Recognized for his mission

We recently learned that Vanguard University President Murray

Dempster was named the educator of the year by the Orange County’s

Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Considering the growth of Vanguard and

the burgeoning Latino population, Daily Pilot Editor Tony Dodero

asked Dempster to tell us about his award and the university’s

growth.

What did that mean to you to be named educator of the year by the

Hispanic Chamber Of Commerce of Orange County?

I was surprised, honored and humbled.

Surprised because this award was completely unexpected.

Honored because I was selected from among so many nominees in the

Orange County educational community who are truly deserving of this

award.

Humbled because I recognize that this award is really a

recognition of the many Vanguard faculty, staff and administrators

who teamed up to earn this recognition by creating a

Hispanic-supportive educational environment at the university.

On their behalf, I was elated to accept this award from the Orange

County Hispanic Chamber.

Why do you think they chose you?

Probably because the chamber attributed to me, as president, the

progress the university has made toward becoming a Hispanic Serving

Institution, or an HSI. An HSI is a college or university that has

25% or more of its overall enrollment comprised of Hispanic students.

Once we gain the federal designation by the U.S. Department of

Education, we qualify for Title V funding for qualified

Hispanic/Latino students. This federal scholarship support makes an

education at a private university like Vanguard accessible and more

affordable for Hispanic, university-bound students.

I think the chamber recognized our institutional commitment to

diversity and particularly to increasing the population of Hispanic

students at Vanguard. In the fall of 2000, in my inaugural year as

president, Vanguard had 8% of its students who were Hispanic; in the

fall of 2004, 17% of the students at the university were Hispanic.

The number of Hispanic/Latino students in proportion to the total

student population has increased over four years by a little over

100%.

In achieving this growth, Vanguard has gained associate membership

in the Hispanic Assn. of Colleges and Universities.

Tell us some of the things that Vanguard is doing in the Latino

community.

Here are a few. Vanguard has created a scholarship sub-fund in the

Hispanic Education Endowment Fund and is an educational sponsor of

the fund’s annual awards dinner.

Vanguard has appointed a liaison to the Hispanic Assn. of Colleges

and Universities and to the endowment fund, Dr. Magali “Mikki” Gil,

to implement programs in institutional-capacity building, faculty and

staff development, information-technology enhancement, and student

services, including the association’s National Internship Program,

its largest student program, which places hundreds of students in

federal and corporate internships on a yearly basis.

Vanguard holds membership in the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of

Orange County and supports its programs and events. Because of the

chamber’s commitment to small-business development, community

revitalization, and job creation within and beyond the Latino

community, Vanguard has found that the Hispanic chamber is a great

place to develop relationships with Latino leaders within Orange

County.

As a consequence, we have three Hispanic leaders who currently

serve on the Vanguard University Foundation Board of Directors: Maria

Elena Avila, owner of El Ranchito restaurant; Bernadette Medrano,

executive director of the Santa Ana Education Foundation; and Richard

Porras, vice president for government relations at SBC.

Vanguard established a Center for Urban Studies and Hispanic

Leadership and brought in a nationally recognized leader to serve as

its director, Dr. Jesse Miranda. The center emphasizes urban

training, strategic networking and applied research in bringing the

university, the faith community, and the broader community and its

leadership together in common cause of working toward the betterment

of society in Orange County and Southern California. The center’s

strength is found in its partnerships with local churches, community

colleges, corporations, foundations, local government, [and others.]

These partnerships integrate the scholarship and service of

educators, social scientists, politicians, community leaders, and

church members with an organizational grass-roots infrastructure that

mobilizes a collaborative effort in the task of social transformation

in local communities.

Vanguard sponsors -- with the Santa Ana Chamber of Commerce and

the Orange County Business Council -- an annual economic-vitality

report that focuses on influencing the business climate in Santa Ana

and Orange County in three areas: education, employment and housing.

By serving as the educational sponsor of the event, Vanguard is

branding its identity as a serious player in providing a quality

education to meet the skills gap in the job market and an educational

partner in the Bridge to Careers program. Given the demographics of

Santa Ana -- with a 75% Hispanic population -- and the growth of the

Hispanic population throughout Orange County, Vanguard’s service to

the Hispanic community is working with the chamber and the business

council in constructing a five-year economic development plan that

addresses education and English literacy, a skilled workforce, and

affordable housing.

Vanguard makes available generous scholarship aid to Hispanic high

school graduates from the Newport-Mesa Unified School District and

the Santa Ana Unified School District, as well as to other school

districts throughout Orange County and the state. Last year, for

example, Vanguard secured, from federal or state sources or provided

from its own institutional aid, a total of $5.5 million for Hispanic

students. Of that amount, $1.7 million was student aid provided from

the institutional resources of Vanguard. Vanguard offers a bilingual

master’s degree program in leadership studies for Hispanic community

and church leaders, [from which the first class graduated this year.]

Vanguard sponsors the CityServe program, which last fall had 500

students from the university helping in neighborhood-improvement

projects and a variety of youth-sports clinics in Westside Costa

Mesa.

Where do you see the university going academically in the next

five to 10 years?

In fall 2005, we will start our new MBA program in the School of

Business. In fall 2006, we plan to begin an RN to BSN (bachelor of

science) to MSN (master of science) program. Different schools in the

university are currently exploring different doctoral degree

possibilities.

Is there more growth planned? How many students would you

ultimately like to serve?

Our announced goal in Vision 2010 is to serve 3,000 students at

Vanguard by the year 2010. We aim to have 1,800 of those 3,000

students in the traditional undergraduate college with about 1,250

living on campus, 600 in master’s degree programs, and about 600 in

programs for working adults. We also plan to grow out our

campus-master-facilities plan by 2020. Toward that goal, we hope that

by the year 2010, our $65-million capital and endowment campaign will

add to our new Heath Academic Center for Religion and Business the

following: the Townsend Academic Center for Science and Technology,

the Music Center and Humanities Building, the Student Union and

Services Center, and a $10-million increase in our endowment fund.