WOODLAND HILLS -- Pierce College President Darroch "Rocky" Young faces the extraordinary task of balancing classroom cutbacks with a multimillion-dollar campus modernization project.

Proposition A, the Los Angeles Community College District's $1.2 billion, six-year bond issue, helped kick off what's often called the "Pierce Renaissance." With an infusion of $166 million from the April 2001 bond measure, the college embarked on a master plan to repair aging facilities, revive its languishing agriculture program and provide state-of-the-art buildings on the 56-year-old campus.

Proposition AA, the $980 million bond issue voters approved last month, will funnel an additional $106 million to Pierce.

But with a $38 billion state deficit, Young's main concern is funding for the community colleges. Gov. Gray Davis restored $304 million to the state's community colleges but campuses still face steep cuts.

"The timing may seem ironic, that we're going to build all these buildings and we can't pay for classes, but we're going to come out of this budget cycle and when we do, the whole physical plant will have been restored," Young said.

Quiet and soft-spoken, the 55-year-old Thousand Oaks resident can quickly become passionate and intense when the subject is community college.

"I really believe that community colleges ought to be the destination of choice and that students would be better off doing their first two years of college at Pierce than at a four-year university," Young said. "I think we are that good."

Unlike the large, four-year institutions, where the credo for faculty members is publish-or-perish, community colleges are for people "who want to teach," Young said. "That's all we evaluate faculty on ... their ability to teach.

"If you do research, we think that's lovely; if you write books, that's charming -- but you will be evaluated and given tenure strictly on your ability to teach."

Young, who has a master's degree in business administration from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a bachelor's degree from UC Santa Barbara, worked at Santa Monica College for more than a decade. While there, he served as vice president of academic affairs and student affairs from 1986 to 1997 and as vice president of planning and development from 1997 to 1999.

When he was hired as Pierce's president, the college had hired no fewer than six presidents in a decade. A land-use quarrel over a proposed golf course that had been 40 years in the making was about to boil over, and none of the buildings had air conditioning.

Kenn Phillips, director of work force and education investment for the Economic Alliance of the San Fernando Valley, praised Young's leadership and community involvement.

"Rocky is aggressive about getting things done immediately," Phillips said. "He tackles things on a business approach and is a consensus leader, but he has a process on how to get things done and he sees the big picture very quickly."

Sandy Enfield, chairwoman of the Woodland Hills Neighborhood Council that keeps a close watch on the college's construction plans, also had words of praise for Young.

"He has a lot of energy and he certainly has energized Pierce College," she said. "He's made a visible improvement to the campus. I think he's a very resourceful, personable college president, and definitely a change for the better for Pierce College."

Young recently was named the 2003 Pacesetter of the Year by the National Council for Marketing & Public Relations. The award recognizes a community college chief executive officer who has demonstrated special leadership and support in college communications and marketing.

"He's the perfect president for the job; he communicates well," added Warren Furutani, immediate past president of the college district's trustees board. "He's got a great vision and he can explain that vision well and can get people on board."

Young takes the "community" in community college seriously, taking pains to meet with neighborhood groups to keep them informed about the changes at Pierce.

"Pierce is genuinely beloved by the community," Young said. "I feel good that I'm surrounded by a community that actually cares about us."