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 3,100 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 oncampus
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.
