FREMONT, Calif. — Ohlone College has announced the selection of a new president-superintendent to take the helm of the institution after conducting a nationwide search that garnered three finalists.
The Ohlone Community College District board of trustees last week chose Charles Sasaki, the current vice chancellor of academic affairs at Windward Community College in Hawai’i, to be the community college’s eighth president. Sasaki, a native of Southern California, has a bachelor’s degree in history and Spanish from the University of California, Riverside; a master’s degree in comparative culture from UC Irvine; and a doctorate in American studies from the University of Hawai’i at Manoa.
During the presidential forum last week, Sasaki said he’s originally from a community that looks a lot like Fremont and applied because of both the rich diversity in the area and his deep network of family and friends, as well as a favorite place to get a torta, in the Bay Area.
“I’ve lived in places where I didn’t fit and I can’t do that,” Sasaki said, “but this is a fit.”
Sasaki said his priorities will be quickly and collaboratively determining the institution’s values and points of pride; building up enrollment, particularly by reaching out to low-income students, in order to shore up the college’s finances; and support students to ensure they succeed once enrolled.
It’s yet unclear when Sasaki will officially assume his new role, replacing interim President-Superintendent Anthony DiSalvo. DiSalvo took over after the college’s seventh president-superintendent, Eric Bishop, resigned in October 2022 to take another position.
