But what if someone did all three? Are they altruistically advantaged? Citizen of the month? What if they're the new West Valley College chancellor?

Stan R. Arterberry is the man behind these actions.

Taking a head-on approach to his new position as West Valley and Mission College chancellor/CEO, Arterberry is introducing himself to the community, the city, and even the state.

Outreach activities in the works include meeting with city and state officials and starting a community breakfast at the college. What's been of particular interest to the community and school, however, is the fact that Arterberry has introduced a task force to address issues concerning the stadium at West Valley College.

"We are looking for a resolution to this issue. We want to keep the community happy and support their needs and the city," says Arterberry. "We also want the district to have a better relationship with the surrounding community, so together we are seeking out mechanisms to resolve these issues."

He is passionate about making a community connection and believes this to be one of his main duties as chancellor. "As a leader, my role is to be able to envision and encourage ideas and prospects that would be beneficial for the community college," says Arterberry. "I see myself as a facilitator of both campuses, connecting with the institution and the community and facilitating communication between both."

However, when talking about his plans for the colleges, Arterberry is quick to point out that he does not work alone.

"It is dangerous to talk about what I want," he says. "It is a 'we.' There is very little that I can do, but working with all the staff there is a lot that can be done."

There is only one thing that tops Arterberry's passion for communication, and that is his attachment to the community college system itself.

A product of the community college system, Arterberry attended Imperial Valley College on an athletic scholarship. Transferring to Whittier College, he went on to earn a bachelor's degree. He then earned his master's at Atlanta University. His most recent credential is a certificate in educational management from Harvard University.

Ironically, until his junior year at Whittier, Arterberry didn't give a second thought to anything but playing pro football. Then Hugh Mendez, a history professor, took him aside. He was the first of three mentors Arterberry gives credit to for furthering his career. "He asked, 'What if,' " says Arterberry. "What if I didn't make pro football. Before that, I really had never thought of anything else."

It was a dose of reality, and one that made Arterberry look more closely at his academic pursuits.

That awareness paid off in the long run when Arterberry was not selected in the pro football draft. Fortunately, by then he had the interest and education to pursue another career path. And so he turned toward making academics a lifelong profession, and after receiving his degrees, he began his career as a sociology instructor at Jarvis Christian School in Texas.

Arterberry was eventually able to revisit his first love, however, when he went from teaching in Texas to teaching in California for Riverside City College, where he coached football in addition to his responsibilities as an assistant professor of sociology and history.

"I think coaching at Riverside helped fill that absence, that feeling like I did not accomplish something," says Arterberry.

While at Riverside, Arterberry met the second most influential person in his professional life. Chuck Cain, the president of the city college, worked with Arterberry often. After six years of working at Riverside, Cain offered him the opportunity to become the assistant dean of student affairs. Arterberry happily accepted, thereby entering the world of college administration. He stayed there for three more years before moving on to West Hills Community College, where he was dean of community-based education.

At West Hills he met the third most influential person to his career, Joe Conte. Through him, Arterberry was made acting president when Conte retired. He spent five months as president until a replacement was found, and then another 1¹/2 years when that replacement did not work out. This experience gave him a taste of high-level administration and prepared him for his next position, which would be as superintendent-president of the district and then college president of Merritt College in Oakland.

He only stayed in Oakland for one year before landing the role as superintendent-president of the Solano Community College District, where he continued for eight years before transferring to West Valley.

While moving about and earnestly pursuing his career, Arterberry had two life-changing events occur.

The first was in the late 1980s, when he met his future wife, Deborah Blue, who is currently the president of Laney College in Oakland. Both single parents with two children and on the academic administration path, they dated for several years before marrying. Although it was tough managing frequent moves due to job promotions and changes, the two maintained a solid relationship and raised their blended family.

Then, last February, after a five-month diet of no dairy or red meat and an exercise regime that had him getting up at 4 a.m. to work out, Arterberry donated one of his kidneys to his eldest brother, Bobby, who was 70 and suffering complications from diabetes.

The diet was to aid Arterberry in losing 50 pounds, the amount he was required to shed in order to become a suitable donor. He had been a perfect blood and tissue match for his brother, but unfortunately his blood sugar was too high.

Arterberry is now busy planning for the future. He is swift and thorough in listing his plans and passions for what will soon happen on campus and in the community.

Two months into his tenure, Arterberry is rapidly checking off items from his to-do list and is busy looking for more, anticipating a positive future.

"My goal is to make West Valley a center of excellence, a world-class institution," says Arterberry. "I am glad to be here—I think both colleges are doing excellent work. If I could write it, this would be my last job."