MISSION COLLEGE PRESIDENT NAMED DISTRICT VICE CHANCELLOR

Dr. Adriana D. Barrera, president of Mission College since 2000, has been appointed senior vice chancellor of the Los Angeles Community College District, it was announced.

Trustees of the nine-college district made public their decision at their September 7 meeting.

Barrera will replace Peter J. Landsberger, who has held the senior vice chancellor position on an interim basis since July 2005. Barrera will work alongside Chancellor Darroch “Rocky” Young, serving as the second highest administrator in the 110-thousand-student district.

“I have loved working at Mission College the past five years,” said Dr. Barrera. “However, the challenge of serving the district as a whole was an opportunity I could not resist.”

"Dr. Barrera and I have worked together throughout her entire time with the district,” said Chancellor Young. “We’ve built the strong partnership necessary for an effective chancellor and vice chancellor relationship. The combination of our effective working relationship and her diverse skills makes her a perfect fit for the job."

No date was set for the start of Barrera’s new assignment. But even as she assumes those duties, Chancellor Young made it clear that Dr. Barrera will continue to pursue one of Mission College’s most critical projects – a proposal to acquire land for campus expansion.

“The Chancellor and I are in agreement that I need to continue to take ownership of that issue,” said Dr. Barrera.

The vice chancellor’s new duties will include overseeing the operation of most units at district headquarters; government relations; serving as liaison with the nine colleges’ “foundation” (citizen support) groups, assisting in the formulation and enactment of district policy; and providing administrative support for Chancellor Young.

Barrera said the process for selection of a new president for Mission College has not been determined but will probably involve a nationwide search for a successor.

Dr. Barrera became president of Mission College in 2000. During her tenure, she raised the number of Mission College students who transferred to four-year universities by 25 percent; increased the number of degrees and diplomas awarded by the college, also by 25 percent; oversaw completion of the Guadalupe S. Ramirez Collaborative Studies (classroom) Building; and restored an athletics program that had been cut before her arrival due to a budget crunch.

Dr. Barrera also led the effort to develop a master plan designed to complete the Mission College campus. The plan calls for adding nine acres of land to the Mission College “footprint”; and the addition of a health and fitness center, a multimedia arts building, additional student parking, a new child development studies center, and a family and consumer studies building.

The district Board of Trustees has proposed a “land swap” with Los Angeles County that would give Mission College nine acres of land adjacent to the campus, in return for 16 acres presently owned by the district and the Army Corps of Engineers. It is those negotiations that Dr. Barrera will continue to pursue, even as she begins her duties as senior vice chancellor.

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