MISSION VIEJO : Saddleback District Chancellor to Retire

After 30 years in college administration, including seven as chancellor of the Saddleback Community College District, Richard Sneed announced Thursday that he will retire this summer.

Sneed, 63, said he has been considering retirement for some time.

“I’m almost 64,” he said. “There comes a time.”

District Trustee Harriett S. Walther said the board accepted Sneed’s request for retirement Thursday with “great reluctance.”

“Richard Sneed has exceeded our expectations and the requirements of his position,” she said. “He has easily put 14 years of accomplishments into seven years in this position.”

Despite increasingly difficult financial times for all state community college districts in recent years, Sneed is credited with leading Saddleback and Irvine Valley colleges through a period of unprecedented growth. The colleges have a combined student population of about 32,800.

“I’m really proud of the development of both colleges,” Sneed said. “We’ve added more than 10,000 students and more than 100 full-time faculty.”

In the seven years since Sneed became chancellor in 1986, the district has also added several major facilities, including the Physical Sciences and Computer Science and Technologies buildings, a Health Fitness Complex and 18 acres of playing fields at Irvine Valley College, a Technology and Applied Science Building at Saddleback College, and Student Services centers at both colleges. In 1988, Irvine Valley College received full accreditation.

During his tenure, the district also entered into a partnership with Cal State Fullerton, opening the CSUF-Mission Viejo campus at Saddleback College.

Sneed’s tenure, however, has not been without controversy.

After nearly two years of negotiations, Sneed said he is disappointed that a contract has still not been reached with the Faculty Assn., the union that represents professors at both colleges, although some progress has been made recently.

This spring the association--frustrated over relations with Sneed and the inability to secure a raise--took a vote of “no confidence” in the chancellor.

“I wish my successor better success in being able to communicate” with the association, Sneed said. “But I am very much encouraged with the progress made on the negotiations. There really has been some movement on both sides.”

Sneed came to the district after 15 years at Rancho Santiago Community College District in Santa Ana, where he had held the positions of dean of liberal arts, dean of instruction and vice chancellor/vice president of academic affairs. He also held administrative positions at Chapman University in Orange and St. Gregory’s College in Oklahoma.

A longtime resident of Laguna Beach, Sneed said he plans to pursue interests including writing and consulting after his retirement, which will become effective Aug. 31.

But before he gets to that point, Sneed faces the task of putting together a budget that could include cutbacks of an estimated $2 million.

“I certainly owe that to the board and the community,” Sneed said. “That’s just an absolute necessity.”