New provost set to make her mark
Dr. Karyn Scissum Gunn said she hopes to share her experiences with the next generation of students
For as long as Karyn Scissum Gunn can remember, higher education always has been a constant in her life.
She was raised on the campus of Tuskegee University in Alabama, where her father served as the head football coach. Her mother, a teacher, always pressed her and her sister to think critically — and her father did the same on the field.
“My dad was the bedrock of our family,” she said. “An all-out hero in life, he strategically used the platform of sports to teach a lesson that translated to and from the field of play to life lessons. He invested into the lives of these young men life lessons to make individuals find the wholeness in themselves.”
That upbringing would shape Scissum Gunn’s life going forward.
“It was never a matter of whether my sister and I would go to college,” she said. “We went to Tuskegee, grew up immersed in the culture, exposed to higher education.
“Higher education impacts the trajectory of peoples lives,” she added. “My drive, the call to serve in higher education, is because of these exposures.”
And now Scissum Gunn hopes to share that exposure with the next generation of students. She assumed her new role last month as California State University, Long Beach’s next provost and senior vice president for academic affairs, succeeding Brian Jersky, who held the title since 2016.
As provost and senior vice president for academic affairs, Scissum Gunn oversees nearly 4,000 faculty and staff
members in the Division of Academic Affairs, the university’s largest unit, as well as eight academic colleges, including the College of Professional and International Education and the university library.
Scissum Gunn began her career at Alabama State University in Montgomery, where she served for more than 20 years, from teaching to leading the campus as dean and associate provost.
During her time there, she garnered about $55 million in funding to support scientific research, faculty training, capital funding for development of a new science facility and the school’s first Ph.D. program in microbiology and forensic science.
It wasn’t until 2017 that Scissum Gunn made the jump to California, where she accepted the role of associate vice president for academic operations at Cal State Fullerton.
“It was there I learned to appreciate the entirety, intention of the CSU system,” she said. “At any given time, we are educating across these campuses over 400,000 students.”
It’s “such an audacious undertaking,” she added, “to say we’re going to fuel and power the workforce in California.”
But what really sparked her attention with the CSU system was its Graduation Initiative 2025, a program to increase graduation rates for all CSU schools.
“It was very intriguing to me,” she said. “These campuses have been given the opportunity to focus on completion rates, find the resources to focus on strategies for graduation rates and to close equity gaps.
“When playing fields are leveled for all who are capable to choose this path,” she added, “the barriers are removed.”
Her goals for her new position will be to focus on ensuring an equitable, inclusive environment in which “we can engage in looking at our enrollment, attract qualified students to consider enrollment in ways not done before and focus on a diverse faculty who are able to experience equitable and inclusive roles in their faculty communities.”
When interviewed for the position, Scissum Gunn said that people from outside the campus were included in the meeting — and that commitment to including people who make up not just the system but the community as well solidified her choice with CSULB.
“I want to help be a good steward of the ways we utilize and apply financial resources,” she said. “How do we reimagine the ways we can provide, day in and day out, to do a good thing? How do we honor that commitment?”
For Scissum Gunn, that means expanding the talent students are exposed to and creating a place for thought — and supporting the spaces that make that possible. Those spaces, she said, fundamentally will make students and faculty better.
“Long Beach is a force,” she said. “And I’m really excited to work with Mayor (Robert) Garcia, Long Beach City College, LBUSD and even our campus partners in CSUDH and various other LBC entities.”
“We have the port, SpaceX, various other industries,” she added. “These pillars of the workforce in our community can function together in a symbiotic relationship. We play a role in providing the well prepared workforce that can meet the needs.”
Scissum Gunn will make her formal introduction to students Friday at the Carpenter Performing Arts Center for the school’s 2021 convocation.
“It is not only the sterling reputation in the CSU and state that brought me here,” she said. “The Beach is the shining north star for me.”
“It is,” she added, “the crown jewel of my career.”