The California State University Board of Trustees announced their replacement for Donald Gerth today.

President Alexander Gonzalez of CSU San Marcos was named to replace president Gerth, who will be retiring at the end of the semester.

Since the beginning of his six-year run as president of CSU San Marcos, Gonzalez prides 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.”

Gonzalez said one of his 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,” said Gonzalez.

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 an issue Gonzalez will have to face head on.

“I’m used to competition,” Gonzalez said. “A positive aspect of Sac State is the mission of the CSU is different from UC Davis. If it weren’t for the CSU, hundreds of thousands of people wouldn’t be able to attend college. We are not UC Davis — we have our own name, and that is enough in itself.”

Gonzalez also faces uncertainty from critics having come from CSU San Marcos, which has a student body of around 7,600 students. His prior experience to his presidency at CSU San Marcos consisted of provost and vice president of Academic Affairs at CSU Fresno.

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

Gonzalez said 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. We have to explore all of our options and do some movement within the system to make it work. It’s something we will be discussing,” Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez said he wants to see students more involved with faculty and to 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 also wants to make the campus more aesthetically pleasing. With mixed architecture being a characteristic many college campus’ face, he intends to spruce up the campus appearance.

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 under his belt with the CSU system.He has been married to his wife for 34 years and has two sons, 25 and 22.