Quarles named vice chancellor

Marisa O’Neil

After of year of doing without, Coast Community College District has

hired a new vice chancellor for human resources.

Joseph Quarles, formerly deputy superintendent and chief of staff

for the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District, took the

position on July 1. He replaced John Renley, who retired in August of

last year but stayed on to work a couple days a week.

Quarles, 56, served as the top human resources officer with the

kindergarten through 12th-grade school district since 1992. This will

be his first administrative position in higher education, though he

has taught college classes at Cal State Northridge.

His wife, Allene, works as a human resources administrator at El

Camino College in Torrance.

“I’ve always had an interest in higher education as a potential

career path,” Quarles said.

He also worked in various administrative positions for Cerritos’

ABC Unified School District and as principal at Artesia High School.

He holds a doctorate in education administration from the University

of Southern California.

So far, he has met with staff members and administrators at the

district’s three colleges -- Coastline, Golden West and Orange Coast,

he said.

“I’m looking forward to interacting with people,” Quarles said.

“I’ve always enjoyed working with people and learning new things.

Most things I’ve dealt with will be very similar to what I’ll be

doing, but there will still be new challenges.”

In his new post, he will manage nearly 5,000 workers and is in

charge of administering employment services for the district.

Coast Community College District Trustees voted in May to increase

salaries for its three vice chancellors by roughly 12%. The district

said that the higher salaries were necessary to attract good

candidates to fill open positions.