June 30, 2014
Dear College Community,
As you know over the past four months a search committee comprised of all of the college constituencies conducted a national search for our first President of Campus and Centers. Over the course of this search the team considered sixteen candidates. Twelve of the candidates were interviewed and went through an extensive process that included multiple interviews, a presentation, and open forums. Five candidates were referred to me for final interviews.
After carefully considering the candidates recommended by the committee I have offered Virginia Parras the position of President of Campus and Centers and I am pleased to announce that she has accepted. She will begin August 1st.
I want to thank the Academic Senate, the Classified Senate and SEIU, the Department Chairs, the PGC, the Administrators as well as our Associated Student leaders for their input during this process. I am most grateful to the search committee for all of their hard work and I am gratified we found an excellent pool of candidates. I think it speaks volumes about the respect this institution engenders in the field that we attracted such an excellent pool of candidates.
In her new role Ms. Parras will be part of the Executive Team, reporting to me. Her principal responsibility will be to manage our Ocean Campus as well as to enhance our Centers as destinations with a focus on student equity. Ms. Parras has the leadership and management skills to develop this organizational change successfully.
I’ve included a brief bio below. Please join me in welcoming Ms. Virginia Parras to our City College family.
Sincerely,
Dr. Arthur Tyler
Chancellor
A Brief Bio of Virginia Parras, MBA
Since joining Houston Community College (HCC) in 2008, Ms. Parras has held three positions of increasing responsibility. Currently Ms. Parras is the College Operations Officer (COO) for HCC Northwest College which has over 22,000 unduplicated student enrollments in the Fall semester, or about 54,000 students annually. As the COO, she is responsible for student support, finance and budget, facilities, administrative and business offices, HR, police and security, emergency operations, and planning for the college’s four campuses. Ms. Parras previously served as Executive Director, HCC Financial and Budgetary Control, and was responsible for financial planning and auxiliary services. Prior to this position she was the Director of Building Operations for HCC and was responsible for system-wide construction project planning, maintenance operations and janitorial services.
Prior to joining HCC, Virginia held several leadership positions in Florida and Texas within the National Association of Realtors (NAR) Chartered Associations. As the Executive Vice President in two of these statewide Associations she led and motivated others to improve operations.
Ms. Parras is bilingual in Spanish and English. Her Doctorate in Business Administration will be awarded in 2014. She has an MBA from the University of St. Thomas and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Regis University.