Dr. William T. Scroggins has made a career out of leadership. He’s been president and CEO of Mt. San Antonio College in California from 2011 until his retirement this month. Prior to that, he served in leadership positions in higher education for nineteen years and has made his mark as an author, well-renowned speaker, and higher education advocate for all students, but especially for Latinos and the underrepresented.

“I think the biggest ingredient that is in short supply in higher education is leadership,” he said from his office in East Los Angeles County. “I devote as much of my free time as possible to the leadership of California Community Colleges.”

Serving Latinos

Dr. Scroggins has volunteered his time to mentor those who aim to become college presidents and vice presidents. In addition, he visits California colleges to help them improve student outcomes, and recently posted a monograph on how to be an effective community college president on the Community College League of California website. Also, he helped write the last HSI (Hispanic Serving Institution) Title 5 grants for equitable student success and was responsible for lobbying the state legislature and creating laws that support student equity and faculty hiring during his time as president of the Statewide Academic Senate from 1997 to 1999.

“Working with the Latin X population is one of the largest efforts of what I do related to leadership aspects with colleges,” he said.

During his tenure as president, Dr. Scroggins fought hard on behalf of his Latino students at Mt. San Antonio College (Mt. SAC), which was named a Top Ten California Transfer College and a top degree-awarding community college in the nation (according to Fall 2021 H.O. figures). When former president Donald Trump threatened students protected under DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), Dr. Scroggins wrote a letter to DACA students, committing to their protection and care. “We had a written agreement that if an ICE agent came, we wouldn’t let them in,” he said. “I hired attorneys to defend these students when they needed to secure their ongoing residence. That takes leadership and ganas.”

Supporting Diversity

While the president didn’t grow up Latino, he knows what it’s like to be a first-generation student. “My mother lived through the Great Depression. As a woman, she didn’t have a chance to advance her career,” said the president, who grew up in the San Gabriel Valley where Mt. SAC is located and later attended the college. “Even though I came from a background as a first-generation student with my mother on welfare, I had opportunities that came to me as a white male if I worked hard. The rest of the world needs those opportunities that I had.”

The president went on to pursue his doctorate in chemistry at the University of California, Riverside. He remembers too clearly that time in the 1970s. “I can’t tell you how many experiences I had where there were almost no minorities or women in my program,” he said. “It was stark. There weren’t opportunities for them to advance, even though the populations around the school were very diverse.”

Creating Opportunities

Creating opportunities for all students has been key for Dr. Scroggins as leader. Yet, this can’t happen in the traditional way, he explained. “It’s all too easy to see your role as a leader to be that of just academic advancement of students through good curriculum, faculty, and facilities,” he said. “In today’s world, where the future depends on having a population that can support a strong US economy, you can’t just depend on academics. You have to educate and support the whole person.”

Since his arrival at Mt. SAC, Dr. Scroggins has focused on exactly that. He’s done so with his aim of improving four significant areas: dual enrollment, non-credit education, an open and diverse campus environment, and programs that specifically support those who feel alienated by the dominant culture.

Building Pathways

With dual enrollment, the president created more pathways to colleges within the UC and California State System. Now, more high schools send their students to Mt. SAC and neighboring colleges to receive dual credits than before, and other colleges share credit transfer with Mt. SAC. In addition, Dr. Scroggins is working on legislation with his state to make dual enrollment accessible statewide to more students, especially minority students.

The president has also placed more emphasis on growing non-credit courses that provide pathways to vocational certificates, associate degrees, and transfer associate degrees. These programs are free for students and include important courses like Health Care and ESL (English as a Second Language).

“When I started, there weren’t enough non-credit courses for adult education or for ESL,” said Dr. Scroggins. “Now we are the largest non-credit college in the state of California. This was very intentional.”

When it comes to diversity, the president has also greatly increased the number of Latinos at Mt. SAC. “42 percent of our student population was Latino 12 years ago. Now we are more than 56 percent. That’s a big growth,” he said.

While other populations have gone down in numbers—non-Hispanic Whites declined from 22 percent to 10 percent, and Asians, from 19 percent to 17 percent—diversity at Mt. SAC remains strong. Also, the number of Latinos on the school’s board increased from one in 2012 to four out of seven since 2020.

Seeing the Whole Student

With greater diversity comes Dr. Scroggins’ commitment to addressing the whole student and all their needs. He has built the first DREAM Center in California Colleges, and many other Latino centers and organizations like El Centro (the Center for Latinidad), Raices (Latinx Professional Association), MeCha de Mt. SAC (a recognized student organization), Achieving in College, Ensuring Success (ACES), and Bridge Program (a summer support program for all incoming students).

“We have invested in cohorts to address the challenges students may face in reaching their full potential,” said Dr. Scroggins, who has led other colleges in adopting pathway models and wrap-around services to help the whole student. “It is important to have pride in who you are and where you came from. Here, we celebrate and advocate for that.”

Moving On

As Dr. Scroggins now hands the baton off to his Latina successor, Martha Garcia, recent president of College of the Desert in Palm Springs, California, he leaves with some simple but essential advice for college leaders: “Put students first. This is an easy phrase but is hard to carry out. You have to understand the challenges and opportunities of all the students in your community. You need to be guided by objective and subjective data. You need to ask students what their experiences are like, and then when you see them succeeding, get students together to ask them what made that possible.”

The president added: “Don’t be reticent to listen to those who may have solutions different than yours and talk about what matters to you. Be bold and authentic. Take the challenge.”