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A few of you may have been in that room when I interviewed for this job more than 10 years
ago. If you were, you may remember that I was one of three finalists, and the only woman,
and I began that public forum with, “You may be wondering about why I am wearing this
fuchsia suit. I wore it because I am the first of three candidates, and I wanted to make
certain that you would still remember me at the end of the search process, AND I’m sure
that neither of the other two candidates will wear fuchsia.”
They didn’t. And upon my appointment, the North County Times’ headline was, “Fuchsia
Suit Wins.” I started my presidency on February 1, 2004, and one year later, I delivered my
first Report to the Community. Today, I stand here to deliver my 10th Report
to the Community. Can you believe that? Could any of us have imagined how far, how fast we would
have come to this day? So I hope that as I report on this grand and special university
you’ll allow me to reflect on this ten-year journey that we have taken TOGETHER.
When I delivered my inaugural report back in the Clarke Field House, I said that we
would work with you, that TOGETHER, we would build and grow our university into a successful
model for 21st century education. I affirmed that we would act deliberately and that we
would be fearless in our pursuit… * To raise the educational attainment of our
region; * To create a student body that mirrors the
diversity of our region; * To connect with and serve our community
by producing well-prepared, ready-to-lead graduates;
* And to no longer be the “best kept secret” in North County.
These were big, bold goals, goals that I knew were going to take everyone working TOGETHER
to achieve. I also knew that I might regret those dramatic statements. And I certainly
thought that some of you might be more than a bit skeptical and think, “we’ll see.”
Of course, the six-year recession that followed didn’t help. None of us could have predicted
the dramatic reduction in our state funding that could have — BUT DID NOT — deter
us from pursuing and from meeting those goals.
So undaunted by the recession, undeterred by public criticism of higher education and
despite the reduction to our state appropriations, we have, for the last 10 years, stayed focused
on our priorities. We have benchmarked our progress. We have innovatively pushed through
barriers and, TOGETHER, we have: (shorter bullets on screen, one at a time as she says
them) * Doubled our student population from 6,000
to 12,000 students * Doubled the number of buildings from 10
to 20 * Doubled our endowment from 10 million dollars
to 20 million dollars * More than doubled our academic degrees from
27 to 58 * More than doubled the number of our athletic
teams * Nearly tripled our alumni from 13,000 to
35,000 * Almost tripled our employee base from 700
to 1,900 Our work has been intentional and grounded
in our commitment to our region and in those four goals I mentioned earlier. It has been
done with and for our community. And I would underscore that our work TOGETHER has not
happened by accident or because the last 10 years have been easy for public higher education
in any state, and certainly not in California. Our achievements have happened because:
* We created a strategic plan in 2005 that has guided our actions;
* Because we recalibrated our goals annually, raising them as we achieved them, refining
and redefining them if we didn’t; * And because we did not shy away from risk
during unprecedented times. Everything that we have done, and all that
we do, is rooted in our principles and focused on the goals I laid out in that first report
to you – ten years ago. Our shared journey, our shared commitment and work, has created
a university with expanded access and broader reach, a university that is both the anchor
of this region and a model in the nation. We have remained focused on those four promises,
and we have fulfilled them, because that woman in the fuchsia suit doesn’t make empty promises.
(pix of KSH in fuchsia suit back on screen for a sec)
TOGETHER, we saw that the old model of comprehensive public higher education wasn’t sustainable,
and we were inspired to adapt, to partner, to change the worldview. Everything that has
been done, is being done, and will be done fits within this framework – a framework
that is a radical adaptation to a new reality and one that not only sustains the important
mission of our institution but also helps broaden our reach.
It isn’t a random or disconnected framework, but rather one that entwines the threads of
those four strands I talked with you about 10 years ago. That framework created a new
model. We are creating part of that new model with
CSUSM at Temecula, where we are leveraging the resources of the region with the intellectual
capital of our faculty. It eliminates administrative redundancies, and its impact continues to
be exponential. Jen, whose parents are immigrants, was working
two jobs to help support her family, including an ailing parent, when she decided to return
to school. But living in rural Southwest Riverside County, and with no one to help her at home,
she couldn’t make the daily commute to San Marcos. She was also concerned about being
much older than her classmates. She explored CSUSM at Temecula and found that it was the
perfect place for her. She recently received her degree in nursing
from our Temecula center and now, as a full-time nurse, is able to better support her family
as well as personally help care for her mother. Without her degree, without CSUSM at Temecula,
Jen is convinced that she would still be struggling, professionally and financially, and would
not be working in what she considers to be a fulfilling and rewarding field.
