Chancellor Dr. Jack Scott
California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office
Dr. Jack Scott was unanimously selected as the 14th chancellor of the California Community Colleges by the Board of Governors on May 8, 2008. He assumed this position in January 2009, after completing his second term in the California State Senate.
As the chancellor of the nation’s largest system of higher education, Dr. Scott has led the 112 colleges and 72 districts through some sweeping reforms. His legacy will include his work on the California Community Colleges Student Success Task Force and the Associate Degree for Transfer program that established a clear link between community colleges and the California State University system guaranteeing students who follow a particular designated pathway an associate degree, enrollment priority and junior standing at a CSU.
The California Community Colleges Student Success Task Force recently completed a list of 22 recommendations aimed at improving the educational outcomes of students. The recommendations that Dr. Scott helped craft and champion will make community colleges more responsive to the needs of students and the economy and are aimed at rebalancing priorities to focus colleges on the core missions of remedial education, workforce preparation, certificate and degree attainment and transfer to four-year universities. The reform package, that was a year in the making, was adopted by the California Community Colleges Board of Governors in January 2012 without a dissenting vote.
Both landmark initiatives not only help students reach their educational goals quicker, but help make the system more cost-efficient and therefore able to serve more students.
Scott represented California’s 21st Senatorial District, which includes Pasadena, Glendale, Burbank, a portion of the city of Los Angeles and other surrounding cities and communities. During his senatorial tenure from 2000 to 2008, he served as chair of the Senate Committee on Education, which considers all legislative measures dealing with K-12 education and the state’s colleges and universities. This committee has legislative oversight for a wide range of issues dealing with education.
He also chaired the Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Subcommittee on Education, which oversees approximately 48 percent of California’s state budget. Scott also was vice chair of the State Allocation Board for Education.
Scott was elected to the California State Assembly in 1996 before moving on to the Senate. Scott authored 146 bills in the Assembly and Senate that were signed into law. From the beginning, he has been a champion of education issues and was successful in authoring several key bills important to the community colleges. Senate Bill 361, a landmark community college financing measure, was authored by Scott and signed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2006. Also in 2006, Scott led the charge in passing Senate Bill 1309 that helped address the state’s nursing shortage. Scott worked with Governor Schwarzenegger in 2005 to pass Senate Bill 70, a measure that strengthens career technical education programs between K-12, community colleges and the business sector.
Prior to being elected to the state Legislature, Scott was president of Pasadena City College beginning in 1987. Scott was a teacher and administrator at Pepperdine University for 10 years before he became the dean of instruction at Orange Coast College in 1973. Five years later he became the president of Cypress College.
Scott was born in Sweetwater, Texas, where he graduated from high school. He met his wife, Lacreta, while they were students at Abilene Christian University. They were married after Scott received his bachelor’s degree. He later earned a Master of Divinity from Yale University, as well as a Ph.D. in American history from Claremont Graduate University.
Jack and Lacreta Scott have five children: Sharon Mitchell, Sheila Head, Amy Schone, Greg Scott and Adam Scott, who died at the age of 27. They also have 11 grandchildren.