Elena Kadvany/Palo Alto Weekly
Foothill College recently named Thuy Thi Nguyen as a potential candidate to be the next president. Nguyen, who is a practicing lawyer and general counsel for the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office, is believed to be the first Vietnamese-American community college president in California.
Foothill College’s new president, Thuy Thi Nguyen. (Photo courtesy Foothill College)
Nguyen’s appointment concludes a national search that began last fall to replace former president Judy Miner, who had been president of the Los Altos Hills community college since 2007. The Foothill-De Anza Community College board is expected to approve on May 2 the recommendation to name Thuy Thi Nguyen as president. Foothill-De Anza Chancellor Judy Miner recommended Nguyen, 40, from among four finalists for the job.
Nguyen came from more humble beginnings: When she was 3 years old, she and her family fled Vietnam after the end of the war, drifting in the Pacific Ocean on a “rickety boat” for more than two weeks before a commercial ship rescued them and took them to a refugee camp in Japan, according to Foothill’s announcement.
The family eventually relocated to Wichita, Kansas, but settled in Oakland when Nguyen was 14 years old. The family lived in low-income housing, and Nguyen attended a predominantly African-American and Latino high school, where she “embarked on a path of community leadership and service,” the announcement states.
At Castlemont, she served as a student representative on the Oakland Unified School District’s Board of Directors, cadet colonel brigade commander in the Army Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps, and valedictorian of her class. Upon graduation, the mayor of Oakland declared June 23, 1993, “Thuy Thi Nguyen Day” in recognition of her community service.
She went on to obtain a bachelor’s degree in philosophy at Yale University and attended law school at University of California, Los Angeles.
Nguyen, who lives in Castro Valley, also has “deep connections” in the East Bay and is well-known in the local Vietnamese community. She co-published a book called “25 Vietnamese Americans in 25 Years” that marked the anniversary of the fall of Saigon by highlighting the contributions 25 Vietnamese Americans made to American society.
Nguyen has also been an educator herself: She worked as an adjunct instructor teaching education law for several years at what is now California State University, East Bay. She also currently serves as board president of the Marcus Foster Education Institute, which promotes excellence and educational opportunity in Oakland public schools.
Her annual salary will start at $188,878, according to Foothill. If approved by the board, she will begin on July 1.
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