The California State University Board of Trustees has announced the appointment of current UC Riverside Chancellor Timothy White as the system’s new chancellor.
In an email to UCR students and faculty sent the morning of Thursday, Oct. 4, White informed the campus of his departure. “Not many opportunities could lure me away from this wonderful campus, a campus I have grown to love and in which I take enormous pride. But the opportunity to head up the Cal State system at such a transformative yet precarious moment for both higher education and the state of California is one I cannot pass up. It is a chance to give back to this state and to public higher education at a grand scale, a state and system that has been transformative for me and my family,” wrote Chancellor White in the email.
White will finish his four years at UCR following the conclusion of the fall academic term in December. White will succeed Charles B. Reed, who led the CSU for 14 years. He is expected to receive the same compensation package as his predecessor Reed: $421,500 plus a $30,000 supplement from the California State University Foundation.
A product of California’s three institutions of public higher education, Chancellor White attended Diablo Valley Community College, Cal State Fresno, Cal State East Bay and UC Berkeley. Chancellor White came to UCR in July of 2008 from the University of Idaho, where he served as president since 2004.
As the chancellor of the California State University, White will lead the nation’s largest university system, which currently enrolls 427,000 students across its 23 campuses.
A chancellor known for his close interaction with students, White’s new position will remove him from a university campus setting for the first time in his professional career. His office will be located in an off-campus building in Long Beach.
“It comes with great regret that I am acknowledging the loss of such an amazing presence on campus,” said Student United Way President and fourth-year business student Sarina El. “Chancellor White was and will always be a significant figure at UCR, not only will we miss his warm cookies and little puppy during finals, we will miss his friday letters and attentiveness to the needs of our student body. While we are sad to see [him] go, we are excited for [his] future endeavors with the CSU system.”
Other students were disappointed to learn of Chancellor White’s new position. “I think he’s selling out for a bigger job that makes more money,” said fourth-year African American studies major Philip Carroll-Johnson. “I can see how that benefits him, but from the basic concern that he attempted to show to the student body at UCR, it seems two-faced to go and take another job. I can kind of understand. I was here when the chancellor before him was here and I felt like [Chancellor White] at least made an effort by being out, walking around, speaking to students. So I felt like he was more friendly than the first one we had, but I was kind of surprised to see him leave so fast.”
UC President Mark Yudof is expected to name an interim chancellor in the coming weeks. A national search will be conducted to appoint the ninth chancellor of UCR.
