New V.P. to be announced

Lorrie Reyes/Roundup

The hiring process to select a permanent vice president of Academic Affairs has begun and is currently in the final stages, according to Diane Levine, professor of anthropology, chair of the anthropological and geographical sciences department, and V.P. of the Academic Senate. Applications were taken in March and have to be advertised on the Los Angeles Community College District’s (LACCD) website for six weeks, according to Levine.

“They have had the interviews, and have narrowed it down to two or three [applicants],” said Levine. “The president interviews those two or three.”

Pierce President Kathleen Burke-Kelly has the final decision on who is hired.

But prior to receiving the finalists, the applicants were interviewed by a committee of faculty members, including Academic Senate President Tom Rosdahl and Los Angeles College Faculty Guild (AFT) representative Donald Sparks, along with representatives from the deans and other administrators.

The hiring committee was led by Joy McCaslin, Ph.d, vice president of Student Services.

“[McCaslin] chaired the committee that recommended the final candidates to me,” said Burke-Kelly in an e-mail.

The names and number of applicants are considered confidential.

According to Levine, when the permanent vice president of Academic Affairs is chosen, he or she will assume the job at the end of June.

The Vice President of Academic Affairs, one of three vice presidential positions on campus, is in charge of the teaching faculty and curriculum issues.

Committee members Rosdahl and Sparks approached faculty members at various times throughout the process for their input.

“The most important job of the campus is to teach students,” said Levine. “And the academic affairs vice president is the head of that job. That is the most important job on the campus.”

Pierce College will be going through an accreditation evaluation in the next couple of years. One of the main stipulations from the faculty on campus is that the new vice president of academic affairs be familiar with that process.

Faculty members also want someone who will work with them.

“We know we have to cancel classes, but [we want] someone who will take the faculty’s input on what classes to cancel,” said Levine. “We want to see someone who is humane.”

Pierce College has not had a permanent vice president of Academic Affairs since Nabil Abu-Ghazaleh left to become Vice Chancellor of Educational Services and Technology in the Coast Community College District at the end of September 2010.

Since then, Pierce has been under the guidance of interim vice president of Academic Affairs, Anna Davies. Davies was appointed in November 2010 by BurkeKelly.

A final decision had not been reached at the time this article went to print. More information will be released once the hiring process has been finalized.