San Diego State President Elliot Hirshman announced his resignation on March 8, leaving questions about his potential successor.
In a campus-wide email sent on March 8, Hirshman announced he would be leaving SDSU effective June 30, and will begin a new position as president for Stevenson University in Maryland.
“CSU Chancellor White will be visiting campus shortly to gather perspectives on desired characteristics for the interim president,” Hirshman said in the email. “Following the interim appointment, Chancellor White will launch a national search for the next president.”
Interim Chief Communications Officer Gina Jacobs said the chancellor is going to be coming to San Diego as soon as arrangements can be made to discuss what the community would like in an interim president.
CSU Manager of Public Affairs Elizabeth Chapin said the chancellor will be announcing the interim president before June 30 and an interim president will be starting July 1.
While the selection of a CSU president begins with the appointment of an an interim president, there are many factors when selecting a permanent president.
First, the Chair of the Board of Trustees will appoint the Trustees Committee for the Selection of the President. The committee is comprised of the chair of the board, four of the trustees and the chancellor, Chapin said.
The committee determines the attributes desired for a successful candidate, approves the final campus and job descriptions, any advertising copy and reviews and interviews candidates, according to the CSU website.
In addition, there is an advisory committee to the trustees committee, appointed by the chair of the Board, Chapin said.
Although the committee is the ultimate body to make the final decisions and advancement of candidates to the full Board, the process is to be conducted in a manner that includes the campus representatives, according to the CSU website.
Chapin said the advisory committee is composed of representatives from the campus, including faculty, students, alumni and campus advisory boards that advise the trustees committee on its selection.
A vice president or academic dean from SDSU and a president from another CSU campus will also be a part of the advisory committee, Chapin said.
“The trustees committee and the advisory committee function as one unified group,” she said.
After the committee is appointed, the search begins and the committees will meet to make the selection, Chapin said.
The committees will meet in a open forum to review the role of the committee and to receive comments and input from the public and the campus community.
They will explain the search process and confidentiality, confirm the schedule of meetings, discuss preferred attributes for the next president of the CSU, and review the descriptions and needs of the campus presidential position, and any other business related to the search process, Chapin said.
Chapin said the CSU presidential selection process varies in length.
“It really varies, (because) it does require some time and it all depends on the search…it could be a few months or more,” she said.
However, the CSU expects the trustees’ selection of the new president sometime this fall, she said.
