Dr. Jim Riggs was nominated by the Board as an owner and Vice President of PPL on December 20, 2018. Dr Riggs has an extensive background in community college leadership and instruction. He currently serves as Professor of Community College Education at California State University, Stanislaus where he teaches in the University’s Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership and supervises research in the areas of community college leadership and student success.
In 2012-13 he took a leave of absence from CSU Stanislaus to serve as the Interim Superintendent/President of the Glendale Community College District. Prior to joining the faculty at CSU Stanislaus, he served as the president of Columbia College, in Sonora, California for 10 years. Riggs was awarded the P. Cross Papers Fellowship for 2015-16 by the League of Innovation for Community Colleges and developed a monograph for publication and spoke at their conference in March 2016 on new approaches to strengthening student learning and success in the community college. He is currently the editor for a new publication on leadership development for the Journal of Transformative Leadership and Policy Studies.
Other leadership posts include serving as Vice President of Education and Student Services at Lincoln Land Community College; Executive Dean of the Clear Lake Campus of Yuba College; Associate Dean of Instruction, Merced College; and Director of the Kachemak Bay Campus of the University of Alaska. He began his career as a music and humanities instructor at Wenatchee Valley College in Washington State.
He has also taught doctoral courses at the University of the Pacific and Sacramento State University, and has published a number of articles and case studies on issues related to community college leadership, organizational transformation and student learning. He also consults with community colleges on issues related to strategic planning, institutional effectiveness and leadership development.
Dr. Riggs has worked with PPL on searches for the Superintendent/President at West Kern CCD (Taft College) and College of the Siskiyous, and Cabrillo College. He will also be working on other areas of interest with PPL.