College of the Canyons Chancellor Dr. Dianne G. Van Hook has been named as the National Pacesetter of the Year by the National Council for Marketing and Public Relations (NCMPR).

The award recognizes a president or CEO at a two-year community or technical college who has demonstrated leadership and support in the area of college communications and public relations.

“I am honored to receive the National Pacesetter of the Year Award,” said Dr. Van Hook. “Public relations and marketing are essential components of our college’s ability to create quality and results-driven messaging that positively impacts our students and defines their experience at College of the Canyons.”

Dr. Van Hook has served as CEO of the Santa Clarita Community College District since 1988 — making her the longest serving community college CEO in California.

When Van Hook arrived, COC had only eight major buildings on one campus, a budget of $8 million and 4,000 students — the college now has over 30,000 students enrolled, according to the public information office.

To accommodate its growing student population, COC has increased facilities square footage, from 199,000 square feet on one campus to 950,000 on campuses in Valencia and Canyon Country, according to the 2016 annual report.

“We at College of the Canyons are very fortunate to have Dr. Van Hook as a visionary and inspirational leader,” said Steve Zimmer, president of the COC Board of Trustees. “She has been able to oversee the long term growth of our college and widely communicate our student success story to our local community and throughout the entire state through the effective use of public relations and marketing.”

College of the Canyons was recently ranked among the top 15 best community and career colleges by salary potential in PayScale’s 2016-2017 College Sal ary Report, which ranked 381 two-year colleges across the nation by post-graduation earnings.

In a continued effort to reduce college costs, COC is set to launch the First-Year Promise (FYP) program, a pathway that will provide increased opportunities for new full-time college students to achieve their educational goals, through a $750,000 grant from the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office.

Out of 51 community college districts that applied, COC was one of only 14 colleges awarded grant through the California College Promise Innovation Grant Program.

“Dr. Van Hook has always supported effective communication on her campus and has been a leader at the state and national levels to further the mission of California’s community colleges,” said Juan Gutierrez, NCMPR District 6 Director. “I cannot think of a more deserving person to receive this prestigious award.”

NCMPR is a national organization governed by volunteer community college professionals that exclusively represents marketing and public relations professionals at community and technical colleges — they more than 1,550 members from more than 650 colleges across the country, including Canada and other countries, according to their website.

The National Pacesetter Award is presented annually to one of the seven district winners of the regional award — Dr. Van Hook was previously named Pacesetter of the Year for Region 6 in September 2016.