Photo by Camille Tarazon
Via: DailyTitan – Cal State Fullerton’s Children’s Center is welcoming a new director, Jenny Taylor, into its fold and saying goodbye to its longstanding director, Betsy Gibbs, who has been with the center since it began in 1974.
Gibbs decided to step down as director last spring after accomplishing her goal of building the new center.
“Knowing that everything is going to be OK at the center–I mean we have a wonderful staff and I have been in charge of it for long enough,” said Gibbs.
In order to choose the new director, a panel was established and made up of various members from Associated Students Inc., including Laura Brown, the Human Resources director, staff from the Children’s Center, a master teacher, an education coordinator, office coordinator and another employee of ASI.
Six candidates were picked to participate in an open forum on campus. It was a collaborative process composed of parents, teachers, committee members and ASI’s Executive Director Fred Sanchez.
“Jenny possesses the experience we were looking for, which was a combination of teaching and administration. She has been the director of other children’s centers. We’re excited to have her with us,” said Sanchez.
Taylor, an alumna of Cal State Dominguez Hills, has been a director of a children’s center and preschool for 16 years. She started in Parks Recreation and Marine at Long Beach, where she lives currently, and then moved to Wyoming, where she opened up a children’s center. Later, she returned to California and had been working as a director in Manhattan Beach.
Taylor said she believes every child is capable and competent, and all children and staff deserve respect and to be listened to. That was a big reason behind her getting the job because it was compatible with the center, Gibbs and Vargish said.
“It was a combination of her experience, her personality and her philosophy. The way she will go about making decisions will be very inclusive of the stakeholders, meaning the staff, the parents and the associated students. I think she is a collaborative person,” Gibbs said.
Gibbs will stay for a month to help Taylor transition into the center. Gibbs said she will be teaching Taylor about the four different grants/funding sources, reviewing the budget and how it is constructed, and getting to know the system at the center.
The biggest challenge, since this is Taylor’s first position as director in a university, will be to keep in mind the complexities of the four different grants/funding sources they have, plus the fifth being the Associated Students when making decisions, Gibbs said.
“It is going to be a learning curve, but we will all be here to help her as much as possible,” said Assistant Director Beverly Vargish.
Vargish went on to say, “I think she is going to be innovative, she is going to be one who tries new things.”
Taylor said she is excited to join a center with parents and staff who have the same intention: eagerness to learn and grow and develop.
Gibbs said although she will miss the interactions with people at the center, she will offer herself as a volunteer at the center wherever her help is needed, after taking some time to do the things she has had to put off doing because of all the encompassing work it takes to be a director.
“I plan on being a collaborative worker, take part of what they are doing and not just sit behind a desk and sign my signature on everything,” said Taylor, who has been married for four years and is expecting her first child.
People who hired Taylor said the center is passing from one pair of good hands to another.
“Betsy had a real vision and I think Jenny will be able to work with Betsy’s vision and really make this a pretty special place–it already is, but even more special,” Vargish said.
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