COLLEGE DISTRICT APPOINTS TOP MAN; CHANCELLOR FOCUSES ON NEW CONNECTIONS.

Byline: Robert Monroe Daily News Staff Writer

Marshall ``Mark'' Drummond, the former president of Eastern Washington University, was appointed chancellor of Los Angeles community colleges Wednesday.

Drummond will take over as the Los Angeles Community College District climbs out of a financial morass. His predecessor, leaving the position 16 months ago, said the district was racked with tension from cutbacks and inadequate resources to respond to myriad constituencies.

``I stayed fairly much in touch with California community colleges, and there's no shortage of challenges,'' said Drummond, 57.

He will receive $165,000 a year under a three-year contract. The district has nine schools, more than 102,000 students and a faculty of 3,200 in full-time and part-time jobs.

The new chancellor must immediately grapple with such thorny issues as a controversial proposal to turn Pierce College's farm into a golf course and Mission College's attempt to get back state money for expansion that it lost earlier this year.

``Whether you build a golf course or not I don't know, but I will be involved with that before long,'' he said.

Drummond stressed that he wants to create a feeling of ownership in the district among its employees.

``Team building is real high on my list for things to be done,'' he said.

Drummond proposes aggressive pursuit of federal funding and private donations to build up a resource base. He said assets at Eastern Washington rose from less than $1 million to more than $20 million during his nine-year tenure.

District board members said Drummond's expertise in information technology was among the biggest factors leading to his being hired.

``We need a chancellor who is a visionary, and we believe Mark is that kind of person,'' said Elizabeth Garfield, president of the district board.