IRVINE : 5 Finalists for Top College Job Named

Five candidates have made the final cut for president of Irvine Valley College, officials said Thursday.

They face mid-July interviews for the president’s job, said Saddleback Community College District spokeswoman Diane Riopka. The person chosen will succeed Anna L. McFarlin, who has been president since 1989.

McFarlin announced her retirement March 14 and will leave in August, Riopka said.

A 15-member panel of faculty, administrators and staff from Irvine Valley and Saddleback colleges narrowed the finalists to P. Carter Doran, Marchelle S. Fox, Daniel L. Larios, Antonia Darlene Pacheco and Paul D. Walker.

Doran is assistant superintendent and vice president for instruction and student services at College of the Canyons in Santa Clarita. He was also Rancho Santiago College’s vice chancellor of academic affairs for six years.

Doran studied at Yale University, Occidental College and Fuller Theological Seminary and has a doctorate from UCLA, Riopka said.

Fox is dean for institutional advancement at San Diego City College, where she has also served as dean of instruction and assistant to the president. She earned degrees from San Diego State University, Pacific Oaks College and University of Texas at Austin.

Larios is dean of instruction at Tillamook Bay Community College in Oregon. He was dean of the technology and applied science division at Saddleback College before moving to Oregon.

He studied at Cal State Fresno, Cal State Bakersfield and Nova University, Riopka said.

Pacheco, vice president for instruction at Moorpark College since 1988, also served as the college’s dean of general and transfer education and director of the social sciences division.

His alma maters include Northern Colorado State University and Colorado State University, she said.

Walker is an independent higher education consultant. He has been president of both Yavapai College in Arizona and Everett Community College in Washington.

He studied at Arizona State University and West Chester University in Pennsylvania, Riopka said.

Officials hope to have the new president on the job by mid-August, she said.