3 Finalists Identified for Mission College Presidency

SYLMAR —  A search committee has narrowed a field of 55 candidates to three finalists for the presidency of Mission College, officials said Friday.

They are Susan Carleo, 50, vice president of academic affairs at Valley College; Bettsy Barhorst, 53, vice president of planning and information services at Illinois Central College, a community college in Peoria, Ill.; and Saeed Ali, 52, an aide to state Sen. Richard Polanco (D-Los Angeles) and a staff member of the Latino legislative caucus in Sacramento.

The candidates would replace William Norlund, whose retirement is scheduled for Thursday. All three will be interviewed Friday by the Los Angeles Community College District Board of Trustees.

While some search committee members privately complained that the initial pool of candidates had too few qualified Latinos, the absence of a Latino finalist was generally downplayed by community leaders.

“That’s too bad. Having a Latino at a college that is two-thirds Latino is always a nice plus,” said Assemblyman Tony Cardenas (D-Sylmar). “But the main thing I hope is that one of these three works well with the entire community.”

Added state Sen. Richard Alarcon (D-Sylmar): “I think the Latino community just wants the most qualified president, who’s sensitive to minority issues.”

Carleo has been at Valley College for three years, helping upgrade technological resources and creating curriculum review processes to make sure programs prepare students well for the work force. At State University of New York in Schenectady, Carleo was a dean, and before that she taught at Valley College and Los Angeles Harbor College.

Barhorst joined Illinois Central 23 years ago as a speech instructor. Five years ago she was charged with addressing the school’s lack of technological resources and last year was named vice president. Recently she has been involved in fund-raising for a $10-million information technology building.

Barhorst also spent five years teaching in Geneva, Switzerland. She said she became interested in the Mission College job after her husband, a Caterpillar executive, started looking for work in the area.

Ali has worked with the Latino caucus for five years and has been involved with Latino issues in various capacities. From 1981 to 1989 he directed Glendale Community College’s well-respected English-as-a-Second-Language program.

With 6,620 students on 22 acres, Mission College has the smallest enrollment and smallest campus of the district’s nine colleges. But enrollment jumped 12% in the spring and is expected to double by 2003, prompting calls for rapid expansion.

Mission College administrators hope to break ground on a 20,000-square-foot two-story classroom building by next summer using $4.8 million that was thrice returned to Sacramento after college officials failed to meet spending deadlines.

Cardenas and Alarcon have recently worked to recover the money and a budget item has been inserted in this year’s pending state budget.