I’m both humbled and honored to have been chosen to lead this great university. I’ve been deeply touched by the kind words of encouragement and support I’ve received from so many of you. That was a wonderful affirmation for me on what a special place this is and how fortunate I am.
CSU has made tremendous progress over the last four years, and President Sands is to be commended for guiding those advances. Now it is up to all of us to work together to build upon that progress and continue our momentum.
I understand that change can be disconcerting. One thing I’ve learned over the last year is that this is a supportive and caring community. I ask you to continue supporting one another during this transition. Kindness and respect should be a hallmark for how all of us intreact with each other.
Leadership is more than one person. At its best, it’s a network of individuals across all levels of an organization working toward a common set of goals with a shared vision. The president is just one part of that vast network. When all the parts are working well and in concert with each other, the Office of the President should be amplifying, inspiring and enabling this vast team so that we all thrive as we realize our shared vision for CSU.
Our goals and aspirations remain unchanged. The vision that the community collectively laid out in
CSU 2.0 will continue to guide us.
We have a tremendous group of senior leaders in place with our cabinet and deans. Combine that with our outstanding faculty, staff and administrators, I’m confident that we have the team in place to support our continued success.
We are postponing the State of the University address scheduled for next week until the fall, and in the coming months I will share more about our strategy and plans for the future. But for the remainder of the semester, our focus will be on celebrating the successes of the past year.
Yesterday,
we recognized 143 employees with 2,713 combined years of service to our university. That included more than 30 faculty and staff members who have been with the university at least 25 years and some stalwarts with 40, 45 and even 50 years of service. That speaks volumes about our extraordinary community.
I’m looking forward to
Radiance – our signature philanthropy event on Wednesday, May 11. The generosity of our donors and cherished community partners is so critical to our mission of supporting scholarships and student success initiatives.
And most importantly, I’m excited to be a part of our spring
commencement ceremonies on Saturday, May 14 as we celebrate the accomplishments of more than 2,200 new CSU graduates.
Beyond these big celebrations, I think it’s important to recognize that we’ve had a great and safe academic year. I hope you will all join me in the coming weeks in taking some extra time to try and connect with each other, recognizing and celebrating the simple joy of being back together on campus.
I’m excited about our future together at CSU, and I can’t wait to get started.
Warm regards,
Laura Bloomberg, Ph.D.
President
