Committee begins search for new president

The committee tasked with appointing a new Cal Poly president met yesterday for the first time since Warren Baker announced his retirement in December. The purpose of the meeting was to explain the detailed hiring process and learn which qualities they, as well as members of the public, would prefer in the next president.

Trustees’ Committee for the Selection of the President, made up members of the California State University (CSU) Board of Trustees led by trustee Roberta Achtenberg, is one of the groups responsible for finding Baker’s successor

The other is the Advisory Committee to the Trustees Committee for the Selection of the President is comprised of representatives of Cal Poly faculty, students, staff and alumni as well as members of the San Luis Obispo community.

Achtenberg expressed her excitement and optimism on behalf of the trustees.

“We want to congratulate Dr. Baker on a wonderful tenure and leaving Cal Poly in such good shape, such that we will be able to attract only the finest candidates and select an able president for this esteemed institution,” she said.

A résumé review is scheduled for April and campus visits by those nominated in May, at which time the names of the candidates will be public. A final decision is anticipated in June.

The establishment of the committees and the extensive search and selection process will follow board policy. It mandates that once a vacancy is known, the chancellor will initiate the formation of a trustee committee and an advisory committee.

The trustee committee, made up of CSU officials, will include the chancellor, the chair of the board, and three trustees the chair selects, one of whom is designed as the chair of the committee.

The advisory committee must include people associated with Cal Poly: two faculty members, one staff member, one campus advisory board member, one alum, the chair of the academic senate and one student chosen by the student board. The chancellor will also select one vice president or dean, one president from another CSU and up to two additional group members to sit on the committee.

Carol Chandler, a member of the trustee committee, is honored to be a part of this process.

“The selection committee is comprised of an outstanding group of committed and highly qualified individuals who will work diligently to find the most exemplary and visionary individual to lead Cal Poly in the years to come,” she said.

Phil Bailey, dean of the Cal Poly’s College of Science and Mathematics, is also looking forward to his involvement in the search and believes that his long-term employment, 41 years, and dedication to Cal Poly is what earned him a spot on the advisory committee.

“I know a lot about Cal Poly and have a sincere and loyal affection for the university,” he said.

At the meeting, CSU Chancellor Charles Reed thoroughly explained the roles of the trustee and advisory committees and the process to take place in the months ahead.

Job postings for the position of president have already been listed in several academic publications, but Reed emphasized that the majority of nominations are self-nominated and come from outside Cal Poly, although it is possible for people to promoted from within the university.

Both the advisory committee and the public were urged by the chancellor to make recommendations for prospective candidates through the committee members themselves who will forward names to the Chancellor’s office. He encouraged suggesting non-traditional candidates outside the academic scope, like “air force generals, astronauts or Bill Clinton.”

A catalog of all recommended names and résumés will be compiled, usually upwards of 100, divided hierarchically and shipped to all committee members who will individually go through the résumés, coming to a consensus on seven to nine candidates. These candidates will be interviewed in the span of two days by the entire committee.

They are then narrowed down again to three or four, whose names become public, and are invited to the campus to meet and engage with students, staff and faculty.

Reed will privately ask each committee member their thoughts about each candidate and their personal decisions, and he and Achtenberg will relay all of this and previous information from past meetings to the Board of Trustees. The Board will hold their own interviews with the candidates and, with the information from the trustee and advisory committees, make a final selection.

“I want to assure you that the chancellor, when he has these conversations with you, reports very faithfully to the Board of Trustee, the exact nature of your comments,” Achtenberg told the advisory committee. “There is no pre-selection involved in this process; the process is unfolding as we speak. Your participation in this process is absolutely vital. You’re not here for show. You’re not here for window-dressing. You are here to help us to do the hard work.”

This process is standard across the CSU system and, incidentally, similar to University of California policy. Though in the past head-hunting agencies have been used in the selection process, one has not been used in 10 years, Reed said, which has saved around $200,000 per presidential selection.

“I want to work through a process that we have used the entire time I’ve been chancellor,” he said. “The process works. I’m going ask you to have faith in the process also.”

