Paul Yu was named San Jose State University's 25th president Tuesday after convincing his prospective bosses that he can make the campus a flagship of the state university system.

Yu was in transit to New York and could not be reached for comment Tuesday. But in a written statement released after California State University trustees announced his appointment, he called San Jose State ``an institution with a great past and, in view of its enormous potential, an even greater future.''

Born in mainland China, Yu, 62, in July will become the first Asian-American and the first ethnic minority-group member to lead the 147-year-old university. He was selected after a yearlong search to succeed Robert Caret, who resigned for another presidency.

He leaves the presidency at the State University System of New York's College at Brockport, where he is credited with raising academic standards and leading a strategic planning effort that turned the campus around. His bosses were trying to get him to apply for the presidency of a larger campus, said CSU Chancellor Charles Reed, but Yu and his wife, Ellen, felt the pull of California, where one of their sons had decided to stay after graduating from law school at UCLA.

Reed, who called Yu a ``scholar president,'' said that when he talked to the chancellor of SUNY about Yu, ``He said, `Charlie, he's simply the best I have.' ''

Yu's background should help him open new doors for the university of 28,000 students and dovetails well with a highly diverse student body.

Ko Nishimura, former president and CEO of Solectron and a member of the local presidential advisory committee, said Yu became a finalist strictly on the strength of his record of success. ``I picked the people based on the needs of the business community,'' Nishimura said. ``But I think it's a real bonus to have someone with cultural diversity coming along with it. If you look at the diversity of student body at San Jose State, I think it does help to have someone who is bicultural at this point in time, who understands both East and West.''

Aware of budget woes

In his interview with trustees Monday, Yu talked about the importance of a strategic plan and how he wanted to help the university ``bring more pride to itself,'' Reed said. He talked about the importance of community and industry relationships and fundraising. ``He talked about athletics and how complicated the problem is and how there needed to be a collegial governance system in place that is very transparent.

``He talked about how the university as a whole needed to get better, so it would be greater than the sum of its parts,'' Reed said.

Yu will arrive at a campus that faces the worst budget cuts in decades, a controversy over the cost of the football program, and a need to set longer-term goals and find financing.

Yu has the chance to follow in the footsteps of the late University of California-Berkeley Chancellor Chang-Lin Tien, a highly visible and respected academic leader who in 1990 became the first Asian-American president of a major U.S. university.

``Chancellor Tien tapped a lot of South Bay donations, and I think there is a similar opportunity for Dr. Yu to go after some of the tech support we have in the valley,'' said San Jose City College President Chui Tsang.

``The bottom line is that he is well-qualified,'' said Belle Wei, dean of San Jose State's College of Engineering. ``People will respect him because he has a very strong track record, and they also can see his intellectual depth.''

Silicon Valley entrepreneur David Tsang said Yu will bring a global perspective that will help connect the campus to other cultures and parts of the world. Tsang was among those who criticized an initial search process for failing to include an Asian-American on the local election advisory committee. That search failed when trustees decided none of the three finalists was the right fit.

Academic family

Yu, a philosophy professor, grew up in a highly educated academic family that fled China when he was a boy. His father had been a university president and his mother was a chemistry professor when the family moved to Massachusetts so an older brother could attend Harvard.

Yu and the other finalist, Richard S. Jarvis, were well-received; some faculty joked that they were glad they didn't have to make the choice.

``Both candidates were head-and-shoulders above the last group,'' said Professor Emeritus Ted Norton.

Yu ``seems very grounded, very centered,'' said human performance Professor Bethany Shifflett. ``He will move purposefully through anything that needs doing. When a problem presents itself, I'm comfortable that we will do a thorough analysis.''

Students also gave Yu good marks, even though some disagreed with one of his comments during a campus visit that seemed to suggest a lack of support on his part for remedial education for students whose first language isn't English.

``Dr. Yu has a very inspirational story,'' said senior Huy Tran, who serves in the student government. ``The students were impressed with his professionalism and ability to communicate.'' Students made the case to Yu for remedial education.

Yu's salary will be set in May. Current CSU presidential salaries range from $188,000 to $253,000 a year.

At Brockport, Yu was making $170,000 a year from SUNY, and earned $30,000 a year from the Brockport College foundation.