SAN DIEGO (Pres Release) — What could be described as the Olympics for community college educators is headed for America’s Finest City.

Thousands of instructors and administrators of two-year campuses in the United States, Mexico and Canada will amass Feb. 27-March 2 at Innovations 2011 to share their gold medal ideas on enhancing the community college experience. The national conference is being held at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront and is co-hosted by the San Diego Community College District and its East County neighbor, the Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District. Imperial Valley College in Imperial, Calif. and MiraCosta College in Oceanside, Calif. are also providing event support.

“We are really pleased to have Innovations 2011 in San Diego,” said Dr. Constance Carroll, chancellor of the San Diego Community College District. “What better place to showcase innovative academic programs and teaching methods than in one of the nation’s most innovative regions.”

On tap are more than 400 forums, workshops, computer-based lab sessions, keynote presentations and roundtable discussions on topics ranging from improving student success in the wake of historic budget cuts and handling students with mental health problems to preparing students for green jobs. The conference is sponsored by the League for Innovation in the Community College, an international consortium of community colleges and their districts, and 150 corporate partners.

“This is a mammoth event dedicated to improving learning and instruction through innovation and institutional transformation,” said Dr. Cindy L. Miles, chancellor of Grossmont-Cuyamaca and the League’s one-time chief operating officer. “This annual convention is a venue unlike any other for collaboration. There is such tremendous knowledge to be shared among those who understand best the unique challenges and needs of community colleges.”

Miles will join Carroll and Dr. Francisco Rodriguez, superintendent and president of MiraCosta College for a special session presentation at 12:30 p.m.  Feb. 28, titled, “Austerity and Innovation: Strange Bedfellows or Creative Confederates?” The three will share tales of  “inventive solutions and serendipitous advances in the face of starkly reduced resources.”

Keynote speakers will be featured in each of the four days’ general sessions:

• Allan Golston, president of U.S. programs at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Golston leads the Gates Foundation’s efforts to increase access to opportunities for low-income and disadvantaged Americans. (5-6:30 p.m. Feb. 27)
• Sarita Brown, president of Excelencia in Education, a nonprofit organization promoting Latino success in higher education. In 1997, Brown was appointed executive director of the White House Initiative for Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans under President Bill Clinton.  (9:15-10:30 a.m. Feb. 28)
• Paul Lanning, president and chief executive officer for the Foundation for California Community Colleges. Under Lanning’s leadership, the foundation secured the Osher Foundation’s gift of $25 million, the largest donation to any two-year system of higher education in U.S. history. (9:15-10:30 a.m. March 1)
• Janet Zadina, assistant professor in the department of psychiatry and neurology at Tulane University in Louisiana. Zadina is a cognitive neuroscientist, reading specialist, and former high school and community college instructor who is  an international speaker on brain research and instruction.  (10:30 a.m.-noon March 2)

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Preceding provided by the Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District