The California State University (CSU) Board of Trustees is beginning the search for the next regularly appointed president of California State University, Long Beach to succeed President Jane Close Conoley, who will retire at the end of the 2024-25 academic year.
The first meeting of the Trustees' Committee for the Selection of the President will be held in a hybrid in-person/virtual open forum
from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. on Wednesday, February 19, 2025, in the University Student Union ballrooms. During this time, the committee will outline the search process, and the community will be invited to share their preferred attributes of Cal State Long Beach's next president.
Advanced registration is not required to provide in-person comments, but those wishing to address the committee through the virtual option must register in advance on the
Cal State Long Beach Presidential Search web page. The deadline to register to speak virtually during the open forum is Monday, February 17, 2025, at 5:00 p.m. Confirmed registrants will receive details about how to participate.
Feedback from the open forum and a stakeholder survey available on the presidential search web page will be used to craft the leadership profile and related recruiting materials. The webpage will also include links to a recording of the open forum's live stream, the stakeholder survey, how to submit a nomination, and information about the search process.
CSU Trustee Christopher Steinhauser will chair the committee. The other trustee members include Wenda Fong, Jack McGrory, as well as Trustee Chair Jack Clarke, Jr. and CSU Chancellor Mildred García.
Board policy requires the chair of the CSU Trustees to appoint an Advisory Committee to the Trustees' Committee. The Advisory Committee is composed of representatives from the faculty, staff, students and alumni, as well as a member of a campus advisory board, all of whom are selected by the campus's constituency groups. Also on the Advisory Committee is a vice president or academic dean from the campus, and a president of another CSU campus—both selected by the chancellor. Both committees function as one unified group.
Members of the Advisory Committee for the Selection of the President include:
- James A. Ahumada, alumni representative
- Korin Coombs, staff representative
- Berenecea Johnson Eanes, president, California State University, Los Angeles
- Jeremy Harris, community representative
- Neil Hultgren, chair, Cal State Long Beach Academic Senate
- Nikki Majidi, student representative
- Matt Melendrez, student representative
- Kenneth W. Miller, campus advisory board representative
- Alaine Ocampo, faculty representative
- Kathryn Perkins, faculty representative
- Jinny Rhee, administration representative
- Darick J. Simpson, community representative
Over the next several months, the committee will review candidates and conduct interviews, with the announcement of Cal State Long Beach's next regularly appointed president made during the CSU Board of Trustees meeting in July 2025.
About the California State University
The California State University is the nation's largest four-year public university system, providing transformational opportunities for upward mobility to more than 460,000 students from all socioeconomic backgrounds. More than half of CSU students are from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds, and more than one-quarter of undergraduates are first-generation college students. Because the CSU's 23 universities provide a high-quality education at an incredible value, they are rated among the best in the nation for promoting social mobility in national college rankings from U.S. News & World Report, the Wall Street Journal and Washington Monthly. The CSU powers California and the nation, sending nearly 125,000 career-ready graduates into the workforce each year. In fact, one in every 20 Americans holding a college degree earned it at the CSU. Connect with and learn more about the CSU in the CSU newsroom.