Transcript

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Cal State San Bernardino is an anchor institution. How is Cal State Sen Benita supporting small businesses and entrepreneurs?
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One of the first systems in the United States to provide access
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to AI to every single faculty, staff and student. Free of charge.
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What advice do you have for the future generation? Sometimes you got to go out to go off. Do degrees still matter?
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Hello everyone! It is an honor to welcome Doctor Thomas Morales, president of California State University, San Bernardino.
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President Morales, welcome to the program. Thank you so much for the opportunity. Besides your incredible résumé, you were named
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as one of the most influential Latino leaders in the US. I'm curious to know, what was your journey like to become
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a president of an institution of that size? Well. Thank you. Well, my journey,
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dates back to my, K-12, experience.
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I'm a product of the New York City public school system, product of the higher education public system in New York.
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My, did my undergraduate degree at the State University of New York in New Paltz and my master's and PhD at the State
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University of New York at Albany, in ed administration and policy studies.
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I am completing my 50th year in higher education.
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I started my career in October of 1975. I've served
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I've served as a president for the past 18 years. My first presidency was at the College of Staten Island,
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which is a senior college of the City University of New York. And, and, here
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over the last 13 years at Cal State, San Bernardino.
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As I mentioned earlier, I'm, completing 50 years in higher education.
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And, so that's the, the abbreviated, version of my journey.
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In terms of my career and what one thing that allowed
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you to get into, the senior leadership positions.
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Well, you know, I've had some great mentors throughout my career.
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That allowed me to be the recipient of of of good counsel.
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Work very hard, be willing to seek out, opportunities,
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even though it may be inconvenient, for example. I spent 15 years
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at the State University of New York at New Paltz, my alma mater, where I worked,
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at a, at the junior level. And, I left New Paltz, in 1994
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to assume a position, my first vice presidency,
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at the City College of New York in Harlem. And so I lived, about 90 miles away from that position.
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And so I, it was an opportunity that I wanted to take advantage of the city.
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University in New York is a historical institution. CCNY,
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really is, an incredible, flagship of the City University of New York system.
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And I often advise, individuals that I
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mentor that sometimes you gotta go out to go up. I mean, sometimes you gotta be willing to leave your comfort zone
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and pursue opportunities, when they present themselves and, you know, another example, I,
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I was, vice president at City College from 1994 to 2001.
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And, the opportunity to come, travel out west
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to assume, vice presidency. The California State University,
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a Pomona Polytech, to, Cal Poly Pomona, where I served, initially as vice president for student affairs
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and then later was named interim vice president for academic affairs and then provost, and,
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it was a wonderful experience as I worked with, Bob Suzuki,
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who was, one of three Japanese American presidents,
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deeply committed to social justice. Taught me a lot. I traveled internationally with him to, Malaysia.
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To Japan. And then, Bob retired, and Mike Ortiz,
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assumed the presidency, and I stayed on with him as his provost.
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And then, the opportunity to come back to New York to serve as president of the College of Staten Island.
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Again, back to the City University of New York, where I spent, five years serving as president.
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And, again, the opportunity to return to California in, 2012 to assume the presidency.
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The fourth president here at Cal State San Bernardino. Right.
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And you mentioned that you've served in senior capacity in, the three probably biggest public university systems in the country.
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What makes CSB special? What makes CSB special is the fact that Cal State
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San Bernardino is an anchor institution. What do I mean by that?
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You know, we serve the people of Riverside and San Bernardino counties.
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Those two counties. If you put them together, you're looking at a territory of 27,000mi²,
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4.6 million residents. We're the only, Cal State
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that has brick and mortar, both in San Bernardino and in Riverside County.
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Out in, the city of Palm Desert. So we have, a, campus
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that serves, as I mentioned, the people of, the Inland Empire
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and the Coachella Valley and, we're very proud of that.
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80% of our students, live in either Riverside or San Bernardino County.
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75% of our alumni live in either Riverside or San Bernardino County.
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We have a close working relationship, not just the College of Education, but the senior administration
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and the faculty with all 56 school districts, in, Riverside and San Bernardino counties.
