CSU trustees decide to restart search for new Cal Poly president

The search will begin anew this fall for a new Cal Poly president.

Capping a four-month quest, Cal State University’s board of trustees determined Wednesday that two finalists weren’t the right fit.

A third had withdrawn after visiting the campus last week. A fourth finalist had withdrawn from consideration before the on-site visits.

“The board of trustees certainly respects the level of experience the candidates bring to the process,” CSU Chancellor Charles B. Reed said in a statement. “But ultimately, we must be confident that the next president be the right fit with the campus and the community.”

It was unclear late Wednesday if President Warren Baker would remain in the job until a successor could be hired; he had planned to retire at the end of this academic year.

If Baker does retire, Reed said, an interim Cal Poly president could be named.

The board interviewed Sona Andrews, provost of Boise State University in Idaho, and Steven Angle, a provost and professor of chemistry at Wright State University in Ohio, on Wednesday.

The third finalist, Carlo Montemagno, University of Cincinnati’s engineering dean, had withdrawn from consideration after visiting the campus.

Reed said he recommended a new search.

Reed said he didn’t have a chance to speak with Baker after Wednesday’s board decision. Cal Poly officials said Wednesday afternoon that Baker was traveling and unavailable for comment about how much longer he’d stay on.

Candidates ‘didn’t fit’

Reed would not disclose exactly why a finalist wasn’t chosen but said that finding a match between a university and president is “like a marriage.”

The chancellor said “there was a feeling among the board that (the candidates) just didn’t fit the role of president for Cal Poly San Luis Obispo” and “we’re looking for somebody who can lead a polytechnic university.” Reed said the CSU is competing to attract candidates within national presidential compensation levels that are often “much higher than we are able to offer.”

The chancellor said presidents of public polytechnic universities elsewhere in the U.S. make between $500,000 and $1 million per year. Reed said CSU presidents have average salaries of less than $300,000 per year.

Baker, now in his 31st year as president, earns about $390,000 a year, according to the Sacramento Bee salary database. That amount includes his salary, as well as housing and car allowances.

Cal Poly’s new president must also be effective in a broad range of areas from fundraising to programs and budget decisions, Reed said.

“Hiring a CSU president is the most important decision that the board and I make,” he said. “We have to invest in it.”

The search

An 18-member group that included Reed and five CSU trustees, as well as representatives of Cal Poly’s faculty, administration, staff, students and alumni started its search in February with an initial list of 90 candidates, Reed said.

He acknowledged that a fourth prospective finalist withdrew from consideration before the three finalists visited Cal Poly. That person’s name wasn’t revealed based on a confidentiality protocol of the search committee.

The new search will consider candidates with education and other backgrounds, like the previous search, and will be conducted in the same way, Reed said.

The CSU hired the search firm Storbeck/Pimentel and Associates for an amount not to exceed $87,500 to conduct the search, CSU officials previously stated. A new headhunter firm likely will be hired, Reed said.

Unny Menon, an engineering professor and academic senator, said that to maintain the university’s high rank nationally, it’s better to get the right person than to settle for an available candidate.

“Our primary interest is to get somebody who can sustain what President Baker has brought us up to,” Menon said. “We’ve been fortunate to have high quality leadership from Baker for three decades. To get a successor as good is tough.”