The national Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society has awarded a Cal State L.A. chapter Active-for-Life Membership to David S. Spence, Executive Vice Chancellor and Chief Academic Officer of the California State University (CSU). Dr. Spence will receive the honor at the Cal State L.A. chapter's annual installation ceremony and banquet on May 6, 2001, where he will be the featured speaker.

According to Beverly Krilowicz, professor of biology and university assessment coordinator at Cal State L.A., "Dr. Spence is a high profile leader in higher education with an impressive record of service and accomplishment. We believe that he exemplifies the motto of the Society, 'Let the love of learning rule humanity.'"

The CSU, a complex and diverse system of 23 public universities, serves 370,000 students and employs 20,000 faculty members. The system is a leader in innovations in teacher preparation, distance education, use of technology to deliver quality educational programs, and in meeting the State's needs for a well-educated workforce. Vice Chancellor Spence serves as the principal policy and executive management advisor to the Chancellor, the chief executive officer of the CSU.

Prior to joining the CSU System, Dr. Spence served in several high profile administrative positions. From 1994-1998, he served as Executive Vice Chancellor and Vice Chancellor for Academic Programs for the State University System of Florida, a system of 10 public universities that enroll 210,000 students and employ over 31,000 faculty and staff. While at the State University System of Florida, Dr. Spence, responding to criticism of the tenure process, coordinated the revision of the tenure policy to give greater weight to teaching and teaching-related scholarship and operated a productivity program to increase faculty teaching productivity.

From 1987-1994, Dr. Spence served as Executive Vice Chancellor of the University of Georgia System, the third largest multi-campus public higher education system in the nation. While in this position, Dr. Spence oversaw the development of the Plan for the 1990s, a strategic planning document for the system. Finally, from 1984-1987, Dr. Spence served as the vice president and director, Office of Educational Policies for the Southern Regional Education Board, and from 1980-1984, as the executive director of the Florida Postsecondary Education Planning Commission.

Dr. Spence has an equally impressive academic pedigree. He took his B.A. in History at the University of Rochester, New York and his M.S. in Education from the State University of New York at Albany. Dr. Spence obtained his Ph.D. in Higher Education at the State University of New York working under Dr. Robert Berdahl, one of the nation's leading experts in statewide governance, coordination and planning of public higher education systems.