Sarah Thompson, the Academic Senate president at the time, managed the arduous task of organizing Classified Appreciation Day on the heels of a pandemic. These employees perhaps have never been more worthy of the school’s gratitude after helping Las Positas College (LPC) survive everything COVID-19 delivered.
The shelter-in-place order in 2020 prompted the school to move its Classified Appreciation Day, usually near the end of the spring semester, to September. Quarantine restrictions were still in place that fall, so honored masked guests drove by to receive their gifts. It wasn’t until 2021 that Classified Appreciation Day returned to its usual setup. That made it the first real one for LPC President Dyrell Foster.
Foster started his new gig just before the novel coronavirus shut everything down. He didn’t know his classified staff yet —at least not by faces — but he knew their impact as the school fought to stay afloat. So when it was time to appreciate them, he made sure everyone received a personal touch from the president — even when those classified staffers turned out to be, well, not classified staffers.
“Literally, every person that walked up,” Thompson said, “he would run right out there, shake their hand and (say) ‘Thank you so much, I’m Dyrell, the new president.’ And we’d be like, ‘Dyrell, that’s a student.’”
It provided an inaugural look at the leadership style for which Foster would become known. He likes to express appreciation, to make sure everyone knows their value from the highest office on campus, even students.
“I love that story,” Thompson said, “because it really demonstrated how much he really wanted to be there for people.”
Foster has reached a milestone. February marks the fifth anniversary of his presidency. He becomes the third-longest tenured president in Las Positas’ 60-year history.
Stability has been rare in the top post at LPC. Four of the previous seven presidents didn’t last longer than three years.
Rarer still is to find someone set on staying.
“I’ve been very transparent with those that have asked, ‘What’s my next step?’” Foster said. “This. There is no next step. This is where I want to be.”
SURVIVED THE FIRST FIVE: President Dyrell Foster, greeting people in his office, has survived a pandemic and an ensuing enrollment crisis in his first five years. (Photo by Ian Kapsalis/ The Express)
Make no mistake, Foster hasn’t simply been present, collecting his check and moving on. Rather, his tenure consistently delivers major issues through which he’s had to lead the school. From budget deficiencies to a mice infestation to a death on campus. Of course, none compared to the historic pandemic which hit weeks after he started the job — followed by ensuing enrollment struggles.
The evidence suggests Foster, as he completes his fifth school year on Campus Hill, successfully navigated Las Positas to a good place. That’s why it stands to reason he’d have other opportunities.
It’s the amount he’s poured into Las Positas that motivates him to see it through. Rough seas — and the sacrifices surviving them required — washed over campus. But the flood made LPC fertile ground for true change.
According to several people he’s worked with over the years, Foster’s aspiration is to grow the campus culture with compassion and understanding at the forefront.
It took all of him to get this far.
“I think if I wasn’t in an environment that was supportive at home,” said Foster, reflecting on his roles as husband and father, “ I don’t know how I could be successful. Having that support has been critical. … But it weighs on me.”
Dealing with the complications of being a college president isn’t easy, certainly with a limited amount of experience. Before joining the Las Positas family, Foster had worked as a Dean of Student Affairs at Rio Hondo College from September 2011 to December 2014. He was then the Vice President of Student Services at Moreno Valley College for six years.
Foster possessed an educational background, but none of the pedigree of being a college president. For Chabot-Las Positas Community College District Chancellor Ronald Gerhard, Foster’s character was his main selling point.
“What made him stand out was his attitude and his temperament,” Gerhard said. “I was looking for someone who not only could motivate and uplift LPC, but also come in and be a team player.”
Foster, who grew up playing sports, understands the value of a team. During his time as a student at UC Davis, he was the co-captain of the Aggies’ football team. But no team is as important as the one at home.
Foster isn’t the only one in the household with a prestigious title. His wife, Tami Bui, earned her own in August 2020, being named as the Senior Government Affairs Manager at Turo, a carsharing company. Together, they juggle their professional responsibilities as well as their home burdens of raising their two children, Maylea and Daylen. An act that has proven difficult to perfect.
“Sometimes she’s carrying 80% and I’m carrying 20,” Foster said. “And at times where I can carry 80, I will do that. It’s a partnership. It’s never a fair equal balance. We’re striving to find that every day and every week, but it never really falls that way.”
Dealing with complicated issues, such as the responsibilities of being a campus and parental leader, has helped prepare Foster for the intricacies of being a community college president.
In his tenure at LPC, he and the college have been faced with many challenges. They have led to Foster having to make multiple tough calls. With every split decision, Foster faces the inevitable consequences of upsetting someone.
During those decisive moments, Foster says that he relies on his values to guide him. It gives his staff faith that he is making the best, most informed choice he can. Even when they disagree with the final outcome.
“That’s the tough part,” Ashley Young, the current Academic Senate President said in regard to a confidential matter, “is that I don’t know that I have all the information on that. While I wish that maybe he had made a different choice, I’m not sure that my wants are correct in the sense that I don’t have 100% information… I don’t have as much information as he had about it either, so maybe his decision was the right decision.”
During Foster’s presidency, those values have been at the forefront. He believes in a Caring Campus — an initiative set on making the campus as safe and welcoming place it can be.
He’s seen multiple opposing voices, including now former board of trustee member Luis Reynoso posting anti-trans rhetoric on his Linkedin. Those in opposition test the strength of the campus’ ideologies. During which, Foster simply doubles down.
“It makes me want to ensure that, if our students or our employees are hearing others who have different values, then no, I’m gonna validate and amplify our values to know that we are a welcoming, caring, inclusive campus community, regardless of what others will say. That is our commitment, as an institution. So it just makes me want to talk a little louder.”
THE LONG HAUL: President Dyrell Foster, right, the third-longest tenured president in school history, scouts the donut options with senior administrative assistant Aubrie Ross on Jan. 24, 2025 in his office. (Photo by Ian Kapsalis/ The Express)
Even before Foster became president, LPC held the slogan “Students first.” A simple yet effective saying that helped keep faculty focused on the most important goal of the college — the success of students.
Foster has grown that motto, building a campus safe and inclusive to all, which in turn breeds success.
“It’s critical that people feel like they belong,” Young said. “That’s the number one thing, is for students to feel like they belong, that there’s a sense of community.”
“His vision is truly to make a campus where that experience is not just for a privileged few,” Thompson said. “But for anyone who steps on our campus.”
Foster recognizes that there is still work to be done. For him, he isn’t concerned with the significance of his five-year tenure to date. Instead, he’s focused ahead for the years to come, in which he has lofty goals — to become the campus of choice in the Tri-Valley, expand the school’s business opportunities for students, continue facility expansion and for students to be able to earn bachelor’s degrees through LPC.
For each of Foster’s goals, the most important factor will continue to be his determination and loyalty to LPC.
“Longevity matters,” Foster said. “I don’t intend to leave Las Positas College anytime soon. There are things that I want to see us accomplish. And these are gonna take time, it takes time to move an institution and to see the gains from student success.”
Foster isn’t worried about waiting. He understands that to see the fruits of his labor. Waiting is his only choice. For now, he’s happy to continue to nurture the soil of the campus with the same values of compassion and understanding that have garnered his early success. Time will tell just how fruitful the crops will be.
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TOP PHOTO: February marks the fifth anniversary of Dyrell Foster’s time as president of LPC. He’s endured a pandemic, got enrollment back up and has the school trending upwards. (Photo by Ian Kapsalis/ The Express)
Jakob Arnarsson is the Sports Editor of The Express. Follow him on X, formally Twitter, @JakobA2004
