Head of the Class : New Pierce College President E. Bing Inocencio Takes Office

In his first day on the job, new Pierce College President E. Bing Inocencio spent much of Monday morning keeping his mouth shut and instead listening to staff members debate plans for the campus’ 50th anniversary celebration next year.

It’s a discipline, Inocencio says, that he will practice often in the coming months.

To begin tackling a series of major problems facing the troubled campus--plummeting enrollment, a projected $800,000 deficit this year and a threat to its accreditation--the newly arrived educator from New York made it clear Monday that one of his most pressing tasks for the immediate future will be to listen and learn.

“I’ve got two ears and one tongue. I want to use more of my ears and less of my tongue,” said Inocencio. Among the basic challenges of a president’s first day: simply finding his way to a meeting in a remote building on the sprawling 405-acre campus, and later, locating the restroom closest to his own digs.

On Day 1, there were no sweeping edicts from the 60-year-old Philippine-born educator, no grand pronouncements of imminent change. There were just soft-spoken statements of two philosophical tenets that Inocencio said will guide him: The impact on students will be considered foremost in all decisions, and leadership will come through collaboration, not by fiat.

If nothing else, Inocencio’s first day in the $93,353-a-year job suggests he will be night-and-day different in demeanor from former acting Pierce President Mary Lee, who guided the 14,500-student campus for much of the past two years before being passed over for the permanent president’s job in January.

While Lee was a strong, self-directed and individualistic leader, Inocencio talks of delegating authority, consulting with the faculty and freeing subordinates to show initiative. While Lee would often run meetings, Inocencio appears more inclined to facilitate discussions.

“They did not hire an emperor or a king. And I have no such complex,” he said.

At present, Inocencio has his hands full unpacking piles of moving boxes in the Warner Center townhouse several blocks from the campus that he and his wife, Maria Araceli, have rented. In his free time, Inocencio, a theater buff, plans to check out local playhouses, while his wife, a former real estate agent with an interest in flowers, wants to attend Pasadena’s Rose Parade.

At the outset, Inocencio has strengths and handicaps. In his favor, his appointment in March came with the backing of key employee and student representatives on campus. That is a big change for a college that has complained of getting stuck over the years with a series of presidents imposed on the campus by outside college district administrators.

But unlike Lee and her predecessors, Inocencio--who was the associate vice provost for academic administration at New York City Technical College in Brooklyn--has virtually no background or experience with the college or the broader nine-campus college district to which it belongs, nor with the San Fernando Valley.

And at least to start the fall semester, experienced help may be in short supply. Pierce’s acting vice president for academic affairs, Carmelita Thomas, is looking for a permanent post elsewhere. Dean of student services Bob Garber announced he’s leaving to take a vice president’s job at a San Diego community college. And academic affairs dean Phil Stein is out on medical leave.

So where does Inocencio plan to start? To boost enrollment, he’s talking of reshuffling the college’s schedule for spring 1997 (the fall 1996 schedule is already set) to offer more high-demand courses in popular time slots, and of expanding specialized programs such as PACE, which caters to working adults.

To whittle down the looming deficit, Inocencio is talking with Pierce’s agriculture faculty about starting an agribusiness program that could include students operating a farmers’ market to sell farm products. He also said the college must expand its involvement in contract education, in which businesses pay for specialized training for their employees.

And in the far distance, if he is successful, Inocencio can look toward the college’s golden anniversary in 1997-98 as an opportunity to convince the public that the former flagship school of the Los Angeles Community College District has regained some of its luster.

“It may be a cliche, but it’s a golden opportunity,” he said.