CSUN President Names Provost for Academics

A college dropout who at age 27 returned to school to eventually earn her doctorate in sociology has been named provost and vice president for academic affairs at Cal State Northridge, school officials said Monday.

Louanne Kennedy, academic vice president of Kean College of New Jersey, will head all of CSUN’s academic departments beginning in July. She is the second vice president appointed by CSUN President Blenda J. Wilson, who took over the campus in September.

The new CSUN provost--who will be paid $111,000 a year--will be in charge of the school when Wilson is absent, school officials said. She is one of three school vice presidents.

Kennedy, 54, worked three years at Kean College, a public university of about 12,000 with an academic budget of about $30 million. CSUN enrolls about 28,000 students and has a $100-million academic budget.

In addition to its large size, CSUN faces some big troubles. Dwindling state support is forcing cuts in the number of classes offered, as well as reductions in teaching staff. At the same time, students and employers are demanding top quality instruction.

“I’ve managed a lot of things in my life, and I’m not afraid to get to Northridge,” said Kennedy during a telephone interview.

A native of Wilmerding, Pa., Kennedy is the first of her family to complete high school. After dropping out in her first year of college, Kennedy married a widower with five children and had two more of her own before returning to school at New York University. She went on to earn scholarships that helped pay for undergraduate and graduate degrees in sociology there.

“When my youngest was 2, I went back to school,” Kennedy said. “I used to say, ‘I don’t know how women stayed at home.’ I went out every day to reaffirm my humanity.”

Kennedy did her academic research on health-care policies and administration. She was hired as an assistant professor in public administration at New York University in 1976. In 1982, Kennedy started teaching at Baruch College, City University of New York. She became an associate provost there in 1987.

In her college courses, Kennedy taught ways that hospital closings affect poor people and minorities. She met her second husband, public interest lawyer Herbert Semmel, while testifying as an expert witness on behalf of a group opposing the closure of a hospital in Harlem.

“We lost the case, but we married each other,” said Kennedy, who added two stepchildren to her family as a result of the union. All nine of her children have completed college, she said. One son is director of facilities for the Los Angeles Children’s Museum and a stepdaughter is a Los Angeles attorney.

Kennedy said her academic research has helped her work as a campus administrator. The similarity between health care and education policy is “How do you bring high quality services to people who don’t necessarily have the ability to pay but have the right to them?” Kennedy said.

Kennedy was selected over two finalists from the CSUN campus, biologist Donald Bianchi--who has served as the interim academics vice president--and Linda Bain, a kinesiologist who is dean of the School of Communication, Health and Human Services.

Edward J. Hayes, vice chancellor for academic affairs for North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University, also was a finalist.

Kennedy said she will live in the CSUN dorms until she and her husband decide on a home.