Coastline President Is Chosen District’s Chancellor

William M. Vega, president of Coastline Community College for the past eight years, on Monday night was unanimously elected chancellor of the three-college, 53,000-student district that includes Coastline.

The Coast Community College District Board of Trustees picked Vega, 50, to succeed Alfred P. Fernandez, who retired Aug. 30. The trustees, at a special meeting, also voted that Vega should assume the duties of chancellor Nov. 1, be given a three-year contract and be paid $119,309 a year.

“Dr. Vega emerged from an extensive and intensive search. . . . “ said Paul G. Berger, board president. “He is an educator with vision, commitment, organizational qualities and a broad background in local, state and national community college education.”

The other two community colleges in the district are Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa and Golden West College in Huntington Beach. Coastline Community College is headquartered in Fountain Valley. Vega’s election means that he becomes chief executive officer of all three colleges.

Berger on Monday night said no decision has yet been made on when the trustees will begin a search for a new president for Coastline Community College.

He became president of the non-traditional Coastline Community College in 1985. That institution, which often calls itself “a college without a campus,” operates from a variety of buildings in several cities in northwest Orange County.

Vega is an infantry veteran of the Vietnam War and was awarded the Bronze Star Medal, Air Medal and the Combat Infantry Badge. He received his doctorate in higher and post-secondary education from USC. He also holds a master’s degree in economics and business from Appalachian State University in North Carolina and a bachelor’s degree in management from Indiana University.

He serves on the board of directors of the Washington-based American Assn. of Community Colleges. Before coming to Coastline, he was an administrator at El Camino College in Torrance and at Compton College and Los Angeles City College.