Brit Sharon / Roundup
A proposal for a grant-funded Associated Dean of Agriculture was brought to the table for the Pierce College Council to consider at yesterday’s meeting in the College Services Building Conference Room.
Nabil Abu-Ghazaleh, vice president of academic affairs, hopes to advertise a 24-month grant-funded interim an agriculture dean position as soon as possible.
In the past few years a number of deans have attempted to take on the formal leadership role of the agriculture department but have not been able to give the kind of attention both in hours and in specialty that the agriculture truly deserves.
“I understand now that when I began here I didn’t understand the issues with the [agriculture] department that had been ongoing for decades,” Abu-Ghazaleh said. “A lot of it boils down to insufficient intuitional leadership and support.”
The agriculture program at Pierce is a huge geographic program; it’s both a historical program within the college institution, as well as a complicated one.
Abu-Ghazaleh was once a dean of art and communication, technology, and natural sciences and felt perfectly comfortable in all those areas even though he was specialized in a very specific area of engineering, he believes different about the agriculture department.
Abu-Ghazaleh feels very strongly that agriculture needs a specialist.
After learning about all the troubles the agriculture faces on a campus, he is very certain his demand for a specialist needs to be heard.
The agriculture curriculum has problems because of the local neighborhood and industrial communities.
“This is a program that needs a specialist who is boots-on-the-ground focused on nothing but the agriculture department, ” said Abu-Ghazaleh.
Abu-Ghazaleh comforts the council by insisting he does not intend to expand the administrative structure at this time.
“We are not a rich college, we are a California community college and therefore will always be strapped for cash,” said Abu-Ghazaleh. “What I am hoping will happen over the next few years is we have a grant that is specifically focused on funding an interim position which can be used towards a interim leadership position to lead the agriculture program.”
Once the grant, which has already been approved, runs out, Abu-Ghazaleh hopes that there will be a turn over in the dean structure in order to fold the position in and re-advertise it as a permanent dean position.