Seven candidates will face off during the November general election for the three remaining seats at San Joaquin Delta College Board of Trustees.
Trustee Area 1, Area 2 and Area 6 are up for grabs this year, with candidates ranging from former politicians and local advocates to educators and business people. But they all have one thing in common this November — asking for your vote.
Trustee Area 1
Retired accountant Shelly Stoll Swanson and former Stockton City Council Member Ralph Lee White are competing to represent south Stockton and Weston Ranch in the race for Trustee Area 1.
Swanson, a first-time candidate, is running on a platform to improve accountability at San Joaquin Delta College and utilize bond money to the fullest extent to enhance campus services she wrote on her campaign website.
As a parent who currently has children in the program, Swanson would like to see improvements made to the classrooms at Delta College in addition to encouraging the Delta College president to pursue diverse hires.
White, Swanson’s opponent, is also pushing for diversity at Delta College through black representation on its board, he said to the Delta College The Collegian Newspaper. The longtime Stockton politician began his political career in 1971, serving as a Stockton City Council member from 1971 to 1983 and then again from 1984 to 1987.
White is critical of Swanson’s run for a seat on Delta College’s board, arguing during a League of Women Voters candidate forum that she has a conflict of interest due to her husband serving as a tenured professor at the college.
Swanson denounced the claims, saying she has sought legal advice on the matter and has been advised that there is no conflict.
“If he wasn’t tenured, I couldn’t do this because he would probably have to come to the board to get tenured,” Swanson said. “But he’s been there 24 years. There’s no conflict.”
Trustee Area 2
Three candidates are running for Trustee Area 2, which encompasses Central Stockton, all of whom have served the public in one way or another.
Stockton Councilmember Dan Wright represents the city’s 2nd District and says balancing the college’s budget, supporting students and empowering the local economy are his top three priorities for this race he wrote on his campaign website.
Before becoming a council member, Wright held numerous positions in Stockton Unified School District serving as Superintendent, principal and instructor at Teachers College of San Joaquin.
Wright initially ran for Stockton mayor earlier this year. However, he conceded after coming in third place during the March Primaries. Wright signed up to run for a spot on the Delta College board in August following his loss.
In August, U.S. Marine Corps veteran and businessperson Samuel Anderson announced his run for Delta College trustee via Facebook, highlighting his background in the military and his master degrees in Public Administration and Criminal Justice from American Military University and in Human Resource Development degree from Villanova University.
Anderson told Stocktonia in a phone interview that he views himself as an outsider in the race, giving him a unique perspective on how he would tackle issues at Delta College.
He is committed to fostering an environment of entrepreneurship by giving students the tools and resources necessary to succeed after graduation through careful management of bond funding, Anderson says.
The former marine is no novice to running for local political office. Anderson made a bid for Manteca City Council in 2006 and 2010, as well as the District 5 seat in the California Senate in 2016. Anderson did not win any of the previous races.
Julie D. Kay, a retired nursing dean from Delta College, is the final contender in the race for Area 2. Kay says that as the former dean of Delta College’s Health Sciences Department, she took the lead on strategic decision making in the department and fostering a culture of inclusivity for health science students.
Her top priorities are Ensuring Financial stability, fostering academic excellence and upholding the Delta College mission to include commitments to diversity, equity and inclusion in order to address disparities in the wider community she wrote on her campaign website.
As Area 6 Trustee, Kay will seek to bolster local partnerships with healthcare providers and Delta College to maintain the college’s readiness in the healthcare industry by providing post-graduation employment, internships and clinical placements.
Trustee Area 6
The final race, Trustee Area 6, which represents Tracy and Mountain House, is between Tracy community activist Rosario Patrick and Catalina Piña, an educator in both the Tracy and Manteca Unified school districts.
Both Patrick and Piña are first-timers in the political arena, choosing to leverage their community engagement as their main selling point for earning a spot on Delta College’s board.
Patrick says he wants to help foster prepared students for high accreditation standards through financial transparency at Delta College, including a focus on careful management of bond administration he wrote on his campaign website.
Course completion rates at Delta College are also a priority for Piña, which requires supporting initiatives to help alleviate financial pressures contributing to issues such as food and housing insecurity. Piña says these issues hinder students’ academic success.
Piña is also seeking to increase funding and professional development workshops to support faculty at Delta College she wrote on her campaign website.
Trustee Area 5
The Trustee Area 5, encompassing East San Joaquin and Calaveras counties, is going to Delta College alumni Armando Valerio. He will be filling a vacancy left by former Area 5 Trustee Kathleen Garcia, who stepped down in March.