Phelps Takes Helm of College District
Donald Phelps, a longtime Seattle educator and community leader, was inaugurated Thursday as the new chancellor of the Los Angeles Community College District, the largest junior college system in the country.
Phelps, 56, is the first black to lead the nine-college system, whose population of more than 100,000 students is more than 70% ethnic minorities.
About 2,000 people, including Mayor Tom Bradley and some of the new chancellor’s close friends from Seattle, filled the Grand Theater at Los Angeles Trade-Technical College for the formal installation ceremony.
Bradley, who graduated from a two-year program at the college, praised Phelps as a man with a “lifelong commitment” to education and a strong concern to help the economically disenfranchised.
Taking the podium after being officially sworn in, Phelps praised the district’s 7,500 teachers and staff members for their dedication and commitment to education as a way to better the lives of disadvantaged students.
“I pay tribute today to a faculty and staff that is selfless because they have chosen to take on a tough job, he said.”
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