Dr. Timothy P. White
Chancellor
The California State University
The Chancellor of the California State University is the chief executive officer of the country’s largest senior system of public higher education. He provides leadership to 44,000 faculty and staff and 427,000 students on 23 campuses and seven off-campus centers. The CSU, which spans the entire state of California, has an annual budget of more than $5 billion.
The California State University currently offers approximately 1,233 bachelor’s degree programs, 783 master’s programs, and 29 joint doctoral programs in 319 areas. CSU prepares the majority of the state’s new public school teachers and 10 percent of the nation's K-12 instructors. Each year, nearly as many people graduate with bachelor’s degrees from the CSU as from all other universities and colleges in the state combined.
Timothy P. White, the seventh chancellor of the California State University system, formerly served as the chancellor of UC Riverside and saw the campus grow to more than 21,000 students for the first time in its history. He was also Professor of Biology and of Biomedical Sciences. Soon after his appointment at UCR, he formed a committee of several hundred faculty, staff and community members to forge an innovative strategic plan, UCR 2020. This plan guided UCR’s next stage of development as a major player among first-rate research institutions. He also implemented the foundation of a UCR School of Medicine by hiring the school’s first dean and obtaining start-up resources.
White came to UC Riverside in 2008 after serving as the University of Idaho's president from 2004-2008. Through his leadership, the University of Idaho established a vision and strategic direction to further the University's role as the state's land-grant and flagship research university.
White served Oregon State University from 1996-2004 as a dean, the provost and executive vice president, and with an interim appointment as president. He previously held positions as professor and chair of the Department of Human Biodynamics at the University of California, Berkeley (1991-96), and as professor and chair of the Department of Movement Science and research scientist in the Institute of Gerontology at the University of Michigan.
White is a product of California’s Master Plan, having pursued his higher education from Diablo Valley Community College, Fresno State, California State University East Bay (nee Hayward), and his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. He spent two years as a post-doctoral scholar in physiology at the University of Michigan before starting his academic career at Ann Arbor in 1978. He is internationally recognized for his research in muscle plasticity, injury and aging.
White was born in Argentina. He and his parents immigrated to Canada and then to California when he was young. White is a first-generation college graduate. He is married to Karen White and has four sons.
