  

Auto Tech Goes on a Drive — for Canned Food

Students in the Automotive Tech club once again ran their annual food drive, which they’ve done for more than 20 years. This year, students collected 5,000 cans and packages of food, according to Dave Capitolo, department chair. They delivered the donations to Roary's Market — the college's food pantry — inside The Hub, on Nov. 25.

In addition to housing Roary’s Market, The Hub provides toiletries, period products, baby supplies, school supplies, clothing and other useful items, as well as information, referrals and more.

50 Years of Hope

De Anza and Hope Services celebrated 50 years of partnership on Tuesday, Dec. 2, with a luncheon on campus that featured great music played by a band made up of Hope Services participants.

During these five decades, our partnership with Hope Services has brought inclusive educational programming to individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. This innovative program was started by a De Anza instructor and a Hope staff member, with about 100 students. The original electronics and wood shop programs expanded into vocational training classes.

The program now enrolls 200 students per quarter, focusing on media and vocational development.

Here’s to another 50 years of Hope at De Anza!

The Hub Ribbon-Cutting 

The Hub, De Anza’s basic-needs resource center, celebrated its opening with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Wednesday, Dec. 3, attended by college, district and community partners.  

The Hub, formerly known as the Resource Hub, reopened at the Baldwin Winery Building at the start of fall quarter after consolidating multiple locations into one spot. The new, expanded location offers food support through Roary’s Market (formerly the food pantry); various supplies; Roary’s Closet, with coats and clothing; information and referrals; and access to hot meals through World Food Movement, which serves students every Wednesday. (Read more about one of WFM's visits to campus above). 

I was honored to speak at the event, along with Dr. Michele Le Bleu-Burns, vice president of Student Services, and Nazy Galoyan, dean of Enrollment Services, Outreach, Veterans and Basic Needs. 

In October, The Hub provided 5,000+ pounds of groceries to 1,000 students. 

We are so proud of all the work the team has done to support our students and contribute to their learning and growth journeys.

Equipando Padres Night 

De Anza partnered with the Hispanic Foundation of Silicon Valley (HFSV) and the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) for Equipando Padres Night on December 4 on campus. 

Equipando Padres Night is one of HFSV’s annual K-12 STEM community event collaborations, hosted with SHPE. The event is designed to support 6th-12th grade families—particularly those from schools that receive supplemental federal funding to assist students from low-income families and those who are academically at risk—by providing access to college readiness resources while introducing students to STEM.  

I was honored to deliver the event's keynote, which I gave in Spanish. Organizers relayed afterward that this gesture helped families felt seen and valued, hearing my story in their primary language, and many shared that it was uplifting and comforting to hear a college president address them with such authenticity. Additionally, parents who attended participated in workshops on topics such as selecting, financing and applying to college as students experienced a Planetarium show and a live presentation of the night sky.  

Approximately 100 participants attended, primarily Spanish-speaking, first-generation students and families. 

STAR Award for a Campus Star 

Toshi Komatsu, director of the Fujitsu Planetarium (center), accepts his STAR Award from the Cupertino Chamber of Commerce

Toshi Komatsu, director of the De Anza College Planetarium, was recognized with a STAR Award by the Cupertino Chamber of Commerce on Dec. 4 at the Juniper Hotel in Cupertino.  

The STAR Awards — Service, Teamwork, Achievement, Recognition — are annual awards honoring outstanding individuals, businesses and organizations that significantly contribute to Cupertino's community and economy. 

Above: Toshi Komatsu, director of the De Anza College Planetarium (center), accepts his STAR Award from the Cupertino Chamber of Commerce

Toshi was recognized as De Anza Educator of the Year. Since 2016, he's played a pivotal role in shaping the De Anza College Planetarium into one of the Bay Area's leading public science education centers. 

The award organizers noted, “As technical director, he brings exceptional skills, innovation and dedication to every aspect of his work. This summer, he led a major upgrade of the planetarium's software, projection and sound systems, ensuring the facility remains a state-of-the-art learning environment for students and the community." 

The organizers also commended Toshi's live astronomy presentations that engage and inspire thousands of students, saying:  

“Last year alone, the planetarium welcomed nearly 21,000 K-12 students on field trips, including 1,484 students from 18 schools in the Cupertino Union School District. 

Among those total visitors were also students from 64 Title 1 schools, where many children face economic barriers that can limit access to high-quality educational experiences. By reaching these schools, Toshi helps to ensure that all students — regardless of background — can explore the sciences and see themselves as part of a larger universe.” 

Widely regarded as a subject-matter expert by colleagues and the broader astronomy community, Toshi's expertise, dedication and steady presence are integral to the continued excellence and community impact of the De Anza College Planetarium. 

Congratulations on this well-deserved honor, Toshi!  

Flea Market Fave

Each year, Metro Silicon Valley readers vote on their favorite restaurants, entertainment, shopping areas and more for Metro’s “Best of Silicon Valley” list.  

This year, the De Anza Flea Market was voted as the best flea market! It is also the first year the market was voted above the Berryessa Flea Market.

The market runs every first Saturday of the month — rain or shine — from 8 a.m.-2 p.m., in Lots A and B. Among other treasures, buyers can find antiques, books, clothing, garden fountains, plants, toys and handcrafted items.

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