Moorpark, Oxnard Colleges End Search for Presidents

The Ventura County Community College District’s governing board this week selected presidents for two of the district’s three colleges. Both jobs had been unfilled for nearly a year.

After a nationwide search, the board Tuesday night named Stanley L. Bowers, acting president of Moorpark College, as the new president, and Elise D. Schneider, vice president of instruction at Merced College, as president of Oxnard College.

Bowers was approved after review of 55 other candidates. He has been with the district since 1975. In 1983, he was named vice president of administrative services at Moorpark. He was named acting president of the college in June, replacing Dr. W. Ray Hearon, who has been on sabbatical leave the past year.

Hearon has been named the district’s executive vice chancellor.

Schneider will become the district’s first female president. Selected from 71 applicants, she replaces Ed Robings, who resigned from Oxnard College in July.

Board President Tom Ely said the screening committee, which was composed of faculty, management, staff and community members, narrowed the field of candidates, with the board making the final selection.

“I’m pleased with the blend of an outside person, plus an insider. An outside person can bring new, fresh ideas to the district, while someone who has been with the district and has moved up will create an open position and an opportunity for upward mobility in the staff,” Ely said.

Ely, who has worked with Bowers as a member of the Moorpark College Foundation, said Bowers “would provide a continuity. I don’t think people know that academically he holds a full professorship. He is well published and is well considered in the community. He has a tremendous record.”

Larry Lloyd, acting vice president for administrative services at Moorpark College, said Bowers’ appointment as president is “a very just reward. He’s one of the most popular persons on campus, very personable, very present. His selection was very important to the people here.”

Bowers is a director on the board of Los Robles Regional Medical Center and a director and officer of the Moorpark Boys and Girls Club. He received his master’s degree in education at Johns Hopkins University in 1959 and his Ed.D. degree in higher education in 1974 from USC. He is a part-time instructor for the education department at Cal State Northridge.

Bowers, who is on vacation in Hawaii, could not be reached for comment.

Schneider, who was named the first female Rotarian of Merced in 1988, is a member of the Merced Chamber of Commerce. She received all of her degrees at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. In 1969 she began teaching at Modesto Junior College, moving up through various administrative posts. She became vice president of instruction at Merced College in 1985.