Although Dr. Leyba is a native Arizonan, he attended elementary and high school in San Diego CA. He received a BA at Arizona State University (ASU) in Tempe, AZ and began his career teaching Junior High School English and Social Studies. He also completed both his Masters degree and Educational Doctorate in Educational Administration and Supervision at ASU. Dr. Leyba has been a teacher, school principal, superintendent of schools and also adjunct faculty for Arizona State University and Northern Arizona University.
During his tenure as superintendent with the Phoenix Isaac School District he served as Co-Chair of seventy low wealth school districts who successfully challenged the state's inequitable school finance system in the Roosevelt vs Bishop case. In 2001 he made the transition to the Maricopa Community College District (MCCD), Phoenix, AZ. From 2001 through 2005 he served in a variety of leadership positions including Associate Vice Chancellor for Human Resources, Acting Vice Chancellor for Human Resources and Provost. MCCD is one the largest community college systems in the country with ten colleges spread throughout Maricopa County.
In November 2005, Dr. Leyba was selected as Interim President of Los Angeles Mission College in Los Angeles (LAMC) CA. Mission College, is a Hispanic Serving Institution with over 70% Latino enrollment, and one of nine colleges in the Los Angeles Community College District. During the interim contract which ended July 30, 2006 he had an opportunity to provide leadership in calming faculty and racial tensions, restructuring the accreditation process, addressing declining enrollment, budget deficits and moving the college forward in an aggressive $179,000,000 construction program. For family reasons he returned to Arizona and now serves as Vice President for Development and Community Relations at Mesa Community College.
