“Throughout the years I’ve always been part of the self-study group or volunteering to serve on the standard team,” she said.
She will continue providing these services when she returns to her post as Adult Basic Education program director.
Last week, the NMC board of regents named Dr. Sharon Hart as the new college president and commended Cabrera, who has served the college for 18 years now, for her dedication and commitment.
This month Cabrera and Juan T. Lizama, chairman of the board of regents, are scheduled to defend the college’s accreditation before the Accreditation Commission of Community Junior Colleges in San Francisco.
In an interview, Cabrera said one of the major challenges she faced as an interim president is working with the members of the board.
“I was used to having one supervisor. Now with the board, you’re working with seven individuals and that’s a challenge. You have to work professionally with everyone,” she added.
She said it was also a challenge to work with the Senate and the House of Representatives.
“But I was able to develop a good working relationship with majority of the lawmakers regardless of their political affiliations,” she added.
When asked about the three board chairs she worked with — Janet King, Paz Younis and now Lizama — Cabrera said they are “all very different, but they’re all good to work with and I learned a lot from them.”
The greatest lesson she learned is the importance of having the support of the college, she said.
The position of the interim president is very hard but “when you know that you have a lot of people behind you it becomes easy,” she added.
Cabrera said she has the advantage of experience. “I know almost everybody here,” she added, referring to NMC.
She said she listens while seeking out the needs of the college community, faculty and staff so she can do what must be done for NMC.
When she assumed the interim president post, the college’s budget was already affected by the CNMI’s economic downturn, but Cabrera said she worked closely with the college’s financial executive officer to ensure that NMC would cope with the government’s financial crisis.
“I think most people are not aware that I work closely with our financial executive officer to make sure there’s enough money,” she said.
“The students that you are serving are supposed to get what they supposed to get,” she added.