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We have relationships with over 400 nonprofit organizations.
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It's very difficult to go into a public school
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in the Inland Empire, in the Coachella Valley, and not find dozens of teachers, administrators
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who are graduates of the College of Education. Here at Cal State San Bernardino,
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it's very difficult to go into an accounting firm and not have enough fine graduates of our outstanding
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finance and accounting, department.
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We have social workers that we have happen graduating that, working in K-12,
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in nonprofit, social service organizations, etc.. So the the impact that Cal State, San Bernardino has had in
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this region is indeed very special. And we take that mission very seriously, not just me as the president,
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but us as a university, community. Which brings me to the point where
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in a world where YouTube is called a university, in the in the next generation, they call it YouTube University.
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Do degrees still matter? Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. No. You you sometimes hear
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the narrative that not everyone needs to go to college.
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And, but when you ask,
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families that are more affluent, their children are going to college.
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Having a baccalaureate degree there, there are many social and,
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individual benefits of a college degree. There's a direct correlation between,
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communities that are educated in the sense that they have baccalaureate degrees and master's degrees.
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And, economic development. So, when you find coastal
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areas of California, for example, those, communities, the Bay area,
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Orange County, the sample, San Francisco, San Diego region,
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they're all characterized by having a highly educated workforce.
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And so that's where, companies, gravitate to.
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And so in order for us to grow economically, in order for us to as a region, develop
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economically, we need an educated workforce. And so, you know, I join my colleagues,
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in this region, Kim Wilcox, a chancellor at the University of California, Riverside,
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my community college colleagues, my, colleagues that serve as presidents
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of, private nonprofit organizations
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like Loma Linda or the University of Redlands, etc.. We all work together to produce an educated workforce.
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Many, decide to stay, here in the Inland Empire because they're from the Inland Empire.
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So now we're very proud, as I mentioned earlier, that, 75% of our alumni, live and work
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in, either, San Bernardino or Riverside counties. You mentioned that Cal State Cyber Reno is an anchor institution.
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How is at Cal State San Benito supporting,
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small businesses and entrepreneurs? So we're, you know, we we founded recently,
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the last few years, the school of Entrepreneurship.
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So, Cal State San Bernardino has the only school of entrepreneurship in the state of California offering
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both undergraduate and graduate degrees in entrepreneurial studies.
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We also, as part of the School of Entrepreneurship
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or for the Inland Empire Entrepreneurship Center hours,
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and we're providing support to small businesses, to woman
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owned businesses to, immigrants that want to start their own business.
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We're providing, we're we're actually operating centers
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in, downtown San Bernardino. Yeah. And yeah, in Temecula and in the Coachella Valley.
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And so there all the regions that are knocking on our door
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to, explore with us, whether, in fact, we want to,
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whether we can open up a center in, in their region. One of the interesting things about the Inland Empire.
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You know, I mentioned how large this region is. Would be the 25th largest state in the United States.
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If if Riverside in San Bernardino was actually a state, it would be one of the largest states
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in the in the country. The region is also is very diverse.
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So the business development needs and, culture in the high desert
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is quite different than the Coachella Valley. Quite different than Western.
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San Bernardino, or Riverside counties.
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So very different than Temecula, for example. Southern Riverside County.
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So those are regions that have specific needs
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that Cal State San Bernardino is very attuned to.
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The School of Entrepreneurship is just one example.
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Our school of cybersecurity is also, addressing the cybersecurity needs
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of of the regional of the country, for that matter. And so, we are engaged as an anchor institution,
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in virtually every aspect of, of, the region.
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You know, our, our, Department of Criminal Justice
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and, provides graduates with the opportunity to,
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pursue careers in law enforcement and other, areas, in criminology and, and,
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and so there are many examples or one of the wonderful, characteristics of a,
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of Cal State San Bernardino as an anchor institution. Is that
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there is, it's hard to find an academic department
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that does not have a relationship with the community.
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And so, you know, it's, it's hard to find a student club
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or organization that does that provide service to the community? Are athletic teams.
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Our coaches, encourage and orchestrate opportunities for our athletes
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to provide, service. Our theater department, performs
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at elementary schools or museum. We have a wonderful Egyptology program.
