Women’s History Month 2024: Erika Endrijonas

This week I interviewed Erika Endrijonas, Superintendent and President of Santa Barbara City College. A feminist and a women’s historian, she holds a B.A. in History from Cal State Northridge, and a M.A. and PhD in History from USC.

Prior to her position at SBCC, her career included Dean and Professor, Union Institute & University, Los Angeles; Dean, Educational Programs, SBCC, 2000-2009; Executive Vice President, Oxnard College, 2009-2014; President, Los Angeles Valley College, 2014-2019; and the Superintendent/President, Pasadena City College, 2019-2023. With her demanding and full schedule, to regroup she said she loves to cook, quilt, play cards, exercise, and sip bourbon. Here’s our interview!

Q.Do you celebrate Women’s History Month?

A. I do! It’s important to me because it is what I am a scholar of, and it is what is important to me. I am a women’s historian. My emphasis for my PhD was 19th and 20th century U.S. women’s history. My dissertation was a cultural history of cookbooks from 1945 to 1960. Women’s history is what I am about. Noozhawk started a monthly column with me, and this month will talk about women’s history. I am a feminist my whole life. To my knowledge I am the first “out” [coming out] President of SBCC. I am a woman identified in multiple ways.

Any Women’s History Month programming at SBCC? 

We have a Women in Leadership Panel at our School of Extended Learning on April 12th at the Wake Campus. 

When we talk about women’s history, what are your key data points?

We’ve been celebrating Women’s History Month since 1987. The force behind that was Gerda Hedwig Lerner. She started women’s history programs at Sarah Lawrence and the University of Wisconsin at Madison. 

As a historian, it is important to me because there is so much history that women have been a part of. Women do not get credit for the work they do; often they are criticized for the work they didn’t do. We need to celebrate the history of women and their contributions.

Women at the top of your list are…?

Audre Lorde, a black lesbian poet, is very powerful for me. She wrote a paper titled “The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House.” The distillation is that white women have taken advantage of women of color on their rise to getting access to more power or opportunity. It is women of color who have paid the price and ask, “Why am I not a part of this?” Part of Lord’s argument is the oppressed often have to explain their oppression to their oppressors, and that’s not acceptable.

Other women on my list are Nancy Pelosi. I may not always agree with her policies, but she is levelheaded and clear on what had to happen in the past 20 years. Equally – and again, I am not a fan of her policies – is Lynne Cheney.She is one of the few voices out there signaling the call about our democracy and our form of government. At heart we need people who value our government because it’s in danger right now.

What do women bring to leadership roles differently than men?

I think there are similar attributes, but they are done differently. Women tend to be more collectivists and look at the whole community. It is how women are socialized. We are problem solvers in multiple layers at the same time. We go into auto mode, identify the problem and its macro and micro levels. Men, the way they are socialized and allowed to be in the world, are linear; they do not have to think about it from different angles.

Women take on more than we have to. Women, especially as a lesbian woman, I understand what it means to be the other – meaning not white male or male, with that privilege.

How did becoming the SBCC Superintendent & President come about?

I was at SBCC 2000 – 2009 as a Dean, and then Superintendent and President Peter R. MacDougall sent me to the Asilomar Leadership Skills Seminar in 2002. There I saw women in leadership roles as presidents of universities and that inspired me. I set out to achieve the skills and degrees I needed to do that. While I worked in positions at other schools and the position at SBCC was open, the timing was not right until now. 

What are your goals for the school?

My goals are grounded in the SBCC mission. Number one is stability. I’m the eighth president in 12 years. SBCC needs a steady hand on the tiller. I know the college. What I have to offer is stability. More importantly, when you have leadership turnover, systems fall apart. I need to put those systems back into place and president-proof the college. One of my chief messages is how we move forward; how do we serve the south SB County area and what programs do we need to offer? Other issues are declining demographics, declining international and out-of-state students, and the housing crisis for employees and students. I commute from Camarillo. Also, I need to be active on the state level to advocate what communities like ours need.

What is the coolest thing about your job?

Graduation! You see the joy and pride of the students and their families because they have accomplished their education through to graduation. Also cool is working with our local community, the mayor, the city council members, and how we have an impact on campus and the community.

Your advice for professional women?

If you can see it, you can be it. Research for the job, find out what skills you have, skills you need, and go get the skills. You can do it. Never be afraid to ask for help. You have to be willing to stand up for yourself and call it out in a respectful way. 

Who are your female mentors, and their words of wisdom?

Dr. Helen Benjamin who was the Interim President of SBCC; Dr. Pamela Luster,President Emerita of San Diego Mesa College; and Dr. Kathleen Burke,President LA Community College District. It’s important for women to have mentors and colleagues, and you need to give it in order to get it.

What interview question would you love to be asked and your reply to it?

A lot of people ask, “So you’re going to stick around, we don’t have to worry?”I said to the Board Chair, I have about five and a half years before I want to retire and am here to provide stability, get systems in place, and start succession planning for my role. Demands on community college presidents have increased exponentially since MacDougall was president here. His focus was on access. Now, it’s how many people you get through the door and over the finish line, along with the data on that.

411: https://sbcc.edu