For Torence Powell, returning to the Los Rios Community College District is like “coming home.”
Effective July 1, Powell will begin his term as chancellor of the Los Rios Community College District, after the board of trustees unanimously appointed him in January to replace retiring Chancellor Brian King. Powell is finishing out this semester as superintendent and president of Napa Valley College.
Powell attended Cosumnes River College himself, starting as a dual enrollment student.
“I’m from Sacramento first and foremost; I grew up here,” he said.
In addition to being a Sacramento native, Powell worked for Los Rios from 2010 to 2022. He has since been at Napa Valley College.
“One thing that I’ve really loved in my time in Napa is just being able to be so fully immersed in different areas of community life and leadership to build relationships with community members who are so invested in supporting education,” Powell said.
The reason why Powell became involved with higher education is due to the profound impact the education system had on him as an adolescent.
“I was close to failing out of high school when I took my first class at Cosumnes River between my junior and senior year of high school,” he said. “ … And I got an A. Higher education pulled me out of a situation I was in just as a young person who was close to dropping out, and at the time, I didn’t really know what my future would be.”
Powell graduated with a bachelor’s degree in social science from California State University, Los Angeles, before proceeding to earn two master’s degrees from the University of Redlands and the University of Washington in educational administration and urban planning, respectively. He then earned a doctorate in educational leadership from University of California, Davis.
“In a lot of instances, I think students who are first-generation college students carry a lot of their family with them. … They install their hopes and dreams on you, so there can just be a lot of pressure behind it,” Powell said, speaking highly of first-generation community college students and showing admiration for them.
Powell also spoke about his future plans for the Los Rios district in his upcoming position as chancellor. He plans to emphasize the technical education field, stating that there’s “a lot of value there.” Powell also wants to work with Sacramento City Unified School District High School partners to create opportunities for students who have the desire to take college classes while still in high school.
Powell will earn a starting salary of $375,000 annually, with funded statutory cost-of-living adjustments for the 2027-28 and 2028-29 fiscal years, capped at 5% per year, subject to satisfactory performance, as stated in his employment agreement as chancellor.
Outside of work, Powell enjoys spending time with his family, including his two children, who are 5 and 6 years old. He also enjoys running, reading and educating himself for the sake of learning. Powell said his most important values are family, integrity and compassion.
“We’re becoming so much less tolerant of each other’s perspectives … just as a society, [we] need to be more open-minded and compassionate,” he said.
Another personal value of Powell’s is his belief that students should speak their minds.
“I’m a firm believer that students, when they feel strongly and passionately about something, [the community] should make sure that their voice is heard,” he said. “I want to make sure that the students feel empowered to stand up to authority.”
Powell reminisced about the first walkout he attended in high school. It was in protest of Proposition 187, which passed in 1994 and was designed to prohibit undocumented immigrants from using non-emergency healthcare, public education and social services. It required state agencies to report suspected undocumented immigrants to authorities. The most recent protest he attended was the MLK march held at Sacramento City College on Jan. 19.
On the topic of Powell’s selection for chancellor, Los Rios Board of Trustees President Deborah Ortiz said, “our board is really excited to approve Dr. Powell as the next Chancellor of Los Rios. Our vote was unanimous. He has a deep understanding of our colleges and our communities…he has a really strong personal stake in the success of our district in our colleges, and we’re very confident he’s equipped to lead our district to further growth and improvements in student success.”
