Fresno State produces presidents

By Tom Uribes
University Relations

Fresno State is earning a reputation as the college that produces presidents – especially Hispanic presidents.

The naming of former Kremen School Education professor Dr. David Lopez as president of the National Hispanic University in San Jose this summer put Fresno State in a unique spotlight – four of its recent academicians have been appointed to higher education presidencies this year.

Lopez, who left for his new job on Aug. 4, follows in the footsteps of former provosts J. Michael Ortiz and Alexander Gonzalez.

In April, Ortiz was chosen by the CSU Board of Trustees to lead Cal Poly Pomona for his first presidential assignment. At the same time, trustees named Gonzalez, who served at Fresno State from 1991 to 1997, to lead CSU, Sacramento. He had been president at CSU San Marcos since leaving Fresno State.

The fourth former Fresno State administrator named to a presidency this year is Dr. William Flores, who was appointed interim president of New Mexico State University by its Board of Regents effective Aug. 4.

Flores is a former chair of the Fresno State Chicano Latino Studies Program. He left Fresno State for CSU, Northridge where he later served as dean of the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences before being named provost at New Mexico State in 2001.

And that’s not all when it comes to Fresno State grooming future presidents.

Two other former provosts who also now head institutions straight from their Fresno State post are Dr. Tomas Arciniega, president of CSU, Bakersfield, and Dr. Judith Kuipers, who went on to become Chancellor at the University of Wisconsin-Lacrosse and now is president of The Fielding Graduate Institute in Santa Barbara.

Former university president Harold H. Haak also served as interim president of Fresno Pacific University after retiring from Fresno State in 1990.

President Welty is proud of Fresno State’s growing reputation for producing leaders of higher education institutions.

“It is an honor to have two Provosts with whom I have worked to become presidents in our system,” Welty said of Ortiz and Gonzalez. “They have both served our university very well.”