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Echeverria named Interim Provost

By Tom Uribes

Dr. Jeronima Echeverria has been named interim provost and vice president of academic affairs by President John D. Welty.

Echeverria, currently associate provost, will temporarily fill the post being vacated by Dr. J. Michael Ortiz, who was named president of Cal Poly Pomona last month by the CSU Board of Trustees.

Echeverria, who first joined the Fresno State faculty 15 years ago as a history professor, will officially assume the post July 1.

Welty said a committee will be formed to conduct a national search for a permanent provost, which he plans to launch in the fall.

"I am grateful to be a part of the academic excellence built at Fresno State by Dr. Welty and Dr. Ortiz in partnership with our dedicated faculty and university community," Echeverria said. "I look forward to the opportunities and challenges in continuing that academic excellence."

A native of California born to Basque immigrants, Echeverria, 56, grew up on a sheep ranch in Southern California.

She earned her bachelor's degree in History and Humanities and completed a secondary teaching credential at the University of California, Irvine.

She taught high school Social Studies in San Clemente for 12 years before entering the graduate program at the University of North Texas where she earned a doctorate in History specializing in Basque-related topics.

After graduation, she joined the Fresno State History Department faculty in 1989. She has served as the Single Subject Coordinator in the then-School of Social Science and as chair of the History Department.

She served as associate dean of the College of Social Sciences from 1995 to 2000 when Ortiz named her associate provost.

In 1993, Echeverria served on the university's Intercollegiate Athletics Strategic Planning committee that, among other things, helped assure that Fresno State's athletic program achieved gender equity.

An expert on Basque settlement in the American West, her publications include "Home Away from Home: A History of Basque Boarding Houses," "Portraits of Basques in the American West," and "Home Off the Range: Basque Hotels in America."

She also has published several articles on Basques and is frequently invited to speak on related topics.

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