The retiring superintendent/president of Glendale Community College has been a champion of both public and Catholic schools during his half-century career in education.

On June 30, the same day Dr. John Davitt celebrates his 50th wedding anniversary with his wife Gael, he will step down from his 21-year leadership position at GCC, which has earned the St. Bede (La Caņada) parishioner the record for the longest-seated community college president in California.

The only child of a banker father and a homemaker mother who grew up in the Bay Area, Davitt attended public grammar school except for a year he spent at St. Monica's in San Francisco before moving with his family to The City's Sunset district. Since the Catholic school in his new neighborhood was filled to capacity, he finished grammar school in a K-8 public school.

He decided to go into teaching while attending St. Ignatius High School, which encouraged members of the all-boys' student body to be men of service. "I just saw myself as a teacher," said Davitt, a near straight-A student who spent two years at UC Berkeley.

Feeling Berkeley was too big and impersonal, Davitt transferred to Jesuit-run University of San Francisco. "It was more like going home, right next to St. Ignatius," said Davitt. "It was a personalized education and Catholic centered." He graduated with a degree in history and earned a master's degree in secondary education at USF, and later received a doctorate in community college administration from USC.

Awarded a commission in the U.S. Army because of his ROTC training, Davitt served as an "Aide-de-Camp" to the commanding general at Fort Mason in San Francisco, which was the headquarters for the overseas transportation corps responsible for sending troops and supplies to the Pacific. Among his Army activities, he served as a recreational square dance caller --- a skill which came in handy years later when he taught St. Bede eighth graders the art of square dancing.

Marrying in 1956, Davitt began his teaching career as a social studies teacher at San Francisco's Roosevelt Junior High School. He then was a counselor at Merritt College in Oakland until he reluctantly agreed to uproot his wife and four children for Southern California and a position as an assistant professor at Cal State L.A., teaching college counselors.

Collaborative management
In 1968, Davitt was hired as Glendale College's new administrative dean of student personnel services. He became vice president for instructional services in 1981 and, in 1985, took over as acting president and superintendent before being named to the position formally in 1986.

In contrast to the previous administration, Davitt had an inclusive, collaborative management style that has become an administrative model for other community college campuses.

"Because I was a counselor as well as a teacher, I think that carried over to my administrative style of trying to be collaborative, of trying to inspire people to do things," explained Davitt. "Most everything that's done here at the college is because the faculty do it. They come up with the ideas."

He's most proud of the congenial campus atmosphere where faculty and staff are treated like family members. "It's a happy place to be and that means creativity on the part of the faculty. That's why we have so many programs here that most urban colleges don't have such as the Model United Nations, the Scholars Program, the Eclipse literary magazine, the study abroad programs and the Baja field station."

Service learning
Reflecting his Jesuit service-model roots, Davitt is very proud of GCC's service learning program, begun during the Clinton administration. "That's why President Clinton visited the campus here in 1996, because we were one of the few community colleges that had service learning nationally," said Davitt.

Since winning the original service learning AmeriCorps grant, GCC has kept it going as a district-funded program, where 500 students participate in "service learning" as tutors and mentors, working with the homeless and service agencies in the community. Some students are enrolled for credit, but many do it as part of the curriculum.

Since Davitt became GCC's leader, course offerings have increased and multiplied, while student enrollment has grown from 10,000 to 25,000. More than 100,000 square feet of renovated and new building space, done in Spanish mission style architecture, upgraded the look of the college.

GCC has also greatly expanded financial aid and services for disabled students. "For our size, we have the largest program for students with disabilities of any college," said Davitt. "The scholarship program here is the largest in California irrespective of size with $350,000 in privately-funded scholarships awarded annually."

A trustee of Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy and the incoming 06-07 president of Holy Family High School's Board of Regents, Davitt believes private and public schools have the same purpose: to educate students. "There's room for all," he maintains.

However, he adds, private education is facing an ever-steeper financial challenge. "Catholic education is being priced out of the market for a lot of families," said Davitt. For community colleges, "stability of [state] financing is a continuing problem. We never know from year to year what the money will be. Every time the tuition goes up, enrollment goes down. Students need to know what tuition is going to be in the future. They can't be every year hostages to the political machinations of the legislature."

He said the state's budget for the upcoming year "looks very promising" but warned: "If that's going to be a one time thing or once a decade kind of thing, [students] can't plan."

Retirement
Though they contemplated retiring together, the Davitts decided that Gael, who has taught for 32 years at St. Bede School, would teach for one more year. John looks forward to enjoying more time during retirement with his 11 grandchildren and continuing his support of public and Catholic schools.

All of his school age grandchildren attend Catholic schools. He is proud of the fact that all his children graduated from Catholic colleges, two from Santa Clara University and two from LMU. "John is dedicated to Catholic education," said Gael. "He truly believes it's very important."

Through the years, Davitt has volunteered countless hours at St. Bede's as: CCD teacher, lector, Eucharistic minister, parish council president and, for the last five years, delivery driver of lunches prepared weekly by parishioners for Good Shepherd Shelter in Los Angeles.

"In addition to all of his major responsibilities at the college, John Davitt has still devoted time to give his wisdom and advice to support and assist our Catholic schools by being a member of the Archdiocesan School Council," said Pat Livingston, archdiocesan superintendent of elementary schools. "We're very grateful to Dr. Davitt. He's not retiring from the archdiocese. We'd like to keep him with us for a long time."