The board of trustees for the El Camino Community College District in California has named Brenda Thames as the next leader of El Camino Community College. She will take office on July 1.
El Camino Community College District, headquartered in Torrance, California, enrolls more than 24,000 students, according to the most recent data available from the U.S. Department of Education. African Americans make up 13 percent of the student body.
“I am honored to have the opportunity to serve in the leadership role of a community college as distinguished and reputable as El Camino College,” Dr. Thames said. “El Camino College is known and recognized for the college’s deep commitment to equity and student success.”
Dr. Thames has spent more than two decades working for community colleges throughout the state, in instruction, student services. and administration. Most recently she has been serving as president of the Coalinga campus of West Hills College.
Dr. Thames is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, where she was a double major in sociology and social welfare. She earned master’s degrees in social work and in public administration from the University of Southern California and a doctorate in education from Oregon State University.