Reed emphasized that the presidential selection process is the single most important responsibility of the board and advised the committee to keep candidates’ identities confidential so as not to jeopardize any candidates’ chance of being appointed. Reed also stressed that the members should avoid the media’s “tricks” and not share information.

After the chancellor defined the process, members of the advisory committee each relayed the most important attributes they want in the next president.

Several expressed the desire for someone who can attract more diverse students, continue the utilization of the “Learn by Doing” model, enforce Cal Poly’s presence as a comprehensive polytechnic university, be transparent in policy decisions, connect with and is visible to students, is an efficient leader, innovative, inspirational and a strategic thinker.

“We’ve done pretty well with President Baker,” Bailey said. “I think we need to keep that going. We’re not one of 23 campuses; we’re Cal Poly. And we want to keep it that way.”

George Soares, an alumnus and local resident, wants someone who is goal and results-oriented, who can call upon the available support on campus and who understands the needs of both the school and city.

“We need to make sure the president is sensitive to the community,” he said.

Reed’s Chief of Staff, William Dermody, said it is vital that the president be able to raise funds so the campus is financially secure and student fees do not have to be increased every year.

“We will expect the new president to be comfortable soliciting major gifts from donors,” Dermody said.

Because the university, for example, is unique in its high level of involvement in lab research that requires sophisticated and expensive lab equipment, more financial backing from outside state funding is essential.

“Thus, the Cal Poly president should be good at fund raising to keep the academic programs functioning beyond what the state provides,” Dermody said.

Associated Students Incorporated President Kelly Griggs, who serves as the student representative on the advisory committee, put a different emphasis on the ability to raise funds.

“I’m not sure that’s something (the advisory committee) had first on their list, but that is the reason we have two different groups,” she said. “The Trustees do see it from the administrative side. I don’t think the whole business aspect really crosses our mind, so it’s nice to have both sides.”

President Baker agrees that his successor should concentrate heavily on carrying on the financing program Baker created that expands Cal Poly’s source of funds beyond what the state provides.

“We’ve laid the groundwork through the strategic plan for a major capital campaign, so determining the scale and the timetable for a major capital campaign will be important,” Baker said. “I think that will require that new president develop external relationships, get to know the alumni, the key stakeholders.”

Baker is retiring after a tenure of 30 years, the second-longest of any CSU president after Julian A. McPhee, who served as Cal Poly’s president from 1933-1966. Baker, McPhee and Robert E. Kennedy (1967-1979) exemplify Cal Poly’s unusual tradition for long presidential tenures. Most CSU presidents last for five or six years, said Dan Howard Green, Baker’s Chief of Staff.

Baker’s term will officially end when the selection committee makes a final decision for the next president in June; he will most likely remain at Cal Poly until fall when his successor takes over.

The list of achievements made under Baker’s leadership is exhaustive: the creation of 20 new majors, 72 minors and 15 graduate programs, increased number of applied research programs and more sponsored research grants and contracts.

During his tenure, Cal Poly has been recognized as one of the universities with the highest number of students studying abroad in any given year and has been ranked by U.S. News and World Report magazine has the best public master’s university in the West for the past 17 years.

Baker is most proud of the construction projects he facilitated on campus and his development of a financing program that would accommodate all the improvements made to the campus, its facilities, equipment and education of the students, particularly with regard to the “learn by doing” philosophy — the sort of success the Board desires of his successor.

“We spent a great deal of time developing plans and raising money for new buildings on campus,” Baker said. “A lot of buildings have been built on campus in the last 30 years — close to a billion dollars in construction. We have also built buildings without any state funds at all to support programs, generally buildings that will provide space for students to be engaged in projects.”

Under Baker, Cal Poly has expanded its fundraising endowment to be the largest of the 23 CSUs. Baker realized from the beginning of his term that Cal Poly programs, particularly those specific to a polytechnic university, would need more funding.

“When I first came, the deal was everything had to come from the state,” he said. “It became clear very early that Cal Poly’s quality (could not be maintained) if we relied solely on state support.”

The chancellor emphasized that “replacing” President Baker is not the approach they are taking on this process. “You do not replace Warren Baker,” he said. “We’re going to be finding a new, different president. Someone who has been here 32 years and has done a good a job as Warren Baker, you don’t replace.”