A welcoming party was held for the new Fresno City College President Carole Goldsmith, welcoming all FCC staff and faculty to come and meet the new president.

“I think it’s a great way to know the president in an informal way,” FCC marketing director, Cris Monahan Bremer said. “There’s so many people that work at the campus, it is almost impossible for her to get to know everyone in a short amount of time.”

Various FCC faculty members were there to enjoy food and music from FCC’s own guitar students.

“I think it’s wonderful that people come out and actually have a chance to meet our new president,” Lucy Ruiz, executive director of public legislative relations said. “This is another opportunity [to say] what they think about the college and goals they have that she could help them with.”

Goldsmith spent a majority of the event talking and listening to the faculty that attended, continuing her stance of listening to the community since she started as president.

“The first word in our business is ‘community,’ we’re a community college,” Goldsmith said. “We have to connect with the community both on campus and externally.”

She emphasized that the focus has and always be students first and it is events like these that help her gauge students’ needs.

“I need to talk to students to find out what it is they’re getting here and do more of it,” Goldsmith said, “and really engage with them and have a vertical integration of hopes, dreams and aspirations.”