On a cool Bakersfield morning, sunlight spills across the conference table where Dr. Shaylyn Marks settles in with her notes and the determination of someone who thrives on big challenges.
As co-chair of California State University, Bakersfield’s new five-year strategic plan, she is helping lead one of the most important projects the campus has taken on, but for Dr. Marks, it isn’t just about planning the initiative, it’s a chance to reimagine what community, connection, and student success can look like.
“I hope people see my passion for bringing people together, getting people involved, and my insistence that we be responsive to the needs of others and following the data, so that we can have a data-informed strategic plan,” Dr Marks said.
CSUB is currently in Phase 1 of a strategic plan process. A stage rooted in listening and gathering information, which is useful for building the foundation of decisions yet to come.
Dr. Marks is quick to emphasize that this is a team effort, one guided by the strategic plan steering committees and working groups in CSUB. At the same time, her role is central: helping weave together data, stories, and aspirations into a vision that feels both responsive and deeply personal to the campus community.
Supporting her work is Dr. Kristen Watson, who also serves as co-chair. Dr. Watson focuses on external stakeholders and community constituents, ensuring the broader community has a voice in the planning process. She recalls being impressed when she first met Dr. Marks in 2024, observing her ability to analyze data while advocating for students, particularly those in Kern County who weren’t completing their A–G requirements.
Dr. Marks was inspired to be Co-Chair of the strategic plan because what drew her in was the challenge itself. She’s the kind of person who naturally looks at the bigger picture and notices where things can improve, where people can thrive, and where the campus can do better.
Phase 1 involves analyzing overall trends, collaborating across departments, and using a structured way to collect and analyze feedback from students, faculty, community and staff feedback to identify strengths, needs, and opportunities. But for Dr. Marks, the most important task happening right now is simply giving the community a voice. A campuswide, open-ended survey invites students, staff, faculty, administrators, and even community members to share their experiences and hopes for the future of education at CSUB.
“Our driving force is the voices and perspectives of what we’re hearing,” Dr. Marks said. “We are moving based on what the data is telling us, which is why it’s so important to have as many people fill out the surveys.”
Behind her analytical approach lies a deep motivation. Dr. Marks loves bringing people together. It’s something she says has always brought her joy.
“Dr. Marks is a very intelligent, highly compassionate advocate for students and student success,” Dr. Watson said. She adds that Marks’ warmth and thoughtfulness extend beyond the professional sphere, describing how Marks once went out of her way to help Dr. Watson understand a facilities-related project, even connecting her to her husband for guidance.
Dr. Marks’ perspective is shaped by more than 20 years in education, studying how policy, structures, and culture shape the way people learn and grow.
“Having that background and really intently studying education as a field of study lends itself well to looking at CSUB’s campus structure, policies, practices, and patterns of behavior,” said Dr. Marks.
In one word, she described the process of creating the five year plan as “responsiveness,” not just as an ideal, but as a responsibility.
“The spirit of this work, or what I want to bring to this, is coming from a space of listening to those we impact and then moving toward being responsive to those needs,” Dr. Marks said.
In five years, she imagines a campus alive with connection, which includes students smiling as they interact with faculty and staff, community members walking through spaces that feel welcoming to them, and a sense of belonging that continues to expand. She hopes to see a stronger presence of partnership, where campus and community become intertwined in meaningful ways.
As the strategic plan continues to be in progress, Dr. Marks and the planning team are developing secondary strategies to ensure they continue gathering diverse perspectives. She knows the final plan must feel like a collective creation.
“I hope that when we have our finalized plan, our students and faculty and staff members see themselves in it. That they see their voice in some area of this strategic plan and feel inspired to move forward together,” she said.
And as much as Dr. Marks is involved in this process, she hopes people see the process, not just the person behind it.
For her, this work may become a milestone in her career not because of its scale, but because of its impact. If the plan succeeds, she hopes it will mean she helped create something lasting: a stronger CSUB community, built by and for the people who want to make it a better place.
