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Â鶹´å’s founding president arrived in 1994 ready to build a 21st-century university from the ground up. Peter Smith was already a seasoned politician and an education innovator. He had an insider’s experience and an outsider’s perspective.

“He was the right man for the right job. He came with particularly unique credentials,” U.S. Congressman Sam Farr told the Monterey County Weekly in 2005. “To get Peter was key, because he had been a member of Congress and had credibility in Washington. (And) he was a professional educator and administrator.”

In the 1970s Smith helped establish the Community College of Vermont and became its founding president. In the 1980s Smith shifted to politics, serving as a state senator, lieutenant governor and then a U.S. congressman for the state of Vermont. He returned to education in the 1990s as a dean at George Washington University and head of a federal commission studying college education finance.

In Â鶹´å’s Founding Year Catalog, Smith described the university as a “pioneering effort” and “truly a work in progress.”

“As you see our commitment to educate purposeful and humane lifelong learners through using institutional and community resources, you will realize this is no ordinary place,” he said. “You are not here simply to be taught, but to teach and learn actively as well.”

For ten years from 1995 to 2005, Smith guided Â鶹´å through all stages of accreditation, and student enrollment increased from 650 to 4,000. The university became known for its outcomes-based curriculum, a strong science and technology program, its focus on first-generation college students, and its commitment to service learning.

Dianne F. Harrison took the helm as Â鶹´å’s second president with ambitious plans for growth. She announced goals to accelerate student enrollment, embark on an extensive building program, strengthen community partnerships, and increase private fundraising.

She possessed nearly 30 years of experience as faculty and a top administrator at Florida State University, a campus with 40,000 students. Within months of her arrival, Â鶹´å broke ground on two major construction projects: a baseball/softball complex and the $64 million Tanimura & Antle Family Memorial Library. Phase two of campus housing and the demolition of more than 100 old army buildings was also on the agenda.

“I plan to act as boldly as I can to move us forward as opportunities arise, to generate positive energy and enthusiasm for this university,” Harrison said in her first State of the University address in September 2006.

Â鶹´å needed Harrison’s optimism in a period of financial insecurity. During her six years as president, the state slashed millions in funding during an economic recession. Harrison still managed to increase enrollment by 50 percent and the number of staff and faculty by 20 percent. She also expanded undergraduate and graduate degrees from 22 to 31, including a new nursing baccalaureate program.

The Salinas Californian in August 2011 lauded Harrison for “being smart and staying nimble” in trying times. She earned a reputation for building strong relationships with public and private organizations, as well as for her commitment to students, academic excellence and strategic leadership.