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A FIRST AMENDMENT PUBLICATION Woodland Hills, California
Volume 131 - Issue 11
Wednesday, December 4, 2019
Christopher Torres/ Roundup Pierce College President Alexis Montevirgen looks out his office window in the Office of the President located in the Alder building at Pierce College in Woodland Hills, Calif., on Sept. 5, 2019. Montevirgen will be finishing his first semester as college president.
An executive reflection New president prepares to finish first semester at Pierce
CHRISTOPHER TORRES Editor-in-Chief @chris̲t̲torres
E
xperiences can be one of life's greatest teachers. In the first five months of Pierce College President Alexis Montevirgen’s tenure, he experienced a faculty external investigation, a student body president impeachment and his campus turned into an emergency animal evacuation center. The life of a college president may seem daunting, but for Montevirgen, staying true to his morals throughout the problems he faced helped him power through his first semester. “I think for me it helps to be grounded by what I shared with the campus community from the very beginning of my commitment in terms of transparency, collegiality and respect and using that as a foundation for the college,” Montevirgen said. Despite the challenges, Montevirgen said he fully understood
what he signed up for when he accepted the position. “The college operates and so we have things that come up and I think that anyone that fills a role as a college president just knows and expects that you can't foresee everything that’s going to happen,” Montevirgen said. “But then you are aware that these things can happen and you just have to roll with it and address it the best you can.” As his first semester at Pierce comes to a close, Montevirgen said it’s hard to believe that it’s now been five months at the helm. He said his biggest challenge so far has been dealing with the investigation of Head Football Coach Carlos Woods and the failed hiring of an athletic director. Although these were tough circumstances to deal with early in his presidency, Montevirgen said it gave him a chance to show the campus how he can resolve problems in a professional manner. “I think to be able to have addressed something like that at that
point which was only two or three months into the position was definitely not the most ideal,” Montevirgen said. “But I think looking through the silver lining in everything and having to work through a situation like that
actually helped show the campus how I approach these types of things that can and will happen in the future.” Montevirgen’s first move was to put Coach Woods on temporary leave and then went to speak with
Sept. 2019:
Oct. 2019
ASO President Angel Orellana impeached.
the football team at their practice about the severity of the situation. He said players were disgruntled about the impact of the investigation on their personal goals, such as getting scholarship offers and transfer opportunities. “I view my role as college president is to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our students,” Montevirgen said. “For me, it was important to at least not hide behind the office walls and to make sure that I made that time to speak to them directly.” Within days of launching the investigation of Woods, the Saddle Ridge Fire in Porter Ranch sparked evacuations for some Pierce students and faculty. Los Angeles County officials turned the Equestrian Center into an emergency large animal evacuation center overnight, housing more than 100 horses and other large animals. Montevirgen closed the campus on Oct. 11 and visited the Equestrian Center to ensure everything was running smooth while the college acted as a shelter. Montevirgen said what impacted him the most was seeing the response and the appreciation from the members of the community who were able to utilize the resources and drop off their animals. “What would they have done if Pierce wasn't here?” Montevirgen said. “I think that's part of that community engagement aspect that I want to focus on more.” Los Angeles Community College District Chancellor Francisco Rodriguez praised Montevirgen for his influence on the community and the work he has done so far as president. [For the full story visit theroundupnews.com]
Directing a new plan President intends on hiring an acting athletic director FELIPE GAMINO Sports Editor @fgamino13 After former athletic director Moriah Van Norman decided to step down in May, the process to bring a new AD began. Five months after the job was open, they have been unable to fill the position. Pierce College President Alexis Montevirgen said he plans to appoint an acting athletic director for the remainder of the school term. “I've heard that there are three faculty members in kinesiology that have expressed interest to serve in that interim capacity, at least just for the rest of the academic year," Montevirgen said. "And then that way what we can do is I can name an acting athletic director that can start as early as the spring semester. And we can spend the spring semester to do another search to try and identify a permanent person that would come in July 1.” The faculty hiring committee met last week to start the process of reviewing applications, according to acting AD and Dean of Athletics Genice Sarcedo-Magruder. “They decided that we would postpone because it didn’t match with what we posted. It said it was for a full-time faculty member and we were trying to bring someone who wasn’t,” Sarcedo-Magruder said. She said to avoid doing that they are going to push back and essentially go back to the drawing board. Barbara Anderson, member of the hiring committee said that having an athletic director is crucial as it is a key element to the college. “I hope that when we open the position again there is more interest and we have more applicants going for the job,” Anderson said. Sarcedo-Magruder said that there is a technical problem in the system where people can apply for jobs within the district. [For the full story visit theroundupnews.com]
Fall 2019 Finals Schedule
Equestrian Center transforms into emergency large animal evacuation shelter due to the Saddle Ridge Fire
Oct. 2019
Nov. 2019
Pierce student Cesar Perez and brother Louis die in car accident
Football head coach Carlos Woods placed under investigation
Photo by Cecilia Parada
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Cecilia Parada/ Roundup (Left to Right) President Alexis Montevirgen talks to Officer Hugh from Los Angeles County's Animal Care and Control at Pierce College's Large Animal Evacuation Center at the Equestrian Center in Woodland Hills, Calif., due to the Saddleridge Fire on Oct. 11, 2019.
Semester Timeline
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Photo by Benjamin Hanson
Photo by Kevin Lendio
Photo by Cecilia Parada
Photo Essay
Campus Life
Sports
Highlighting the best moments from fall 2019
The automotive department races into the holiday season with Motor4Toys event
The best student athletes of the semester
Pages 4 & 5
Page 7
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