Keri Then Announces Candidacy for Riverside Community College District Area 5

Moreno Valley resident, professor and telecommunications engineer Dr. Keri Then, D.B.A., is running to represent the Riverside Community College District’s (RCCD) Area 5 and shared her priority is advocating for student access and resources. “I will also work to ensure that those who feel their concerns and issues have not received the attention they deserve from the governing board get that attention,” said Then, who teaches at the University of Redlands’ School of Business and is on the President’s Task Force for Online Learning. Then said, “Speaking with younger adult students but also working and older adults attending the district, I’ve heard that there are long wait lines and limited access to courses students need to graduate.” Having spent 20 years in the U.S. Military and retiring from the Air Force, Then said she too experienced roadblocks to class access, noting stories from RCCD students who have said they’ve gone to classes they were not enrolled for, hoping the professor might approve them for the course. “Perhaps you were under the assumption that finishing your degree would take two years but that’s not the case today. It’s not because the students aren’t attempting to get the classes they need but they are literally going to classes and hoping the professor lets them in. It took me 10 years to get the courses I needed to complete… my associate’s degree because I was in the military and I moved around, but for these students it’s a matter apparently of class management. This needs to be addressed,” said Then. Then said the governing board will need quick access to information to implement policies to improve student access to courses and other resources and she said her mantra is “All means possible,” which could include additional online, night, weekend, flipped and hybrid courses. Then finished, “We need to know the budget implications, the faculty implications and the support staff implications… to implement these policies, and that can’t be done until the threshold set by the board is understood.” Other candidates for the Area 5 seat include Steve Collier, Samuel Davis and Tracey Vackar.