By Lookout Staff

December 9, 2010 -- Dr. Andrew Walzer was elected of the Santa Monica College Board on Monday, while Dr. Margaret R. Quiñones-Perez was elected vice chair.

Walzer succeeds David Finkel and Quiñones-Perez succeeds Walzer, marking the second time Quiñones-Perez serves as vice chair. She served as chair in 2004. The posts rotate annually.

A resident of Santa Monica for nine years, Walzer is a tenured assistant professor of Humanities at Los Angeles City College and a former adjunct instructor at SMC, Cal Poly Pomona and Cal State Dominguez Hills.

Walzer -- who is a member of the American Federation of Teachers, Local 1521 -- graduated with a Ph.D. in American Studies from the University of Minnesota in 1997 and a B.A. in Politics from the University of California, Santa Cruz in 1983.

Quiñones-Perez became the first Latina on the SMC Board when who was first elected in 2000. She was also the first Latina elected to the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District Board, where she served eight years as a trustee, including one year as board president.

A Lead Counselor at El Camino College, Dr. Quiñones-Perez has also been active in several professional and community organizations, primarily in education and Latino organizations.

A graduate of SMC, she received her bachelor's degree in mental health research methods from Cal State Dominguez Hills, a master's in counseling psychology from the University of Southern California, and a doctorate in educational leadership from UCLA. She was also a fellow of the JFK Harvard School of Government.

Quiñones-Perez is a former member of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges. The Board of Governors sets policy and provides guidance for the 72 districts and 111 colleges that constitute the system.

"As a member of the Board of Governors, appointed by the state's Governor, she interacted with state and federal officials and other state organizations," college officials said in a statement Wednesday.

As a member of the statewide board that has the legislatively granted authority to develop and implement policy for the colleges, Quiñones-Perez participated in selecting a Chancellor for the system.

She also serves on the Board of the National Hispana Leadership Institute and is an associate member of the state Association of Community College Trustees' Finance and Audit Committee.