Santa Barbara City College Announces Three Finalists for Superintendent

From left: Erika Endrijonas, PhD, Richard Storti, EdD, and Katrina VanderWoude, EdD. | Credit: Courtesy SBCC

Santa Barbara City College’s search for a new superintendent-president has been narrowed down to three top finalists, the school announced on Monday. Whoever takes on the leadership role will be the school’s fifth superintendent-president since 2019. 

SBCC has been on a search for a permanent successor to former superintendent-president Dr. Utpal Goswami since he resigned in July 2021, a little more than a year after his term began in January 2020. In the meantime, the college has been led by Interim Superintendent-President Kindred Murillo, who came out of retirement in August 2021 to serve in the temporary role. 

The finalists for the position are Erika Endrijonas, PhD, the current superintendent-president of Pasadena City College; Richard Storti, EdD, the current executive vice chancellor of San Mateo County Community College District; and Katrina VanderWoude, EdD, the current vice chancellor of Los Angeles Community College District.

Finalists were identified through an extensive screening process that began in November 2022. The candidates were chosen by a 19-member screening committee composed of students, faculty, the SBCC Foundation, community members, and members of the SBCC Board of Trustees. Since January, the committee has narrowed the initial pool of 36 candidate applications down to the three finalists, following Zoom interviews of 14 candidates and then in-person interviews of eight semi-finalists. 

According to the school’s Search and Hire Timeline, the Board of Trustees plans to conduct final interviews from March 17 to 18, and will appoint the new superintendent-president in April. 

The college said on Monday that details on forthcoming public forums and final interviews will be announced later this week. The forums will be offered for viewing in-person and virtually and will also be recorded. Members of the public are invited to attend the forums, and an online survey will be available after the forums for all who wish to offer feedback.