WOODLAND HILLS : Pierce’s Lee Launches Turnaround Tactics

Since taking over as president of Pierce College in mid-April, Mary Lee has enrolled the struggling school in what she believes is a crash course that will raise enrollment and lower expenditures by next fall.

One move has been to produce 170,000 copies of a 12-page promotion of the school that was inserted in Sunday’s edition of The Times, an advertising tactic Lee used successfully at Valley College, where she spent 10 years as top administrator.

“Sometimes you have to sell education,” said Lee, who was appointed to the job upon the March 18 resignation of former President Lowell Erickson. “And I believe how you package things makes a big difference.”

Another “packaging” tactic undertaken by Lee was to begin reorganizing course offerings so students who choose a new “fast-track” program will be guaranteed the classes they need to complete requirements for a two-year degree within four semesters.

Lee hopes those moves, along with attempts to streamline the registration process, will help reverse a slide in the number of students taking classes at Pierce, which determines the amount of state funding community colleges receive.

From 1983 to the fall of 1993, enrollment dipped from 21,260 to 15,695, the lowest since 1969. The ideal enrollment for the school, said Lee, would be about 18,000 students.

But Lee is convinced that raising enrollment will not solve financial problems at Pierce, which faces a budget deficit of nearly $2 million.

“We have to raise more revenues,” she said, “and work at this problem from both ends.”

For Lee, that has meant endless meetings with local business leaders, from whom she urges in-kind contributions such as the replacement of aging water pipes or architectural designs for proposed science and student services buildings.

She also asked that more than $100,000 in annual proceeds from a swap meet run by the Foundation for Pierce College be given to the college, instead of paying salaries of the two full-time foundation staff members. Her request was granted by the foundation board, resulting in the termination of the positions.

“I understand that (Lee) has a plan,” said foundation Executive Director Esther Kenyon, whose last day is Friday. “The foundation was building good relations between the college and the public, and I hope that will continue.”

Despite the flurry of activity, Lee said most students probably have not yet noticed any results from the change in college presidents.

“I think I have brought a sense of urgency that Pierce needs change,” Lee said. “I hope the students will start feeling the benefits soon.”