Theresa Fleischer Rowland, Ed.D., with an educational career across community college, K12, and university work, brings experience as a teacher, tutor, case manager, job developer, community college counselor, and administrator. She is a lifelong educator providing leadership, vision, and strategic direction to passionately develop pathways to degrees and meaningful careers for California's community college students.  

Dr. Rowland holds a doctorate in Educational Leadership and bachelor’s degree from the University of Southern California, and a master’s degree in Counselor Education from San Diego State University. Since 2019, Dr. Rowland serves as the Vice Chancellor of Educational Services and Student Success with the Chabot – Las Positas Community College District in the San Francisco Bay Area, California.  

Dr. Rowland, a former community college student herself, is passionate about elevating college completion rates and career mobility through building transformative systems across segments of higher education. She leads multi-segmental teams to build capacity for cross-systems change focused on higher education access and completion for under-represented students. Dr. Rowland is actively involved in regional and California state leadership on intersegmental transfer collaboratives and beneficial statewide policy. She is the lead for the East Bay College Agile Network (EBCAN) and the Bay Area K-16 Collaborative, regional initiatives for equitable transfer backed by philanthropy and public funding.  

Dr. Rowland identifies as a first-generation college graduate with lived experience on the complexities of navigating college completion and career ideation. She is the mother to two adult children, one working in Silicon Valley and one serving in the U.S. Air Force.  

Previously, Dr. Rowland served as the Associate Vice Chancellor of Instruction with City College of San Francisco, serving 65,000 students. She began her career as a K12 teacher, and after a master’s program joined the counseling faculty at San Diego Mesa and City Colleges. Her community college work continued at Pasadena City College (adjunct Counselor), Long Beach City College (Assistant Director), and both Foothill and De Anza Colleges (Executive Director, Vice President). Dr. Rowland worked for six years with the Foundation for California Community Colleges/Career Ladders Project (Senior Director) improving state policy and student success impact through large-scale community college initiatives.