Cal State Northridge Leader Is Finalist for Detroit Post

Cal State Northridge President Blenda J. Wilson, a rising star in higher education circles and widely praised for guiding the campus back from the crippling Northridge earthquake, said Tuesday she is one of five finalists to become president at Wayne State University in Detroit.

Wayne State officials are expected to release the list of names today. Wilson, who came to Cal State Northridge nearly five years ago from the University of Michigan at Dearborn, a Detroit suburb, said she expects to interview at the urban campus within the next month.

One of two African American presidents in the 22-school Cal State system, Wilson, 56, could become the latest high-profile loss to California’s public higher education system, and the second major departure from Cal State this year. Just last week, Cal State Chancellor Barry Munitz announced he was leaving to head the $4.2-billion J. Paul Getty Trust.

“If she goes, it will be a tragic loss, and they will have gotten one of the great educators in the country,” Munitz said Tuesday of Wilson. “We don’t have a stronger president. . . . She accomplished miracles after the Northridge earthquake.”

But her tenure at the San Fernando Valley’s only public university has not been without controversy. She recently came under harsh attack for cutting four men’s sports teams because of budget constraints and to comply with gender-equity laws. Soccer and swimming have been revived, thanks to pledges of private donations, and the state Legislature, in response to the public outcry over the cuts, has earmarked funds for baseball and volleyball in its pending budget.

Wayne State officials approached Wilson in the spring, well before the sports controversy, she said, asking if they could nominate her for the post.

Wilson said she had neither applied for nor allowed herself to be nominated for another job since arriving at Northridge until she was contacted by Wayne State.

On Tuesday, she said the idea of leading the university was appealing for several reasons. She and her husband, Louis Fair Jr., have many friends in the area from their years at Dearborn, and enjoyed “a very, very deep and rich community experience,” Wilson said.

Unlike Cal State Northridge, Wayne State is a full-fledged research institution, complete with a school of medicine. Founded in 1868, the public university is located in downtown Detroit, has an annual budget of $542 million compared to Cal State Northridge’s $164 million, and 31,000 students compared to 26,000 in Northridge.

Wilson said there are projects she would like to see completed at Cal State Northridge, but “the university can achieve those goals whether I’m here or not.

“Opportunities come--or they don’t,” she said. “This is one I feel I need to explore.”