Dr. Jack Scott
Chancellor
California State Senator Jack Scott was unanimously selected as the 14th Chancellor of the California Community Colleges by the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges on May 8, 2008. He assumed this position on January 1, 2009, after completing his Senate term at the end of 2008.
A member of the State Legislature since 1996, Dr. Scott represented California’s 21st Senatorial District, which includes Pasadena, Glendale, and Burbank; a portion of the city of Los Angeles, and other surrounding cities and communities. During his distinguished senatorial tenure, he served as Chair of the Senate Committee on Education, which considers all legislative measures dealing with K-12 education and the state’s colleges and universities. This committee has legislative oversight for a wide range of issues dealing with education.
Dr. Scott also chaired the Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Subcommittee on Education, which oversees approximately 48 percent of California’s state budget. Among his other committee assignments, Dr. Scott was Vice Chair of the State Allocation Board for Education.
Dr. Scott authored 146 bills in the Assembly and Senate that were signed into law. From the beginning, he has been a champion of education issues and was successful in authoring several key bills important to the community colleges that were signed into law. Senate Bill 361, a landmark community college financing measure, was authored by Dr. Scott and signed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2006. Also in 2006, Dr. Scott led the charge in passing Senate Bill 1309 that helped address the state’s nursing shortage. Dr. Scott worked with Governor Schwarzenegger in 2005 to pass Senate Bill 70, a measure that strengthens career technical education programs between K-12, community colleges, and the business sector.
Dr. Scott has been named Legislator of the Year by many organizations, including the California Federation of Teachers, Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, Association of California Community College Administrators, Association of California School Boards, California State University, California Association of Health Facilities, California Trucking Association, and American Nursing Association.
Dr. Scott also received an honoray doctorate from Pepperdine University in 1991. In 1993 he received the Harry Buttimer Award, given annually to distinguished administrators in the California Community Colleges. He was named the Almnus of the Year at Claremont Graduate University in 2000 and at Abilene Christian University in 2003. He was also presented Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Faculty Association of the California Community College in 2008 and California Community Colleges in 2006.
Dr. Scott is a past president of the Association of California Community Colleges Administrators and the former chair of the Accrediting Commission of Western Association of Schools and Colleges.
Prior to being elected to the State Legislature, Dr. Scott was President of Pasadena City College beginning in 1987. The hallmark of Dr. Scott’s presidency was the launching and completion of a $100 million master plan to meet the college’s needs into the 21st century. Although state funding declined during Dr. Scott’s presidency, the college balanced its budget, laid-off no members of its faculty or staff, and maintained an educational program of high quality. Pasadena City College had reserve funds of more than $6 million when he retired in 1995.
Dr. Scott is a Distinguished Professor of Higher Education at Pepperdine University and is the first person to be honored as President Emeritus of Pasadena City College.
Previously, Dr. Scott was a teacher and administrator at Pepperdine University for 10 years before he became the Dean of Instruction at Orange Coast College in 1973. Five years later, in 1978, he became the President of Cypress College.
Dr. Scott was born in Sweetwater, Texas, and graduated from high school there. He met his future wife, Lacreta, while they were students at Abilene Christian University. They were married after Dr. Scott received his Bachelor’s degree. He later earned a Master of Divinity degree from Yale University, as well as a Ph.D. in American history from Claremont Graduate University.
Dr. Scott and Lacreta have five children: Sharon Mitchell; Sheila Head; Amy Schones; Greg Scott; and their fifth child, Adam, who died at the age of 27. They also have ten grandchildren.