Brent Calvin, from COS student to COS president and superintendent, has been on our campus for more than two decades. Calvin started his academic life as a student here at COS and then transferred and graduated from Cal State Fullerton with a business degree. Calvin quickly made a name for himself by buying an engineering company, selling it and then running it for the new owners for four years. Then he decided to continue his education by going to California State University Dominguez Hills for his MBA and then acquiring his Doctorate at North Central University. Calvin has been here at COS since the early 2000s. Calvin initially worked as the athletic director until 2007 and then became the Dean of Social Science at the Hanford campus from 2007-2011. From 2011-2012 he served as the interim president of COS and then became vice president of the college until 2018 when he officially became the president, a position he continues to hold.

Calvin shows a great dedication to his students and their lives as he devotes so much of his time to them. Graduating from Redwood High School himself, he has a real soft spot for our local community. This is tangible in every word he says, from his tone to his facial expressions, it’s very evident that Calvin cares when conversing about our students and community. Calvin makes it a point to attend as many of the student lead activities, performances, and sports games that he can, highlighting his commitment to the school. Whether it be a play, musical performance, or basketball game, Calvin always makes the effort to support his students and to watch them in their element. When asked about how he makes such an effort to support his school, Calvin responded, “I’d much rather watch our students perform than any professionals doing the same thing,”. For Calvin, watching a COS play or basketball game isn’t any less valuable than a professional Broadway production or an NBA game. For him it’s actually better due to the fact that he can witness his very own students work hard and make a name for themselves. Having a president be this supportive of a school, while it should be normal, really is something that shouldn’t be taken for granted. Calvin takes a vested interest in all activities and wants to ensure that  no student will feel unsupported as long as he remains president.

Not only does Calvin support our fellow students in their sports and other artistic endeavors, but he is also very involved with advancing and improving our academic resources on campus. Calvin mentioned how one of the biggest issues that COS faces right now is AI usage among students and teachers. He thinks that using different AI software to generate answers is completely counterintuitive to the learning experience. Calvin exclaims that students can’t get comfortable with relying on AI and they have to know the material for themselves in order to be successful. While he acknowledges that certain AI results for a Google search can be quite useful, Calvin notes that this can be a slippery slope and people still need to be careful. While Calvin knows that AI is the future and is probably only going to be more integrated with education, he stresses that we must prioritize “protecting the integrity of education,” where pursuing a degree will still have some value and not be seen as completing a series of search results. One of the biggest things that Calvin couldn’t stress enough is “knowledge acquisition over the grade.” Calvin says students shouldn’t be so concerned with simply passing a class to the point where they use AI for help, instead they must focus on learning the material and expanding their minds.

Another big academic resource for us at COS and one of the big projects that Calvin will oversee for the next couple years is the new University Center that is being built. Calvin has made it a priority to improve the academic resources that are available to our COS students. With Tulare County not having a four-year university at the moment, implementing the University Center here at COS would be a big game changer. Calvin has acknowledged all of the struggles that students face when dealing with transferring from COS. He knows that having the ability to pursue a four year degree right here on campus would be beneficial to many of our students. Calvin sees a future where our local students living with their families don’t have to choose between being with them and pursuing their education. Students will have the opportunity to get their education without the issue of commuting. And in a future with more students pursuing a four year education at COS, more academic minds can stay in the valley and contribute to our economy, only increasing the quality of life for us here at COS. And President Brent Calvin will be here leading the way.