Castro named new CSU chancellor
Joseph Castro will be the first person of color to lead the 23-campus system
The California State University Board of Trustees selected Fresno State President Joseph I. Castro on Wednesday to lead the nation’s largest public university system. Castro will replace Chancellor Timothy White, who is expected to retire at the end of the year.
Castro, a grandson of Mexican immigrants, will become CSU’s first chancellor of color when he takes over the job on Jan. 4. He is also the first chancellor since the system was formed in the early 1960’s to be named from inside the CSU system and first time the board selected a president of one of its campuses to head the system.
He joins recently named UC President Michael Drake who is Black, and California Community Colleges Chancellor Eloy Oakley, who is Latino. For the first time in state history the leaders of all three public higher education systems are people of color.
Castro will lead a system where Latino students make up the largest ethnic group at 43% followed by 22% whites, 15% Asians and 4% Black.
“The California State University provides unprecedented and transformational opportunities for students from all backgrounds to earn a highquality college degree and to better their families, their communities and the industries in which they become leaders,” Castro said. “There is no other institution that makes this great of an impact on the entire state — the CSU is key to a growing and thriving California. I am truly grateful for and excited about this unique and wonderful opportunity.”
Castro has led Fresno State since 2013 and was recognized nationally for recruiting and graduating students from diverse backgrounds. Before joining the CSU system, he served in various administrative positions for 23 years in the University of California system and was a professor of family and community medicine at University of California San Francisco.
“Dr. Castro is a passionate and effective advocate for his students, his campus and the CSU,” Board Chair Lillian Kimbell said. “Above all, he is a leader that inspires greatness in students, faculty and in the broader community. He is the right leader for the California State University in our current circumstance and for our future.”
Castro will receive $625,000 plus a monthly housing allowance of $7,917 and a monthly auto allowance of $1,000. The system is based in Long Beach. At Fresno State, Castro earned a salary of about $345,000 a year, in 2018. White, who announced his retirement last year, is paid a salary of $477,771 a year. (Interestingly, in the CSU system, the top administrator is the chancellor with presidents heading the individual campuses while in the UC system the top administrator is named president.)
Castro is taking on the university system’s highest position amid the coronavirus pandemic, widespread job losses and historic wildfires that have significantly altered instruction, faculty and student lives this year. Earlier this month, his predecessor, White, announced that most classes would continue to be held online for the spring term that begins in January 2021. The system also faces at least a $300 million cut in state funding if Congress doesn’t approve additional stimulus relief before Oct. 1.
Like most colleges and universities across the country, the CSU campuses also face challenges with improving diversity and have been trying to create a more inclusive system as Black Lives Matter protests intensified over the summer. The new ethnic studies law signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in August gives the CSU only a year to expand Native American studies, African American studies, Asian American studies or Latina and Latino studies across the 23 campuses for freshmen entering Fall 2021.
Castro will officially lead the CSU system of more than 482,000 students and 53,000 faculty and staff on Jan.
In a statement issued shortly after Castro’s selection, Oakley praised his new colleague. “The California State University board of trustees could not have picked a more committed and student-centered leader. Joe Castro will be a champion for students, and I look forward to working with him.”