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Egyptology. What do we have? We have the most extensive collection of,
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Egyptian artifacts west of the Mississippi. And we have a very active program
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that provides, opportunities for school children, elementary school children
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to visit, the museum. And by the way, it's it's that,
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Fullerton Museum is nationally accredited as well. So,
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again, there are many examples, of, that one can point to that,
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that demonstrate the impact that the university has.
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Both our, our faculty, our staff, our students, in the region.
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We continue to grow our presence out in the Coachella Valley.
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Our, Palm Desert campus continues
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to grow in terms of enrollment, in terms of, academic offerings.
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For example, we launched our MSW program. So we're, producing graduates in social work.
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We have an emerging kinesiology program, as I mentioned.
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Inland Empire Entrepreneurship Resource Center has a, satellite out in the Coachella Valley.
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So there's a lot going on. And that's in, out in the up,
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eastern Riverside County. Yeah. You mentioned so many,
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diverse, well, expertise or the influence
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of the institution on, on on the public and on on society. Let's talk AI now. Yeah.
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The university have recently hosted a propel AI museum, symposium.
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And between the monumental benefits of this technology,
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as well as the implications, especially on academic integrity. How does CSP approach this technology?
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Well, let me start by, you know, sharing with your audience
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that, the California State University system
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is one of the first systems in the United States to provide
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access to AI, to every single faculty, staff and student, free of charge,
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in the California State University, community that's, you know,
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450,000 students, over 45,000 faculty and staff,
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now have access to AI, technology.
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CSU is P is at the, very early stages
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of, rolling out with the CSU, with the system, AI technology, I mean, and a number of different, areas.
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So we're providing, opportunities for professional development
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of all faculty, to employ AI as a, as a teaching and learning tool.
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We're exploring how, we can deploy AI technology in the administration
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of the university and delivering student services, delivering, tutorial academic
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support services, providing, advising to students,
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delivering and administering financial aid.
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So there's just, a litany of, opportunities
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that are, some are known, some are not known at this point. I mean, we're just beginning the stages of exploring,
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how best to deploy, AI technology,
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in every facet of, of the university. But whatever.
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Academic integrity, I mean, students are obviously using it to just write their assignments.
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Well, I mean, I think that the, the initial reaction to AI,
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was, oh, how are how are we going to ensure that students are not using
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AI as, a cheating tool, if you will? You know, I, I think that was a,
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a reaction that's truly not founded. I mean, there are tools in place.
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There are ways to ensure that, AI is not abused.
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And, and that indeed, the use of AI, is a benefit,
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as a learning tool, as a teaching tool, as, a tool to more efficiently,
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conduct, the business aspect of of the university.
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Yeah. The interview will not be complete if I did not ask you about international students.
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Yeah. I came to the country as an international student, and graduated from, Cal State.
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Somebody know, what sets, CSPs, apart from other universities when it comes to international students
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and why international students are important to this university? Well, I think international education is important.
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I mean, I think that international education is important on a number of levels. So,
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let me start, this discussion first, regarding,
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the importance of encouraging our domestic students to explore opportunities internationally
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and just share with you my own personal involvement. I serve on the executive committee.
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President elect, and I will assume the presidency in 2027.
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The International Association of University Presidents,
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this is an organization of rectors, chancellors and presidents from throughout the world.
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And so, I'm very involved in, collaborating and developing relationships
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with, my counterparts from virtually every continent
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in the United States, in the world where, you know, we have a very small globe and,
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and so we must educate our students to participate in study abroad opportunities.
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And so we're very interested in increasing, the opportunities
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by offering more financial aid, by showing students how they can integrate their curricular interests
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with a study abroad, experience, the recruitment
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of international students is critically important. So international students bring
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a, a perspective, to this university community. They enrich our university community.
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I spoke, last week to, international students who are graduating
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in a couple of weeks and had a chance to, to speak with them. It's not just about recruiting international students
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from a tuition benefit. You know, international students pay tuition and
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and so that's why they're important. Know they're important because they add a,
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they enrich our university community.
