Coconino County Superintendent of Schools Risha VanderWey (far left) and CCC President Colleen A. Smith (far right) stand with newly inducted DGB Members Patricia Garcia and Dr. Marie Peoples. Garcia was re-elected as DGB Chair and Dr. Peoples is a newly elected DGB member. Courtesy photo.
FLAGSTAFF — After a snowstorm that dropped 3 feet of snow on Flagstaff delayed the ceremony, two newly elected Coconino Community College District Governing Board Members were sworn into office during a ceremony at the Lone Tree campus on Friday, Feb. 17.
The board members are Patricia Garcia, re-elected to the post, who represents District 2, and Dr. Marie Peoples, elected for the first time, who represents District 3.
Garcia, a native of Flagstaff, was appointed to the Board in November 2009, and because all appointed board members must undergo election at the next available election, Garcia ran in November 2010, and she was elected. She has been the Chair of the CCC District Governing Board since 2015. District 2 serves middle Flagstaff and up the North Highway 89 corridor to Wupakti National Monument.
“I am deeply honored to be able to continue to serve the citizens of Coconino County, particularly District 2,” Garcia said. “I will work hard to maintain the educational quality, affordability and accessibility for which CCC is known.”
Dr. Peoples, the Chief Health Officer for the Coconino County Public Health Services District, was appointed to the Board in June 2015. District 3 serves Williams, Parks, Bellemont, Kachina Village, Mountainaire and South Flagstaff.
“I am proud to represent District 3 on the Coconino Community College Governing Board,” Dr. Peoples said. “CCC is an integral part of the County fabric. CCC provides affordable, quality education and learning experiences to a richly diverse population of adults across all education levels. As CCC develops future priorities I am honored to be part of visualizing new goals for the future that allow CCC to continue meeting Community needs.”
Coconino County Superintendent of Schools Risha VanderWey formally delivered the oath of office to Peoples and Garcia previously. CCC DGB board members serve a term of six years, and it is an unpaid, volunteer position. Each member’s district covers the same geographical area as those of the Coconino County Board of Supervisors.
CCC’s Lone Tree Campus is located at 2800 S. Lone Tree Road in Flagstaff. For more information about Coconino Community College, visit www.coconino.edu.
About Coconino Community College: Coconino Community College faculty and staff are dedicated to promoting an environment of excellence to support students. Since 1991, CCC has served residents across 18,000 square miles of Coconino County. The College has helped create the region’s skilled workforce, with the goal of improving the lives of our residents through workforce development and higher education. CCC has served more than 75,000 students countywide, with two campuses in Flagstaff and an instructional site in Page.
CCC provides affordable tuition and a variety of certificates and degrees including career/technical programs with nearly 50 certificate programs and two-year associate degrees in various fields. Those fields include nursing, fire science, law enforcement and business. Additionally, CCC has programs that ease student transition to any of the three state universities.
CCC reaches out to the more rural portions of the County including Williams, the Grand Canyon/Tusayan, Page/Lake Powell, Fredonia, Tuba City and other remote areas on the Navajo, Hopi and Supai Tribal Lands. Instructional sites offer classes through online, in-person and Interactive Television classes to meet the needs of students in these rural and remote areas. Nearly 20 percent of CCC’s students are Native American learners.