Ledesma-Reese, Lydia

President, Oxnard College, Oxnard, CA

• Dr. Lydia Ledesma-Reese previously served as president of Skagit Valley College and was the first Latina president in higher education in the State of Washington.
• Lydia attended Cerritos College, Cypress and Saddleback Community Colleges, where she completed an associate of arts degree in Liberal Studies. She obtained her baccalaureate degree in Speech Communication from California State University, Fullerton. Her master’s degree included course work from California State Universities, Fullerton and San Diego, in Intercultural/International Communications. In 1987, Lydia received her doctorate from Pepperdine University in Institutional Management and Leadership. Lydia attended Harvard University for post doctoral work in management.
• She began her career as a faculty member and continued on as Assistant to Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs, University of California, Irvine, CA form 1982-1988; Assistant Dean of Technology, Cerritos Community College, CA form 1988-1989; Dean of Intercultural/International Studies and tenure faculty at De Anza Community College, California, from 1989-1992. Prior to becoming President at Skagit Valley College, Dr. Ledesma-Reese worked as Vice President/Assistant Superintendent at Hartnell College, California from 1992 to 1995.
• Dr. Ledesma-Reese is a member of the executive board of United Way of Ventura County, a mentor to the Future Leaders of America organization and is a supporter of the “Reach for the Top” leadership experience for young women. She has also been a regular speaker at meetings of the Oxnard College Youth Project.
• Dr. Ledesma-Reese was also a speaker at the Hispanic Network/PLAN 2004 National Conference for local government managers titled “Transforming Communities”