The Cerritos College Board of Trustees has appointed Bill Farmer as acting President/Superintendent.

The decision became effective on July 31 and was a move by board members that will ultimately finalize into the installment of an interim president.

The former President/ Superintendent Dr. Noelia Vela left to take the position of Chancellor at San Bernardino Community College District.

Last semester Vela was given a vote on “no confidence” by the Cerritos College faculty senate.

This saga began in October of last year when the HPEA Division attended a Faculty Senate meeting to explain its dissatisfaction with the Master Plan.

On April 16 many faculty member pleaded their case to the Board of Trustees.

Prior to that, the faculty released the Academic Leadership Outcome survey.

The ALO Survey was distributed to 230 people and 134 were returned.

There were 91 surveys submitted by the faculty, 19 by administrators, eight by staff, six by students and 10 submitted surveys by individuals that declined to indicate what group they represented.

The survey was broken up into five sections: ?College Community?Constituent Organization?Decision making and governance?Academic agenda?Specific initiatives and projects and?Overall.

The people that took part in the survey had a rating scale that scored from one, meaning never meets expectations, to five, meaning consistently meets expectations.

The survey rated Vela’s performance as president very low in many key areas.

So, now Farmer will be acting president.

As acting president, he will serve temporarily, a maximum six months while the board searches for an interim president.

An interim president can serve up to one year. Any extension of the term requires permission from the chancellor’s office.

Farmer holds an impressive academic and professional record that easily accomplishes 27 years as a teacher and administrator.

When asked exactly why the board of directors appointed him to office, Farmer stated, “Maybe because of the increasingly responsible administrative jobs at colleges I have held”, after a moment of reflection he went on to add, “I would like to think that that is the reason.”

In addition to these stations, he has served as an official for two executive boards: California Community College Chief Instructional Officers and the English Council of California Two-Year Colleges.

Farmer earned his Bachelors in double majors, Speech Communication and Political Science, from Georgetown, Ken., and a Masters in Speech and Theatre from Bradley University.

As the president of the campus, Farmer will see that the board’s policies are carried out as well as manage those officials responsible for the divisions of operations entrusted in their care.

This encompasses everything from accounting to the academic structure and support of the college.