Chancellor, California State University
CSU Board of Trustees Meeting: Chancellor’s Report
Long Beach, CA
September 21, 2011
Thank you, Chair Carter. I want to join you in welcoming our new trustees, Bernadette Cheyne and Jillian Ruddell. We look forward to working with both of you.
Presidential Searches
In the 14 years that I have served here at the CSU, this is the first time that we have had four presidential vacancies that we need to fill. We are going to be filling presidential vacancies at Fullerton, Northridge, San Bernardino, and San Francisco.
This represents the leadership of campuses with a total of more than 115,000 students. It also marks the beginning of a major shift in leadership at the CSU.
It will be incumbent on the board and on me to identify the most qualified and talented leaders that we can find. Our students, our faculty and staff, and our communities deserve the very best.
We will need all the assistance we can get in conducting these critically important searches.
Budget
Regarding the budget, we continue to worry about the state’s revenue situation, and about the trigger being pulled in December to cut us another $100 million.
My plan does not include another tuition increase in January that would affect students in the spring term for the potential cut. In addition, we are going to work with the Brown administration to assure that any trigger cut has only a one-time impact, in order to avoid having trigger impacts in 2012/13.
As we discussed in the Business and Finance Committee, we will propose a plan in November for the 2012/2013 budget.
Teacher Education Grants
The CSU continues its national leadership in the area of teacher education, and we have been recognized recently with several millions of dollars in grants to continue our important work.
The California Postsecondary Education Commission has announced the latest round of federal Teacher Quality grants. Of the $3.5 million awarded, $2.25 million went to CSU campuses. That represents nine of the 14 awards.
We are also receiving more than $1.5 million in foundation support for the California Alliance, our collaborative work with Long Beach Superintendent Chris Steinhauser to support clinical preparation across the state.
In addition, Google is awarding a total of over $200,000 to about 16 CSU campuses. The focus of the awards is on preparing teacher candidates for innovative uses of technology that enhance STEM teaching and learning at the high school level.
Additionally, the CSU has been invited to be a part of the 100K in 10 Project, a national effort to prepare and support 100,000 new math and science (STEM) teachers over the coming 10 years.
Through this effort, the CSU will sustain its commitment to prepare 1,500 new math and science teachers annually through 2015.
We will recruit outstanding candidates, encourage them to work in the state’s highest need schools, and engage in partnerships with school districts to ensure they are retained.
Congratulations to all of our teacher education programs for these vitally important initiatives.
Last but not least, I want to extend one more congratulations to our Hearst/Trustee scholars, whom we honored yesterday. This is truly an inspiring group of students.
Congratulations to all of our scholars, and thank you again to our generous sponsors and contributors.
Chair Carter, that concludes my report.