INTERIM PRESIDENT'S MISSION TO SAVE A COLLEGE.

Byline: LISA M. SODDERS Staff Writer

SYLMAR -- Mission College's interim president, Ernest H. Moreno, is ready to lead the charge for the Sylmar college's future.

``I've seen so many people that the community college system has made successful,'' said Moreno, 60, of Los Angeles. ``I think it's one of the last vestiges of the American dream.''

Moreno, who has been serving as the one-year interim president since July 20, said his top goals are to bring back the focus of the campus to student access and success, reverse the decline in enrollment, and get the college back on a fiscally sound footing.

Moreno thinks part of Mission's enrollment problems are due to its out- of-the-way location in the northeastern part of the San Fernando Valley, and the fact that the college hasn't done a lot of outreach to the community in past years.

``It is a wonderful little school and has a lot to offer in terms of its intimacy,'' said Moreno, who has been the president of East Los Angeles College for 12 years. ``Some of the larger universities feel like a degree factory.''

``We need to let people know who we are and what we have to offer,'' Moreno said. ``Those who discover us, love us.''

Results from a spring 2006 student survey support his opinion. Nearly 83 percent of students surveyed either agreed or strongly agreed that faculty were supportive, 78 percent either agreed or strongly agreed that students were treated fairly, 91 percent felt instructors were up-to-date in their fields, and 89 percent said they would encourage others to come to Mission.

Michael D. Waxman, president of the district's Board of Trustees, said bringing Moreno in for a full year was a great example of how the nine-college district can capitalize on its size, ``by taking one of its best and most successful presidents at one of our largest colleges,'' and bringing him to Mission to duplicate ELAC's success.

``Mission is a gem that needs to be polished, and we need to figure out a way to do what he was able to do so well at East,'' Waxman said.

Angela Echeverri, Mission professor and faculty senate president, said she's already seen some positive changes since Moreno took the helm of the 7,300-student campus, which has suffered from declining enrollment since 2002.

``I'm looking forward to him bringing stability to the campus, and in particular financial stability, and financial stability is probably going to be closely linked to getting our enrollment back up,'' Echeverri said.

A month ago, enrollment for fall 2006 was down 31.9 percent compared with fall 2005, but as of Tuesday, was down only 13.2 percent, an improvement Echeverri linked to more aggressive outreach and marketing by Moreno and his team.

Community college students are notorious for waiting until the very last minute to enroll, and with three weeks to go before classes start on Sept. 5, Echeverri said she's hoping to see the college close the gap even more.

Mission ended the year with a $1.5 million deficit -- one of five of the district colleges to do so -- which district officials believe is tied mainly to declining enrollment. If enrollment doesn't improve, the college may be facing some cuts in staffing or classes, Echeverri said.

``As long as he can make the case to the campus community that this is for the long-term health of the institution, people will accept them,'' she said.

In addition, the college is facing an accreditation visit in March from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. Echeverri also hopes Moreno can shore up the college's shared governance system, which has been shaken by having three presidents and four vice presidents of academic affairs in about a year.

Moreno also will be helping to steer the Sylmar campus through the development of a new master plan for the campus' $176 million share of the $2.2 billion Proposition A/AA construction bond funds.

``He's a very strong, knowledgable, decisive leader,'' Echeverri said. ``He has a sense of humor. He has earned a lot of respect from the faculty. I think he's what we need right now.''

Moreno is uniquely poised to lead the college, having recently celebrated his 12th year as president of ELAC, a 22,759-student college with a demographic mix of students similar to that at Mission. During his time at ELAC, the college received the highest level of accreditation from WASC.

The child of a Mexican-American father who served in the infantry during World War II and his German war bride, Moreno was born in Germany and came to the United States when he was just 2 1/2 years old.

Despite a gift for learning languages, his father never graduated from high school and spent the postwar years reupholstering furniture, Moreno said. But he encouraged both Moreno and his sister to further their education.

Moreno, who grew up in San Gabriel, attended Mount San Antonio Community College in Walnut, and earned a bachelor's degree in political science from California State University, Los Angeles, and a master's degree in educational administration from CSU Long Beach.

In addition to serving as president of ELAC, he also has taught political science and business administration, supervision and management courses at other colleges in the the LACCD for 28 years. He also worked for the district, specializing in employee relations and at one point was chief negotiator for the district for the collective bargaining agreements with the faculty union.

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Ernest Moreno is serving as interim president of Mission College in Sylmar for one year.

David Sprague/Staff Photographer