The California State University Board of Trustees will begin the search next month for a new president of Fresno State to succeed President John D. Welty who is retiring after serving as president of the university since 1991.

The first meeting of the search committee will be held in an open forum from 10 a.m. to noon on Monday, Feb. 11, at the Satellite Student Union on the Fresno State campus. This is the only meeting of the committee that is an open meeting. It will be followed by a closed meeting of the committee at 1 p.m.

CSU Trustee Pete Mehas will chair the Trustees’ Committee for the Selection of the President.  The other trustee members of the selection committee include Rebecca Eisen, Hugo Morales, J. Lawrence Norton, as well as Trustee Chair Bob Linscheid and CSU Chancellor Timothy P. White.

Board policy requires the chair to appoint an advisory group to the trustees’ committee. The Advisory Committee to the Trustees’ Committee for the Selection of the President is composed of representatives of the faculty, students and alumni, as well as a member of the campus advisory board, all of whom are selected by the campus constituent 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 group.

Members of the Advisory Committee for the Selection of the President include:

  • Faculty members Dr. Nora Chapman, director of the Smittcamp Family Honors College and professor of Classics and Humanities, and Dr. David Schecter, professor and department chair of Political Science.
  • Dr. R. Lynn Williams, chair of the Academic Senate.
  • Dean Luz Gonzalez of the College of Social Sciences.
  • Staff member Shirley Staton of Accounting Services.
  • ASI President Arthur Montejano, representing students
  • Brad Fischer, representing alumni.
  • Dr. Katherine Flores, representing the President’s Advisory Board.
  • Community members Robert Oliver, Bill Smittcamp, Peter Weber and Mayor Ashley Swearengin, and
  • Jeff Armstrong, president of Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo.

The purpose of the meeting in an open forum is to review the role of the committee, receive comments and input from the public and campus community, explain the search process and confidentiality, confirm the schedule of meetings, discuss preferred attributes of the next president, review the descriptions and needs of the campus and presidential position, and discuss any other business related to the search process.

The committee will work over the next several months reviewing applications and will conduct interviews. It is expected that the new president will be selected by the CSU Board of Trustees in May.

For more information about the CSU presidential search process, see the Executive Search page.