Vanguard appoints president

In the midst of financial troubles and following the resignation of two top leaders, Vanguard University has appointed a new acting president.

The school’s provost, Carol Taylor, was recently appointed acting president after a special meeting of the school’s board of trustees, according to statements put out by the university.

“During my short time here, I have grown to love the Vanguard community with its committed faculty and staff and wonderful students,” Taylor said in a statement released to the media. “I take this new responsibility with utmost seriousness and am confident in the commitment within Vanguard’s community to work in partnership to ensure a strong future for Vanguard. I have seen a fresh resolve at every level to build on the heritage of an institution that has a rich legacy of serving our students well and producing graduates who live out Vanguard’s mission of Christian leadership and service around the globe.”

Taylor replaces Interim President Wayne Kraiss, whose resignation was announced at the same time. The board’s chairman, T. Ray Rachels, also stepped down “with the expressed desire to facilitate new Board governance,” according to a statement from the university.

Rachels is also superintendent of the Southern California district of the Assemblies of God, Vanguard’s religious denomination.

Taylor could not be reached for comment, and a district spokeswoman said the new executive was busy with board meetings.

“We’ve just come through a couple of days of [regular] board meetings,” said Jessica Mireles, the school’s vice president for enrollment management. “There have been further decisions that came out of those. At this point we are regrouping on Monday.”

The university has not had a permanent president since September, since then-president Murray Dempster was appointed to chancellor and then put on sabbatical.

Vanguard has drawn attention recently over the state of its finances. According to its last publicly available income tax return, filed in 2007, the school had about $42 million in debt, compared to annual revenues of about $53.3 million and expenses of $52.7 million.

The Western Assn. of Schools and Colleges, which oversees accreditation for schools in California, visited the campus in September and has identified problems in finance and leadership, officials said.

School officials are scheduled to meet with accreditation officials in Alameda on Feb. 19 at their regularly scheduled meeting. School officials said they were planning to offer a response to the organization’s critiques, as well as a plan of action to solve any problems. A response from the organization is expected within four to six weeks from that meeting.

MICHAEL ALEXANDER may be reached at (714) 966-4618 or at michael.alexander@latimes. com.