Tony Fellow’s Platform
There are a number of reasons I am running. The August 21 headline in the Pasadena Star-News read “PCC in need of leadership” best illustrates the first reasonthe need for leadership. Of course, the college needs a permanent president. But it needs individuals who know how to deal with college budgets, and college curricula.
I am very proud of my record as a leader. Eighteen years ago following my first election to the Upper San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District, I helped change a sleepy water board into a powerful entity in the San Gabriel Valley. We launched one of the nation’s most successful water recycling projects with $25 million from the federal millions of dollars.
As a 16-year member of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, I worked on solving federal and state issues dealing with water quality and quantity. I am particularly proud of my work with Senator Dianne Feinstein in trying to bring about a solution to the Bay-Delta problem, the removal of uranium tailings near the Colorado River in Moab, Utah, and the building of one of Southern California’s largest reservoirs at Diamond Valley Lake in Hemet.
At California State University, Fullerton, I am considered one of the innovative and accomplished department chairs and have been honored as a distinguished professor. I know how to balance a budget and how an institution of higher education should operate.
As a member of the PCC board, I intend to:
- Fight for modernization of classrooms and technology;
- Demand cutting edge curriculums in skills and academic courses;
- Propose satellite campuses and online courses;
- Support administrators who know how to work creatively within an era of decreasing budgets and increasing demand for higher education;
- Promote policies that facilitate more students transferring to four-year universities;
- Support Associate Degrees for students desiring a vocational or applied degree; and
- Find funds to subsidize student study abroad programs.
In addition, PCC, one of the gems of California higher education, was not in compliance for the first time in 80 years when it went up for accreditation recently. That is a very black mark on the current board.
I am a very hard worker, an innovator who strives for creativity. And in these tough budgetary times, the roughest for higher education in the history of this state, we need someone who has been through the fire of difficult budgetary times. I have no doubts I can do this job and do it with distinction as I have all my positions.