After more than seven years of service to Cabrillo College, including landing funds to build the first on-campus student housing, President-Superintendent Matt Wetstein will retire Dec. 31.
Matt Wetstein
“Cabrillo College is a special place in a vibrant region,” said Wetstein. “The faculty and staff at Cabrillo are amazing and have built a caring culture for our students. I have thoroughly enjoyed the time that I have served as its leader … I will always cherish the friendships I have made at Cabrillo and in the Santa Cruz County community.”
Wetstein leaves a 29-year career in public higher education and plans to move to Stockton where he and his wife Cindy have a home — and spend time traveling.
He shared his plans with the Cabrillo College Governing Board Monday night.
The board will establish a committee to begin the search for his successor, aiming for the new leader to start in January 2026.
During his tenure, Wetstein contributed to both Cabrillo College and the Santa Cruz County community. Highlights include:
- Hiring full-time faculty to increase the College’s offerings in programs like welding, nursing, ethnic studies, and community health, and to expand mental health services for students
- Leading Cabrillo College and the establishment of emergency shelters during the 2020 CZU wildfires and the 2023 Pajaro flood.
- Leading the Ccllege through the Covid-19 pandemic, serving as incident commander in Cabrillo’s Emergency Operations Center, keeping students, faculty and staff safe, and navigating successful pivots to online instruction and back to in-person learning.
- Guiding the creation of and serving on Cabrillo’s Hispanic Serving Institution Task Force and Leadership Team, resulting in faculty and staff development, increased funding for community events, and the hiring of a bilingual marketing professional.
- Serving on a statewide task force related to college affordability, food, and housing needs that generated policy briefs that shaped basic needs legislation and funding for affordable housing.
- Providing direction for grants initiatives that brought more than $14 million in federal funding to the college.
- Helping the Cabrillo Foundation staff grow the College’s endowment by nearly $30 million.
- Leading a renaissance of public art on the College’s two campuses, by securing funding for murals, sculptures, and performing arts events.
- Serving as a tri-chair of the Central Coast K-16 Education Consortium, which infused $18 million in state funds into the region for economic recovery efforts in career pathways focused on health care and computer science & engineering.
- Advocating at the state level for changes to the “Student-Centered Funding Formula,” which creates inequitable per-student funding rates across California’s community colleges.
- Leading the Governing Board and College through community learning and listening sessions related to a proposed name change for the College.
- Serving on nonprofit boards in Santa Cruz County, including: Agri-Culture, Santa Cruz County Business Council, Santa Cruz Chamber of Commerce, Santa Cruz Symphony, Sutter Health/Palo Alto Medical Foundation Advisory Board, and United Way Santa Cruz County, and serving as a member of the Capitola-Aptos Rotary Club.
- Named Aptos Chamber of Commerce 2019 Man of the Year, and 2024 Santa Cruz Chamber of Commerce Person of the Year.
- Working with state legislators and UC Santa Cruz to secure $111.7 million in state bond funding to launch the 624-bed Cabrillo College and UCSC affordable student housing project, which is on schedule for a groundbreaking in fall 2025.
“Guided by his commitment to the values of compassion, gratitude and humility, Matt has contributed so much to Cabrillo College and the surrounding community during his tenure here,” said Christina Cuevas, Cabrillo Governing Board chair. “We will miss him, but know that in his time at Cabrillo, he made the College and the community it serves, a much better place.”
Before Cabrillo, Wetstein spent six years as assistant superintendent/vice president of instruction and planning at San Joaquin Delta College in Stockton. He taught political science there and served as dean of planning and research.
He is a leader in the Research and Planning Community for California Community Colleges, having spent six years on the board of that organization and two years as president.
He is the co-author of three books on the Canadian Supreme Court, one book on abortion politics in the U.S., and has published more than a dozen peer-reviewed articles on judicial behavior, abortion politics, and community college student success.