Eileen Valenzuela started her journey at LMC as a student in the summer of 1980, and strengthened her ties to the school when she joined student government a year later. It was in her role as a student representative that she began making her mark on the college.
Eileen Valenzuela proved to be a fierce advocate for the student government, when she wrote a letter to the editorial staff at the Experience following a 1983 article that mischaracterized the actions that the student representatives took to push back on higher parking fees. She stated in that letter: “Nowhere in the discussion of parking fees did the student representatives state that LMC students want the faculty and staff to pay!”
Her time as an LMC student and student representative went by quickly and when time came for her to think about transferring she was at a loss. Valenzuela explained that she and Sue Lopez “didn’t know where we wanted to transfer. At the time, there was no transfer center.” So when Shirley Baskin—her mentor and former student activities coordinator at the time—offered to give them a personal tour of her alma mater, California State University Hayward (now East Bay), they jumped at the chance. That tour was instrumental in Valenzuela’s decision to attend, where she majored in business administration with an emphasis in management information systems and personnel administration.
When Valenzuela transferred, her departure was felt throughout the school as she had been an integral part of the student government. A 1983 article in the Experience, entitled “Government ‘gone to dogs’” called it “regrettable that student reps like Eileen Valenzuela, Ron Miles, Sue Lopez, and Darnell Turner are no longer with our student governance system.”
But her absence from LMC turned out to be only temporary. Right after she graduated from CSU Hayward, Valenzuela had the opportunity to work part-time under her mentor and friend Shirley Baskin, when she was tasked to type and formalize a handwritten sports playbook, which she described this way: “The coach at the time hand wrote all the plays, the X’s and O’s…I did not even know what X’s and O’s meant, or the placement, but I followed exactly what the coach wrote.”
Towards the end of that summer, a different position opened up at LMC, and Valenzuela agreed to serve as substitute student activities coordinator, until they found someone to fill the position permanently.
Over time she became attached to the role so when the chance to become the permanent student activities coordinator came up she applied and became a full-time staff member in January 1987. Her title was later changed to student activities manager, a role in which Valenzuela continued working with mainly students for her first decade as a permanent, full-time LMC staff team.
Although Valenzuela’s job involved advising and supporting students, she said she learned a lot from them. “I didn’t teach in a classroom, right? But working with students, you learn a lot about students and also about yourself” she said. “I learned to be patient and also learn to own your mistakes, and the positive things you do.”
After a decade with student activities Valenzuela was named in 1997 as special assistant to then LMC President Raul Rodriguez. In that role she also served as public information officer and collaborated with then Business Manager Bruce Cutler to create more office space for new managers and instructors as the college grew.
In 2005, Valenzuela was named Office of Instruction Supervisor, a position she holds today. In that role she supports the curriculum process and serves as articulation, making sure the courses teachers create at LMC align with state policy and with similar classes at transfer institutions, she also manages the faculty recruitment and evaluation process.
Although Valenzuela has worn many hats at LMC, from her time as a student to her long service as an employee, what has been special to her are “the people that I’ve worked with over the years.”
Community has always been important to her, and she fondly recalled faculty/staff intramural softball games, and the annual Thanksgiving Token of Thanks celebrations, in which members of the college community wrote notes of thanks to each other.
“When I was hired to teach journalism and advise the student newspaper, Eileen was student activities coordinator, and she was always gracious and kind in answering the questions of the Experience journalists, writing stories about clubs, activities, and student government,” said Journalism Instructor Cindy McGrath.
The long-term impact that Valenzuela has on the college community will linger, as witnessed by her work through the years on the Holiday Gift Drive—formerly known as Angel Tree Project—which will continue to put smiles on children’s faces for years to come. Although others will carry this initiative on, it’s safe to say that the college won’t be the same without her as she retires from the institution she first came to as a student 44 years ago.
