New Interim President Chosen for Southwest College

"It is quite an honor to have been chosen by the Board of Trustees for this position as interim president of LA Southwest College and I look forward to meeting the staff, getting to know the students and overseeing the continued progress of academic and structural improvements on campus." -- Dr. Jack E. Daniels III

The Board of Trustees of the Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD) announced today that it has named a new interim president for Los Angeles Southwest College. Dr. Jack E. Daniels III, formerly president of Lincoln Land Community College in Springfield Illinois, will assume the position on July 17, 2006. Consistent with a Los Angeles Community College District policy, Dr. Daniels will hold this position for one year and cannot apply for the permanent job of president.

“We had an excellent group of candidates to choose from,” said LACCD Chancellor Darroch “Rocky” Young. “It was a difficult choice but we think that Dr. Daniels, with his broad experience, is the best fit for this interim assignment. “

Dr. Daniels had been president of the 20,000 student Lincoln Land Community College for three years. Prior to that, he served for four years as president of the 15,000 student Central College, one of the five colleges in the Houston Community College System. His ten years of administrative experience in California includes serving as vice-president of academic affairs at Grossmont College in El Cajon, serving East San Diego County and as director of educational development at Peralta Community College District in Oakland.

In addition to his accomplishments in leading colleges’ strategic and facilities master planning, implementing a “learning-centered college” initiative, and articulating programs with local universities, Dr. Daniels’ areas of expertise include: Mentoring African American Leadership, Entrepreneurship in the Community College Model and The Impact of Community Colleges on the Local Community. He wrote his Ph.D. thesis on “The Effect of Utilization of Support Services on Self-Esteem, Academic Achievement and Retention of Black Students in Predominately White Institutions.”

One of Dr. Daniels’ priorities has always been involvement with his local community. He served as a Board Member of the Springfield Urban League, the United Way of Central Illinois and the Economic Development Council of Springfield and Sangamon County.

He has received awards for his service on the American Association of Community Colleges Board, the Texas Association of Black Personnel in Higher Education, the League for Innovation’s Executive Leadership Institute and the Community College League of California’s Student Service Commission.

Los Angeles Southwest College was founded in 1967, when the Board of Education approved plans to build a college at the corner of Western Avenue and Imperial Highway. The college, which opened its doors with 600 students, now enrolls more than 6,000. It has a strong transfer program and offers hundreds of programs in numerous fields, including banking and finance, journalism, computer information systems, child development, chemical dependency counseling, nursing and administration of justice.

Following the passage of Propositions A and AA in 2001 and 2003, Los Angeles Southwest College has undergone a major physical transformation, including a new, recently dedicated 62,000 square foot Student Services Center; a new Child Development Center and student parking lot currently under construction. Additional construction will soon begin on a Technology Education Center, and a Maintenance and Operations facility. Renovations are also underway on the Cox and Lecture Laboratory Building.

Southwest College currently has the largest design/build project of any community college in California. This $65 million project will deliver four major new facilities for Southwest College in a very rapid manner, using the fast track capability that is available under the design/build method of project delivery. This single project has the potential to significantly transform the image of Southwest College in 18 months, a full six months ahead of the standard way that projects are done. When completed, this could be a statewide model for how design/build projects should work and could potentially be duplicated in every community college throughout the state of California.

Community College Week recently ranked Los Angeles Southwest College in the top 35 community colleges in the country for graduating African American students.

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