Rowena Tomaneng, Berkeley City College’s past president, started in July, 2016 and was impressed with the college and its community. Her story begins in 1972, the year she and her family immigrated to Los Angeles from the Philippines, both parents seeking economic opportunity and educational access for their children.
The family later settled in the San Gabriel Valley where she and her siblings attended public schools, including Cypress College in North Orange County. There, inspired by several inspirational instructors, Tomaneng decided on teaching as a profession and chose to combine English and history as fields of study. Her mother also had a hand in her choice.
Growing up, BCC’s new president heard stories about her grandfather, a community leader in their Philippine village. She learned through her mother’s stories of his commitment to people’s well-being. That fostered her appreciation for history, storytelling and service to community.
Commitment to student success. Prior to her appointment at BCC, Tomaneng was for six years De Anza College’s Associate Vice President of Instruction in Cupertino. Her responsibilities included the college’s Academic Services Division which included the Office of Equity, Social Justice and Multicultural Education; the Office of Professional Development, Pathways programs (Learning Communities of Umoja, Puente, First Year Experience, and IMPACT AAPI) and the Vasconcellos Institute for Democracy in Action where, in 2006, she was a founding co-director and developed many community and educational partnerships.
She also oversaw the collaborative units of De Anza’s Learning Resources BCC President Rowena Tomaneng Division which housed Online Education, Library Services and the Student
Success Center.
Tomaneng also held leadership roles in state initiatives such as Basic Skills, Student Equity and Student Success and Support programs. She has obtained and administered state and federal
funding, including Asian American/Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions and Title III: Strengthening Institutions grants. She worked on faculty and district-wide administrative teams for many years, leading and developing program reviews and accreditation documents. In 2013, nominated by Academic Services faculty, she won the statewide
Association of California Community College Administrators’ Administrative Leadership Excellence Award.
On Fri., Aug. 19, she was presented with the Asian Pacific American Leadership Institute’s (APALI) 2016 Pacesetter Award for Educational Leadership at the organization’s annual community
celebration.
Tomaneng was a full-time English instructor at De Anza College from 1996 to 2010, teaching all levels of composition and literature. She was English Department chair for three years and led initiatives to foster equity in faculty hiring and cultural competency. She served for two years as Interim Dean of De Anza’s Language Arts Division, and supervised over 175 full-time
and part-time faculty.
BCC’s new president has actively engaged in culturally focused local, regional and national organizations and has led advocacy campaigns for immigrant rights and community policing with organizations such as the National Alliance for Filipino Concerns, USA and the Coalition for Justice and Accountability, San Jose, CA. She wrote for and contributed to a variety of publications and serves on the advisory board for the Association of American Colleges and Universities’ Diversity and Democracy publication.
In December, when she completes her dissertation on the educational dimensions of Filipina migrant workers’ activist identities at the University of San Francisco, she will receive a doctorate in International/Multicultural Education, with a concentration in Human Rights Education. She holds a master’s degree in English from UC Santa Barbara and a bachelor’s degree in Englishfrom UC Irvine.
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