Longtime Sonoma State University president Ruben Armiñana to retire
Ruben Armiñana, who left Communist Cuba as a child and went on to become the longest-tenured president of the California State University system, announced Monday that he will leave his post at Sonoma State University at the end of the academic year after serving nearly a quarter-century at the helm.
Arriving at the Rohnert Park campus in 1992 when it was threatened with closure, Armiñana has presided over a period of phenomenal growth at the institution, including a ninefold increase in the student body and an overhaul of the 269-acre campus into one of the most spectacular settings in the entire CSU system. The campus now draws prestigious artists and entertainers to the Green Music Center, the world-class concert venue which above all else may come to be viewed as Armiñana’s defining achievement.
Armiñana’s critics say the changes he has promoted have come at the risk of the university’s long-term fiscal health and at the expense of academic programs. But Armiñana on Monday dismissed that criticism in his typical blunt style.
“If you don’t have detractors, and you don’t have criticism, it means you didn’t do much. You didn’t push the envelope,” he said. “Therefore, I’ll take the sense of doing over the sense of inaction.”
Armiñana announced his plans to retire in muted fashion during a short speech he delivered to about 250 faculty and staff attending the university’s convocation ceremony at the school’s Person Theater. Armiñana’s wife, Marne Olson, sat in the front row.
Wearing a blue suit and tie, Armiñana, 68, discussed budget figures and highlights from each of the university’s academic schools. He then ended the speech by stating his intention to leave the university at the end of the academic year.
Armiñana noted that he is the CSU system’s longest-serving president, but not the oldest, a quip that drew laughter and a standing ovation from the audience.
“Nothing gives me more pride than when I am approached locally and nationally, even abroad, by an alum who happily and proudly tells me that he or she went to SSU and how great that experience was,” Armiñana said. “My eternal wish is that this expression continues for our present and future students.”
Armiñana said it was his decision to retire and that he is not being forced out.
“Absolutely not,” Armiñana said after his speech.
He cited his long tenure as a university president as factoring in his decision to step down.
“It’s time for fall,” he said. “The leaves are coming down.”
The plans come at the same time that at least two other long-serving CSU presidents at Chico and Channel Islands also have announced their retirements.
Armiñana said he should be remembered for changing the look of Sonoma State’s campus, improving academic quality and integrating campus life with the outside community. He pointed out that when he took over at SSU the student body was about 3 percent Hispanic. Today, it’s about 25 percent.
“The university got transformed and became recognized as an important asset to this community,” he said.
Deborah Roberts, chair of the school’s Nursing Department, said “a piece of the institution” will leave when Armiñana leaves.
Brandon Mercer, president of Associated Students, said he couldn’t ask for a better university president.
“He cares a lot about his students and thinks about them in every decision he makes,” Mercer said.
But his detractors say Armiñana did not raise academic standards enough and that he did not collaborate on important decisions.
“I’d like to say something positive, but I think it’s good he announced his retirement,” said Elaine Newman, professor of mathematics and statistics and a past chair of the Academic Senate. “I think he had a vision for Sonoma State, but I think it got derailed early on. He developed this adversarial relationship with faculty, and I don’t know where the blame lies with that.”
Longtime Armiñana critic Bob Karlsrud, a professor emeritus of history and dean emeritus of the School of Social Sciences, said he had “mixed feelings” about Armiñana’s planned departure.
Karlsrud said Armiñana likely has brought in more outside money for SSU than any other president of a similarly sized CSU campus.
“But that money didn’t go to academic affairs,” Karlsrud said. “It went to buildings.”
The campus has undergone a complete makeover during Armiñana’s tenure, with at least two buildings totally renovated and another seven built from the ground up, including the library and residence halls.
About 9,400 students, including the largest freshmen class in Sonoma State’s history, are scheduled to begin classes Tuesday.
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