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Friday, Mar 29, 2024

New Chancellor for L.A. Community College District

Los Angeles Valley College President Tyree Wieder was on the selection committee when Mark Drummond first interviewed to be chancellor of Los Angeles Community College District. “I thought he would be very innovative. He had a great personality, a very strong personality,” she recalled. That was more than eight years ago. As it turned out, Drummond won the position he was seeking, officially assuming the chancellorship in June 1999. But four years later he left to be chancellor of the California Community College District. Now, in a surprise move, Drummond is leaving Sacramento to return to the position he left behind in L.A. He is slated to start July 23. Of Drummond’s move, Kenneth Takeda, vice president of administrative services for Pierce College, said, “He’s returning to his roots, so, in a sense, I think he was attracted to the vibrancy of being a chancellor of a large community college district as opposed to working in Sacramento. He’s not a politician. He’s an educator.” Drummond has numerous strengths, according to Wieder. “He’s very focused on student learning. He also has been very good in working with the business community because he believes in partnerships and creating job opportunities,” she said. “When he was here before, he made some changes in personnel and in our technology department.” Takeda, formerly LACCD’s director of business services, worked with Drummond at district headquarters between 2000 and 2003. Takeda said the chancellor is good at juggling the requirements that come with the high-profile job, particularly working with the nine college presidents, senior administrators and the Board of Trustees. “He’s a very strong leader. He appears to have a strong link to the community as well.” LACCD may not have undergone a complete overhaul during the years Drummond has been in Sacramento, but it has changed. “Our partnership with K-12 has expanded,” Wieder said. “We’ve changed the methods in which we allocate funds within the district.” Ironically, other changes Drummond will notice, such as the construction underway on the campuses, resulted directly from the building program he initiated years ago. “We’re the product of the things he set in motion when he was chancellor,” Takeda said. “He can pick up where he left off and hit the ground running.”

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