Los Angeles Community College District Trustee Dr. Kelsey Iino has been unanimously appointed by her colleagues to serve as board president for 2025.
Iino was sworn in by Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Akemi Arakaki on Dec. 18.
The other board members are Sara Hernandez (first vice president), Andra Hoffman (second vice president), Steven F. Veres, David Vela, Nichelle Henderson, Gabriel Buelna, and Ambyr C. Baham (student trustee).
Iino said of her colleagues, “I am honored for their faith in me as we navigate these transitional and challenging times for our district. I will work hard and do my best to keep our students at the center of our decision-making process. Thank you to my family and friends who came out to support me in person and virtually! Let’s do this!”
Iino and her team visited Sacramento in January to advocate for the community colleges. “With so many concerns, fears, and unknowns, we’re all working hard to ask our legislators to help us protect our students and our campus communities,” she said.
The team also visited Washington, D.C. in February. “We braved the snow, rain, and cold to meet with the Department of Education, congressmembers, and senators to fight for secured federal funding, community project grants, and hope for public education during such a chaotic time,” Iino said. “I’m so grateful for their time and concern as we explained what we are preparing for and what we are dealing with.”
As a Los Angeles native and a California community college graduate herself, Iino has dedicated her professional career to the community college system. She has worked for over 15 years as a counselor in various areas and currently counsels students in the areas of health science, athletics, creative arts, and MANA (an Asian American Pacific Islander initiative grant program to support the Native Hawaiian and Pasifika community) at El Camino College, of which she is an alumna.
Since her appointment to the LACCD board in April 2022, she has hit the ground running and serves on the Legislative and Public Affairs Committee, the Budget Committee, and the Athletic Ad Hoc Committee. She is also the chair of the API
Advisory Committee.
Iino has volunteered in various capacities for over 20 years. She currently serves as a board member in multiple organizations. These causes include the Astronaut Ellison S. Onizuka Memorial Committee, an organization to sustain Onizuka’s legacy and to inspire and promote space and the STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, mathematics) field to youth.
She serves as the faculty representative on the board of the El Camino College Foundation, a board member of the Little Tokyo Service Center, and key organizer of the “Straight Outta Little Tokyo” event series, through which she engages in grass-roots fundraising for the Terasaki Budokan.
Iino grew up in the South Bay, earned an AA in sociology at El Camino College, transferred to UCLA to earn her BA in sociology with a minor in education and then her M.Ed. in counseling and student affairs, and finally her doctorate in educational leadership from USC.