Cerritos College hosted the third round of the presidential candidate panel, in which Dr. Rajen Vurdien showcased what he can bring to the campus if elected.

A full Teleconference Center watched as Dr. Vurdien spoke about his mission and experience as current president of Fullerton College.

His plans include working with high schools to enhance the success of incoming students, improve campus safety and improve faculty and staff.

Some of his former positions include vice president for instruction at Saddleback College, Associate Professor and Chair of Reading at Long Island University and adjunct instructor of ESL, Reading and English at Cypress College, as well as Cerritos College.

Vurdien has a Bachelor’s degree and a Master’s degree from the University of Rennes in France, a Post Graduate Certificate in Education from the Mauritius Institute of Education, an M.Ed. and Ph.D. in Psychological Studies in Education at Temple University and an MBA from Long Island University.

“Every single year since I’ve been at Fullerton College I have worked with the Vice President of Administrative Services to make at least $75,000 available for staff development because I believe that administration is important, that professional development opportunities are available,” he said.

“We want our instructors and teachers to be on the cutting edge of everything. We want them to be able to attend conferences to see the best practices that other schools are using.”

Cerritos has recently been experiencing safety issues on campus.

Dr. Vurdien said, “Currently at Fullerton College I am holding safety forums so that students can know what is available and how we want them to be protected.”

Computer science/business major Dhruti Khetani said, “I really liked his past experience, he worked with United Nations Development Program which is really impressive.

“My only concern with him was that I don’t think he’s aware of Cerritos College as much. I don’t think he realizes the issues or things he’ll be working on if he gets hired here.”

Theater and Communications major Ivan Oyarzabal said,“I thought it was very politically correct. This candidate caught my attention in consensus and meeting a management position in which it would utilize the governance. I’m very happy with the student representation, I think there should be more but it’s a good turnout.”