This month’s Member Spotlight highlights Foothill College and President Kristina Whalen’s efforts to advance institutional culture through innovation. Responding to urgent equity, workforce, and technology challenges across the California Community Colleges system, Foothill has launched culture pods—small, cross-functional teams grounded in trust, psychological safety, and growth-minded experimentation. These agile groups align with the goals of the college, district, and state, moving ideas from inquiry to implementation while producing scalable practices. Whalen outlines six presidential commitments to anchor, resource, and sustain the pods, ensuring that innovation translates into measurable gains in student belonging, persistence, and achievement.

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