Sally Havice, Candidate for 32nd District, California Senate

Biography for Sally M. Havice, Assemblywoman (Ret.), Cerritos College English Professor

Sally Havice has lived nearly her entire life in the Cerritos-Norwalk area. Throughout her career as a college professor, school board member and State Assemblywoman, Sally has always dedicated herself to improving the quality of life of the constituents she represented and helping to provide an education to her students.

After graduating from local schools, Sally ventured into the workforce and worked her way through business school.  But her passion for education continued to push her forward.

She worked her way through Cerritos College where she was invited to lifetime membership in the Alpha Gamma Sigma honor society and graduated with honors.  She then transferred to California State University, Long Beach, where she graduated (cum laude) with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and a Master of Arts degree in Linguistics – all while working full-time and raising her three sons.  Sally did doctoral studies at the University of California and the University of Hawaii.

In 1989, she ran for and won a seat on the ABC Unified School District Board of Education, where she served until her election in 1996 to the California State Assembly. Havice was overwhelmingly re-elected to the Legislature in 1998 and 2000. After being termed out from the state legislature, she returned to her profession as a teacher at Cerritos College.

 School safety, quality of life issues and serving the needs of her constituents were the hallmark of Sally’s public service, both as a legislator and a school board member. She authored legislation to:

• Establish a statewide grant program to pay for community policing and mentoring on school campuses.
• Enhance child privacy laws;
• Expand access to after-school programs;
• Create the largest urban nature conservancy in California, bringing more parks and green space to the region, while enhancing flood protection for communities along the Los Angeles River and its tributaries, keeping down the high cost of flood insurance, and protecting the water shed and providing funding access for the preservation and restoration of wildlife natural habitat.
• Provide funding for Anti-bullying programs in the public schools.
• Provide funding for teacher preparation/exploration programs for high school students expressing interest in teaching.
• Strengthen the provisions of state education law to require a 75 percent full time-part time teacher ratio in the community colleges.

The Long Beach Press-Telegram ranked Assemblywoman Havice as one of the five most effective legislators (out of 120), and the California Narcotics Officers Association named her “Legislator of the Year” during the 1999-2000 legislative session.  As also reported in the Long Beach Press-Telegram, the Speaker of the California State Assembly, Herb Wesson, dubbed her “The Cal Ripken of the Assembly” – the first to set a perfect attendance record during her six years as a state legislator.

Sally Havice has committed her life to education and young people and children. For 30 years Sally has taught English composition and literature as well as speech communication at Cerritos College. At Cerritos College, she has also served as the Interim Assistant Dean of Liberal Arts and as the Community Liaison for the Cultural Performing Arts.  She was President of the Cerritos College Faculty Association, a member of the Faculty Senate, and was honored by her colleagues by being elected Outstanding Faculty Senator.  Currently, she is the campus representative to the California Community College Association (CCA-CTA).

Sally is the proud mother of three sons — Edward, a physician; Raul, a police officer; and Joseph, a computer engineer – and a grandmother of 12.

ON CERRITOS COLLEGE CAMPUS:

Currently, Ms. Havice is a full time teacher in the English department.  Until the spring of 2012 she was assigned to both the English and Speech departments.

She is a member of the Sabbatical Leave Committee, the Academic Affairs Committee and adviser to the on-campus “Kabarkada” Filipino student club.

Sally has served as faculty advisor to a number of on-campus student organizations (to name a few)  including the Health Promotion Club; the Student Democratic Club; the Coptic Student Club; the Korean Campus Crusade for Christ; and the Political Science Club.

Prior to her election to the ABC School Board and the California State Assembly, Sally was involved in a number of community organizations and activities (some of which she is still a member), which served to promote the college and bring our community college closer to the community we serve.

Such activities included an after school Cultural Performing Arts Program; the Norwalk Early Diversion Program; the formation of the Southeast Area Gang Intervention and Prevention Program; the North Artesia Save the Park Organization; the Artesia-Cerritos-Norwalk Sister Schools Committee; the League of United Latin American Citizens; American Association of University Women; California League of Conservation Voters, Writer of first successful funding proposal for “SU CASA”( and member of  that organization’s first Executive Board), and others.

She is currently the president of the Artesia-Cerritos Council of the League of United Latin American Citizens.