San Diego and Imperial Counties Community Colleges Association

Speakers Bios
Constance M. Carroll, Ph.D.
Chancellor, San Diego Community College District
Dr. Constance M. Carroll has served as chancellor of the San Diego Community College District since 2004. The
total enrollment at the SDCCD’s City, Mesa, and Miramar Colleges, and Continuing Education division is 130,000
students. An additional 145,000 service personnel are enrolled in educational programs provided by the District
at military bases in 24 states. Prior to becoming chancellor, Dr. Carroll served as president of three community
colleges in California: San Diego Mesa College, Saddleback College, and Indian Valley Colleges. She also served
as Director of Freshman Academic Advising at the University of Pittsburgh and Associate Dean of the College of
Arts and Sciences at the University of Southern Maine.
Constance Carroll earned a B.A. (Humanities) from Duquesne University; an M.A. and Ph.D. (Classics) from
the University of Pittsburgh; and a Certificate in Hellenic Studies from Knubly University in Greece. She also
attended the Harvard University Institute for Educational Management.
In 2011, Constance Carroll was nominated by President Barack Obama and confirmed by the United States Senate
to serve a six-year term on the National Council on the Humanities. Dr. Carroll’s board service also includes the
University of San Diego and the San Diego Foundation, as well as the League for Innovation, the Community
College Humanities Association, and San Diego Youth Services.
She also served on the boards of the American Council on Education, the American Association of Community
Colleges (AACC), the California Council for the Humanities (as Chair), the WASC Accrediting Commission for
Community and Junior Colleges (as Chair), and the San Diego Opera. She has numerous publications and
presentations to her credit. Among many honors, Dr. Carroll received the national Association of Community
College Trustees’ “Marie Y. Martin CEO Award,” the Harry Buttimer Award, which is the top honor for a California
Community College CEO, and a “Remarkable Leader in Education Award” from the University of San Diego.
Justin Dile
U.S. Army Reserves/Grossmont College
Justin Dile, 26, just completed eight years in the Army Reserves that included a 15-month deployment to Iraq in
2005. Using his Post 9/11 G.I. Bill benefits, the former military police officer enrolled at a community college in
Phoenix, Arizona then moved to San Diego on a job transfer. He enrolled at Grossmont College in 2009, received
his degree as an honor graduate in 2011 and transferred as a finance major to the University of San Diego. Dile
now works at Grossmont’s Veterans Affairs Office.
Melinda Nish, Ed.D.
Superintendent/President, Southwestern College
Melinda Nish became Superintendent/President of Southwestern College on January 2, 2012. Her educational
and professional background has emphasized internationalism and the world marketplace. She lived in Europe
for nearly a decade, and is fluent in both English and French.
She comes to Southwestern from Orange Coast College where she served as vice president of instruction from
2005-2011. In that capacity, she was responsible for oversight of the college’s instructional program and was
responsible for maintaining a campus environment that supports students’ educational goals.
Nish recently served as a member of the California Community Colleges Task Force on Student Success that
examined best practices and effective models within higher education throughout the nation to improve
educational achievements in California. The task force has produced a final report which has been approved by
the California Community College Board of Governors and is currently under consideration by the Legislature.
Nish also led Orange Coast’s accreditation efforts since 2005 as the college’s Accreditation Liaison Officer for the
Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) and the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior
Colleges (ACCJC). In 2009, Nish was named Orange Coast College’s Manager of the Year by the Coast District
Management Association (CDMA).
2012 INFORMATION BOOKLET 27