First in a series
[img]1386|exact|||no_popup[/img]
Mr. Abu-Ghazaleh with state Sen. Holly Mitchell (D-Culver City)
Approaching his third anniversary this summer as the president of increasingly thriving West Los Angeles College, Nabil Abu-Ghazaleh is exactly the leadership calculation that seemingly has eluded the community college for years, a round peg honed expertly for a circular opening.
Because of the exquisite precision of his authentic manner, his smart appearance and his graceful speaking style, he probably has made more friends for West than his predecessors. Around the Jefferson/Overland campus, they say Mr. Abu-Ghazaleh, a Middle Eastern native who emigrated as a teenager, has integrated the image of West into the community the way the founders envisioned 45 years ago.
Like City Councilman Jim Clarke, if there is a community event, Mr. Abu-Ghazaleh is quietly brightening the scene.
Question: In early spring, what is monopolizing your attention?
“In spring semester, of course, we are planning for the following year. We are looking at how to capture the maximum growth and to plot our course, given that there still are uncertainties in how next year’s funding is going to be distributed among community colleges around the state. It is an overall positive picture, but there still are uncertainties about how positive it will be. For those reasons, we have to do our planning very carefully. We capture all the growth opportunities we can, but we don’t overextend ourselves.”
Does that mean planning your curriculum conservatively?
“We are planning for growth – but the question is, are we planning for 3 percent growth in our enrollment, 5 percent, 6 percent. Those are critical questions because those are difficult steps to take. In the past few years, we have been planning reductions. Now we have turned that around,” Mr. Abu-Ghazaleh said. “Students are starting to come out in good numbers in response to our opening up additional classes. It is a very positive picture. We just don’t know how positive. We don’t want to overextend our resources because they are always are going to be tight.”
What differences will a West student from the spring notice in the autumn?
“Some won’t notice a difference because they will have graduated,” he said wittily. “That’s a good thing. Continuing students will see a more focused program. They will have noticed some steps during summertime because we are expanding summer offerings. We are creating summer bridge transitions for high school students coming in.”
Summer sessions, once, almost were dead on the vine, weren’t they?
“They had been for some years. We had a summer this past year that was very successful. Obviously, we are planning for a successful summer this year.”
(To be continued)
