Dr. Fred Wood began his tenure as the
eighth permanent Chancellor of the
Contra Costa Community College District
in January 2017. The District serves over
51,000 students at three colleges (Contra
Costa College, Diablo Valley College and
Los Medanos College) and two centers
(Brentwood and San Ramon). The District
is one of the largest multi-college
community college districts in California,
where more than 3,600 employees serve
a county of over one million residents. Dr.
Wood came to the District after serving as
Chancellor at the University of Minnesota
Crookston (UMC). UMC was a two-year
technical college beginning in 1966 and
later transitioned to a baccalaureate
granting institution in 1993. It is a workforce
focused campus of the University of
Minnesota system, of which half of the
degree-seeking students are on campus
students with a required internship and the
other half are enrolled in one of 14 fully
online degree programs.
Chancellor Wood joined UMC after a 26-year career at the University of California, Davis
(UCD), where his last position was serving as vice chancellor of student affairs from 2007 to
2012, leading one of the largest student affairs portfolios in the nation. Dr. Wood’s experience at
UCD included other leadership positions, such as interim vice provost for undergraduate studies
and associate dean of the College of Letters and Science, while concurrently serving as a
faculty member in chemistry. During his time at UCD, Dr. Wood led a number of initiatives that
increased access for community college students, and overall completion and success of transfer students.
Chancellor Wood began both his college education and professional career at the community
college. Prior to joining UCD, Dr. Wood was a faculty member at North Idaho College and his
first teaching assignment during graduate school was at Diablo Valley College (DVC). A first generation
college graduate, Chancellor Wood earned an associate of art degree from DVC, and bachelor of science and Ph.D. degrees in chemistry from UC Davis.
He is married and has three grown children, and enjoys hiking, biking and skiing with his family.
