Shawna Burreson
Three finalists were interviewed in a forum open to the public at the Performing Arts Building yesterday.
Those who didn’t make it to the forum can read their seperate interviews below.
Dr. Thomas Anderson knows the future of Pierce College could change course at any time.
One of three finalists and vice chancellor of educational services at South Orange Community College District in Mission Viejo, he has taken some unexpected twists in his life and career.
Before he started teaching in 1981, Anderson was in healthcare.
“I got into academics because of a need for qualified workers,” said Anderson. “I couldn’t find people trained to work in hospitals so I started a program.”
This initiated a career that ushered him through all of the levels of academics, from faculty to chancellor — except for one position: president of a college.
“I just bypassed that step,” said Anderson.
Anderson got into the health care industry by chance. Like many students fresh out of high school and unsure of their next move, he enlisted in the service.
“I was lucky when I finished high school,” said Anderson. “I was an underprepared high school student … I was not planning to go to college.”
A test the Army gave him indicated potential in health care. He became a coreman in emergency rooms.
“I was doing things that I couldn’t do in the outside because I didn’t have a degree.”
He later earned his doctorate in respiratory care.
“The courses I had trouble with in high school ended up being the courses I had to teach,” he said.
Anderson looks forward to working in imminent building projects and working with the community.
He’d like to be president for 10 years. But if he doesn’t get it?
“I’m looking for presidency now because I am ready.” he said. “If not, I’ll stay where I am, I’m happy.”
Robert Garber, vice president of student services at Miramar college, San Diego, is excited to compete for Pierce college president.
After all, he’s worked for ten of them by now.
“I used to have a joke,” he said. “When I fall asleep at night I don’t count sheep-I count presidents.”
After working on this campus for almost two decades in a variety of functions, Garber is aware the need for a more long-term president and intends to stay for least five years.
“I don’t move around much. I stick to what I like and make it work,” said Garber.
And he likes Pierce.
“It’s really a home to me,” said Garber. “This is a chance to go home and bring some of my skills and vision with me. This is an opportunity to make Pierce a better place… I know the issues of the college historically and currently, and the issues of the community.”
People and programs he instituted during his lengthy stay on this campus still linger.
He pioneered the health services program and hired nurse Beth Benne.
He said he has an “interest and passion for the process” of bringing the historically agricultural campus into a technologically viable future.
“I like technology but I’m not a geek,” he said. “I am an innovator. Some people are creative with painting on a blank canvas, writing or playing music. I am a creative innovator. I use ideas to make things work … just don’t ask me to draw.”
Hired at Pierce in the fall 1977 as a contract counselor, he worked in various areas for the next 19 years, including as a math teacher and dean of academic affairs.
“I’m not a careerist,” he said. “I am not looking for the next opportunity. I’m looking at how I can make things better.”
Although the search for a new college president spanned the nation, Dr. Richard McDowell is, like the other two finalists, also from Southern California.
If chosen, he said he’ll bring qualities bred in the highly competitive environment that envelops educational institutions on the East Coast.
McDowell was a dean twice, once at Chapman University for a decade and at Tufts in downtown Boston for nearly two decades.
As the first provost (chief academic officer) at University of La Verne, located about 35 miles east of L.A. in a town of the same name, he has for the last five years been in charge of coordinating academic programs, athletics, creating internships and building programs.
“I like putting together the puzzles of new opportunities,” he said. “The world is changing and education needs to continue to respond.”
His interest in technology almost swayed him to work for the Ford Motor Company or New York Railroad but he said he enjoys working with community members.
McDowell’s interest in community groups and education programs and denotes a broad world view.
“There has been tremendous progress in parts of Asia, South africa, India and remarkable success stories of bringing people into a cultural and economic relationship,” said McDowell. “That means that dominant countries, like the U.S., will have competition and we will have to work hard to maintain and still contribute.”
McDowell will commit at leastfive years if chosen.
Thomas Anderson:
COOL FACTS:
?He ran the ventilators for the patients on the hospital scenes on Dattana.
?If he hadn’t been a teacher, hewould have been an architect
?On his nightstand: “Along Came a Spider” by James Patterson Smith
?Favorite ice cream: vanilla, “because you can put anything on it”
EDUCATION:
A.A. in Respiratory Therapy, Black Hawk College, Illinois
B.A., University of Missouri.
M.A., University of Nevada, L.V.
Ph.D., University of Colombia
Photo not availible by press time