She isn’t alone. We’ve already graduated more than 300 nurses from CSUSM at Temecula,
right in time for the opening of the new Temecula Valley Hospital. And we currently have nearly
300 students enrolled in nursing, kinesiology and business administration — so many that
we need additional space. Because of our presence, students can now move seamlessly from high
school to Mt. San Jacinto College to CSUSM at Temecula because they have a clear path.
While we have watched public higher education contract across the nation, leaving thousands
of communities and individuals without access to affordable quality higher education, partnerships
like our Temecula one change that. We are increasing access through unique partnerships,
and TOGETHER crafting a new framework for public higher education in the 21st century.
Riverside and San Diego counties are among a handful of counties in California that have
experienced moderate or even robust growth in high school graduates. However, the statistics
show that most of this growth is in populations not expected to go past high school – if
that far. Statistics also indicate that California will be short one million college educated
workers by 2025. As many of you know, we CHOSE to change this
pattern beginning in 2006 when we signed our first guaranteed admission agreement with
San Marcos Unified School district, called PACE Promise. We created the guaranteed admissions
program to help at-risk students get into and through college and prove the statistics
wrong. We started with one program and have expanded now to agreements with eight public
school districts. Anissa participated in the PACE program at
Mission Hills High and, because of the guidance she received, the pathways that were laid
out for her through PACE, and the program’s strong academic emphasis, she felt very well
prepared for college level work. She’ll soon complete her degree and take a position
as director of after school programs at an elementary school in Oceanside. For Anissa,
the job constitutes a vote of confidence in her education.
Marisol also came to us through PACE and credits our program with exposing her to new possibilities
and to instilling in her the work ethic needed to be successful. Prior to starting at CSUSM,
Marisol began a small, local handmade jewelry business.
With the bachelor’s degree she earned last May in management entrepreneurship, Marisol
has launched a full, online jewelry business that is attracting customers from across the
country. Her work is also now sold in boutiques throughout San Diego and Orange Counties.
The knowledge she acquired at Cal State San Marcos has allowed her to restructure and
grow her business — a possibility that wouldn’t have existed had she not earned her college
degree. Our goal, our big, bold, audacious goal was
TOGETHER, to raise educational attainment rates in our region. We are doing that. Students
who come to us through our guaranteed admission programs have higher GPAs and higher retention
rates. And, as Anissa and Marisol demonstrate, students moving through our programs are better
prepared for the college experience. Marisol, like many PACE students, graduated in four
years, and Anissa is on the Dean’s List. It’s likely that neither of them would be
where they are today without our commitment to raising the educational attainment rate,
to creating a new framework for public higher education.
Another example of dramatically “beating the odds” for an educationally at risk population
is our ACE Scholars Services program for former foster youth. We started the program in 2007,
and we now educate more former foster youth per capita than any institution in the United
States. ACE Scholars goes to the heart of our mission
to raise the educational attainment rate, to create a diverse student body, and to produce
career ready students. Many of our ACE Scholars come from broken homes, or no homes, and they
have endured incredible obstacles and hardships on their path to college. Through scholarships,
on campus work opportunities, internships, counseling and other support, ACE provides
former foster youth with an opportunity for a better life, for stability and social mobility.
Yohita entered the foster care system when she was 16. Severely ill with pneumonia, she
wasn’t expected to live, so the system stepped in to get her the medical attention she needed.
She soon recovered and enrolled in and graduated from the San Pasqual Academy.
Coming from a very poor, erratic family life, Yohita has found support and encouragement
in the ACE Scholars program. She is a criminology major and president of a Chicano student organization.
She is also researching Ph.D. programs with the goal of becoming a college professor.
ACE has changed Yohita’s life and is positively shaping the lives of other former foster youth,
transforming them into informed and productive citizens.
Like former foster youth, American Indian students have historically been overlooked
and not expected to attend college. Again, we CHOSE to pay attention to them, to extend
the very real possibility of earning a college degree. Through college fairs specific to
tribal communities, through communications in Native languages, and through our tribal
liaison, we are increasing access, creating clear pathways, and providing the support
necessary for American Indian students to turn the odds in their favor.
Mark is in the process of changing his odds. A member of the Rincon Band of Luiseño Indians,
Mark saw college as a way to help his tribal community, to bring awareness of their needs
and contributions to our region. He is now pursuing his Masters of Arts in sociological
practice here, and has his eyes on earning a Ph.D. so that he can return to campus as
a professor. Ricardo also had very specific reasons for
coming to Cal State San Marcos. A former sergeant in the Marines, he was deployed four times
to Iraq and Afghanistan and served on Lieutenant General Sattler’s personal security team,
keeping Sattler safe while he directed the invasion of Iraq.
