Michael Holtzclaw

Class of 1987
Pleasanton, CA

Mike earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in international affairs with a minor in Soviet & East European studies from Lewis & Clark in 1987. While at the college he participated in four study abroad programs (Costa Rica, Hungary, the Soviet Union, and Indonesia). He was also a four-year varsity letterman in football, layout editor for the yearbook, dorm manager in Copeland Hall and resident assistant in Hartzfeld Hall.

After graduation, Mike worked for two years as an assistant dean of admissions for L&C before getting the travel bug again. He left the admissions department to move to Taipei, Taiwan, to become an ESL teacher. After working there for a year, he began graduate school in the geography department at Ohio State University. He finished his studies in 1997 after completing an MA and a PhD

Mike taught geography for 13 years at Central Oregon Community College in Bend and achieved the rank of professor. He led two study abroad programs for the College (Nepal and Florence, Italy) and spent a full year in Italy with his family while on sabbatical. In 2010, he became an instructional dean at Central Oregon Community College and continued that role until 2012, when he moved to the Bay Area to become the Dean of Science, Engineering and Mathematics at Ohlone College in Fremont, California. In 2016, he became the Senior Dean for the San Ramon Campus of Diablo Valley College where is in charge of all academic programs, student services and facilities. He currently resides in Pleasanton, California with his wife, Sarah Lowell Holtzclaw ’88, and their three children, Craig, Alice, and Jill.