‘Fireball’ to Take Helm at College of the Canyons

Prof. Roger Welt’s longtime dream of establishing a hotel and restaurant management program at Lake Tahoe Community College became a reality recently because of a new dean’s fund-raising ability, enthusiasm and drive.

Now that dean, Dianne Gracia Van Hook, is leaving the Lake Tahoe college to become president of College of the Canyons in Valencia, where officials are counting on her to demonstrate the same zeal that made Welt’s program possible.

When she takes over July 1, Van Hook, 37, will become the first woman to lead the single-campus district and one of the youngest people to head a college in the Southern California area.

“Dianne is the perfect person for the job,” said Donald Benton, a member of the Board of Trustees of the Santa Clarita Community College District. “Our biggest challenge is that as we grow in size, the state seems to shrink our dollars. Dianne will be excellent at keeping up the staff’s morale, which is going to be tough to do as the workload increases with heavier enrollments, and at helping us raise funds.”

When Van Hook was hired at Lake Tahoe Community College in 1986, the institution did not have enough money for Welt’s restaurant and hotel management program, despite the demand sparked by the area’s tourist-based economy, Welt said.

‘A Fireball of Energy’

“She’s just a fireball of energy,” he said. “I wrote the curriculum and she picked up the ball and hustled the money. She’s the mover and shaker behind the funding for the program.”

Van Hook began her college administrative career as executive director of Rancho Santiago Community College’s fund-raising arm in Orange County from 1982 to 1984. She said she is eager to put her experience to work for College of the Canyons.

The college’s spring enrollment increased by 23% over the previous semester, to 4,650 students, but government funding, which is based on the number of hours students actually attend classes rather than the number enrolled, is not expected to keep pace.

“Research has shown that institutions have the greatest success when the president is doing the public relations,” Van Hook said. “Getting out into the community is something I enjoy because I think people are the greatest asset an institution and community have.”

Van Hook’s personal approach helps account for her quick rise as a community college administrator, her colleagues said. In less than 10 years, she has climbed to the top of the community college district’s administrative ladder, achieving her goal of being named a president even sooner than she hoped, she said.

Radiates Friendliness

“She has such a friendly, optimistic attitude, it seemed to radiate throughout the campus,” said Joseph W. Brennan, president of Feather River College in Quincy, Calif., where Van Hook served as a dean from 1984 to 1986.

James W. Duke, president of Lake Tahoe Community College, said Van Horn’s greatest strength is her “tremendous level of commitment to the job. She’s here before I get here and long after I leave.”

Van Hook’s devotion was so well known that the faculty at Lake Tahoe Community College used to joke about whose turn it was to pry Van Hook away from her desk and take her out to lunch, said Paula Sebastian, president of the faculty senate. But Van Hook’s unflagging energy bothers some at Lake Tahoe Community College, Sebastian said.

“I think she’s wonderful,” Sebastian said. “But I’m sure some people got irritated because she’s a workaholic. Sometimes you just felt like saying, ‘I don’t know about you, but I’m going home and taking a break.’ ”

Like many ambitious, swiftly ascending administrators, Van Hook has spent only about two years apiece in her last two positions.

Duke, the president of Lake Tahoe Community College, said he knew when he hired Van Hook that it would just be a matter of time before the hard-working dean moved on to a better post.

“This is the third dean I’ve had that has gone on to be president of a community college district,” Duke said. “But it’s worth it to get the best people available.”

Van Hook said she plans to spend at least five or six years at College of the Canyons.

“Since most things at community colleges are accomplished in five-year cycles, I don’t think I could do the job justice unless I stayed and did my all,” she said.

Van Hook developed her ambition and work habits in the early 1970s when she was a full-time student at Long Beach City College and worked 50 hours a week teaching nursery school and doing clerical work in a bank. She said she planned to attend the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, but her father became ill and the family couldn’t afford her tuition.

“I feel so strongly about community colleges because going to one helped give me a sense of direction and self-confidence,” Van Hook said. “They’re a wonderful community resource at a very reasonable cost.”

Van Hook met her husband, Roger, a speech teacher at Long Beach City College, when she enrolled in one of his classes, but the two “didn’t get along at all,” she said. After the class ended, they met again through student government activities and found “we actually liked one another,” Van Hook said. They married three years later.

By that time, Van Hook was teaching junior high classes and going to school at night. Eventually she received a bachelor’s degree from Cal State Long Beach, and master’s and doctoral degrees in education administration from the University of La Verne.

Armed with the degrees, Van Hook became a counselor at Rancho Santiago in Orange County and was quickly promoted. In 1984, she went to the tiny town of Quincy (population 9,000) and became dean of instruction at Feather River College.

“I used to be pretty impatient,” Van Horn said. “But working in Northern California and dealing with snowstorms and rockslides taught me there is no use getting into a twit about delays and setbacks.”

Much as she has grown to like Northern California, Van Horn said she is looking forward to coming south. For the past four years, she and her husband have had a commuter marriage. When Van Horn takes over at College of the Canyons, she will buy a home in the area, she said. Her husband will continue living in their Seal Beach home.

“But you bet I’ll be out on that freeway driving down to see him as often as possible,” Van Horn said.