SACRAMENTO — Last night at a special meeting, the Los Rios Community College District Board of Trustees appointed Dr. Brian King to serve as chancellor. The appointment culminates a nationwide search undertaken to replace retired chancellor Dr. Brice Harris.
Dr. King has served as president/superintendent of Cabrillo College in Aptos, California since 2004 and brings more than 20 years of community college teaching and administrative experience to his new position. From 1991 to 2004 he served in increasingly responsible positions at Ozarks Technical Community College in Springfield, Missouri where he rose from a faculty position teaching American government and business law to serving as vice president of administration and business.
“We were looking for a person with exceptional leadership skills and broad community college experience,” said Los Rios board president Ruth Scribner. “We found those qualities, combined with great personal integrity and a passion for student success, in Dr. King and we look forward to many years of his expert guidance at the helm of our district.”
As president of Cabrillo, Dr. King is credited for leading the college through two successful local bond campaigns, raising more than $20 million in private donations through the college foundation and guiding the implementation of highly successful student success measures.
Dr. King serves on numerous local and state organizations including: Board chair of the California Community College Athletics Association; board member of the Community College League of California Chief Executive Officers; president-elect of the Santa Cruz Chamber of Commerce; board member of the Dominican Hospital; member of the Santa Cruz Business Council; and chair of numerous accreditation site visits for the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC).
Dr. King holds a B.A. in history from the University of Missouri; a J.D. from Duke University School of Law; and an Ed.D. in higher education from the University of Arkansas.
“It is a true honor to have been selected to lead such a great district,” King said. “The excellent reputation of Los Rios, its programs, faculty and staff are what encouraged me to seek this position and I look forward to continuing and enhancing that reputation for years to come.”
Dr. King is expected to begin his new duties February 1.
The Los Rios District is the second largest in the state and enrolls more than 80,000 students at its four colleges—American River, Cosumnes River, Folsom Lake and Sacramento City.