Temporary additions to Fullerton College’s administration Savannah Jones, Interim Vice President of Instruction and Richard Storti, Interim Vice President of Administrative Services, met with the FC community at a gathering held outside the President’s office. They had a chance to mingle with instructors and tend to any questions or concerns they had.
These new appointments resulted after the loss of two VPs, Claudette Dain, previous VP of Administrative Service who is now at Citrus College and Terry Giugni previous VP of Instruction who is now at Napa Valley College.
The area in front of President Rajen Vurdien’s office was buzzing with chatter as different instructors and other staff members crowded around the new interim VP’s and new Director of Maintenance Operations and Facilities, Larry Lara, last Tuesday.
Vurdien mentioned that selecting the two interim VP’s was dependent on finding individuals with the proper capabilities for the job so they can jump right in.
“You can’t bring in a new person who doesn’t know the job because by the time the interim period is over, you would have just spent the whole period training the person,” Vurdien said.
Jones held similar responsibilities at the Community College of Philadelphia and Storti was previously a part of the Wilshire Center School of Continuing Education.
Vurdien said that the interim period for the two vice presidents will last through the end of June. Lara is the only permanent addition to the staff as of now.
Attendees of the meet and greet held different views towards how they felt about these new temporary positions could accomplish.
Director of Equity and Diversity Ken Robinson felt that these interim positions are very short term and do not provide someone with enough time to accomplish as much as a permanent position holder.
“It does help with continuity, that students can still get help with services and is a great recruitment source but does not guarantee the job,” Robinson said.
Lara disclosed that there are plans to add another parking structure in the future, but that all depends on whether the district will pass another construction bond. Whether this structure is approved or not, his long term position allows him to work towards accomplishing something of this nature.
Others expressed that they are hoping the new positions will bring in new perspectives to different areas.
Karen Rose, Director of the Office of Special Programs mentioned that she could see Jones bringing in knowledge to help with budgets.
“I certainly hope to maintain what we have and improve what we can improve on,” Lara said.
The interim period will come to an end at the end of the semester and the President along with a hiring committee is working to find a permanent replacement for the two VP positions.
The hiring process for the VPs involves the committee selecting three to four finalists to go through interviews with the President and Toni DuBois, the Vice President of Student Service and then a meeting with the Chancellor to make the final selections.