After serving for a combined 28 years, retiring Board of Trustees members Mary Graham and Bernie Rhinerson participated in their final governing board meeting on Thursday, November 7.
“It has been one of the great honors of my professional career to have served on the San Diego Community College District’s Board of Trustees,” said Rhinerson. “As I leave, I know this district is in good hands and will continue to advocate for its students.”
SDCCD’s Board of Trustees oversees one of the largest community college districts in the state and the largest higher education and workforce development system in the region. It had an annual economic impact of $5.8 billion in the 2023-24 fiscal year.
"The SDCCD works tirelessly to support students in achieving their educational and career goals,” said Graham. “In doing so, it also helps keep our community and our local economy vibrant and healthy. Serving our students -- and the people and institutions that support them -- has been a tremendous honor and an unparalleled joy."
Graham was first elected to the governing board in 2008. She represents Trustee District D, which includes the College Area, Rolando/Rolando Park, Oak Park, Kensington San Carlos, Del Cerro, El Cerrito, Talmadge, Lincoln Park, Skyline and Encanto. A longtime faculty member at Cuyamaca College in the Rancho San Diego area of El Cajon, Graham serves as an English professor and tutoring coordinator and had previously volunteered as chair of the Communication Arts Department, chair of the Program Review Committee, chair of the Basic Skills Committee and as a member of the Academic Senate. She has served as the board’s executive vice president since 2019, and recently co-chaired the committee tasked with hiring the district’s chancellor.
Rhinerson was first elected to the governing board in 2012 and has served as board president for the past year. He represents Trustee District B, which includes Mira Mesa, Scripps Ranch, Kearny Mesa, Serra Mesa, Allied Gardens and Tierrasanta. He has been a member of the national Association of Community College Trustees board of directors and chair of the Community College League of California’s Advisory Committee on Legislation. More recently, he spearheaded the district’s successful Measure HH bond campaign, which will bring $3.5 billion for needed repairs and renovations across all of the district’s campuses. Rhinerson retired from the San Diego Unified School District in 2013, where he worked as chief of staff for two different superintendents, and previously served as a partner and president at Southwest Strategies.
Both faced unprecedented challenges in recent years, perhaps the most pressing of which was leading the way in managing the impacts of the pandemic and overseeing the transition to online and distance learning. Among the Board’s areas of focus was ensuring that students on the other side of the digital divide were provided laptops and internet access to navigate the transition.
Graham and Rhinerson are being replaced by retired Mesa College Professor Marichu G. Magaña and community activist Mariah Jameson, respectively. Voters on November 5 elected Jameson; Magaña ran unopposed to represent Trustee Area B. Both will take the oath of office at the Board of Trustees’ December 19 organizational meeting.
This is the first time since 2018 and just the third time this century the five-member governing board will have seated two new members.