Agrella looks back at SRJC, presidency

After 21 years as president of Santa Rosa Junior College, Robert Agrella doesn't look the same. Neither does SRJC.

Agrella ended his final "state of the college" address Thursday with an image of three portraits of himself - one from the beginning, middle and end of his tenure.

To laughter from the 400 in the audience, each of the photos showed him with hair a little wispier and a little whiter than in the last, though most would be lucky to be as smooth-skinned as Agrella remains at 67.

The meat of Agrella's speech, though, drove the theme that the college itself may have been the one more transformed during the past two decades.

Argella's hour-long address looked back at the school's biggest accomplishments under his watch, including the development of dental hygiene, pharmaceutical tech and other health programs; the bond-funded construction of hundreds of millions of dollars worth of new buildings in Petaluma and Santa Rosa; and the inception of an early-college high school.

Agrella also acknowledged darker days, notably the "anonymous letters" debacle of the late 90s, but even that had a positive outcome, he said.

At the time, several anonymous letters circulated accusing Agrella of unethical conduct and criticizing his administration's role in personnel disputes.

The issue turned explosive after investigators went through personnel files of 10 employees to examine handwriting samples in hopes of finding the culprit.

Outraged, the school's Academic Senate approved resolutions of censure and no confidence in Agrella, though he eventually righted the ship after much "self-introspection."

"I overreacted to those letters," he told the crowd Thursday. "I think I emerged as a much better person, but also as a much better president of SRJC."

In previous years, Agrella had used the "state of the college" event to bestow presidentials medals on one of the college's biggest boosters. This time, Agrella gave no new award, but rather looked back on each of the 18 previous winners, including developer Clem Carinalli, an SRJC grad, who won in 2000.

Carinalli has been in the news in recent years for the biggest personal bankruptcy in Sonoma County history, one that ensnared more than 100 unsecured creditors, many of them local senior citizens. Agrella, though, recalled Carinalli's stalwart support for the college and his loyalty to Agrella during his tough times.

"I'll never forget Clem's support and words of advice, saying hang in there, things will get better," Agrella said. "And I hung in there and things did get better."

Those rocky waters seemed like distant memories Thursday as Agrella wrapped up his speech to a standing ovation. Not that he's out the door quite yet.

He had intended to leave at the end of this month, but agreed to stay longer after the SRJC board of trustees scrapped a list of potential successors and started the job search over again.

"A funny thing happened to me on the way to retirement," Agrella said at the end of his speech. "I am going to still be around for probably about six months."