Report of the Chair

Thank you to Chancellor White for the State of the CSU address earlier today.

This afternoon I am pleased to announce our selection for president of Cal State Long Beach. The new president will be, Jane Close Conoley former Interim Chancellor of UC Riverside and Dean, University of California, Santa Barbara.

I am announcing the appointment of members to serve on the Committee on Committees. Those members will be Lou Monville, Roberta Achtenberg, William Hauck and Eisen.

Next I want to announce that I will be appointing a special committee to review presidential performance measures and compensation. We previously had a group to review presidential compensation, and we had made a commitment to revisit the issue in January 2014. Trustee Lou Monville will chair this committee.

Also I want to announce that I have appointed Professor and Former Faculty Trustee Bernadette Cheyne to the board of the California State Summer School for the Arts. This state-funded summer school provides a training ground for high school aged artists who wish to pursue careers in the arts and entertainment industries in California. This is a three-year appointment.

I want to alert our trustees to our upcoming Super Sunday events, which will be held this year on February 16 and February 23. This community college awareness event is now in its ninth year and has expanded to include more than 100 churches. We will primarily be in Northern California on February 16 and Southern California on February 23, but we have events going on throughout the month. I encourage all of you to participate.

Following last year's fundraising success that we heard about earlier today, I have a few recent fundraising highlights to share with you.

Sonoma State's Wine Business Institute will have a new permanent home on campus, thanks in part to a $1 million gift from Gary Heck, president and owner of Korbel, to seed the renovation of the building to suit the needs of a 21st century learning center.

Cal Poly Pomona has received a $4 million bequest to the College of Business Administration from business leader Lance Calvert and his wife Elena.

CSU San Bernardino has received a gift of $500,000 from physician and philanthropist Prem Reddy for its department of nursing. To recognize his gift, the university's nursing lab will be renamed the Dr. Prem Reddy Nursing Laboratory.

CSU Dominguez Hills' Archives and Special Collections Department has received a donation of 320 books and other materials, including first editions and rare editions, relating to author Upton Sinclair.

San Diego State University alumnus Jack McGrory has donated $1.2 million to the Campaign for SDSU, bringing the campaign to $435 million of its $500 million goal. The gift will be divided among the Joan and Art Barron's Veterans' Center, the School of Public Affairs, and the Department of Classics and Humanities.

Congratulations to the nearly 700 students, faculty, alumni, administrators and partners who gathered at the 26th annual CSU Biotechnology Symposium in Santa Clara on Jan. 9 through 11. This annual event represents the pinnacle of achievement for many of our students who have devoted their academic careers to the high-demand fields of science, technology, engineering, and math.

Last year I had the privilege of attending the competition as a judge and I was deeply impressed with the high level of research and scholarship across the board.

Congratulations are also due to students from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and Cal Poly Pomona who received the Crown City Innovation Trophy at this year's Rose Parade. The float featured something never before seen at the Rose Parade: a system for making the flowers themselves move, creating a ripple effect on panels of the blue flowers that gave the appearance of water around a "ship." This system was conceived, designed and built from the ground up by students – and in fact it was the only float in the parade created entirely by students. Thank you all for representing the CSU so well.

That concludes the Chair's Report.

It is now time for the Chancellor's Report.