CSUSI’s new provost helped foster diversity at San Diego State





Chase

Chase

Geoffrey Chase, the newly appointed provost of California State University Channel Islands, has worked in three states and both halves of California during his 36 years in education.

With three adult children living here in SoCal, cherished Chase family get-togethers will become a lot easier once he and his wife leave Northern California behind and settle in Ventura County. Chase, the fifth provost in the university’s 15-year history, starts his new job at the Camarillo campus in July.

“We’ve been very fortunate to have lived up here, with access to San Francisco and the Bay Area. But we’re also very fortunate to have the opportunity of exploring a different part of the state,” said Chase, whose selection was announced March 29.

Ventura County is new territory for the 67-year-old, who started his career as a professor at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Chase spent most of his career at San Diego State University before coming to the Bay Area in 2016 to serve as vice president of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges Senior College and University Commission. The agency certifies private and public colleges and universities.

In 2002, as dean of undergraduate studies at San Diego State, he was assigned to a team of faculty members and administrators tasked with increasing the school’s graduation rates, which ros e from 53 percent in 1999 to 68 percent today.

“That’s a really huge jump for a university,” Chase said.

During his time in San Diego he also made headway regarding campus diversity. Today, about 66 percent of the university’s 28,000 students are students of color; around 30 percent are Hispanic.

“We were also able to close the achievement gap between majority students and underrepresented students,” said Chase, who earned his doctorate degree in 20th century American and British literature from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Selected from a field of more than 100 candidates during a nationwide search, Chase’s history of success is one of the reasons he was chosen, CSUCI President Erika Beck said in a prepared statement.

“We are delighted to welcome Dr. Chase to CSUCI,” Beck said. “He has an impressive track record of increasing graduation rates, supporting faculty development initiatives and enhancing the quality of academic programs.”

Although he has no specific plans he wants to immediately put into action once he arrives in Camarillo, Chase said he’ll be working to help the college improve its graduation rate, which stands at 56 percent.

“My first priority will be to learn more about the programs at CI, and the culture of the campus,” he said.

Although CSUCI officials did not release Chase’s salary, the last provost, Gayle Hutchinson, earned $268,440 in salary and benefits in 2015, according to Transparent California. Hutchinson left in March 2016 to become president of Cal State Chico.

As CSUCI’s new provost, Chase will work across all areas of the institution while serving as the university’s chief academic officer responsible for developing and implementing the president’s priorities and allocating the resources to support those priorities.

“Chase is experienced in building partnerships across university divisions, working collaboratively with diverse faculty and staff, and building community support,” CSUCI spokesperson Kim Gregory said in the release.

Chase said his philosophy when working with others is “listen first.”

“I think it’s critical to listen to everybody, to those who don’t agree with you,” he said. “They may have important perspectives. They may have important information. So it’s important to listen to everyone, to share ideas, then work on some agreed upon action and move forward.”


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