SYLMAR : College Head to Leave for Fund-Raising Post

Los Angeles Community College District Chancellor Neil Yoneji made it official Thursday. Jack Fujimoto, president of Mission College since 1989, will be transferred Downtown to lead the district’s hunt for elusive sources of grant funding.

The nine-campus college district, the largest two-year college district in the country, was hit hard this year by state budget cutbacks and declining enrollment. Yoneji tapped Fujimoto for the fund-raising assignment, billed as a one-year position, because the 65-year-old administrator has a reputation for developing hard-to-find grants and retains strong ties to education officials in Sacramento.

Fujimoto’s replacement is William E. Norlund, vice president of academic affairs at Pierce College in Woodland Hills.

Fujimoto, Yoneji and Norlund were in meetings Thursday and did not return several phone messages. It is unclear exactly when Fujimoto will begin his new assignment, though officials said it is likely to happen sometime before the beginning of the new semester Jan. 17.

Both Norlund and Fujimoto hold doctorates in education and have backgrounds in science; Norlund teaches physics, while Fujimoto is trained in mathematics. Fujimoto also has a business degree from UCLA.

Norlund’s appointment as interim president was made with the consent of the Mission College faculty, who reviewed candidates for the job.

The news of Fujimoto’s departure, however temporary, prompted different reactions among community and faculty members.

Some said they doubted his absence would affect the daily operation of the college, while others felt his departure would have a negative impact on long-term projects Fujimoto was supervising.

Fujimoto presided over the transition and expansion of the college--the youngest and smallest in the district--from a collection of storefront buildings in and around San Fernando to its present location on a 22.5-acre campus in Sylmar. A 40-acre expansion is in the works.

Fujimoto, who has ties ranging from major corporations to tiny community groups, obtained vital financing for construction of a much-touted $11-million library and learning resource center, a facility that educators said is likely to be a hallmark of Mission College.

His success in bringing the library project to fruition is attributed to an ability to find funding sources even during financially lean periods.

Community leaders said Fujimoto’s absence will be felt.

“He had the ability to weld different minority groups together,” said Ed Kussman, a member of the college’s advisory committee. “His leaving isn’t a disaster, but he started a lot of good things. He’s an ideas man.”

Kussman said Fujimoto conceived a plan to train unemployed people to make school uniforms for elementary schools, some of which now require students to wear the uniforms.