Dr. Tom Harris was appointed as Interim President for Moreno Valley College May 1, 2011.

Dr. Harris brings a great deal of experience in leading community colleges as Chancellor of the North Orange County Community College District from 1990-99 and as Superintendent/President of Merced Community College District from 1984-90. Since retiring in 1999, Dr. Harris has served in an interim capacity for several California community colleges during national recruitment phases including San Bernardino Valley College, Los Angeles Trade Technical College, West Hills College, Shasta-Tehama-Trinity Joint Community College District, College of the Redwoods and most recently Riverside City College last year.

Dr. Harris brings nearly 50 years of teaching and administrative experience at the K-12 and community college level to this new assignment. Prior to serving as superintendent/president of Merced Community College District, he was a campus and college dean and vice president of Academic Affairs at Long Beach City College. He is a community college alumnus, having graduated from Compton College before earning his bachelor's degree in Psychology and teaching credentials at San Jose State College and California State University, Long Beach. His advanced degrees from USC include a master's in Education and a doctorate in Higher Education.

As the Chief Instructional Officer of the College, Dr. Lisa Conyers is responsible for the quality and integrity of all aspects of the academic and instructional programs. She is known for her role as a program developer, having collaborated on the implementation of various new degree programs involving community partnerships, including, most notably, the Program in Community Interpretation in Spanish and the Physician Assistant Program.

She has participated in programmatic and institutional accreditation initiatives which have resulted in college status and three nationally accredited healthcare programs. She serves as the college accreditation liaison officer with ACCJC/WASC, and has served as a visiting accreditation team member to Cuesta, West Hills Lemoore, Lassen, Palomar, and El Camino Colleges.

Dr. Conyers has a strong record of community service, currently holding elected office as a Member of the Riverside County Board of Education. She has served as a Parks and Recreation Commissioner for the City of Riverside; board member of the International Relations Council of Riverside; board member of the League of Women Voters of Riverside; board member of the Greater Moreno Valley Hispanic Chamber of Commerce; chairman of the Citizens' Committee to Save Riverside's Chinatown; and chairman of the Riverside-Cuautla, Mexico, Sister City Committee. In 2001, she was recognized by the Riverside County YWCA as a Woman of Distinction; in 2005, by the Moreno Valley Hispanic Chamber of Commerce with an Education "Estrella" Award; in 2006, by Sister Cities International with a Distinguished Volunteer Award; in 2008, by the University of Redlands Town & Gown as a Woman of Distinction in Education and Civic Affairs; and, in 2008, by the National Chair Academy with an Exemplary Leader Award.

Her contributions as an administrator and conference presenter with a specialization in workplace linguistic and cultural competency are attributable, in part, to her previous years of residence overseas. She is fully fluent in Spanish, having lived in Spain and Mexico eight years, and has traveled extensively. Her doctoral dissertation in comparative literature studied the topic of national images in the short story. Among her former administrative assignments, she directed a large American language and culture program in Madrid, Spain. In 2002, she was a Fulbright Exchange Administrator to Bangkok, Thailand.

She received her B.A. in Spanish and Ph.D. in comparative literature from the University of California at Riverside, and her M.A. in Spanish from New York University. She earned tenured faculty status at RCC in Spanish in 1996. Prior to being appointed Vice President in 2006, she served as Dean of Instruction of the Moreno Campus and Dean of Instruction, General Education, at Mt. San Jacinto College.

Previous Positions Held:

• Interim Vice-President, Student Services, Los Angeles Southwest College, one of nine colleges in the Los Angeles Community College District, the largest district in the country
• Vice-President, Student Affairs, Southwestern Community College District
• Interim, Supt/President, Southwestern Community College District
• Interim Dean, Academic Information Services, Southwestern Community College Dist. Library, Learning Resource Center, Tutorial Services, and Instructional Technology
• Dean of Student Services (Counseling, DSPS, and Matriculation), Southwestern Community College District
• Director of Financial Aid, EOPS, Student Employment, Student Activities, Cooperative Education
• Financial Aid Advisor, Southwestern Community College District, 2 years. Over 30 years of service to the Southwestern Community College District

