Nearly nine months after the search for the next San Jose State president commenced, the California State University (CSU) Chancellor’s Office reports “strong interest” from potential candidates.
Lisa Millora, SJSU vice president for strategy and institutional affairs and chief of staff, said the Association of Governing Boards (AGB), a higher education search firm that’s partnered with SJSU, has received numerous interested candidates from across the nation.
“The ad for the presidency was placed in national [education trade] publications in early June, and AGB has sent the leadership profile to numerous potential candidates and nominators across the country,” Millora stated in a July 29 campuswide email. “They will continue to recruit potential candidates through August.”
Michael Uhlenkamp, CSU senior director of public affairs, said the CSU is unable to comment on specifics related to the candidates including the number of candidates because the search committees’ information and processes are confidential.
Uhlenkamp said the intent of confidentiality is to gather the largest possible pool of qualified candidates.
The search committee, which is composed of both the trustee and advisory committees, is appointed by the CSU board chair, in accordance with CSU policy.
The trustee committee, which includes the board chair, four trustees and the interim CSU chancellor, collectively handles recruitment, selection and appointment of the next SJSU president.
The advisory committee is made up of SJSU representatives including faculty, staff, students, alumni and a campus advisory board member, who all provide consultation to the trustee committee.
The SJSU presidential search committee is made of 18 members in total, according to an April 22 SJSU news release.
The CSU Board of Trustees launched the national search for a new president after former SJSU president Mary Papazian announced her resignation on Oct. 7, 2021, according to an Oct. 7, 2021 SJSU blog post. Papazian concluded her tenure on Dec. 21.
SJSU counselor education professor Jason Laker said while he is a “fundamentally optimistic person,” he finds it hard to have hope for the next president.
Laker, who was the university vice president of student affairs in 2010-11, said SJSU has a lot of potential, but there has been so much change in leadership and hardly any change in regards to trust, morale and labor relations.
“What can I tell you? Is this the seventh president [since I’ve been here]? So at this point, I wonder, what's the point of remembering their names?” he said in a Zoom call. “I mean, I hope things will improve, but it's hard to invest too much in such hope when you've had so many of them so far in such a short period of time.”
Since 2010, SJSU has had six presidents, according to the CSU Past & Present Leadership webpage.
Within that same 12-year period, three other CSUs have had four presidents while the remaining 19 campuses have seen one to three, according to the same CSU webpage.
The sixth SJSU president since 2010 is current interim president Steve Perez, who assumed his role on Jan. 1.
While specifics regarding candidates are confidential, Perez said he trusts the search process, that the committees will do a thorough job and the final decision will be what’s best for SJSU’s future.
"I'm proud to be leading this great university and look forward to continuing to do so,” Perez said in a statement to the Spartan Daily. “The energy and enthusiasm of our students, staff and faculty can be felt all across this campus.”
Associated Students President Nina Chuang said she has enjoyed working alongside Perez.
“Upon his arrival, [Perez] has been present on campus by attending student-led events and bringing approachable, excited energy during graduation,” Chuang said in a text message.
She said she feels that former president Papazian was unwilling to meet with various student organizations and groups during events and meetings.
“The most important part of SJSU is the students,” Chuang said. “I hope the next SJSU president is genuine with their students and has a heart to elevate our student voices [amid] the demands of systemic and institutional practices.”
Laker said students come and go and don’t live through the changes quite like faculty and staff do, adding that students may be affected but not “as acutely, at least not obviously.”
“Presidents have come in, kind of forgetting what the rest of us have lived through,” he said. “They come in with their enthusiasm for whatever plans they have and generally tend to not give attention, focus attention on helping people ease their anxieties and their pain over the things that happened before.”
During the May 3 open forum in the Student Union Ballroom, many SJSU community members expressed to the president search committee that issues of labor relations, transparency, diversity and inclusion were necessary for the next president to address.
Outside the Student Union, SJSU staff and facilities workers protested for wage increases and negotiations with the university administration before the forum began.
The protest was organized by the Teamsters local 2010, a labor union representing more than 14,000 workers in higher education, which includes the CSU employee union, according to its website.
Uhlenkamp said the Association of Governing Boards, the search firm partnered with SJSU, has been sharing the university’s leadership profile to interested candidates.
“[The leadership profile] was developed in consideration of some of the feedback provided by stakeholders during the open form held on May 3,” Uhlenkamp said in an email.
Laker said the next president needs to tend to all areas of mistrust, which includes reforming SJSU athletics, University Personnel and labor relations.
“I think, given the amount of trepidation at this campus, not to mention how many lawsuits, how many settlements, how many government interventions, one could argue San Jose State is a special case that merits a special response,” said Laker, regarding the 12-year sexual misconduct scandal in athletics, the recent Department of Justice investigation and multiple whistleblower and title IX litigations. “If you really want to make the reform . . . you have to change how you're operating.”
Uhlenkamp said every search is different and takes into account what’s currently taking place on campus or has happened in the recent past.
He added that while the recent issues at SJSU aren’t included in the leadership profile, all of that information will be shared with candidates so that they’re informed.
Uhlenkamp said establishing or rebuilding trust with various stakeholder groups will also be a priority for the incoming president.
Key priorities listed in the SJSU leadership profile include: expand initiatives to support diversity, equity and inclusion; foster an environment that provides a sense of belonging for everyone and model best practices in justice; convene various groups within and beyond the SJSU community to gather perspectives on relevant issues and concerns.
Potential candidates have until Aug. 31 to submit their letters of interest to the Association of Governing Boards in order to receive “full consideration,” according to the SJSU leadership profile.
SJSU students, staff and faculty can email questions or nominations to the presidentsearch@calstate.edu.
