Correction: This story originally stated that Mike Munoz is the first Latino superintendent-president at LBCC. Eloy Ortiz Oakley was the first Latino superintendent-president at LBCC who served from 2007-2016.
Mike Munoz highlighted Long Beach City College’s attempts to meet students’ basic needs and improve equity in education for minority students as he was installed as superintendent-president and delivered the State of the College address to an enthusiastic crowd of elected officials, faculty and donors on April 14, 2022.
Munoz’s installation and address discussed services employed by the college to aid students during the pandemic and beyond, efforts to improve educational success and graduation among minority student populations and improvements to campus facilities provided through public grant money.
“My leadership has always centered on one question: ‘How does this look from a student perspective?,’” Munoz said. To demonstrate this, he mentioned LBCC student Patricia Lopez multiple times throughout his address.
Lopez’s story of overcoming houselessness and lack of technological access was used to highlight the Safe Parking Program, technology giveaways and the Basic Needs program to aid students during the pandemic.
Munoz also highlighted advancements for historically underserved minority populations, noting a 51% increase in Black and 19% increase in Latinx student transfers to four year colleges and a 119% increase for Black and 125% increase for Latinx students receiving degrees at commencement.
LBCC saw an overall increase of 16% for transfers and 97% increase in degrees obtained.
On campus renovations and new construction, Munoz gave credit to voters for providing the funds for these projects.
“Our voters support our students. They passed Measure E to help us transform and modernize our two campuses for our students,” Munoz said, pointing out the new parking structure on PCC and various building renovations on both campuses.
Munoz explained his approach to rebuilding a sense of campus community as students look to return to campus.
“I think we can build a student experience that can reach all types of students. The idea is to bring people to feel connected again. I think we’ve lost some of that in a Zoom experience. There are some conveniences that we’ve gained from not having to come to campus but at the end of the day, there is something that’s important around creating community,” Munoz said.
Munoz is waiting to see how students respond for fall 2022 registration, to see how the school will manage the emergence of online distance learning with on-campus access for students who want it.
“I don’t think it’s a single answer. Meeting students needs is meeting different types of students. One of the things we are doing for registration this fall is asking students what types of modalities students are interested in taking their courses in,” Munoz said.
Some think Munoz as president might draw students back to LBCC with his energy and outlook for the school’s future.
“I think his energy will be able to rally people to come back on campus,” Richard Blackmon said, student trustee.
“He’s such a clear leader for everyone. I think we’re excited to see him grow even more in the position,” Ava Cross said, Associated Student Body president.
“I think he’s taking us well into the 21st century where we can all thrive. He continues to lead us towards equity and opportunities for all students,” said Alisia Kirkwood, dean of student affairs.
Muñoz is taking the helm in a turbulent time for the college, with former president Reagan Romali suing the school and two part-time instructors suing over alleged minimum wage violations, setting the stage for a legal battle with potentially national consequences.
“It’s always important to recognize that you have to name things to find clarity and a path forward. Where there are issues around faculty payment, if there are opportunities to engage with adjunct faculty members, we are going to with an open heart and an open mind,” Munoz said.
“Those processes are legal so we aren’t able to talk about them publicly but there are informal avenues we can take to have conversations,” Munoz added. “In terms of other issues, it’s looking forward and seeing what vision we want to co-create together and I think that’s how we deal with some of the challenges from the past.”