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They bring, tremendous expertise.
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And so as we approach international education,
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we want to increase the number of our domestic students who study abroad.
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So we currently have students who go to London, South Africa, Spain,
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other parts of Europe. They participate in either summer,
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study abroad opportunities, all for the fall semester. We had a student, spent the entire year
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in Germany, in a linguistics program. She'll be graduating. She's from the high desert.
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She went to, local community college, came here, and then, did a full year in Germany, studying languages.
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And so the opportunity, you know, going, abroad is transformational.
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And so the challenge for us, of course, is that we serve a low income student body
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and so in order to increase the number of domestic students who study abroad, you know,
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we have to provide them with the financial resources to be able to do that.
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And so we have a long history of serving international students.
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And, to share with you, we've had several alumni events
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throughout the world. Several years ago, prior to the pandemic,
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we had an alumni reunion in South Korea. We had over 90 alumni.
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Now we consider students who, even if they even graduate
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from Cal State San Bernardino or they come for a year, and then they go back to their, their home institution,
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we consider them to be, coyotes for life. And so, we had,
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just an extraordinary turnout to connect with the faculty.
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We had faculty come to school, go to South Africa to participate in the alumni program.
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We've had alumni events in Japan, in Beijing, and they always draw our students.
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Students want to, reconnect with, Cal State San Bernardino
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even though they're living, living abroad. So international education plays
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a very important role here. At, at Cal Poly San Bernardino,
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you have been a champion for student access, diversity, equity and inclusion.
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And, with the current political climate in the country, how how are you navigating those challenges called Dei?
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You know, diversity, equity and inclusion are critical,
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parts of our university commitment. It's first of all, it's a, it's one of our four goals,
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in our strategic plan, we have four goals. And our current strategic plan, student success is goal number one.
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Faculty is staff. Success is goal number two, diversity.
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Equity and inclusion is goal number three. And international education is goal number four.
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So those are the four goals that we're funding every year to as part of our strategic plan,
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any organization should have a strategic plan. It should implement that strategic plan.
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And the plan was developed organically, not just the president sat in his room and said, okay, these are the four goals,
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this, the strategic plan was developed with the participation of stakeholders, campus stakeholders and community stakeholders.
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The, the I, efforts that we are, employing
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here, is is institutional. It's truly the institutionalization, that everyone belongs.
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Everyone is valued regardless of your race, your gender. Whether you're an, an international student,
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whether you, grew up, here in, in the Inland Empire,
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and, our presidents, Dei board is made up of over 70 members
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of our faculty, staff and students. They operate in six subcommittees that include a subcommittee
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that looks at curriculum, a subcommittee that looks at student recruitment and development, faculty recruitment
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and development, staff recruitment and development, programing.
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And so, yeah, I realize that,
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the current, federal administration is, combating or is,
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wants institutions to get away from the, we,
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we just continue to support, our commitment
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to die, at this point. And we'll see, we'll see where, you know,
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the, the federal government, takes this effort, to derail
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our commitment to die. My last question for you. What advice do you have for the future generation and alumni like myself?
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How can we get involved? Well, I think that, you know, my advice is to get,
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continue to be engaged with with your alma mater. So I know your this this podcast is a great example.
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It's why I agreed to sit down with you. The fact that you're an alum,
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was was instrumental in my decision, to provide an opportunity to sit down and have this conversation with you.
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I would encourage alumni, particularly alumni
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who live in, this region, to, to get involved civically,
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to get involved and to protect, the tenants of democracy,
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to be involved with, the community. Whichever way you describe that community,
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it could be a church community, could be a civic community. Get involved with your alma Martin.
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Different, aspects. We have, professor for the day. Program where we invite our alumni to come and teach,
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for a day and and reconnect with the fact their favorite faculty member.
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We invite, alumni to, to be involved as mentors,
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for our current students. And so that's the advice
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I would give to graduates of Cal State San Bernardino.
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This is, a great institution that serves the region.
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And, we consider our alumni to be very much part of,
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our university community. Awesome. Thank you so much. Pleasure to have Ray. Great.
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Thank you for the opportunity. Appreciate.