The California State University Board of Trustees announced their replacement for Donald Gerth last Thursday. President Alexander Gonzalez of CSU San Marcos was named to replace President Gerth, who will be retiring at the end of the semester.

The announcement precedes a state auditor’s report released last week revealing the CSU sank hundreds of millions of dollars into a failing system-wide computer project.

According to a recent article in the San Diego Tribune, Gonzalez was considered the inside candidate for the job. A favorite of CSU Chancellor Reed, Gonzalez was recruited after apparently having no interest in the position.

Gonzalez’s compensation package has yet to be announced, according to CSU spokeswoman Colleen Bentley Adler. The Trustees are set to establish Gonzalez’s salary and benefits at their May meeting.

Expansion and further development of sports programs on campus will be an area Gonzalez will likely face when arriving for duty.

Talk of a new arena on campus also raises questions of funding.

“The students are going to have to support any project like a new arena. We went to our students at San Marcos and put a referendum on the ballot to raise money to help build a field house. The students voted for it, even though many of them would be long gone by the time construction was finished. That, along with private gifts, got the project off the ground.”

Gonzalez believes donations received at San Marcos were a direct result of seeking-out funds from the community. San Marcos received a $1.2 million gift, which started the state-of-the-art field house.

“These days, to be an effective president, you have to be a fund-raiser. The jobs go hand-in-hand,” Gonzalez said.

Since the beginning of his six-year run as president of CSU San Marcos, Gonzalez has prided himself and his staff on how they outlined programs and planned for expansion — they developed their own “academic blueprint,” Gonzalez said.

“I think Sac State has a solid reputation,” Gonzalez said. “But I’d like to see its reputation take on an even greater significance.” One of Gonzalez’s top priorities is to interact with students, faculty, and administrators. He wants the people of Sac State to know he can be trusted.

“It is my job to step up to the plate,” Gonzalez said. “I would like to listen to the input of the people of CSUS.”

Gonzalez wants to have direct involvement with students. In October 2002, he partook in a campus homecoming event at San Marcos called Cal State Squares, a take on the “Hollywood Squares” game show. He served as center square, and students received money for books as prizes.

“The greatest strength of Sac State is the fact that it has a group of faculty and staff who want to see it grow. It always boils down to people,” Gonzalez said.

Competition between UC Davis and Sac State in acquiring students, faculty and donations will also be a matter Gonzalez intends to tackle.

“We need to get over that. I’m not intimidated by competition at all. We’re not the UC. We have a different mission. The UC’s mission is to do graduate education and perform research. The CSU is charged with teaching the people who make the state economy go, like teachers, nurses, social workers and even journalists. They’re different missions altogether. The CSU doesn’t have to apologize for that. Besides, I know UC Davis Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef. We’re friends,” Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez also faces uncertainty from critics having come from CSU San Marcos, which has a student body of around 7,600 students.

“If you take a look at CSU Fresno, you will see that it is one of the larger CSUs. I was there for 18 years — that speaks for itself,” Gonzalez said.

According to Gonzalez, it is too soon to tell what the future will hold for Gerth’s present administration and their positions. Gonzalez said he would like to see the image of Sac State as a direct reflection of being in the state’s capital.

“The fact that the campus is located in the state’s capital is very significant. I want people to think of the capitol when they think of Sac State,” Gonzalez said.

At San Marcos, Gonzalez implemented a policy which made full-time faculty teach no more than nine units.

“There is definitely a lot we will have to work out in order to change to nine units for full-time faculty,” Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez said he wants to see students more involved with faculty and make the campus an even more inviting environment. He also has plans for student retention.

“We need to get students directly involved with faculty. Getting students involved in student government and various campus-wide activities is a very important part of that. I would also like to make outreach more of a function of Sac State,” Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez’s experience includes having provided 18 years of service at Fresno State as a professor of psychology, provost and vice president. He has been president at CSU San Marcos since 1998 and has a total of nearly 24 years with the CSU system. He has been married to his wife Gloria for 34 years and has two sons, ages 25 and 22.

– Jon Ortiz contributed to this article.

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