Acting Mission Chief to Head for Pierce

The acting president of Mission College has accepted a job as vice president of academic affairs at Pierce College in Woodland Hills.

Thom Oliver will replace Carmelita Thomas, who has been named president of Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland.

As Mission College’s vice president of academic affairs, Oliver helped make the campus one of the best wired in the community college district, acquiring scores of computers and urging professors to use new technologies in their courses. Oliver is also known for helping to secure funds for a new campus building and developing a long-term facilities plan.

Oliver became interim president after former President William E. Norlund stepped down after the college missed three spending deadlines for a state-financed $4.7-million campus expansion. Norlund’s permanent replacement will be Adriana Barrera, who formerly led El Paso Community College in El Paso.

Oliver has since helped revive the expansion project and regained the trust of Norlund’s critics, said Assemblyman Tony Cardenas, (D-Sylmar), a Norlund critic.

“Norlund was a nice guy, but he wasn’t able to move the agenda of the college,” Cardenas said. “But I’ve been impressed with Thom’s ability to work through issues and work for a solution.”

When Oliver came to Mission five years ago, enrollment was down and the college was running a $2.5-million deficit. Now, with about 7,000 students, enrollment is at its highest level and Oliver is leaving a $3-million surplus.

Despite his accomplishments, Oliver, who submitted his resume to the Los Angeles Community College District last year for Norlund’s job, was never considered a serious contender.

“That’s just politics,” Oliver said. “They wanted a different demographic and different kind of person. But I understand that. I’m not bitter or anything.”

Mission College underwent two presidential searches. The first was scrapped last spring after district board members criticized the pool of candidates as inexperienced and lacking ethnic diversity.

Most of Mission’s students are Latino, but community activists and board members complained that none of the three finalists was Latino. The second search was concluded last month.

Cardenas said that being a Latino was not one of his main criteria for Mission presidential candidates, but he said it was “a big plus.” He said he would have supported Oliver had he asked for help.

Pierce College President Rocky Young said Oliver has “exactly the abilities I’m looking for.”

Oliver, who was being paid according to the president’s scale, will revert to a vice president’s salary of about $100,000 a year. He will begin his new job July 1.