West L.A. College Head Quits : Education: After four years as president of the community college in Culver City, Linda Thor is resigning to take a job in Phoenix.

Linda Thor has resigned as president of West Los Angeles College without realizing her dream.

There is still no parking problem on the Westside campus, which has traditionally been overshadowed by Santa Monica College.

But during her four years as president, Thor, 40, oversaw major changes at the Culver City community college, including increasing its visibility, reversing its decline in enrollment and creating new programs and services for its largely female, largely part-time student body.

Thor’s resignation was announced July 25 at a meeting of the board of trustees of the Los Angeles Community College District. In September, she will become president of Rio Salado College in the Maricopa County Community College District in Phoenix. Maricopa is the second largest community college district in the country--after Los Angeles--and a district often described as innovative.

Jose Robledo, vice chancellor of human resources for the Los Angeles district, will serve as West Los Angeles’ interim president while a national search is conducted for Thor’s successor.

“She’s done an outstanding job during the four years she’s been president,” Los Angeles District Chancellor Donald G. Phelps said. “We will truly miss her.”

Phelps cited Thor’s success in reaching out to the community and in working with the college’s faculty, staff and students as major accomplishments of her tenure.

Thor became the youngest community college president in California when she was named president of West L.A. College in 1987. Thor, who started with the district as a public information officer in 1974, was made acting president in 1986, with a mandate from the trustees to stem the school’s plummeting enrollment.

Using marketing techniques more typical of the corporate world than of academia, including demographic studies and targeted advertising, Thor saw the college’s enrollment jump from 6,400 in 1986 to its present 9,200.

Although some college faculty initially objected to her lack of academic experience, supporters say Thor used her public-relations skills to good effect, winning over the faculty and helping to create a positive identity for the 70-acre campus, which even its neighbors were sometimes unaware of.

Faculty member Art Danner, who heads the academic senate at the college, said Thor quickly made allies of the faculty with her “enthusiastic, open manner.”

“It’s been a wonderful four years with her, and we’ve accomplished a great deal,” he said. “She very quickly assessed our needs and helped us focus on those things that needed attention.” Danner said the faculty is “feeling a great sense of loss at her leaving.”

Thor also instituted a number of new programs at the campus, which has the highest percentage of women (62%) and the highest percentage of black students (48%) in the Los Angeles district, including a program that allows students to take a full college load while continuing to work full time.

Thor said the opportunity to improve her family’s lifestyle and the chance to work in a district known for innovation were major reasons for her decision. “I’m not running from anything,” she said. “I deeply love West Los Angeles College, and I’m deeply proud of our collective accomplishments.”

She said she was especially proud of the college’s enrollment gains, the creation of the adult education program and new programs in paralegal education and the handling of hazardous materials during her tenure. She said her one serious regret was that she wouldn’t be on campus to see the completion of two major buildings, now in the design phase, that will give the school the auditorium, student union and other facilities it has never had.

Thor was chosen for the Phoenix job from a field of 107 candidates.

She said she had long had her eye on the Phoenix district “because its the premiere community college district in the country in terms of use of technology and instructional innovation.” As an example of the district’s enthusiasm for technology, she pointed out that she and the 10 finalists for the Rio Salado job were interviewed on videotape. Her interview took place in Century City, where a professional interviewer asked her questions that had been faxed to him from district officials in Phoenix.

Rio Salado College is one of eight colleges and two educational centers in the Phoenix district. It is a “college without walls” that holds classes in 250 locations in Phoenix and also offers courses via television, cassette and computer. The college, which enrolls about 15,000 students, works closely with local industry to provide educational programs (it is also responsible for the educational programs in the state’s prisons).

Thor, who was senior director of occupational and technical education for the Los Angeles community college district before she went to West L.A. College, noted that industry training programs are one of her “great passions.”

“This will significantly improve our lifestyle,” Thor said of the move.

She said one result would be an immediate increase in pay of almost $12,000 over her current salary of $90,000 a year. Her salary is expected to increase to $125,000 in four years. The new job will also provide generous vacations, a $450-a-month car allowance and the computer of her choice for her home. Thor, who now lives in Alhambra with her husband, Robert Huntsinger, and two children, ages 2 and 9, said housing will cost less in Phoenix. Her parents, who also live in the San Gabriel Valley, plan to move to Phoenix as well.

Paul Elsner, chancellor of the Phoenix district, said the district is “very excited” at Thor’s appointment. He said the district had been impressed by “her presence,” her reputation for getting along with faculty at West L.A., her good relations with the corporate sector, her ability to communicate and the fact that “she has an educational agenda--not all educational leaders do.”