New big man on campus

With the departure of Gene Farrell from the presidency of Orange

Coast College, the college district officials went searching for a

suitable replacement. They didn’t have to look far to find Bob Dees,

who was employed at the college as vice president of instruction.

Dees, who was named the president this week, is a self-described

“serious marine shell collector.” And if you team that up with his

fondness for bird watching, it means he travels the globe with his

wife, an English-as-a-second-language professor at Golden West

College in Huntington Beach, in search of sea shells and birds.

Dees is also the author or co-author of four nationally sold

college textbooks on composition, research, and vocabulary and is

working on a book about sea shells and mollusks. He took time out of

his busy schedule to answer a few questions from Daily Pilot Editor

Tony Dodero.

Were you surprised to learn that you got the job?

I was very surprised to get my new job. As a candidate, you of

course hope for that, and you believe you’re qualified. But you never

know how others may perceive you, so you wait and hope. When I was

told I got the job, I was surprised, stunned and delighted all at

once.

What are the biggest challenges facing Orange Coast College right

now?

OCC has a number of challenges to face, though none of them are

wholly insurmountable.

Our students face rising fees and costs for textbooks, and that

has a negative impact on enrollment and their academic progress.

State funding is always a little precarious, and too often too little

to meet our needs to offer enough classes or to ensure up-to-date

technology in the classroom.

Thanks to a recent bond measure, the college is constructing a

number of new buildings and tearing down old ones. It means we’ll

have to plan carefully to keep the campus up and running and fully

accessible to our students. We have a very rich student life on this

campus, and we don’t want anything to hinder that or students’

overall academic success.

One of the big questions on campus is when the library will open.

Do you have an answer for that?

Actual construction of the new library, or Learning Resource

Center, will begin next September. We’re expecting that building to

be completed and open for campus use by fall of 2007.

How do you plan to address the continuing decrease in community

college funding in the state budget?

California community colleges are models of financial efficiency

in terms of the number of students we serve and the amount of funding

we get from the state to do so. We can only do so much with the

budgets we have, so we need to increase that efficiency all we can

and still maintain educational standards.

Like other community colleges, OCC relies on funds it receives

from other sources, such as our swap meet and donations from our

foundation and the community. We use funds from sources like these to

maintain class offerings and to provide classroom supplies or

scholarships for students.

What’s going to be the best part of the job? What’s going to be

the worst?

The best part of my new job will be widening or increasing my

interaction with the students and staff on the campus, as well as

going out more into the community. I want to let people know what OCC

has to offer and all the great things we’re doing. I enjoy bragging

about the college. We’re also hiring new faculty to replace some of

those who retired at the end of last fall. That’s always exciting.

I’ve also never had a lot of opportunities to work closely with the

district chancellor or the board, and I really look forward to that.

I suppose the worst part will be dealing with budget issues,

trying to make every dollar go as far as possible.

What has been the response of your colleagues to your promotion?

As far as I can tell, there’s been a tremendously positive

response from the campus staff to my new promotion. The e-mails and

telephone calls wishing me congratulations just keep pouring in. My

office is crowded with cards, flowers, and balloons, and on Thursday,

people from all over campus came in all day long to say hello and

have some coffee and cake and chat.

It was really wonderful. I loved it.

Many of them said they were glad to know someone could come to OCC

as a English teacher and then one day end up as president of the

college. And I guess they are comfortable having someone they know as

the new president. I’ve worked alongside so many of them for so many

years that it’s probably a kind of shock for them to realize I’m now

the president. But they all seemed as happy as I was.

Who are your role models and mentors in college administration and

why?

I have a number of role models in my career. No one can beat Gene

Farrell, the immediate past president, for all-around management

skill and a great sense of humor.

The ex-chancellor, Bill Vega, taught me the value of building

trust. Ex-president Margaret Gratton was always a model of

graciousness and understanding. Another ex-president, Dave Grant, was

always out and around the campus talking with people. That’s

important.

I could go on and on. A lot of fine administrators have shown me

ways to be effective in my job, and I have a lot of respect for all

of them.

Where would you like to see Orange Coast College be in the next

five years as far as academic standing?

In the next five years, I hope to see OCC continue to be a premier

academic institution. And when I say academic, I include vocational

education as well, because our vocational programs are also

academically based and equally important.

I would like us to boost our degree and transfer rates, our

vocational certificate and job placement rates, and the extent to

which we attract under-represented or minority groups to the campus.

Achieving these goals meets our mission and strengthens the

college for the future.

Do you have any advice for young people who are interested in a

career in college administration?

My advice to young people who might want to have a career in

college administration is to gain some experience teaching in the

classroom and work closely with your colleagues all along the way.

The more you know about what students and teachers need to succeed,

the better you will do your job when you become a college

administrator.