Joseph I. Castro appointed eighth CSU Chancellor

Dear Beach Community:

It is my privilege and pleasure to introduce and welcome Dr. Joseph I. Castro as the eighth chancellor of the California State University system. As the head of the CSU – the largest and most diverse system of higher education in the United States – Dr. Castro will lead 23 campuses and a global community that includes 481,000 students, 53,000 faculty and staff, and more than 3.7 million alumni.

Currently, Dr. Castro serves as the president of California State University, Fresno. The grandson of immigrants from Mexico, he is the son of a single mother and the first in his family to graduate from a university. A respected leader in higher education, Dr. Castro is a Professor of Educational Leadership and is a respected scholar in the fields of leadership and public policy. During his presidency at Fresno State, that campus emerged as a national leader in recruiting, supporting and graduating students from diverse backgrounds. He has mentored numerous scholars, practitioners, university presidents and senior officers, and I appreciate the opportunities I have had to work with him as a fellow CSU president.

I also want to take this opportunity to thank outgoing Chancellor Timothy B. White. Under his leadership, the CSU saw a remarkable growth in strength and rise in prominence. During his time as chancellor, Dr. White championed efforts to boost graduation rates, he helped increase state funding for the CSU from $2.3 billion to $3.6 billion, and system-wide enrollment rose from 436,000 to more than 480,000 students.

We have many challenges and opportunities ahead of us as a campus and as a university system, and I know that together with Chancellor-Select Castro, we will meet each of them and continue building on the CSU’s remarkable record of student success.

I invite you to “meet” Dr. Castro during a special system-wide live broadcast this Friday, September 25, from 11 a.m.-noon, a www.calstate.edu/chancellorconversation. Please join me in welcoming Dr. Castro to his new role and wishing him the very best.

Jane Close Conoley, Ph.D.
President