Erin Flanagan has been appointed Executive Director of the San Diego City College Foundation. Flanagan is also the college’s first-ever Director of Development and Entrepreneurship. Her role began June 1, 2023.
“City College has the power to be a vessel for not only the opportunity youth, houseless, justice impacted, and veterans populations in Downtown San Diego and our larger service area but to anyone who needs a pathway to college and into the middle class,” said Flanagan, who served as senior administrative analyst and chief of staff for UC San Diego’s senior vice chancellor of academic affairs. “The academic excellence here is unmatched, and the San Diego City College Foundation hopes to supplement funding for whatever our students need to be successful.”
Flanagan continued, “City College is the legacy of all of us. I want us to be recognized in the California Community College system as a leading foundation, for marrying opportunities between students, employees, and the workforce at every level of the community college.”
The San Diego City College Foundation follows seven main areas of focus to provide students with resources they need to succeed from food, emergency assistance, to technology. The foundation additionally leads industry community partnerships and supports campus programs.
While San Diego City College was established in 1914, the San Diego City College Foundation launched in 1972 to grant access to critical resources and financial sponsorship to students.
“I admire how visionary President Ricky Shabazz is. It was his mission since he began his presidency to build out the City College Foundation to support the college’s robust offerings for well-deserving students who come from low-income and underrepresented backgrounds,” said Flanagan. “Dr. Shabazz is willing to staff the foundation and take it to a new level. I am elated he elected me in this role, this what I have been working on personally and professionally for years.”
Relaunching the San Diego City College Foundation to college employees, students, and community members, staffing the organization, hosting an open house, donor and alumni events are among Flanagan’s key areas of focus this fall.
Her life’s work has been dedicated to philanthropy and higher education. Flanagan has served as the executive assistant to the president at City College for 15 years, including three permanent and two interim presidents, as well as to the San Diego City College Foundation and its board chairs and members. During her time as a San Diego Community College District (SDCCD) employee, she took on acting assignments, most recently as the district’s acting manager of Fiscal Services in 2022, as City’s professional development coordinator for the Supervisory and Professionals Administrators Association (SPAA) in 2021, and as City’s acting information officer in 2018.
Prior to joining the SDCCD, Flanagan acquired high-level foreign relations and political experience, serving as an aide to the Finnish Consulate in the George H.W. Bush and William J. Clinton administrations, as well as an aide to the U.S. Ambassador to Switzerland and the U.S. Representative to the World Conservation Union in the William J. Clinton administration.
Her global background serves City College students well. “When I meet with our students whose first language is not English, I remember living in Europe and not speaking the native language but feeling the frustration of being very bright and wanting to succeed,” recalls Flanagan. “Their drive to succeed is limitless and the foundation is ready to support them.”