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Forum
Features Final Three Eyeing Compton Center Provost Position
The search
for a permanent provost/CEO is nearing its end, and officials say new
leader should be in place by July 1
By
Allison Jean Eaton
Bulletin Staff Writer
COMPTON – The
field of candidates aiming to lead the city’s flagship educational
center down the murky, monotonous path of re-accreditation has been
whittled down to three, and the finalists recently fielded questions
from school officials, students and residents at a forum.
Hosted in the Student Lounge on the former Compton College campus,
the May 15 meet-the-candidates forum was held to give stakeholders
a voice in the final selection and attracted roughly 65 people.
The three provost/CEO candidates are: Dr. Charles Abasa-Nyarko, Dr.
Lawrence Cox and Dr. Monte Perez.
The initial selection process began earlier this spring with a nationwide
search conducted by a professional search consultant. Out of a pool
of about 35 candidates, roughly a dozen semi-finalists were selected
by a search committee after a thorough application review.
The committee is comprised of two administrators, one from Compton
Center and one from El Camino; five faculty members, four from the
center and one from El Camino; two center classified employees; two
center students; one representative from the Compton Community College
District; and one Equal Employment Opp-ortunity representative, said
Special Trustee Peter Landsberger.
Only about seven of the semi-finalists accepted an invitation to be
interviewed by the search committee, said Landsberger. Of those, the
final three were selected and invited to participate in the public
forum.
The provost will report to El Camino President Thomas Fallo, Landsberger
and the Compton Community Col-lege District Board of Trustees while
leading the college back to legitimacy.
Dr. Charles Abasa-Nyarko
Abasa-Nyarko currently serves as vice president of Academic Affairs
at Bunker Hill Community College, a multi-campus urban college near Boston.
The Ghana native received his B.A. degree in political science with
economics in 1979 from the University of Ghana, his M.A. in political science
from Brigham Young University in 1984 and his Ph.D. in international studies
in 1988 from the University of South Carolina.
He has previously served as vice president of academic and student
services at Gloucester County College in New Jersey; dean of arts and sciences
and co-chief academic officer at Muskegon Community College in Michigan;
and associate dean of English, library, social and behavioral sciences
at South Suburban College in Illinois. He has worked with Norfolk State
University in Virginia as director of the Center for the Prevention of
Crime, Illiteracy and Poverty, taught for eight years at Livingston College
in North Carolina and was an assistant professor at Elizabeth City State
University in North Carolina.
Dr. Lawrence M. Cox
Cox has more than 25 years of academic experience and leadership.
He received his B.S. degree in education, M.S. in educational psychology
and Ph.D. in sociology all from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.
He is a graduate of the Institute of Management at Harvard and has participated
in the Yale School of Management for Leadership and the American Association
of Community Colleges Leadership Academy.
Most recently, Cox served as provost at Stark State College of Technology
in Ohio. He has also served as an educational and research consultant.
From 1995-2002, he served as president of Olive-Harvey College in Chicago
and from 1990-94 as president of Shelby State Community College in Memphis.
As a teacher, he earned tenure and rank of associate professor at both
schools.
He has proven leadership in administration, institutional research,
strategic planning, fundraising and resource development, state and federal
relations, information and communication systems, budget planning and fiscal
management, foundation management, auxiliary enterprise management, facility
planning, construction management, intercollegiate athletics, collective
bargaining and human resources and affirmative action.
Dr. Monte Perez
Perez currently serves as vice president of student services at Golden
West Community College in Huntington Beach.
Born and raised in East Los Angeles, he earned his B.A. degree in
social science government from Cal State Los Angeles and his M.A. and Ph.D.
in public policy and administration from USC. He has served as assistant
director of admissions at Stanford and director of the Educational Opportunity
Program and Student Support Services at Cal State Los Angeles, where he
also taught political science and Chicano studies.
Perez was selected as a policy fellow with the U.S. Department of
Education (DOE) and was a senior policy analyst for the secretary of the
DOE. He was then appointed director of community and organizational relations
for the educational testing western regional office, eventually becoming
director of the office.
He also served as director of institutional research, provost and
vice president of academic affairs respectively for the National Hispanic
University in San Jose, where he was successful in securing Western Association
of School and Colleges accreditation as the first Latino nonprofit independent
senior college on the West Coast.
Tough Questions
In addition to predetermined questions read by a moderator, attendees
were allowed to submit questions for the candidates, which were each given
roughly 50 minutes to share a little about themselves and field questions.
Inquiries ranged from what each candidate would do about strained
race relations and how they would improve communication between the
center and El Camino to how they would get the library and bookstore
up and running
and reestablish the school’s foundation to whether or not they had
any personal ties to El Camino, WASC or ACCJC.
Perez, who assisted in building National Hispanic University from
the ground up and lead the way toward that school’s eventual accreditation,
he said he has pertinent experience in the accreditation, or in Compton’s
case, re-accreditation arena.
“Having gone through that, I identify with what is ahead of us here
at Compton Center,” he said. “I’ve gone through the accreditation
process and worked with minority populations all my life.
“I have looked at the recovery plan,” continued Perez. “There’s
a lot to be done, but it’s all doable… and I think working
as a team and collaborating together, we’ll get it (re-accreditation)
sooner than 10 years.
“The sooner we roll up our sleeves, the sooner we’ll get there.”
Hosting monthly forums and regular meetings with the special trustee
are key to breaking down the communication barriers both between the center
and Torrance-based El Camino as well as between the educational institution
and the community, said Abasa-Nyarko.
To boost enrollment, which has recently seen a slight upturn after
several semesters of decline, Abasa-Nyarko said he would step up outreach
to local high schools and community organizations as well as increase the
availability of scholarships.
“We need to talk about the programs we have and then sell what we
are doing and what our accomplishments are,” he said.
Cox, who described himself as being big on shared governance and
collaboration, said the college can’t just spruce up the campus before
each visit from the state Fiscal Crisis and Management Team – it’s
something that needs to be maintained daily.
“It takes what it takes, of course, and I’m not a very patient person… but
I’ll make sure that things get done. Accreditation to me is not something
that takes 10 years – it happens every day,” he said.
He added that not just opening a bookstore, but finding ways to provide
students with cheaper books, would be one of the issues at the top of his
list if selected to assume control of the center.
Following the forum, Associated Student Body President Ignacio Alvarez
said he was pleased with all three candidates.
“I think they’re all excellent candidates and that they’re
all overly qualified,” he said, adding that he was especially impressed
with Cox.
Asked if he was surprised that current Interim Provost/CEO Dr. Doris
Givens was not among the final three candidates, he said “not necessarily.”
“She hasn’t been very student friendly or community friendly, and
given the scores FCMAT has given us, where we are now from a year
ago is not much different,” Alvarez said.
At last week’s college district board meeting, Joseph Lewis, who
heads the campus’ classified employees union, said that the classified
employees took a vote and have decided to endorse Cox.
“Not that we didn’t enjoy Dr. Givens and we are disappointed that
she was not in the final three,” he said.
The anticipated start date for the new provost/CEO is July 1. Between
the forum and then, Special Trustee Landsberger and El Camino President
Fallo will conduct final interviews, and the candidates’ references
will be checked.
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