LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The new chancellor of the Yuba Community College District was officially welcomed to Lake County on Wednesday.

The district’s board voted to hire Dr. Shouan Pan in April, and he took over the job in June, as Lake County News has reported.

A native of China, Pan has lived in the United States since 1985, pursuing his masters and doctoral degrees and holding leadership positions in colleges in Florida, Arizona and, most recently, Washington — where he was chancellor of the Seattle Community Colleges — before making his way to California.

He now presides over the Yuba Community College District, which crosses eight counties and serves an estimated 13,000 students at its Yuba College and Woodland Community College campuses.

Lake County’s campus, in Clearlake, is under Woodland Community College.

That’s where the reception for Pan took place on Wednesday afternoon.

Dignitaries and officials on hand to celebrate Pan at the event included Supervisor Bruno Sabatier; Dr. Santanu Bandyopadhyay, president of Woodland Community College; Ingrid Larsen, dean of the Lake County Campus; Lake County Superintendent of Schools Brock Falkenburg; Clearlake City Councilman Dirk Slooten; and college district board member Doug Harris and President Juan Delgado.

Dr. Pan thanked everyone for coming and honoring him, noting that it speaks of their love and support for the campus.

“It is clear to me what this campus means to the county, to the city, to this region,” Pan said, adding that listening to stories from community members about their experiences with the campus gave him goose bumps.

Community colleges in America are a rare innovation, Pan said.

He explained that after World War II, veterans returning home led to the need to create a new higher educational system for those who weren’t served well in the nation’s traditional — and, in some ways, racist — higher education system. That changed America, where at one point a new college was emerging every week.

Pan said he was grateful to the college district trustees for selecting him as the next chancellor. “This is a rare opportunity for me to continue my love for community college.”

He shared his experiences growing up in China. His father was the only one in the family who had a college degree, and because he had been dubbed an anti-communist, his children struggled to get an education.

Pan said that he was excluded from many things because of how the government targeted his father. Despite his challenges, he was a very good student and would go on to become the first person in his family to get a college degree.

Although he was a good high school student, Pan said he was unsure of himself, and the government determined to send him to the countryside to be a farmer for the rest of his life.

However, thanks to China opening up, Pan was able to come to the United States, where community colleges resonated with him. His two sons, born in the United States, excelled in community college — he said it changed their lives — while they had struggled in university.

Community college is a gateway and equalizer for counties like Lake, Colusa and the other rural counties the district serves, he said.

Pan said they want to be mission centered, and find how to provide training and education that allows those who have historically been underserved to have the equal opportunity to excel and to break the cycle of poverty.

The Lake County Campus, Pan said, “has an important role to play.”

He said he wants to collaborate with community leaders. “We want to be innovative. We have to be responsive, agile, adaptive” to the needs of the county and community.

Pan said the college wants to be sustainable and needs more resources. Still, with its limited resources, he said they need to focus on students and their future.

“I look forward to continuing to come to this county, to this city, to collaborate with you,” and to explore possibilities to serve students and taxpayers well, Pan said.

By honoring him, they are honoring higher education and the campus, Pan said.

The biography of Dr. Pan provided at the event follows in its entirety.


Dr. Shouan Pan comes to the Yuba Community College District from Washington, where he served as chancellor of the Seattle Community Colleges. During his tenure in Seattle, Dr. Pan led the integration of HR, web services, eLearning, IT, international education, corporate training, and initiated the Seattle Promise program that is recognized nationally as a model of equitable student success. Under his leadership, the Seattle Colleges Foundation raised a record amount of funds in support of students, and Equity Diversity and Inclusion priorities. In concert with community partners, the Seattle Community Colleges initiated five no-credit micro-pathway programs, new associate degrees in Fire Sciences, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science.

Before leading Seattle Community Colleges, Dr. Pan served as President of Mesa Community College; Provost of Broward College-South Campus; Executive Dean of Instruction and Student Services at Florida State College, Jacksonville; Dean of Student Life at Community College of Philadelphia; and Assistant Professor of Educational Psychology, and Recruitment and Retention Administrator at Northern Arizona University.

Dr. Pan centers his leadership practices on fulfilling the community college mission and promoting student and community success. He places emphasis on working with the Board of Trustees, institutional and community stakeholders in formulating a common vision and building consensus on strategic decisions. His success is evidenced in a strong track record of improving student success; building partnerships with educational institutions, businesses, and civic organizations to further institutional goals and community economic development; and securing external resources.

He has been active in higher education at local, state, and national levels, including membership in the American Association of Community Colleges, and the Association of Community College Trustees. He has served on the boards of the National Asian Pacific Islander Council, Campus Compact, Chair Academy, and Economic Development Council of Seattle and King County. He has received honors and awards from organizations including, the League for Innovation in Community Colleges, Phi Theta Kappa International Honor Society, and the Mesa MLK Jr. Celebration Committee. Born and raised in China, Dr. Pan immigrated to the United States in 1985.

He earned a Doctor of Philosophy in Higher Education from Iowa State University, a Master of Education from Colorado State, and a Bachelor of Arts from Hefei Polytechnic University, RP China.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.