Richard Durán, president of Pima Community College's Desert Vista Campus, is leaving to take the top job at Oxnard College in California.
Durán has been at Pima for 13 years, rising from dean of instruction at the Downtown Campus to lead the Desert Vista Campus. He is also the founding president of Tohono O'odham Community College in Sells.
Durán will start March 1 as president of Oxnard College in California's Ventura County Community College District. He succeeds Lydia Ledesma Reese and most recently Robert Jensen, the former chancellor of Pima who is now serving as interim president of Oxnard.
Durán has led the Southwest Side Desert Vista Campus since June 2004. For three years before that, he was vice chancellor for academic affairs and student development. From 1999 to 2001 he served as the founding president of Tohono O'odham Community College.
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He joined Pima in 1994 as dean of instruction at the Downtown Campus. Previously he spent four years as dean of education and academic services at the Community College of Denver.
Pima Community College will conduct a national search for a new Desert Vista Campus president, said college spokesman David Irwin.
Pima has six campuses. The two most recently named presidents, Sylvia Lee at the Northwest Campus and Johnson Bia at the Downtown Campus, were promoted from within.
