A retired Florida educator will run California State University San Marcos next year, until a new president is hired.

Cal State trustees appointed Roy McTarnaghan to oversee the 7,700-student North County campus, replacing President Alex Gonzalez, who was promoted in March to run Cal State Sacramento.

McTarnaghan, 69, is president emeritus of Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers. He ran it from its founding, a decade ago, until 1999.

The appointment was announced yesterday during a two-day meeting of California State University trustees and will take effect July 1.

The interim president will be paid $208,000 for the one-year appointment – nearly $5,000 more than Gonzalez was paid.

Trustees, however, voted unanimously to raise Gonzalez's salary to $220,000 per year, plus a $36,000 housing allowance.

Cal State Sacramento has a $203 million budget, more than three times that of San Marcos. Its student body is four times as large at nearly 30,000.

McTarnaghan, who did not attend yesterday's meeting, was one of three administrators appointed as an interim president. The others are retired University of Nevada President Joseph Crowley, as the temporary president of San Jose State, and Chico State's new interim president, Scott McNall, who is provost and vice president for academic affairs at the Northern California university.

"I feel very, very lucky that we are able to attract such people to the California system," said Charles Reed, chancellor of the 23-campus state university system, which includes San Marcos and Sacramento.

The three, appointed for one year, will not be eligible to apply for their jobs permanently. Full-time presidents are being recruited in a national search.

Although the CSU system routinely appoints interim administrators, Gonzalez was an administrator who, as Reed said, "broke the mold." Gonzalez was appointed as interim president at CSU San Marcos, and Reed was so impressed with his guidance that he broke tradition and appointed Gonzalez permanent president.

Reed recruited Gonzalez for the Sacramento job, which Gonzalez had not applied for, and he was selected over two other finalists.

His replacement in San Marcos will inherit a campus that has doubled in size in six years, both in the number of buildings and students.

Its first real library, a five-story structure that will feature a cafe and public performance space, will open this summer, as will its first dormitories, both of which are expected to transform the all-commuter campus.

McTarnaghan has served as executive vice chancellor and vice chancellor of the state university system of Florida. He was interim president at the University of North Florida. He holds a Ph.D in speech communications from Michigan State University and a master's degree from Ohio State.