Robert Deegan named new college president
Palomar College has chosen Robert Deegan – a 25-year veteran of California’s community college system — to be its next president.
Deegan was unanimously hired for the post Tuesday night by the college’s governing board, which included freshman trustee and Rancho Bernardo resident Dr. Ruth Larson.
“We’re delighted,” Larson said. “We’re going to move forward. It was a unanimous vote, a very enthusiastic vote — all five board members voted yes and we’re just thrilled.”
Deegan, a San Diego resident, currently serves as vice president of student services at Santiago Canyon College in Orange, Calif. and will start his new post at Palomar on Jan. 14.
Deegan was one of two finalists for the president post that were chosen after a nearly year-long search. The other was Richard Jarvis, former chancellor of Oregon’s state university system.
Deegan will replace Sherrill Amador, who resigned in June after receiving a no-confidence vote from Palomar’s faculty.
“He has excellent people skills,” Larson said. “He’s able to really work with conflict resolution and shared governance and all the things we need.”
Deegan, who has a master’s degree in counseling and a bachelor’s degree in psychology from San Francisco State, is expected to receive a doctorate in community college leadership from Oregon State University next year.
In addition to Santiago Canyon College, Deegan has worked at Irvine Valley College.
Since Deegan became vice president of student services at Santiago Canyon College in 1999, student enrollment has grown more than 10 percent per year and student diversity has grown from 30 to 40 percent. He also has experience working on a $337-million bond campaign for Santiago Canyon College that could prove useful as Palomar officials proceed with plans for their own 2006 bond measure. Palomar’s bond measure would be used to help fund expansion plans that would help meet the needs of the college’s growing population.
Among those expansion plans would be a long-awaited education center in Poway.