Ricardo chose CSUSM because of our regional focus, because 11 percent of our student body
is veterans and, in part, because we are consistently ranked in the top 15 percent of all universities
nationally for being a military-friendly institution. Ricardo graduated last May and is now an advisor
in our College Corps Program where he encourages high schoolers to pursue college.
We are doing the work that our regional sister institutions are not. Yes, the other institutions
are filling a need and doing excellent work. They are increasingly meeting national and
international needs and taking high caliber students. They are graduating students who
work around the globe. But these are not the educationally at risk students, the veterans,
the former foster youth, the American Indians, the ones the statistics said wouldn’t go
to college. Those are the students that we are educating.
TOGETHER we are beating the odds; changing the national public higher education model;
ensuring that the most educationally at risk students have the knowledge, skills and support
that they need to get to and to get through college and meet our region’s workforce
needs and lead fulfilling lives. TOGETHER we are also radically changing how
our University and our community engage and partner to innovate, to solve problems, to
develop communities, and to improve economies. The McMahan House is a good example. JoAn
and Richard McMahan had watched the university take shape and were impressed with what they
saw, with the new leadership and with our commitment to our region.
They approached us with a gift to build a president’s house, but with our forward
focus, we convinced them to build a “community house.” The McMahan’s $5 million dollar
gift and our vision provided a space for the community and the academy to come TOGETHER
to discuss solutions to real challenges, to celebrate accomplishments and to talk about
the future. That future included more student housing.
At the height of the recession, new construction was stagnant across the country, including
San Marcos, but by partnering with our community, we found a solution. The development of the
Quad student housing, an innovative public-private partnership, is stimulating local economic
development and providing much needed student housing for the University.
More student housing provides an opportunity for students to become more engaged with the
university, to participate in learning communities and to be exposed to a multicultural, global
environment. And studies indicate that students who live on campus succeed at higher rates.
By fall, 1,500 students will be living in campus housing, learning, discussing their
futures and engaging with our community. Our faculty continue to engage with our communities
and our world through groundbreaking research. One of our faculty is leading an international
team of 75 scientists from 12 countries in the first ever documentation of a pan genome
(gee-gnome) — a core set of genes shared by different algal (al-gull) varieties. The
study has lasted nearly a decade and is one of few international studies to unravel the
genomes of marine algae. The findings are opening new avenues for studying climate change
and carbon cycling. Other faculty are engrossed in research that
could lead to improved treatment options for diabetes. Type 2 diabetes affects nearly 25
million adults and children and often leads to infections and other devastating complications,
such as amputations. CSUSM faculty members have identified genes that facilitate tissue
repair, which could significantly improve patient care.
It’s all work that may change the world, that will shape the future and that is transforming
our region into a global knowledge center. It’s work that is making us nationally known,
one of my four goals 10 years ago. The data support what we’ve accomplished
TOGETHER. The stories support what we’ve achieved TOGETHER, and the region reflects
what we’ve realized TOGETHER. We are raising the educational attainment rate, creating
a diverse student body, developing career ready students and gaining international recognition
for our new model and innovative approach to public higher education.
There is a national paradigm shift that needs to happen for universities to remain relevant.
Because we are forward focused, we realized this early on. Through the programs I spoke
about, through our dedication to those four goals, CSUSM is not only making that shift,
we are leading the way. We are a radically different and unique university.
With the slow but steady economic recovery, with some return in state appropriations to
CSUSM for enrollment growth, quite clearly now isn’t the time to slow our pace. When
I arrived, the foundation was in place, but the blueprint was unclear. TOGETHER we created
a blueprint for the future, and we have taken that blueprint and crafted not only a smart
and spirited university, but a 21st century model for the nation.
TOGETHER we will and we must continue down this path of radical innovation, adaptation
and execution. With the commitment from our system for enrollment growth, this will mean
more campus life, more students engaged in the community, and more academic programs.
Our growth will expand opportunities for industry and university collaboration, for broader
community partnerships, and for us to engage with each other.
Our new veterans center, a sustainable building gifted by the Stevens Institute of Technology
in New Jersey, will open next fall and is one example. Chosen by Stevens because of
our national reputation for serving veteran students, and because of a resounding endorsement
from a Camp Pendleton general, the center will provide space for us to better support
student veterans like Ricardo, who I talked about earlier, transition from military to
civilian life. We will provide expanded opportunities for
veterans to combine the skills and capacities they’ve developed as corpsmen with academic
and lifelong learning skills that ensure their social mobility and success. The gifting of
the solar building also started a conversation about what other opportunities exist to partner
with a similarly innovative and forward focused institution on the other side of the country,
to collaborate on research and create pathways to their graduate programs.
