Says student success is proudest accomplishment

During President Dianne Harrison’s final days at California State University, Monterey Bay, she is packing boxes, reviewing tenure and promotion files, doing a final round of media interviews, and attending the usual meetings and conferences that fill a president’s calendar. Some of those events, however, have taken on a different tone as her time on campus winds down. For example, at a farewell reception held by the College of Professional Studies, she said, “I was teary-eyed. I was so touched by their gratitude and their comments.” Harrison will take over the presidency of California State University Northridge on June 11. CSUN has an enrollment of nearly 36,000 students and employs more than 4,000 faculty and staff. It is located on a 356-acre campus in the San Fernando Valley. She said the presidency of CSUN represents an excellent professional opportunity, leading a larger campus with a greater range of programs. Still, she makes the move with mixed emotions. “I’m certainly not going for the freeways,” she said. “I will miss the lovely neighborhood of Monterey County and the good colleagues on our campus who work so hard for the students.” In looking back over her six-year tenure at CSU Monterey Bay, she said she is proudest of that renewed emphasis on student success. “Building a campus culture where students are front and center has been a huge point of progress,” Harrison said. She said that more transparent graduation requirements and improvements in advising and student services have been critical in that effort. Statistics point to a number of areas of progress during Harrison’s administration. CSUMB enrollment has increased from 3,818 in the fall 2006 to 5,173 in fall 2011. Measures of retention have improved and the university has increased its academic offerings from 15 undergraduate and six graduate majors in 2006 to 22 undergraduate majors and eight graduate majors today. Grant and contract revenue has risen from $8.3 million in 2006 to $14.06 million in 2011. During Harrison’s presidency, CSUMB adopted a new 10-year strategic plan; was designated as a Hispanic-Serving Institution; had its accreditation reaffirmed through 2019; and received the largest grant in its history, $32 million to study climate change. Harrison has also earned a reputation as a strong supporter of Otter athletic programs. During her tenure, the university was approved for full NCAA Division II membership, improved a number of its athletic facilities and won its first Division II national championship, in men’s golf, in 2011. Even with that progress on a number of fronts, Harrison said the campus could have moved ahead more quickly if it had not faced such a difficult economic environment. State support for the CSU has been cut by almost $1 billion or 35 percent over the past 18 months. Student tuition fee increases cover only half of these cuts. She said those cuts post “a different kind of challenge for a newer campus. You don’t want to lose your momentum. “The new leader will have to maintain the focus on improving retention and graduation rates. They will have to focus on financial aid for students. And, in this environment, that means looking for additional resources,” Harrison said. “A huge part of my responsibility (as president) is to be sure we have additional resources and fundraising is a huge part of that.” She said the new president will have to be very visible, as he or she tries to build even closer ties with the surrounding communities. “You just have to keep at it. That’s always a work in progress; that can never stop,” she said. “It is a matter of reminding this region that we are their asset and we need their support.” When asked about disappointments during her presidency, she focused on the shortage of resources that has pushed back construction of a new School of Business and Information Technology building and has delayed the removal of many former military buildings that remain on campus. She doesn’t see any simple answer to the problems that have resulted from state funding cutbacks for the CSU. However, she knows that, in her new job at CSUN, and for her successor at CSUMB, the search for innovative solutions will continue. “Trying to do business in the same old way is not going to be successful, because it is not a time for business as usual,” she said.