September 10, 2024
Contact: Melissa Villarin
Office: 916-327-5365
Office E-mail: MVillarin@CCCCO.edu
CUPERTINO, Calif. — The California Community Colleges today announced the formation of the Digital Center for Innovation, Transformation and Equity to serve as an incubator and proving ground for bringing generative artificial intelligence and digital technology advances into the nation's largest system of higher education.
The Digital Center represents a novel approach to support Vision 2030, the strategic framework for the California Community Colleges, and will help harness the power of generative AI to transform the ability to serve students as they move into an AI-powered workforce.
As a new public-private partnership, the Digital Center will be at the forefront not only in research and testing, but also in preventing an AI digital divide and ensuring timely and equitable access to technological innovations for all 2 million community college students.
The announcement came at the inaugural Futures Summit 2024, which brought together industry and college leaders, prominent academic AI experts and government officials to explore how emerging technologies, particularly AI, are transforming California’s economy and reshaping education.
“The Digital Center will be at the nexus of efforts to comprehensively evaluate artificial intelligence and other advanced technologies so that we can act ethically and in accordance with our principles while allowing our system to be nimble in pursuit of innovation and excellence” said California Community Colleges Chancellor Sonya Christian.
The Digital Center, which received initial approval by the California Community Colleges Board of Governors in July, will operate under the direction of the Chancellor’s Office in partnership with the Foothill-DeAnza Community College District. It will be led by an administrative director overseeing teams leading projects and partnerships across the areas of data and development, technology and learning innovations.
"We are excited to join with Chancellor Christian to officially launch the new Digital Center for Innovation, Transformation and Equity, which will leverage Foothill-De Anza’s experience and the resources of Silicon Valley to enhance the quality and accessibility of education for all Californians. We believe that AI can be a force for good and we are committed to preparing our students for the future of work and society,” said Foothill-De Anza Community College District Chancellor Lee Lambert. “We are equally excited to have welcomed participants from across the state who gathered to explore emerging technologies at the first-ever Futures Summit at De Anza College."
In addition to its focus on helping to shaping approaches to AI innovation and adoption, the Digital Center will create opportunities to modernize systemwide infrastructure and practices in ways that elevate and accelerate systemwide outcomes and address current technology needs in the 116-college system.
“I’m so excited to be part of launching the new Digital Center for Innovation, Transformation and Equity”, said California Government Operations Secretary Amy Tong. “Innovation and equity are core values of Governor Newsom’s administration, and they are at the center of the work we do every day for the people of California. Integrating those values with GenAI and digital technology allows our community college students to engage with the next generation of tools, and potentially holds the key to their futures.”
For more information, please visit the Digital Center for Innovation, Transformation and Equity webpage.
The California Community Colleges is the largest system of higher education in the nation, composed of 73 districts and 116 colleges serving 2 million students per year. California community colleges provide career education and workforce training; guaranteed transfer to four-year universities; and degree and certificate pathways. As the state’s engine for social and economic mobility, the California Community Colleges supports the Vision 2030, a strategic plan designed to improve student success, our communities and our planet. For more information, please visit the California Community Colleges website or follow us on Facebook, Instagram and X (Formerly Twitter).
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