California State University, Long Beach President Announces Plans to Retire

Robert C. Maxson, president of California State University, Long Beach, has announced his plans to retire from the university this year.

Maxson has served as president of Cal State Long Beach since June 1994, coming to the campus from the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, where he served as president for 10 years. At the request of CSU Chancellor Charles B. Reed, Maxson has agreed to stay on until a new president is named and in place. His retirement is expected to be effective before the end of 2005.

"My life at Cal State Long Beach has been the best! I've been able to get up everyday and come to this beautiful place and work with the finest people around - people I truly love," Maxson wrote in a message sent to the campus community. "I am not retiring completely and I do have professional plans for the future. But, no matter what Sylvia and I do, we will always be a part of The Beach! This has been, for us, an 11-year love affair."

During his 11-year tenure, Maxson has help the university grow both in enrollment and academic reputation. Today, the 33,500-student university is the second largest in the state of California and the largest among the CSU's 23 campuses. And, just this past August, U.S. News and World Report named Cal State Long Beach as one of the top three public master's granting universities in the west.

Adding to the campus' academic reputation was the creation of the President's Scholars Program, which Maxson established during his second year on campus. The program was the first of its kind in California as it focused on aggressively recruiting qualified valedictorians and National Merit Scholars from throughout the state. Today, approximately 800 California valedictorians and National Merit scholars have enrolled at CSULB since the inception of the program.

"President Maxson is a champion of students, faculty and staff, and it shows in the increasing prestige of Cal State Long Beach," said Murray Galinson, chair of the CSU Board of Trustees. "Bob will be remembered for the President's Scholars program and for bringing national attention to the campus. We have all learned to say 'Go Beach' whenever we see him."

A tremendously popular president, especially with students, Maxson has received numerous awards over the last 11 years, but perhaps none mean as much to him as the "President of the Year Award," given by the California State Student Association, the single recognized voice for about 400,000 students on CSU's 23 campuses. In the six-year existence of the award, Maxson has received the honor four times, including the last three years running.

"Bob Maxson has done an outstanding job as president of Cal State Long Beach," said Chancellor Reed. "He probably pays more attention to students than anyone else -- they are the first people he thinks about, and that is what has made the campus so successful. He certainly will be missed, but with all that he has brought to the campus, his legacy will be evident for years to come."

Media Contacts: Rick Gloady, (562) 985-5454, rgloady@csulb.edu
Shayne Schroeder, (562) 985-1727, schroede@csulb.edu