MORENO TAKES HELM AT MISSION ONE-YEAR TERM FOR VETERAN LEADER.

Byline: LISA M. SODDERS Staff Writer

The Los Angeles Community College District has appointed its most experienced president to take over troubled Mission College as the new one-year interim president.

LACCD Chancellor Darroch ``Rocky'' Young, who made the announcement Wednesday at the Board of Trustees meeting, said East Los Angeles College President Ernest H. Moreno, 58, of Los Angeles, will replace Mission's outgoing interim President Jose A. Leyba, effective July 11.

``Through Ernie's leadership, `best practices' have become the standard at ELAC,'' Young said. ``His knowledge and experience will help him assist LAMC to become re-energized and refocused on its primary mission of educating students.

``There is a real benefit to being part of a nine-college district: When a college is having challenges, we can take some of our best resources and loan them to the college to try to get it back on track.''

Young said ELAC -- and some of the other colleges -- also will be sending other officials and resources to help Mission.

Moreno will have a full plate at Mission. A three-way landswap deal crucial to completing the campus master plan has been scuttled, enrollment has been declining, the campus is facing a deficit of more than $1 million, an accreditation visit in March, and -- despite mandatory mediation sessions -- remaining faculty tensions.

But Young is optimistic.

``I don't think this is a hard turnaround,'' he said.

Angela Echeverri, Mission faculty senate president, was positively gleeful about Young's decision.

``I cannot tell you how happy and relieved I am -- we were fantasizing about this,'' Echeverri said. ``If we had a magic wand and could pick anyone in the world to head Mission, we would have picked him. Just to have that stable, competent leadership is so valuable.

``He has concrete plans to deal with the enrollment issue, he will be coming in with a solid team of administrators, and he's going to hit the ground running,'' Echeverri said.

Leyba, 54, of Chandler, Ariz., became interim president of the Sylmar campus of 7,300 students in December 2005, replacing Adriana Barrera, who was promoted to senior vice chancellor of the district. He was formerly provost of the Maricopa County Community College District's downtown campus and extended programs, and is moving back to Arizona at the end of this month.

A committee had been interviewing candidates for a permanent president at Mission, but Young said the search would be suspended for a year.

``(The existing pool) was probably sufficient to proceed, but wasn't as strong as I would have liked it to be,'' Young said. ``Mission would never get someone of Ernie's experience as an applicant. If he can get the college to another level, we can attract a significant applicant pool.''

Moreno was out of town on vacation Wednesday and could not be reached for comment.

But Sharon Tate, ELAC spokeswoman, said Moreno ``has a sense of humor and he has a clear vision that a college exists to serve its students and everything he does will be behind serving students.''

Moreno has been president of the 21,025-student campus in Monterey Park for 12 years, increasing enrollment from 13,000 students, and the campus budget from $12.5 million to more than $63 million. Young said ELAC currently has the highest amount of financial reserves of any of the nine colleges.

The college also has the highest community college transfer and graduation rates for Hispanic students in the state, and the second-highest in the nation, Tate said.

Moreno attended Mount San Antonio College in Walnut and earned a bachelor's degree in political science at California State University, Los Angeles. He started his career with the LACCD in 1969, took a leave of absence for military duty in 1970 and then returned two years later. He then completed a master's degree in educational administration from CSU Long Beach.

Prior to coming to Mission, Moreno served as dean of academic affairs at West Los Angeles College, and vice president of academic affairs at ELAC. He also served as an employee relations specialist/personnel analyst for the district, providing support services for collective bargaining participants.

Lisa.Sodders(at)dailynews.com

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