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Contact: Helen Machado
202 225-1766
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Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard Presented Mr. Ernest H. Moreno, who is Retiring as President of East Los Angeles College August 30, a Certificate of Congressional Recognition for his Many Years of Service to Area Students
City of Alhambra, CA,
Aug 27, 2011 -
At a reception held in his honor, Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard (CA-34) presented Mr. Ernest H. Moreno, who is retiring as President of East Los Angeles College August 30, a Certificate of Congressional Recognition for his many years of service to area students.
President Ernest H. Moreno has been employed by the college district for 42 years. He began his assignment as President at East Los Angeles College on January 1, 1994, and continued in that capacity until this month, with the exception of an interim assignment as President of Los Angeles Mission College from July 2006 until March 2008.
Click here to read an August 18, 2011 article about his retirement in WAVE Newspapers.
During his tenure at ELAC, President Moreno has served five Chancellors and has seen approximately 50 presidents of other LACCD colleges come and go. Under his guidance, East developed from a rather small community college with approximately 13,000 students to the largest college in the largest community college district in the world. ELAC now enrolls more than 30,000 students annually. A part of this phenomenal growth can be attributed to President Moreno’s philosophy of “reaching into the community” to bring education to those most in need. He began his connection to community education by realizing that many students simply cannot attend the college’s main campus. In 1996, he initiated an extensive program of classes to be taught at an off-site location in Huntington Park. This grew into the South Gate Educational Center which currently houses approximately 5,000 students. Plans are currently underway to expand this facility with the acquisition of a large piece of property in South Gate. When completed, this new complex will have a capacity of 12,000 students and will offer all college services to those enrolled. Utilizing this experience as a blueprint, President Moreno authorized the development of an educational center in Rosemead to meet the needs of students in that area.
President Moreno played a significant role in the physical restructuring of the entire campus. Thanks to monies provided by three construction bond measures, the face of the college has changed dramatically in the past few years. Under his direction, every building on campus will either be replaced or renovated by 2014. This massive set of construction projects has and will be accomplished while still expanding course offerings on campus. When he assumed the presidency in 1994, no significant construction had taken place on campus for decades. Most classes were still being held in buildings dating from the 1950’s or in World War I wooden bungalows. As he leaves office in retirement, every one of these outdated structures will have been either replaced or are in the planning stages for demolition.
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