‘Honor of my career’: President Zelezny announces retirement

First woman to lead CSUB will retire on Dec. 31

By California State University, Bakersfield

June 26^th, 2023

President Lynnette Zelezny — who made history as the first woman to lead California State University, Bakersfield — announced Monday that she will retire Dec. 31, capping a five-and-a-half-year era of unprecedented growth in student success, philanthropy and financial support, deeper involvement with the community and educational partners and the emergence of CSUB as a regional leader in workforce development, research and innovation.

Dr. Zelezny also guided CSUB through the COVID-19 pandemic, the most profound challenge to students and educators in recent history.

“It has been the honor of my career to serve the families of this community and to join hands as we work, dream and strive together for a brighter tomorrow,” she said. “The Central Valley is the soul of California, and Kern County is the beating heart. I’ve never known such kind, hard-working and welcoming people. I have made friends for life.”

California State University Interim Chancellor Jolene Koester praised Dr. Zelezny, who has served her entire professional career — nearly four decades — in the CSU, the largest and most diverse system of public higher education in the nation.

“President Zelezny is a highly skilled, compassionate and student-focused leader who has strengthened CSU Bakersfield’s impact, influence and reputation throughout the region, state and nation,” Koester said in a statement released Monday. “Under her leadership, the university has developed and refined a broad array of innovative academic programming and student support services. Due in large part to these efforts, student success rates have climbed for all students, while equity gaps between historically underserved students and their peers have narrowed. CSU Bakersfield is regularly recognized nationally as a powerful driver of socioeconomic ascent.”

An interim president will be appointed to lead the university, and the CSU will launch a national search to identify Dr. Zelezny's successor. Under university policy, the chair of the CSU Board of Trustees, Wenda Fong, and the CSU chancellor will select a committee comprised of campus and community stakeholders who will be announced at a later date. Thereafter, campus and community input will be sought in an open forum held on the CSUB campus.

The CSU Board of Trustees and then-Chancellor Timothy P. White appointed Dr. Zelezny as the fifth president of CSUB in March 2018. She assumed the role from then-President Horace Mitchell in June of that year after moving from Fresno State, where, over three decades, she served in several positions: professor of psychology, associate dean of the Craig School of Business, dean of Continuing and Global Education, associate provost and, finally, provost and vice president for Academic Affairs.

Former CSUB president Horace Mitchell passed on leadership of the university to Dr. Lynnette Zelezny in 2018.

Unprecedented era of growth

Under Dr. Zelezny’s stewardship, CSUB has recorded progress on Graduation Initiative 2025, the CSU’s ambitious program to increase graduation rates. In addition, enrollment and retention rates have improved, and the university has continued to shrink equity gaps and dismantle barriers that have prevented under-represented students from pursuing or completing a CSUB degree.

“I am so proud of our focus on giving all of our students the support, compassion and attention they need,” she said. “The opening of the Dreamers Resource Center was a high point for me, and we have also prioritized programs that celebrate and support our LGBTQ-plus students, African-American students, and Roadrunner community members who have not always felt like they were part of the fabric of CSUB.”

Dr. Zelezny has presided over an era of unprecedented financial opportunity for the university, support that includes $83 million for the Energy Innovation Building, allocated by Governor Gavin Newsom in 2022 for CSUB’s visionary plan to build a hub for energy research on the West Coast. She also launched `Runners on the Rise, the first-ever comprehensive fundraising campaign in the history of CSUB. The university has raised $37.9 million toward the $55 million goal for the campaign, which is still underway.

Also under the president’s leadership, CSUB has commenced work on a number of capital improvements to academic and athletic facilities. Among the high-profile projects: a $1.5 million gift to improve the baseball fan experience at Hardt Field and $1 million to build the Hall Family Plaza outside the Icardo Center.

In 2019, the university received the largest single gift in its history with a $5 million pledge to establish the Grimm Family Center for Agricultural Business. In 2021, two gifts totaling $1 million allowed CSUB to launch the CSUB Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation and the university’s award-winning nursing program also has received more than $7 million in recent years.

Under Dr. Zelezny’s watch, the Roadrunner family launched a yearlong observance of the 50th anniversary of Cal State Bakersfield. The celebration’s high point was a virtual gala that featured business magnate, explorer and philanthropist Sir Richard Branson and Grammy Award-winning vocalist Gregory Porter. During the celebration, Dr. Zelezny told viewers:

“This entire academic year, CSU Bakersfield, our alumni, friends and allies will celebrate the culture of enlightenment and scholarship that has flourished in this community since that day in October 1970, when our first president, Dr. Paul Romberg, reached out to Kern County and said, ‘All are welcome to study here.’ That is still the case. Our university is one of collaboration, of engagement — of hope. Our community does not serve CSUB. CSUB serves our community. “

Dr. Zelezny has underscored that loyalty to the community by forming or deepening collaborations with educational leaders through initiatives like the Kern Education Pledge, a cradle-to-career pathway for student success; welcoming the Bakersfield College Southwest Center on the CSUB campus; working to secure a prosperous and secure future for Kern’s workforce through the Better Bakersfield and Boundless Kern consortium; and developing partnerships with renowned institutions like the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

The university’s success during the president’s tenure came amid the single greatest challenge to education in a generation: the COVID-19 pandemic. In March of 2020, the CSU implemented a policy of virtual instruction to protect the safety of students, faculty and staff, which necessitated an immediate shift to distance learning. Despite the disruption, CSUB’s enrollment did not suffer a serious decline.

“We weathered that challenge like we do all others,” Dr. Zelezny said. “With the CSUB spirit of resilience, grace and grit. I am so proud to have been a part of the legacy of this great university, which is the hope and pride of this entire region.”

Dr. Zelezny began in the California State University system in 1974 as a student at Humboldt State, now Cal Poly Humboldt. Among her professional accomplishments:

Robert Maxson, CSU President of the Year, Awarded by the California State Student Association, 2020
Woman of the Year, California Assembly District 32, Awarded by Assemblyman Rudy Salas, 2020
Distinguished Alumna, Cal Poly Humboldt, 2021
Chair, Big West Division 1 Athletics Conference, 2023