Bennett makes long-term commitment to SFC

Santa Fe Christian’s Head of Schools Dr. Tom Bennett decided in August to make a long-term commitment to the schools, though when he started two years ago, he thought his role would be temporary.

Now Bennett will lead the school into its next phase of growth, according to SFC, which means raising the bar in Christian education.

At the time he started, Bennett served as the Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs at California State University San Marcos, where he was responsible for such things as strategic planning, accreditation, academic assessment and budgeting issues.

Santa Fe Christian had a need and Bennett, with his daughter already at the school, was able to make use of his extensive background as an educator to support the SFC community in this new role.

Little did he know that he would so thoroughly enjoy the community of Santa Fe Christian that he would one day decide to make this a permanent career change.

Although Bennett’s decision to leave academia to serve as head of schools for SFC was a major shift in his career path, he is excited about the opportunities to apply his expertise to the benefit of the SFC community and students.

“Looking back, all points in my career have been preparing me to assume this role at SFC,” Bennett said.

Before serving as an administrator at the university, Bennett was as a tenured, full professor of education at CSUSM where his research interests included improving teaching and learning using children’s thinking and international best practices to improve education in the U.S.

Upon receiving his B.A. and teaching credential in mathematics, he spent five years in the classroom before pursuing his Ph.D. from UCLA in Educational Psychology, Learning and Instruction.

— Becky Rice, Santa Fe Christian Schools