MISSION VIEJO : Chancellor to Retire From Saddleback

Retirement may only be days away, but Saddleback Community College District Chancellor Richard Sneed has been spending 60 to 70 hours a week at his post, wrapping up an administrative career spanning three decades.

Just this week, Sneed, who retires Monday after a sometimes stormy relationship with his faculty, returned from a conference in Sacramento sponsored by community college students seeking to preserve educational opportunities, lobbied for state money for new buildings at Saddleback and Irvine Valley colleges, and worked on the district’s 1994-95 budget.

What’s more, Sneed has presented five notebooks of facts and personal observations to his interim successor, Anna McFarlin, president of Irvine Valley College.

Although many challenges remain, Sneed said he’s optimistic about the future of the district, which he believes will continue to grow and someday include a third campus.

He’s also confident that administrators will have the energy and political know-how to unite students and faculty in the name of persuading state legislators about the importance of community college education.

“They just can’t let us down,” Sneed said about the legislators in charge of allocating money to community colleges. “There’s too much at stake. (Education) is such an important investment.”

After seven years as chancellor of the Saddleback Community College District, Sneed, 64, announced last spring he would retire because it was time for a new generation of leaders.

“Saddleback is a terrific district,” Sneed said. “I’ve enjoyed being here. Even when the times are tough, the job is exciting.”

In typical fashion, Sneed’s retirement plans aren’t looking much like retirement at all.

Between traveling and volunteer work, Sneed said, he’ll try his hand at fiction writing. He’s also considering work as a consultant and may someday return to the classroom. A former priest, Sneed started his career as a scholar of Near East studies and a student of 11 languages.

“I’ve always been sort of overcommitted,” he joked.

In his years as an administrator, which has included posts at Rancho Santiago College and Chapman University, Sneed saw the end of free education for community college students. They now pay $13 per unit, or $50 if they already hold a baccalaureate degree.

Despite the increasingly difficult financial times for all state community college districts, Sneed is credited for leading the two Saddleback campuses, with a combined student population of about 32,000, through a period of rapid growth.

In the period since Sneed became chancellor in 1986, officials have hired more than 100 full-time professors and added buildings and facilities worth about $50 million to both campuses.

During his tenure, Irvine Valley College also received full accreditation and the district entered into a partnership with Cal State Fullerton, opening the CSUF-Mission Viejo campus at Saddleback College.

In the past two years, however, he found himself in the middle of sometimes hostile contract negotiations with the district faculty association. Last year, the Saddleback College Academic Senate took a vote of “no confidence” in the chancellor, citing inadequate communication.

Until a permanent chancellor is selected, McFarlin, president of Irvine Valley College since 1989, will assume the position, the first woman to hold the post in the district’s 27-year history.

McFarlin, 58, who is not seeking the permanent position because of her own impending retirement, said Sneed has been “such a special person to this district.”

“You stop and realize that when he came here in ‘86, the place was in turmoil,” McFarlin said. “There was very little direction in any direction. He pulled all that together. He’s a fine leader, and he’s very wise. And he’s tough.”