Cal State Long Beach President F. King Alexander announced via e-mail Wednesday afternoon that the interim provost and senior vice president for Academic Affairs, Donald Para, has been selected officially for these positions.
Para told the Daily 49er that he is “very honored” to be offered the position, which, according to the e-mail, is “effective immediately.”
“I’m very pleased to be at an institution that places students’ needs and student success as a priority; where faculty take their scholarly and creative activities seriously, and, that we’re on a campus that embraces its place in the global village,” Para said.
Para has been at CSULB for 22 years. He started as the music department chair for 12 years, was the associate dean of the College of the Arts (COTA) for one year and then served as dean of COTA from 2001-09. Alexander said in the e-mail that in these three positions Para had exhibited “forward-thinking and common sense.”
On Aug. 7, 2009, Para took the role of interim provost and senior vice president for Academic Affairs where he competed against three others for the position over the last semester.
“I have found him to be sincerely dedicated to the well-being and advancement of our university, and fully capable of providing the academic leadership that [CSULB] needs at this time,” Alexander said in the e-mail.
Para said his main objective for the upcoming year, and “for the foreseeable future, is to see to it that [CSULB] can match the class seats with the number of students [it has], and that students can get the classes they need so they can make progress to graduation.”
While serving as COTA dean, Para raised the university’s largest recorded donation of $16.4 million from the Bob Cole Trust, which established the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music, according to the CSULB website.
Para has a bachelor’s in music education, and a master’s and Ph.D. in music composition.
Alexander also announced in the e-mail that Karlene Hoo has been appointed as associate vice president for research and external support, She will work on leadership of research throughout the university, as well as leadership of grants and contracts at CSULB.
According to the e-mail, Hoo served as the associate vice president for research at Texas Tech University, and was also dean of research for the College of Engineering. She also has experience as a chemical engineering professor at both the University of South Carolina and University of Pennsylvania.
She has also worked in the private sector, including working as a process engineer for Exxon Chemical Co. She has a bachelor’s, master’s and Ph.D. in chemical engineering.
“Both of these positions are important to our campus’ academic future,” Alexander said in the e-mail, “and we are fortunate to have such qualified individuals in these roles.”
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