Members of the Cal State Long Beach community will have a chance to tell the trustees selecting the next university president what traits they would like to see in F. King Alexander’s replacement.
The first meeting of the Trustees’ Committee and Advisory Committee for the Selection of the President will explain the search process, its confidentiality and confirm the schedule of meetings involved, according to a campus-wide email sent by Interim Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs David Dowell.
The Trustees’ Committee is comprised of Cal State University Trustees Roberta Achtenberg, Margaret Fortune and Lupe Garcia, Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez, CSU Trustee Chair Bob Linscheid and CSU Chancellor Timothy P. White. The advisory committee includes representatives from the campus and community.
CSU Spokesman Mike Uhlenkamp said the meeting will allow members of CSULB and the Long Beach community to share with the committees what characteristics they want in the next university president.
“This is the first open meeting, and it’s really about the input from all the various stakeholders,” he said. “This is the opportunity for everyone to give their input.”
Uhlenkamp said the committee will take that feedback into account and use it to tailor the presidential search.
“If everyone says, ‘You know what, the next president of [CSULB] has to have X,’ the committee will meet afterwards and acknowledge that, ‘Hey, everyone wanted this, the next president should have this,’” Uhlenkamp said.
At the meeting, the roles of each committee in the presidential search will be defined, and if a timeframe for picking the next president has been established by then, that will also be shared, Uhlenkamp said.
Uhlenkamp said the meeting is an important way for members from different areas in the community to voice their concerns.
“There aren’t a lot of opportunities like this,” he said. “I think everyone should go.”
Faculty and other campus members have recently claimed the presidential search process does not have enough transparency. The Academic Senate passed a resolution Thursday calling for more transparency in the process, and several faculty members have held town-hall forums discussing the subject.
The calls for increased transparency in CSULB’s presidential search are not likely to be resolved at Monday’s meeting, Uhlenkamp said. He said that while the issue could be presented, the search is a several months-long process and how candidates’ identities would be handled would take time to decide.
Uhlenkamp said Monday’s meeting is the first time the Trustees’ Committee will meet with the Advisory Committee. The meeting is scheduled for 10 a.m. at The Pointe in the Walter Pyramid. All are welcome to the event.
