Cal State campus president retiring

Horace Mitchell boosted enrollment and athletics status at Bakersfield.

Cal State Bakersfield President Horace Mitchell, who expanded enrollment and turned the Central Valley campus into a NCAA Division I athletics school, announced Thursday that he will retire at the end of the academic year.

“It has been my great honor and privilege to serve with you, our outstanding faculty, staff and administrators, in serving our students and community over the past 13 years,” Mitchell said during his annual University Day address to the campus community. “We have been dedicated to inspiring excellence among our students and transforming their lives.”

Mitchell, who in 2004 became Cal State Bakersfield’s fourth president, has led the campus through notable growth. Boosting the school’s athletic programs to NCAA Division I served as a jump-start to improve campus life and academic resources. Under Mitchell’s leadership, the university reached all-time highs in both enrollment and graduation rates, officials said.

“His dedication to students and community, coupled with his tireless efforts, have led the university to a higher level of academic success and community engagement,” said Cal State Chancellor Timothy P. White, who praised Mitchell’s focus on “life-changing opportunities for students from all backgrounds.”

A licensed psychologist and professor of psychology, Mitchell teaches courses on identity construction, multicultural psychology and psychological assessment.

Before Cal State Bakersfield, he spent decades as a professor and administrator in the University of California system. At UC Irvine, he taught psychiatry and human behavior, and served as vice chancellor of student affairs and campus life and as the medical school’s associate dean for student and curricular affairs. At UC Berkeley, he taught African American studies and served as vice chancellor of business and administrative services.

Mitchell started out at Washington University in St. Louis, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology, a master of arts in education and a doctorate in counseling psychology. He became assistant dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and chairman of the school’s black studies program. He has served on numerous boards, including the American Council on Education.

Mitchell will remain on the job through the academic year’s end in June. A search for a successor will begin in early fall, administrators said.