The Cal State University Board of Trustees has started the search for a new chancellor, four weeks after Charles B. Reed announced his retirement and ended his 14-year tenure at the CSU.
On Tuesday, Board of Trustees Chair Bob Linscheid announced the appointment of seven trustees to a special committee conducting the search.
CSU Spokesman Erik Fallis said that Reed’s decision was the “logical next step given where he [Reed] is in life.”
Reed, 70, announced his retirement on May 24, saying it was an honor to serve as chancellor “during such a dynamic period in the university’s history,” in a letter to CSU campuses and employees.
“Our campuses have continued to flourish even in the face of budgetary challenges and tremendous growth,” Reed said. “Throughout my time here, the CSU has grown by more than 100,000 students, and I have been honored to sign more than a million diplomas. I take great pride in the CSU’s mission to serve California’s students, and I am proud to have played a role in carrying out that mission during these critical years.”
During his tenure, Reed created initiatives that work together with communities such as Super Sundays, where CSU leaders including the chancellor, trustees, presidents and other higher education ambassadors speak at various predominately black churches in February each year.
Reed had received criticism during his tenure for increasing executive compensation and tuition while the CSU system was losing funding due to shrinking state support.
“I wish people in California understood the prescience he has in national higher education policy,” President F. King Alexander said. “If anybody were to pick any one person in higher education who has the most influence today, it’s Chancellor Reed. He has received criticism since he has been here for a variety of different things. I don’t think you can do that job without receiving criticism.”
In the last few weeks, the chancellor of California Community Colleges Jack Scott and University of California, Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau have also announced their retirement.
The other trustees appointed to the search committee are Roberta Achtenberg, Debra Farar, Kenneth Fong, Steven Glazer, Jullian Ruddell and Board chair Linscheid. The committee also includes faculty trustee member Bernadette Cheyne and student trustee Jillian Ruddell.
A job description for the chancellor position has been posted to the CSU website and the CSU has begun to accept applications. Once the applicants have been reviewed the full Board will then vote on the new chancellor.
The search committee will hold its first meeting to receive input from the public on June 28 at 10 a.m. at the chancellor’s office in Long Beach.
The California Faculty Association, who requested to be part of the committee, said the CSU was already starting the search without consulting the public by creating and distributing the job description before the public meeting.
“[The search committee meeting], that is as much as a direct input opportunity that can possibly be created,” Fallis said.