Oakland administrator chosen as Moreno Valley College president

A former Oakland community college president will lead Moreno Valley College.

Rudy Besikof, previously the president of Laney College in Oakland, was appointed Tuesday, June 17, by the Riverside Community College District board to be the fifth president of the college.

The board chose Besikof after a national search, a college district news release states.

Besikof brings more than “30 years of experience in education, including senior leadership roles with a focus on student achievement, community engagement and institutional equity,” the release states.

He oversaw the opening of the first queer student center at Laney in 2024, The Citizen, the Peralta Community College District’s student publication, reported.

Besikof was in the running to become chancellor of San Francisco City College earlier this year, as reported by The Bay Area Reporter, an LGBTQ+ paper based in San Francisco. It is unclear if he dropped out of contention or was not chosen.

He served as Laney’s president beginning in 2020 and was vice president of instruction in 2018. Besikof was a chief instructional officer and a dean in single and multi-college districts in the state, the release states.

Besikof holds a doctorate in educational leadership from UCLA, where his dissertation on fundraising practices earned the School of Education’s Outstanding Dissertation Award. He was recently named a 2024–25 fellow of the UC Davis Wheelhouse Institute’s CEO Leadership Academy.

Besikof also received the 2024 Outstanding Community Partner Award from the Oakland Chinatown Chamber of Commerce.

“Rudy Besikof is a proven leader who is deeply committed to the mission of California’s community colleges,” Riverside Community College District Chancellor Wolde-Ab Isaac said in the release. “His strategic vision, collaborative approach, and dedication to inclusive student success make him the right choice for Moreno Valley College.”

Besikof succeeds Robin Steinback, who retired in June 2024. Steinback took over the role in 2017, moving on from her post as the school’s vice president of academic affairs.