San Jose State President Mary Papazian, who’s set to resign in a month, announced Monday in a campuswide email that an interim president will assume the position beginning Jan. 3, 2022.
Stephen Perez, Sacramento State economics professor, provost and vice president of academic affairs, will take over from Vincent Del Casino Jr., senior vice president for academic affairs, who’ll temporarily take charge after Papazian's Dec. 21 resignation.
Papazian stated in an Oct. 7 campuswide email that her decision to step down from her position came after “thoughtful consideration and discussions” with her family.
The interim president announcement comes two months after the U.S. Department of Justice concluded in a Sept. 21 report that SJSU had failed to adequately respond to claims of sexual harassment by Scott Shaw, former director of sports medicine, for more than a decade.
In a Monday California State University news release regarding Papazian’s interim successor, Chancellor Joseph Castro said Perez’s commitment to student success and passion to create collaborative faculty, staff and students made him poised to continue SJSU’s “upward trajectory.”
Mike Uhlenkamp, CSU senior director of public affairs, said Castro appointed Perez.
“The chancellor did visit SJSU in early November to conduct a listening tour with campus stakeholders,” Uhlenkamp said in an email. “Based on those conversations and others, it was determined that [Perez] was the right person to lead the campus at this time to ensure that many of the innovative programs established under President Papazian continue until a new president is appointed.”
He said there was no formal search for the interim president but Castro met with various SJSU stakeholders including campus Associated Student leaders, the Academic Senate executive committee, the Joint Labor Council, the Staff Council and the President’s cabinet.
Perez said SJSU is driving the Silicon Valley, creating a ripple effect throughout the state and the world by providing transformational education and serving as a cultural hub and innovation incubator.
“I enthusiastically welcome and appreciate the opportunity to work collaboratively with the dedicated students, faculty, staff, president's cabinet and community to further increase the achievement of our talented and diverse students," he stated in the CSU news release.
Uhlenkamp said the search for SJSU’s upcoming president will be conducted through a committee of CSU trustees and an advisory committee including SJSU community members.
He said while Perez could potentially be considered for SJSU’s 31st president, it’s dependent on Perez’s own decision.
“The work of the presidential search committees is to cast the widest possible net to encourage highly qualified candidates to participate in the search process as candidates,” Uhlenkamp said. “Whether [Perez] decides to participate in the process as a candidate or return to his previous position at Sac State upon conclusion of his interim appointment would be at his discretion.”
