Chancellor Goldsmith's Remarks - November 4, 2025 Board of Trustees Meeting

Good evening, Trustees, colleagues, and members of the public.

I’d like to share a few highlights that I think reflects the work that is happening across our district and the powerful ways education continues to transform and save lives, as we heard earlier today, both here and far abroad.

First, some of you may know this, our students and faculty attended the 10th Annual Valley Made Manufacturing Summit. The theme this year, I thought was interesting, was “Forging the Future: Uniting Industry, Education and Innovation for Manufacturing Excellence”.

Over 100 of our students from all over attended this and they were able to engage with employers. Many of our faculty members went. There was over 1,000 industry leaders, and public officials from across the valley to be a part of this engineering opportunity and manufacturing opportunity. While I was there, I had the amazing opportunity to talk with some students from Clovis Community College. They had a booth and they were manning it. Mind you, these are students and there all the other employees and these students were manning this booth and they had a design that they designed for an underwater drone to do this recon stuff. It was brilliant talking to these four gentlemen and I got to talk to one of the female students who were there too. They were marketing their wares and they are up for going to competition soon.  Trustees Ikeda and Parra also joined during the lunchtime keynote featuring Oren Cass and Pete Weber, who spoke about the state’s opportunity in this time of change to be able to create a resilience, here in the region, as it relates to education and industry. It was remarkable. I also had the privilege to moderate a panel from people from the State of California, the Workforce Development Board.  Even though they’re facing cuts, how we can work together better for many of our programs across the district. It really was quite a lovely event.

On tonight’s consent agenda, there is some exciting news $3.6 million in new, renewed, and amended grants.

This includes $485,000 for a Specialty Block Grant focused on international trade development, $2.4 million in Strong Workforce dollars, and over $350,000 in Small Business Development at Clovis Community College. All four colleges are represented in this $3.6 million.  These efforts really highlight the innovative spirit that you all have. The collaboration that you see, because its not just our colleges, it’s K-12 partners, its industries, both small and large. So to everyone involved, from the researchers, to the writers, to the grant department, to the faculty, to the counselors, to the students, thank you. Thank you, because even though some things int eh world are falling apart, perhaps, we’re still working.

Speaking of still working, while the federal government has shut down, we’re not.
I want to thank all of you for continuing to show up, because I know that federal shutdown may impact you. We know it impacts some of our students. Some of you may have a federal employee at home, which means you’re looking at half a paycheck or half an income. We know that it is impacting all of our communities. I want to thank the Trustees who traveled this month to bring back new policy ideas that will help our students thrive in an ever-changing environment. Closer to home, each of the four colleges have hosted and undergone immigration training, reenforcing our shared commitment to create a safe and supportive space for all who live here, work here, and learn here. This work is deeply meaningful, especially as we have been recently reminded of the challenges that some of our students face. Some of you may not know this, but one of our neighboring college’s AgTEC students were detained by ICE. While that did not happen on campus, it’s a powerful reminder of why our commitment to compassion and courage is so important. Through it all, we’ve remained unwavering in our belief that education changes lives, saves lives, and helps build healthy communities.

We are also closely monitoring the federal changes to SNAP—or CalFresh, which impact thousands of our students and many of our employees.

Our research team, I want to thank them, because they found out that more than one-third of our students live in communities that rely heavily on SNAP benefits to meet basic needs. So in anticipation of potential hardship, whether it’s long or shot, we’re strengthening our campus-based food pantries and partnering with local agencies to provide both short- and long-term relief.  I want to thank our Foundation and their members for meeting with us. I want to thank the college Vice Presidents and Presidents for meeting with us and the District Business Office for working together to determine how we can best leverage what dollars we have to stretch far during this time. We’ve also shared updated resource lists regarding food banks and pantries and different community programs to ensure that help remains available. We’ve been in contact with many of our local state and local legislators wanting to provide assistance for our students in the community.

Finally, I know that’s kind of heavy, so I want to end on a high note, which I think this is important. I want to take a moment to honor two legendary coaches whose retirements mark the end of an era at Fresno City College: Head Football Coach Tony Caviglia and Head Men’s Soccer Coach Eric Solberg.

Together, they represent nearly four decades of leadership, championships, and transformative mentorship. Coach Caviglia concluded his 27th season with the Rams by an extraordinary 200-win record—the most in program history—and has guided players who went on to D1 colleges and the NFL. We really are gonna miss him. Coach Solberg, who has served as both Head Men’s Soccer Coach and longtime Assistant Baseball Coach, leaves behind a legacy that includes 46 conference titles and three state championships. As Dr. Derrick Johnson shared, “their impact on Ram Athletics is immeasurable, and their legacies are forever part of our college’s proud tradition.”

These stories and countless of others that you’ve heard tonight and will hear continue, whether  its innovation or inclusion, whether it’s social justice or social media, opportunity and legacy, all points to one thing:

While we may disagree on some things, we know that the colleges of State Center is leading with purpose, leading with heart, compassion, and strength. Together, we are creating opportunity that’s changing lives and saving lives.