Former Sacramento State Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Joe Sheley is in the process of becoming the permanent president of CSU Stanislaus.

The California State University Board of Trustees and Chancellor Timothy White held an open forum with students, faculty and staff on Monday to discuss Sheley’s tenure as interim president, which began June 2011 and included promoting academic success and community involvement.

“I have seen firsthand how (Sheley) brings every bit of his experience and background to his daily work,” said Sac State President Alexander Gonzalez. “He works tirelessly to preserve students’ access to both quality teaching and the entire college experience. At Sacramento State, he always wanted students to have the same lifelong relationship with the campus that he enjoys.”

CSU Director of Media Relations and New Media Mike Uhlenkamp said the CSU planned to evaluate Sheley after a year, and it was a possibility he would be appointed permanently because of his performance. 

“(White is) meeting with the campus constituents again to gauge what they feel are some of the things he’s accomplished in his time there, and then he’ll take that to consideration to the Board of Trustees,” Uhlenkamp said.

While Monday marked the first formal meeting between the campus and the CSU, Uhlenkamp said White has visited the campus informally several times to gauge whether Sheley wanted the position and his success.

“You don’t want to make a decision as important as this without getting the feedback of the stakeholders,” Uhlenkamp said. “With a campus like Stanislaus, it’s a fairly small community. You want to talk to students. You want to talk to faculty. You also want to talk to community leaders in the area.”

Because the process is ongoing, a CSU Stanislaus public affairs representative was unable to provide comment.

Sheley, 65, is a Sac State alumnus who has held several administrative positions throughout his career.

He earned his master’s in sociology at the university in 1971, and completed his doctorate at the University of Massachusetts in 1975.

After spending 21 years as a faculty member and sociology department chair at Tulane University in Louisiana, Sheley returned to Sac State in 1996 and held several positions, including executive vice president, director of alumni relations and dean of the College of Social Sciences and Interdisciplinary Studies.

“Joe provided steadfast leadership of Academic Affairs during his time as Sacramento State’s Provost and is providing the same level of leadership and enthusiasm for CSU Stanislaus,” Gonzalez said.