By Graham C Wheat
Features Editor

The recent resignation of the vice president for University Advancement has led to a temporary in-house hiring for the position. David Melendez abruptly resigned for personal reasons on Feb. 12.
Now, former director of development for the last three years within University Advancement, Victor Martin, has stepped into the position of interim vice president of University Advancement.
Martin was hand selected by President Horace Mitchell for what is being called a “transitional period” for the position.
Martin could not comment on Melendez’s resignation, saying, “I understand it was motivated by personal reasons, and those I couldn’t comment on and don’t know much about, quite honestly.”
“This transition happened a few weeks ago,” said Martin, referring to Melendez’s resignation and the timeframe for his appointment. “Dr. Mitchell reached out to me and said that we are going through a transition, and invited me to serve as interim vice president for University Advancement and interim executive director for the CSUB Foundation.”
Martin was relieved to have the backing from President Mitchell, and to operate as a full director instead of a limited oversight position.
Martin said that President Mitchell told him to “act as you would” if in the full capacity.
“That was one of my first questions to Dr. Mitchell was what were his expectations,” said Martin. “Would I serve as interim with some limited responsibilities waiting for us to fill the position, or would I be acting as director?”
Martin is making the best of the position and the opportunity in the short time he has been interim vice president.
While only about four weeks into the position, he is trying to gain ground.
“I am constantly evaluating every part of our operation on a greater depth than I would have access to earlier. I have a very clear vision of where I want to take the department within the next 10 months,” said Martin.
He has plans to keep consistency in the office of University Advancement after some of the recent shake-ups.
“I am going to spend a lot of time assessing where people are positioned, what their strengths are and try and organize the staff and our resources in such a way that it compliments our existing abilities and enhances opportunities for us.”
He is looking to fill some positions within University Advancement at some point in the future too.
Not including his old position that is now vacant, Martin noted a pending offer for a director of alumni engagement.
“I think it’s very important that we stay engaged with our alums. We have over 45,000 of them, it’s just a logical choice, they should be connected back with us,” said Martin.
As for the future of the permanent position, Martin is not letting that cloud a vision he has for the current time he is spending as interim. He said he would welcome the opportunity if it arose, but is concerned with having a smooth transitional period.
“I really am focused on the transition. On having us operate smoothly and more efficiently and headed in the right direction. I really want to operate exactly as I would in the position without any thought about the permanent role.”