News Editor

CSU Bakersfield’s four deans will not be returning to CSUB next fall.

Over the weekend, Dean of Arts and Humanities Richard Collins announced that he had accepted a position as Chief Academic Officer of the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts and that he would be leaving CSUB after serving as dean for six years.

This makes Collins the most recent dean to announce his departure from CSUB.

Since the winter quarter started, Dean of Social Science and Education Kathleen Knutzen and Dean of Business and Public Administration Garo Kalfayan announced that they would be retiring this academic year, and just last month Dean of Natural Sciences, Mathematics and Engineering Anne Houtman announced that she had accepted the role of Vice President of Academic Affairs at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Indiana.

Galfayan was on medical leave and decided to retire from his dean position.

As for what this means for the CSUB campus, Provost Jenny Zorn talked about the upcoming search for the new academic deans.

“It’s time to transition for sure…so we are going to be doing a search for each one of those (schools),” said Zorn.

CSUB is hoping to conclude the search for dean of Social Sciences and Education and dean of Business and Public Administration by the end of the upcoming fall semester said Zorn.

As for the dean of Arts and Humanities, dean of Natural Sciences, Mathematics and Engineering and dean of CSUB-AV, CSUB is expecting to conclude the search in time for the fall 2017 semester, Zorn continued.

Having to search for five new deans is a challenge, said Zorn.

“It’s also…an exciting time because you will get new and different ideas of how a dean operates, and new people in those positions will bring a resurgence, energy and excitement,” said Zorn. “I think change is always an exciting thing on campus, and that’s what we’re going to build on.”

Knutzen and Collins served as deans for six years, Houtman for three years, and Kalfayan for one year.

As to whether there were any specific reasons for the deans’ deciding to leave CSUB, Collins assures that there is no conspiracy or underlying reason for him leaving.

“It’s the year of the monkey. That’s what I blame it on,” said Collins. “The year of the monkey is all about big changes.”

Collins decided to return to New Orleans a place that “feels like home” to him. There, he will also be the head priest at the New Orleans Zen Temple.

As for Houtman’s reason for her departure from CSUB, she mentioned her interest in becoming a chief academic officer.

“Usually you have to throw your hat in the ring a couple of years and then after a couple of years of interviewing, then you’ll have an opportunity, but this year it happened very, very fast,” said Houtman. “In my first set of interviews, I was offered the opportunity to do this…and it’s just too exciting of an opportunity to pass up.”

If there is one thing that the deans seem to agree on is their wonderful experience working for CSUB.

Knutzen is sad to be retiring after working for 40 years in higher education.

“It was a wonderful experience. I didn’t know what it was going to be like when I came down,” said Knutzen. “The CSU system is an amazing higher education organization, and I feel like when you come down and work for the CSU you really join this big family.”

Houtman’s experience at CSUB was “heaven” and will always be proud to be part of the CSU system.

“I’m very proud to be part of the CSU. We are the largest and most diverse university system in the world and it’s just an honor to be a part of that.”

As for the future search for CSUB deans, Zorn remains optimistic.

“It’s a very dynamic year, a lot of excitement,” said Zorn. “It’s also a great time for us to sort of sit back and reflect as to what we want in this school and what direction do we want to take it in the future.”