Our 2025 Career Achievement Award winner
Chris Olson
Research Analyst, American River College
RP Group Board Member (1990-1996)
Chris Olson has dedicated 38 years of service to the California community college research field. Now retired (June 2024), Chris reflects on his career with both awe and fascination. Awe in having had the privilege of interacting with so many consummate research professionals during his career, and fascination in the infinite and creative ways that CC researchers have used their expertise to both navigate and support an endless array of Federal, State, and local regulations, initiatives, and needs.
His career began at Santa Barbara City College, where he had the privilege of learning from leaders in the field, including Dr. Elaine Cohen and Dr. Jack Friedlander. Over the next several decades, Chris held research positions at three other California community colleges (Mission College, Folsom Lake College, American River College), spanning three districts.
A key part of Chris’ professional journey was serving on the The RP Group’s Board for six consecutive years. During his time as a Board member, Chris notably served as the organization’s liaison to Judy Walter’s MIS Unit, contributing to the development and release of the CCCCO’s MIS referential file structure, and initiating a review and edit by the CCCCO MIS Unit and members of the CC research community of the MIS Data Element Dictionary. He also participated in the RP Group team that developed, advocated for, and successfully presented to the Statewide Academic Senate a unified set of definitions for common performance metrics used throughout the state.
Throughout his career, Chris presented numerous papers and technical systems, including matriculation findings and early designs for data warehousing and related reporting systems, leaving a lasting mark on the community college research landscape. He feels honored to have had the opportunity to co-present with numerous CC researchers over the years, but also with two RP Group presidents and two Chief Information Systems Officers Association (CISOA) presidents.
In addition to the awards for distinction Chris received from the RP Group, he is particularly gratified that his one-person research office at Mission College was acknowledged in the CCCCO’s Matriculation Site Visit Exemplars report, and that each of the research offices he worked in earned praise from Accreditation site team members. Chris is especially proud of the trust and working relationships he developed with faculty and faculty governance bodies over his tenure. He fondly recalls having been asked to participate and present at his institutions’ Curriculum Institutes, New Faculty Orientation, and Equity Institutes (presenting deep-dive DI reporting to participating faculty). And he is particularly proud of the recognition he received from Mission College’s Academic Senate.
Now, in retirement, Chris embraces new opportunities and has the time to explore a variety of hobbies and interests. Despite stepping away from the research field, he remains deeply connected to the community college system, with an enduring passion for the work that defined his career spent in education. He is proud of the legacy left behind and hopeful for the future of the field.
In celebration of his hard work and dedication, we are pleased to honor Chris with the 2025 RP Group Career Achievement Award.