1 YEAR LATER, PRESIDENT OF AVC DRAWS IRE, PRAISE.

Byline: Jim Skeen Daily News Staff Writer

The word ``change'' comes up frequently when people at Antelope Valley College talk about Linda Spink.

In selecting Spink as president, the college board was seeking someone who would bring change. Spink calls herself ``a change agent.''

``We were looking for someone to move us into the future,'' said Earl Wilson, president of the college board. ``We were looking for an agent of change, particularly in the area of technology.''

Spink has just completed her first school year as AVC's president, presiding over a college with an enrollment of about 9,000 and serving a region of 1,945 square miles.

Spink, formerly a vice president of Mohawk Valley Community College in Utica, N.Y., was selected from 53 applicants in a nationwide search. How she is doing so far in her presidency at AVC depends on who is asked.

``She has done the things we've wanted her to do,'' Wilson said.

``I don't think things are going well at all,'' said John Hall, an English professor who has been at AVC for 22 years. ``Morale is at the lowest it has ever been at any time I've been on campus.''

Spink took over as president Aug. 30, replacing Al Kurki, who decided to step down after 10 years as AVC's leader.

``On the whole, things are going well,'' Spink said.

Bringing technology into the classroom has been a major focus of her presidency. Spink, with the board's approval, created an information technology department and hired Jim Guild as its first director.

AVC has one computer terminal with an Internet connection. By fall, Spink expects all of the college's computers will be connected to the Internet. It will be another year before the college's computer infrastructure reaches an acceptable point, Spink said.

``A lot of people who should have computers don't,'' she said.

Community partnerships

At her formal inauguration in October, Spink stressed the need to develop partnerships with business, industry and government. Such partnerships can provide training opportunities for the local work force and guidance for the college in developing instructional programs, she said.

Spink has initiated a series of breakfasts with leaders of business and industry to show them what the college offers and to learn what their needs are. So far, the breakfast meetings have been with representatives of the aerospace and health care industries.

The breakfasts have led to a contract with Boeing Co. to train airframe mechanics. Spink said talks also are under way on possibilities for training programs for physical therapy assistants and continuing education programs to help health care workers maintain their licenses.

AVC is also working with the Lancaster Economic Development Corp. to get data on employment trends in health care, manufacturing and hospitality industries, Spink said.

Spink is also a member of the Antelope Valley Regional Partnership, an economic steering committee on which mayors of Palmdale and Lancaster serve along with other government representatives and business leaders.

One of the committee's efforts is aimed at developing a ``one-stop'' center for job seekers to find out about employment openings and get job training.

Maintaining enrollment

A particular problem AVC faces is declining enrollment. To retain all of its allocated state funding, the college must have at least 6,626 full-time students - or their equivalent in many more part-time students - under a formula established by the state.

Last year, the college had the equivalent of 6,384 full-time students, an enrollment level that cost it about $110,000 in anticipated state funding. With a full-time enrollment projection of 6,398 this year, AVC faces the prospects of losing $100,000 to $110,000.

To reverse the trend, Spink brought in an Iowa City consultant Noel Levitz to assess the college's strengths and weaknesses.

``What the Noel Levitz study told us was we were not doing the basics in terms of enrollment,'' Spink said. ``As a result of that, we have changed our approach.''

Each of AVC's counselors is being assigned to a high school to make visits to help recruit future college students.

Developing a presence

One of the biggest issues for Spink is the proposed College Park development in Palmdale, a housing project that would include 100 acres for a second AVC campus. The proposed development is on 540 acres between 37th Street East and 47th Street East, along the south side of Barrel Springs Road.

Spink is working to broker an agreement between the landowner, David Bushnell of Bushnell Binoculars, and neighbors who say tract-style homes will ruin the rural flavor of the area.

The major stumbling blocks are about how many new homes will be allowed - 898 was the last proposal made public - and precise location and size of a shopping center.

``I'm feeling very optimistic about Palmdale,'' Spink said. ``I think we're almost to the point where we can all agree.''

While that issue is being resolved, AVC is establishing a presence in the southern end of the Antelope Valley by using Palmdale High School as a site for seven courses this summer. More courses are planned in the fall.

AVC and the Antelope Valley Union High School District are also talking about using Littlerock High School for course offerings.

Conflicting opinions

A low point in Spink's presidency came June 9 when a conflict with language-arts faculty boiled over during a college board meeting. Professor Hall was ejected from the meeting by security guards.

In dispute was the hiring process to fill two vacancies in the department. The language-arts hiring committee sent two recommendations to Spink, but she wanted to review the top three candidates for each post.

``Policy states the committee will send forward their first choice and all applicants for review. The president will make a recommendation, but it does not say how the president will make a recommendation,'' Spink said. ``I'm not a rubber-stamp president. I cannot make a decision based on a paper screen.''

Language-arts faculty say state law on shared governance makes it clear that faculty should hire faculty, Hall said.

From the beginning, Spink's relationship with the college's language-arts department has been rocky. Spink and the faculty depict themselves as being the victims of the other's hostility.

``She perceives Antelope Valley College being in total shambles,'' Hall said. ``She takes the attitude nothing was going well until she came here.''

Charles Hood, another language-arts professor, is also critical of Spink.

``It's one thing to lack tact. It's another to make unfounded accusations and to refuse to back down when shown the truth,'' Hood said. ``For example, Dr. Spink attended a language-arts department staff meeting last December and insinuated the entire department is elitist and racist.

``I have taught at nine other colleges, including two UC campuses, and never before have I faced such a broadside of innuendo and misinformation. Her strident disregard for evidence shocked me. It violated the very critical thinking skills we insist our students demonstrate.''

A college faculty union leader said she has heard divergent opinions about the new president.

``There are those who feel she is doing a good job and moving ahead on things where the college is lagging behind,'' said Nancy Hoverman, president of the college's Federation of Teachers. ``Then there are those who feel the way she is going about it is causing frustration and anger.''

Spink described her detractors as a ``vocal minority'' and attributes the hostility to resistance to change.

``I'm a change agent. That's the role the board wanted me to play,'' Spink said. ``We have made a lot of changes, and more are coming down the road.''

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