April Cambero
Editor-in-Chief
The University of La Verne last month named Risa Dickson as interim president.
Dickson, who began serving as interim provost in January, will serve in the interim president position until a permanent president is hired.
She is the second person to serve in the interim president position since June, following the abrupt resignation of Pardis Mahdavi, the University’s 19th president, who announced her resignation on June 7 for personal reasons after holding the position for less than a year.
Following Mahdavi’s resignation, the Board of Trustees immediately appointed former board member and adjunct instructor Mark Hicks as acting president to serve through the summer while they searched for a longer-term interim president.
As interim provost Dickson served nearly eight months working toward better aligning the University’s mission with its academic outcomes.
Dickson previously held the interim provost position at the University of Toledo and interim vice president at Palo Alto University.
Dickson spoke at the Sept. 11 Faculty Assembly meeting, where she laid out some of her plans for the immediate future.
She noted the University’s current concerns including a budget crisis, the need to fill some of the most pivotal administrative positions, and the turbulent transition to real-time time cards for adjunct faculty. Many adjuncts – already frustrated with having to account for their hours each week instead of the previous system of receiving a flat pay rate per class – have become more concerned with the University’s switch to real-time punch-in puch-out time cards starting this summer.
Dickson told the Faculty Assembly that she is working with Hicks to get up-to-speed on these issues and more. And she tried to reassure faculty that she is determined to keep the Board of Trustees on task, as she works to sort out such matters. She also let the faculty know that to answer some of their pressing questions, she would need to do more research.
“One of my big priorities right now is Board relations,” Dickson told the Faculty Assembly. “I’m having very very honest conversations with the board… I told them to stay in their lane.”
Dickson also addressed the community at Convocation on Aug. 21, when she formally introduced herself, and talked about the University’s mission and her commitment to it.
Despite numerous attempts during the first several weeks of fall 2024, the Campus Times has been unsuccessful – so far – at scheduling an interview with Interim President Dickson.
April Cambero can be reached at april.cambero@laverne.edu.
April Cambero is a senior communications major with a concentration in public relations. She is the Fall 2024 editor-in-chief for the Campus Times and has also served as social media editor and staff writer.
