Adriana Barrera

For 25 years, the administrative office at Mission College was like a Silver Lake cafe--everybody was an actor. Four of the school's nine top administrators were acting presidents. They were supported by a transient corps of acting vice presidents. Then the school tapped dusty El Paso, a very un-Hollywood locale, for its new president. Now with five months on the job, President Adriana Barrera has become the hope of Mission College and, in some ways, the Latino community it serves.

For 25 years, the administrative office at Mission College was like a Silver Lake cafe--everybody was an actor. Four of the school's nine top administrators were acting presidents. They were supported by a transient corps of acting vice presidents. Then the school tapped dusty El Paso, a very un-Hollywood locale, for its new president. Now with five months on the job, President Adriana Barrera has become the hope of Mission College and, in some ways, the Latino community it serves.

Concluding a tortuous yearlong search, Los Angeles community college leaders announced Wednesday that they have hired a former leader of a Texas college as president of Mission College, the district's smallest and most-crowded campus. Adriana Barrera, 49, former president of El Paso Community College, topped a field of 35 applicants and four finalists. She will begin work July 1, drawing an annual salary of $121,000.

Bounded by Mexico to the southwest and New Mexico on the north, this part of Texas sprawls eastward onto dirt roads lined with ramshackle houses, many without plumbing or electricity. Recent arrivals have built their homes on sandy plots with their own hands from husks of abandoned trailers, discarded car hoods and corrugated aluminum panels.

Bounded by Mexico to the southwest and New Mexico on the north, this part of Texas sprawls eastward onto dirt roads lined with ramshackle houses, many without plumbing or electricity. Recent arrivals have built their homes on sandy plots with their own hands from husks of abandoned trailers, discarded car hoods and corrugated aluminum panels.

At consecutive public forums at Mission College on Tuesday night, two finalists for the presidency of the school said they would work to expand campus facilities and reach out to surrounding communities if they were selected to lead the institution. Adriana D. Barrera, former president of El Paso Community College, and Thomas D.

Mission College President Dr. Adriana Barrera officially gave the green light to bring sports back to the Sylmar campus by hiring John Klitsner as director of athletics. Klitsner served as athletic director from 1993 until 1997, when the college discontinued its athletic program for financial reasons. "I'm excited," said Klitsner, who was baseball coach from 1988-95. "It's a great thing. The college is in need of more extracurricular activities."

Officials at Mission College will open a new campus student health center today. The center, housed in a trailer next to the campus police office, has two exam rooms, a waiting room and a counseling room. The Northeast Valley Health Corporation will operate the center and provide the medical staff. "It's important because students used to have to go off campus, to our San Fernando Health Center, for medical attention," said Abel Sedillo, a spokesman for the corporation.

Marshall Drummond has taken an extended leave from his position as chancellor of the city's nine-campus community college district, officials announced Thursday. Deputy Chancellor Adriana Barrera will serve as acting chancellor during Drummond's absence. Officials declined to give a reason for the leave, saying they wanted to respect the chancellor's privacy. Drummond, 67, who is also known as Mark, has been a fixture on the community college scene for a decade. He served as chancellor of the Los Angeles Community College District from 1999 to 2004 before heading the state's 110 two-year colleges.

Los Angeles Community College District trustees agreed Wednesday to lease part of the historic Van de Kamp's Bakery property to a charter high school, amid protests that officials broke a promise by dropping plans for a satellite campus at the site. The Glassell Park property, the subject of a ferocious preservationist fight a decade ago, underwent a $50-million to $60-million rehabilitation that saved the bakery's landmark 16th century Dutch town house facade in preparation for a campus.

Concluding an arduous, yearlong search, Los Angeles community college leaders announced Wednesday that they had hired the former leader of a Texas college as president of Los Angeles Mission College in Sylmar, the district's smallest and most crowded campus. Adriana Barrera, 49, former president of El Paso Community College, topped a field of 35 applicants and four finalists. She will begin work July 1, drawing an annual salary of $121,000.

At consecutive public forums at Mission College on Tuesday night, two finalists for the presidency of the school said they would work to expand campus facilities and reach out to surrounding communities if they were selected to lead the institution. Adriana D. Barrera, former president of El Paso Community College, and Thomas D.