Dive Temporary:
- Sonoma State College may have a new president in January as the general public establishment weathers continued enrollment declines and tries to drag off a monetary turnaround after asserting large finances cuts this yr.
- The California State College system’s governing board on Wednesday named Michael Spagna as the brand new everlasting chief of Sonoma State. Spagna presently serves as interim president of California State Polytechnic College, Humboldt.
- When he takes workplace on Jan. 20, Spagna should grapple with the establishment’s monetary challenges and continued enrollment declines — with its fall headcount down over 13% from final yr.
Dive Perception:
Sonoma State has been and not using a everlasting chief since former President Mike Lee resigned final spring after Cal State officers stated he cast an settlement with pro-Palestinian protesters with out correct approvals and put him on depart.
In Spagna, Sonoma State will get a veteran chief of the Cal State system, with years of expertise as a provost at CSU Dominguez Hills and as a dean at CSU Northridge, amongst different positions.
“Sonoma State’s success is critically essential to the CSU, and the committee was assured that Dr. Spagna possesses the experiences and qualities to guide the college at this consequential second in its historical past,” Mark Ghilarducci, a Cal State trustee and chair of the presidential search committee, stated in an announcement Wednesday.
The enrollment declines of latest years have taken their toll on the establishment. Early this yr, Sonoma State’s present interim chief, Emily Cutrer, described “sobering information” as she confronted the depth of the college’s finances gap, with what was then a larger-than-expected deficit of almost $24 million.
In January, Cutrer introduced broad-based cuts to employees jobs and college contracts, and additional deliberate to axe round two dozen tutorial packages and Sonoma State’s NCAA Division II athletic division.
The cuts drew offended protests on campus, a rebuke from the college’s tutorial senate and a lawsuit over the elimination of sports activities.
A turnaround plan the college launched within the spring referred to as for enhancing enrollment, shaving prices, and creating new packages and profession pathways for college students. Particularly, Sonoma State is trying to improve enrollment 20% in 5 to seven years, to the equal of 6,800 full-time college students.
In June, the state gave a one-time infusion of $45 million to the college to stabilize its funds, launch new packages in high-demand areas similar to information science, and undo among the cuts to jobs and packages. A portion of the funds may even help the continuation of NCAA athletics over three years.
For now, enrollment continues to be falling at Sonoma State. The college’s fall headcount fell to five,000 college students, down 13.2% from final yr and down 30.2% from 2021, in line with an October presentation from the college. However within the presentation officers additionally pointed to “silver linings” within the college’s focused enrollment efforts.
Vivid spots included elevated enrollment from neighborhood school college students and from smaller highschool districts the college centered on. The college additionally noticed the best utility ranges in 5 years from bigger cities, together with Oakland and Sacramento.
The college’s whole fall head rely additionally beat its budgeted headcount by 125 college students.
