Report of the Chair

Remarks by Bob Linscheid
Chair, CSU Board of Trustees
Report to the Board of Trustees
July 17, 2012
 

It is now time for the Chair’s Report.

Since our last meeting, Chancellor Reed has announced that he will retire from the California State University after serving for 14 years as chancellor.We are very grateful to him for all of his years of service and for all of the positive changes he has made at the CSU – especially during these challenging times. In the meantime, we have convened a Special Committee for the Selection of the Chancellor, which is being chaired by Bill Hauck. The Special Committee met for the first time on June 28, and we heard from a wide variety of constituents. We are committed to having the CSU community and stakeholders have a voice in this process. For those who were unable to attend the meeting, or for anyone who would like to make additional comments or contributions, we are keeping the lines of communication open. You may send your thoughts directly to the committee by emailing chancellorsearch@calstate.edu or by participating in the conversation on the university system's Facebook page: www.facebook.com/calstate. We expect to finish the search process sometime this fall.

Next I want to introduce and recognize three new trustees appointed by Governor Brown: Lupe Garcia, Hugo Morales and J. Lawrence Norton.

Lupe Garcia has served in multiple legal positions at Gap Inc. since 1999, including associate general counsel, senior corporate counsel and corporate counsel. She received her J.D. from the University of San Francisco School of Law.

Lupe, I would like to invite you to make a brief statement.

[Lupe Garcia statement]

Thank you, and welcome, Lupe.

Next, Hugo Morales has been executive director at Radio Bilingüe Inc. since 1980 and he has a J.D. from Harvard Law School. He has served as an adjunct professor at Fresno State, and last year he received an honorary doctorate from Sacramento State. Hugo, I would like to invite you to make a brief statement.

[Hugo Morales statement]

Thank you, and welcome, Hugo.

J. Lawrence Norton Mr. Norton worked full time as a mediator and practiced in a variety of fields specializing in public policy, and special education and disability rights. Mr. Norton is unable to be with us today.

I should note that all three appointments will require Senate confirmation.

I am sad to report the passing of former CSU Trustee Marian Bagdasarian of Fresno. She was a master teacher in the Fresno schools and she brought a wealth of educational experience to the board. She served from 1984 through 1996.

This is the time of the year when under Trustee policy, the Board Chair approves and reports on the annual operating budget for the State University House. I approve an operating budget of $73,830 for 2012/13 with provisions for supplies and services, insurance and utilities. The funding, all of which is non-state money, is derived from the proceeds of the sale of the previous State University House in Bel-Air. The trust fund is restricted to supporting the operation, furnishing, and maintenance of the State University House. When the trust was established in 1991, two spending rules were instituted to protect the structure and ensure there are sufficient interest earnings in the future to cover operational and maintenance costs without using General Fund dollars. We have held true to this commitment. Do any board members have questions?

Last but not least, I want to report some good news from my alma mater, Chico State. This year Chico State won its second straight California Collegiate Athletics Association Commissioner's Cup with a record 13 points. The points are totaled by the institution's aggregate ranking in eight of the CCAA's 12 championship sport offerings. The lower the number of points, the better the ranking. Chico State's 13 points is the lowest ever recorded since the award's inception in 2006. The Wildcats won seven conference titles this season and finished in the top half of the standings in every sport. Including co-titles, the other 11 institutions in the CCAA combined for the other seven conference titles.

Congratulations, Wildcats.

That concludes my report. It is now time for the Chancellor's Report.