Dr. Paul Jarrell will be joining City College’s group of institutional leaders as the new executive vice president of educational programs, to start in June.

Jarrell will be coming to City College from Pasadena City College, where he began as a professor and worked his way to a variety of leadership positions within the college, according to a press release.

Dr. Lori Gaskin, current superintendent-president, explained that a search was conducted for the position a year ago, but was unsuccessful.

“I always believe that things are meant to be,” Gaskin said. “This was validation once again. I don’t believe in settling for anything but the best, and we got the best this second time around.”

After the search proved unsuccessful, Marilynn Spaventa stepped in to fill in as interim executive vice president. Spaventa will be resuming her previous role after Jarrell joins the leadership team.

“I couldn’t be more thrilled,” Gaskin said. “I think it’s a perfect fit for us, and I owe Marilyn Spaventa a debt of gratitude, a ton of appreciation for her stepping in.”

The position is a combination of two positions; vice president of the academic part of the college as well as the student services aspect.

“I knew if I were to leave [Pasadena], that there would only be a couple of institutions that I would consider leaving for, and at the top of the list is Santa Barbara,” Jarrell said. “I have not regretted it one bit; the campus culture, from the students to the classified staff to the faculty of administrators, I mean everybody has been so proud of their college and very warm and welcoming of me as well. It’s just been a very delightful place to be.”

It’s uncommon to see this position combined at such a large institution, Jarrell explained.

“It’s really uncommon to see someone that has responsibilities in both instruction and student services, normally they are split,” he said. “The problem with them split, is these initiatives kind of get siloed and they end up competing with each other. Often times it’s at the detriment of the students.”

Jarrell stated that, “in particular, that’s one of the things that drew me to Santa Barbara.”

“I have two regrets in retiring after 36 years,” Gaskin said. “One is that I don’t get to work with Paul,” Gaskin said.

The other regret is not being able to work with the new Academic Senate President Priscilla Butler. “I think that those two are going to be pretty great,” Gaskin said.