Turlock lays out wish list for next university president

The state search committee came to hear what the campus community hopes to see in the next California State University, Stanislaus, president. Dozens of speakers gave them a long list.

“It’s a tall order. They’re really going to have to walk on water,” Marian Kaanon said with a grin, before adding her own priorities to the list.

A consensus builder, a communicator and, above all, a collaborator are needed, said Kaanon, CEO of the Stanislaus Community Foundation, which is working with Stanislaus State and others in a project to streamline the path from high school to college.

“Someone with knowledge of communities like ours. We have an 82 percent graduation rate from high school, which lines up with the rest of the state, but less than 20 percent of them go on to graduate from a four-year university within six years. That’s deplorable,” she said.

Other speakers also spoke to the need to embrace the students of Stanislaus.

“We need to communicate that our campus is a little different,” said Stuart Sims, of the music faculty. The rural campus with 70 percent first-generation students, including many Latinos, may not be what every candidate is looking for, he said. “The next president needs to take the mission to serve these students very seriously.”

Other professors rose to ask for someone who will communicate directly with the faculty, who has experience teaching in higher education, and who values trust and transparency.

While no one mentioned their names, many speakers discussed initiatives they want to see continue that were started by President Joe Sheley, who will retire July 1, and discord they hope to never see again that existed during the years of his predecessor, Hamid Shirvani.

Several speakers addressed the need to grow beyond the 9,000 students that study today at the Turlock campus and its Stockton satellite.

“I am one of an increasing number of citizens in Stockton and Northern California that feel that our community has not been well-served in higher education,” said Gene Bigler of Stockton. Bigler pointed to the large and growing income gap between this region and coastal areas. “That is an indication of how urgent it is to develop this (educational resource) in our community,” he said.

Tiina Savini, a first-generation Stanislaus State graduate now working as an adjunct professor, said the next president needs to value the community and face its challenges. “We have had, in short spans of time, university presidents who were résumé building and looking for another job, as though this area is not worth enough,” Savini said, urging the panel to screen out candidates likely to be short-timers.

The panel includes local faculty members and staff, as well as other campus representatives, CSU trustees and CSU Chancellor Tim White. The full panel will narrow the field in a confidential search and trustees will make the final choice, probably in May.

A website has been set up to gather public input and nominations for the job: https://www.csustan.edu/presidential-search.

This story was originally published February 17, 2016 at 5:22 PM with the headline "Turlock lays out wish list for next university president."