William Andrews, the newly elected president of Bakersfield College, ready and excited to begin his duties.
“I enjoy people,” Andrews said. “I enjoy challenges. I enjoy trying to get people to work together, and community colleges make more of a difference in people lives than any other level of higher education for sure. This is a wonderful place to be.”
Andrews’ main challenge as president is trying to provide as much access to students as possible.
“We never have enough money to offer what we have. Most community colleges in California are turning away students, and I know Bakersfield College is, too,” he said. “But in addition to that, one of the things that I am going to be trying to figure out is how to convince students to take classes in the afternoon. For example, if in the afternoon we are only using half of the classrooms then our utilization ratio is not as high as it should be. And even if we need another building, we won’t qualify for it for state funds.”
Despite the fact that Andrews, 58, has a busy schedule being a current president at Porterville College, he enjoys playing golf, exercising, reading and spending time with his family.
“I like to play golf, it’s one of my favorite things,” he said. “It takes my mind completely off work. I like to read, and I like to go walking. My wife and I would get our dog – named Sophie – and I’ll spend time with family. The job tends to take a lot time from family. You try to find time outside the job to kick back and relax. I typically start my day by half of hour of exercising. I need to do more of it.”
Andrews has worked in a various jobs that enabled to gain sufficient experience to become a leader in different areas. He has been a high school teacher, joined the National Guard, worked as a Media Coordinator Librarian, and held the position of president at Porterville College. He starts his position at BC on April 1.He was raised and born in a small farming town in Iowa that consisted of 20,000 residents. There he realized that farming was not for him, so he attended Marshall Community College, achieving his Associate Art degree in liberal arts. He then decided to attend University of Northern Iowa as a junior and planned on majoring in Spanish and French. Later, he found out that he was not prepared, so he decided to become an English major and got his bachelor’s degree. “I didn’t really plan on teaching,” he said. “I assumed I was going to be drafted, this was during the Vietnam Era. I didn’t apply for any jobs.”
But Andrews found that he was in demand for a teaching position because many other teachers were pregnant and positions needed to be filled. “I had about 15 job offers that I didn’t apply for,” he said.
He taught high school, then later got master’s degrees in library science and educational media at Northern Iowa in the late 1970s. He also received his doctorate at New Mexico State University.
He later worked in Minnesota and Texas, and eventually moved to Orange County before ending up as president at Porterville. “you spend half your time working directly with the institution of the college. You have spend your time in the community, working with groups, getting to know people, building partnerships with the college. It’s very important as the president to build those relationships.”
Andrews is the father of twin daughters who are 31 years old, and they are both involved in the science fields. His wife is an executive assistant for an oil and gas company.
The Kern Community College District has opened an interim president position at Porterville College.