San Fernando Valley : PRESIDENTS WANTED

Did you hear about the new job openings in the Valley?

Los Angeles Community College District officials have stretched the deadline for applying for the top job at Mission College in Sylmar.

The deadline for submitting applications for the presidency of the college--the smallest and youngest in the city’s nine-campus community college district--was originally Oct. 27.

But district officials said this week that they are still accepting applications because the 20-member hiring committee of college faculty, students, administrators and district and union representatives has not yet convened.

College administrators have been seeking a new leader since August, when President Jack Fujimoto announced that he had accepted a buyout from the district and would retire.

Meanwhile, at Burbank’s Woodbury University, President Paul Sago has announced his retirement at the end of the school year, spurring a search for a successor to head Southern California’s third-oldest independent college, university officials said Tuesday. Sago, who was credited with bringing fiscal stability to the school while struggling to boost its enrollment and image, said he and his wife plan to move to Oklahoma to “find some life outside academia.”

“I’ve been at this for 32 years,” Sago, referring to his career in higher education, said Tuesday in an interview. “I’m tired. It gets to you after a while.” The campus has an enrollment of 1,096 and a $13-million budget.