It is that forward focus, that vision for the future, that ability to get things done,
that led to us being hand picked by a CSU Trustee to create and launch the CSU Institute
of Palliative Care last year. The Institute will address an important part of the national
public health agenda that was being ignored, and the impact of our programs will be profound.
We will change the face of healthcare delivery. Nurses, doctors, spiritual advisors and social
workers will better understand cultural differences. They will take a broader patient and family-focused
approach, and will be able to talk more compassionately about choices for care and for dying. As our
national palliative care advisory board said at their recent meeting, “the nation is
watching” us. TOGETHER, we will further realize the purpose and impact
of working with our region. Fostering and promoting engaged scholarship and service,
our University will call on the community and industry as experts of practice to partner
with faculty and to engage in research aimed at solving issues and contributing to the
greater good. Students will engage in service learning experiences
to understand society and its problems and their role as citizens. Academic programming,
student learning, and faculty research and scholarship will be more interdisciplinary.
Our focus will shift toward preparing students with skills and capacities for careers that
may not yet exist, and to be entrepreneurial in their efforts while being committed to
social justice and their local communities. Wes has always had an entrepreneurial spirit,
and he knew a CSUSM business degree would be his key to pursuing a fulfilling career.
He graduated with that degree in 2010. In 2011, he became managing director of a local
company that provides co-working office solutions for start-ups. It also serves as an incubation
hub, connecting individuals and companies. It’s a field — connecting innovators with
each other and the community — that didn’t exist when Wes was in elementary school.
Whether it’s a field like Wes’s or something entirely new, TOGETHER, we will, with our
K-12 and community college partners, ensure that young people are moving through the education
system with a pathway before them – a pathway that offers them technical skills to move
into a successful career, academic skills to be lifelong learners, and social skills
to be contributing members of society. Working with our K-12 partners, we developed
a plan to improve and clarify pathways and better support families and districts. The
Price Family Charitable Foundation responded to our proposal, and through their half-million-dollar
grant, we are building the Alliance to Accelerate Excellence in Education. We are on the cusp
of a model that lets no one fall through the cracks. With our partners, and with all of
you, we will continue to build and refine this model so that it is sustainable and scalable.
We will collect the data. We will develop gateways for collaborations between K-12,
community colleges and CSUSM. We will create cohesive pathways to a four-year degree. We
will host conferences and engage with parents. We will enroll and graduate more at risk students
and, in doing so, we will create more educated, successful, economically sound communities.
TOGETHER we have continued to blur the lines between our university and our region. TOGETHER
we have formed partnerships that leverage the strengths of those at the table and that
provide mutual benefit to our partner and our University. We have engaged TOGETHER in
issues important to the region’s future. We have identified and leveraged new technologies,
solved critical issues through research and service, and developed our workforce.
TOGETHER we continued on this path toward bringing new meaning and substance to public
higher education. And we will continue to do it by pushing the boundaries of the tried
and true model to a more dynamic and relevant model.
While there are varying definitions of a great university, we, TOGETHER, have defined what
it means to us. A truly great university is defined by its ability to educate students
through theoretical and experiential learning, and to provide an appreciation and appetite
for discovery. A great university will be defined by its ability to invest in and support
sophisticated, life-changing research. A great university will be defined by its ability
to work hand-in-hand with its community to enable change, to solve substantive issues,
and to partner for the common good. Any university can take third generation in
college, high achieving students and stretch them and graduate them. Any university can,
with reason, say, “times are tough, we’re cutting back; we can’t serve any more students.”
But this “great” university reaches back to public school districts and community colleges,
and with intentionality creates pathways and support services for the most educationally
at risk students. Our “great” university attracts AND retains
faculty who are both student focused and world-class researchers. Our “great” university “gets
to yes” despite the 1,000 points of “can’t do it, never been done.”
In ten years TOGETHER, we have fostered a stronger sense of common goals. We have delivered
on promises and contributed in transformative and innovative ways to the prosperity of our
region. Our momentum, our growth, our accomplishments signify our propensity for risk-taking, for
audacious actions, and for our ability to break molds and create new models. In ten
years TOGETHER, we have transformed lives, rebuilt communities and reinvigorated our
economy. We have built a university geared toward educating the 21st century student.
I am so proud of the work we have done TOGETHER over these last ten years.
And, let me be clear… …in case you’re thinking that this is
my swan song… This fuchsia suit isn’t done yet!
