Forum on April 6, 1:30-3 p.m.
Dr. Lonita Cordova
Dr. Lonita Cordova is an Orange County Native who attended Western High School in Buena Park. She is a transformative executive leader and scholar-practitioner with over 22 years of experience spanning the California Community College system, K-12 education, and graduate-level instruction. She provides executive leadership for the District’s student success infrastructure, aligning complex administrative operations with a human-centered mission. Her experience includes faculty roles as an adjunct psychology professor and adjunct general counselor, a Learning Disability Specialist, and a Veterans Counselor Coordinator. Dr. Cordova has 10 years of experience as an administrator and has served as a Director of Disability Services and Mental Health, Dean of Student Equity and Success, a Center Dean of Instruction, and her current role as an Assistant Superintendent/Vice President of Student Services.
Dr. Cordova's leadership is defined by the belief that institutional excellence is only achieved when systems are intentionally designed to eliminate barriers for the most vulnerable populations. Her background as a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor (LPCC) and her early career work with court and community students, justice impacted students, foster youth and housing-insecure students deeply inform her approach to administration. By integrating empathy with operational rigor, she has successfully led large-scale initiatives in Guided Pathways and Strategic Enrollment Management that prioritize both fiscal health and student belonging.
A veteran of the United States Navy, Dr. Cordova served eight years as an Information Systems Technician. This foundational experience instilled a disciplined, data-driven approach to organizational unity and technical command. She has turned this expertise into high-impact institutional results, including leading the stabilization of a complex Student Information System (SIS) to ensure data integrity and operational continuity. Notably, she operationalized a streamlined registration workflow that reduced the onboarding time for new students from seven days to just 15 minutes. By leading various enterprise software implementations specifically designed to remove administrative friction, Dr. Cordova ensures that technology serves as a bridge, rather than a barrier, to student access, retention, and completion.
An active voice in statewide leadership, Dr. Cordova served on the Executive Board of the Association for California Community College Administrators (ACCCA), served as the president of the association, and chaired the Regional Membership Council. A dedicated educator, she has served as an Associate Part-Time Professor in the Graduate Educational Counseling program at California State University, Stanislaus, since 2017. Her commitment to both counseling and the classroom ensures that her executive decisions remain grounded in the daily realities of teaching and learning, and the need for career and academic guidance.
Dr. Cordova holds a Ph.D. in General Psychology from Walden University, an M.S. in Educational Counseling from National University, and a B.S. in Information Systems Management from the University of Maryland. She is a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor (LPCC) and holds multiple California credentials in teaching and administrative services.