Professional Leadership:

• Harvard Institute for Educational Management
• American Association of Community College-National Community College Hispanic Council Leadership Fellows Program
• Community College Student Development Leadership Institute
• Kellogg Fellow, League for Innovation in the Community Colleges

Education

• Ed. D. in Educational Leadership, San Diego State University
• Masters of Arts, Educational Administration, Azusa Pacific University
• B.A., Political Science, University of California, Los Angeles, General Education/Political Science, Palomar Community College District- transferred in two years

Community Involvement

• Moreno Valley Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors - Member
• Sweetwater Union High School District- Board of Trustees, 16 years. Three times, Board President
• Provided leadership in the passage of over $ 800,000 million bond funds to rebuild the Sweetwater schools; Voted and supported the Compact for Success Partnership Program with SDSU; Established the Sweetwater School District Mariachi Music Program; Currently, President of the Mariachi Scholarship Foundation. Strong advocate for diversity and bi-lingual programs
• Chula Vista Elementary School District-Board of Trustees, 4 years. Was Board President for one year

Recognition

• Recognized as a "Community Leader in Bi-literacy" by San Diego County Education in 2002
• Recognized by the Latino Builders Association as Community Leader for K-12 Construction Projects in 2002; Recognized by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, San Diego region, as Hispanic Leader for Hispanic Heritage Month in 2005
• Recognized by Congressman Bob Filner for the First Annual Dr. Martin L. King, Jr. Scholarship Breakfast at Southwestern College in 2008
• Recognized by the Chicano Latino Coalition of Southwestern College for contributions to the Cesar Chavez Scholarship Awards Breakfast Ceremony and the Southwestern College Community, 2009
• Recognized by the Chicano Latino Coalition of Southwestern College for 31 years of dedicated service to the Southwestern Community College District, Spring 2010
• Recognized by the State of California Legislature (Senate and Assembly) for sixteen years of educational leadership in the Sweetwater Union High School District, Fall 2010

Cordell A. Briggs, Ph.D., who is an associate professor of English, has served as Dean of the Public Safety Education and Training Program since 2007. At RCCD, Cordell Briggs has also served in the classroom and held a variety of administrative positions for the past twenty years. In 2007, he was the 47th Distinguished Faculty Lecturer in the District and maintains his research interest in sociolinguistics and African American literature.

Wolde-Ab Isaac is the Dean of Health Sciences at the Riverside Community College, Moreno Valley College. Dr. Isaac hails from the small East African State of Eritrea where he completed his early education. He completed the B.Sc. degree in Chemistry in 1968 from the University of Addis Abeba in Ethiopia. He was a Fulbright Fellow from 1968-1972 when he completed his MSc. in 1969 and Ph.D. in 1972 both in Medicinal Chemistry from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.

He returned to the University of Addis Abeba and was an Assistant Professor in Pharmaceutical Chemistry from 1972-1975. He spent a year (1975/76) as a visiting research fellow at the Biomedical Sciences of the University of Uppsala in Sweden and then moved to the University of Ife in Nigeria as an Associate Professor in Pharmaceutical Chemistry where he served for seven years (1976-1983). In August 1983, he was offered a senior clinical research scientist position with the Astra Pharmaceutical Research Laboratories in Sweden, a position he held until 1993 when his native country Eritrea became independent from Ethiopia after 30 disastrous war of liberation, and he was invited to be the President of the only university in the country, namely the University of Asmara. He was President of the University from 1993 to 2006 and the thirteen years of challenge of building the University in a war ravaged economy, helping the newly independent state build its badly needed skilled manpower and creating higher educational opportunities for the youth was the most rewarding of all experiences.

B.A. History - University of California, Riverside
M.L.I.S. - California State University, San Jose, CA

Started at the Riverside Campus as the Public Services Librarian in 1995. After a brief absence from the District to serve as the Branch Manager of the Hawaii State Public Library in Lihue (January 2005-June 2006), has served as the Dean of the Moreno Valley College Library/Learning Resource Center since July 2006