Wilson to Leave CSUN for New Job

Blenda J. Wilson, who as president of Cal State Northridge lifted the devastated institution back to its feet after the 1994 Northridge earthquake, announced Tuesday she would leave her post in June to head a Massachusetts educational foundation.

Wilson, the third president of the 40-year-old university, will serve as the first president of the Nellie Mae Foundation. The university said Wilson would remain on campus at least through spring commencement.

Wilson was praised widely for managing to reopen the university just two weeks after the temblor caused $393 million in damage to the campus.

“She was a superb leader of the campus through a very challenging time,” former CSU Chancellor Barry Munitz said in a statement.

Her tenure also was marked by a string of controversies, ranging from her handling of CSUN’s scandal-plagued athletic department to recent audits citing discrepancies in her use of Federal Emergency Management Agency funds. Also, her recent job-performance evaluation reported disunity among her top administrators.

“It is remarkable how far we have come,” Wilson, 58, said Tuesday. “It would have been even more remarkable, to be sure, if we had not made any mistakes along the way.”

Wilson was a rising star when CSU hired her in 1992. Having worked as an administrator at Rutgers University in New Jersey, associate dean at Harvard University and chancellor of the University of Michigan at Dearborn, rumors circulated that then-President-elect Clinton had considered her for a Washington appointment.

Wilson revamped CSUN’s recruitment programs and presided over a 10% rise in enrollment during her tenure. Now, with 27,000 students, CSUN often turns away many qualified applicants. Beyond such tangible successes, many of Wilson’s supporters said her prestige rubbed off on CSUN--a 353-acre commuter campus described by one architect as a collection of bank buildings.

“She really brought a national perspective to education here,” said Louanne Kennedy, university provost and vice president for academic affairs.

But above all, Kennedy praised Wilson for her handling of the quake recovery. “There are very few presidents who could have brought a campus back as fast. The rest of us got in line behind her courage.

“She said, ‘We will be back. We need to have phones answered by real people tomorrow morning, and tents set up.’ ”

Kennedy said Wilson directed campus officials to buy every available trailer west of the Mississippi. “And we started class only two weeks late,” she said.

Most recently, Wilson has made her goal to forge partnerships within the business community, particularly in the growing high-tech and entertainment fields. Her biggest coup was landing MiniMed Inc., a Sylmar-based insulin pump maker that agreed to build an $85-million biotech park on the North Campus to house his company. The university has also been seeking partners in the entertainment industry.

Even after revelations in 1995 that a husband-and-wife team of CSUN administrators had allowed FEMA laborers to perform work on their home, rumors circulated that Wilson was being groomed for the CSU chancellorship.

Local Reputation Hurt in Sports Controversy

As her national profile grew, however, her local reputation was damaged in 1997 when she eliminated four men’s sports teams--volleyball, baseball, soccer and swimming--to comply with gender equity laws and a deficit-ridden sports budget.

Private donations and a state-funded bailout eventually rescued CSUN’s sports program, but Wilson’s critics said it showed her disregard of public sentiment. That same criticism was renewed after Wilson announced plans to build a new stadium.

The athletic program incurred another hit last year when women’s basketball Coach Michael J. Abraham was indicted in Nebraska on federal charges of conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine. Athletic Director Paul Bubb resigned in the wake of the scandal.

In 1997, Wilson revealed she was a finalist for the presidency of Wayne State University in Detroit. She was passed over for the job, however, after members of the search committee complained about her disclosing her candidacy to reporters a day before the university announced the other four prospects.

Wilson’s legacy was further jeopardized after Munitz left the chancellorship to head the Getty Trust and Charles Reed, a tough, hands-on manager, took over the CSU system.

Wilson’s membership on numerous corporate and charitable boards--activity encouraged by Munitz but frowned upon by Reed--contributed to her poor job-performance review last year.

Reed wrote that “the executive management team does not have the confidence of the campus community. It has been suggested that the president reduce external speaking and board commitments in order to address this concern.”

As a result, Wilson’s 5% pay increase--boosting her salary to $181,172--was among the lowest in the CSU system. In response, she resigned from some of the boards on which she served.

“We have a pay for performance,” Reed said Tuesday. “There were some things that were needed to be corrected. They were being corrected.”

FEMA Investigation Tainted Tenure

Wilson was the target of a FEMA investigation last year sparked by allegations that her husband, Louis Fair Jr., had used CSUN workers to move his personal office furniture and had paid them with FEMA funds.

The investigation was eventually closed, but not before a CSU audit released in October concluded that Wilson had exerted “undue influence” over campus laborers who moved her husband’s furniture on days the workers were being paid by the school.

“It appears that a gift of the movers’ time may have been conferred by the campus,” the audit said.

A forthcoming report from the chancellor’s office, the Financial Integrity and State Managers Accountability audit, will detail still more problems with CSUN’s finances, according to a Cal State system administrator familiar with its findings.

“When you see the audit you’re going to see a campus that needs some tightening up in its financial matters,” the administrator said. Among other issues, the audit suggests CSUN write off several hundred thousand dollars in student loans it never recouped, the administrator said.

Wilson denied the report had any connection with her departure.

“Audits are always a look at the past,” Wilson said of the forthcoming audit. “From my point of view it’s quite a boring document.”

Reed agreed Wilson’s impending departure has nothing to do with the audit, financial irregularities or other problems that have surfaced on campus.

“It’s not tied together at all,” Reed said. As for her decision to leave Cal State Northridge, he said, “It was 100% her decision. In fact, it surprised me.

“When people can better themselves and get a good job, it’s a wonderful thing. She feels very good about it. I need to support that 100%.”

Reed plans to meet with Wilson on Friday to discuss her departure and the transition that will follow.

As head of the Nellie Mae Foundation, with a reported $555 million in assets, Wilson will take a national role in education reform. The organization was created last year after a 1996 federal law allowed nonprofit, student-loan organizations to give money to charity.

The foundation’s stated purpose is to disburse grants “to promote accessibility, quality and effectiveness of education from preschool through post-secondary levels . . . especially underserved populations.”

Kennedy said Wilson will look forward to spending time with her elderly parents, who live in the Northeast.

Mixed Reaction From Students, Faculty

On campus Tuesday, some students and faculty members praised Wilson for shepherding the university toward the new millennium, while others expressed hope that CSUN’s public image would improve once she left.

“She’s a super leader, especially to the African American community,” said O.B. McClinton, vice president of CSUN’s Black Student Union.

Geography professor Julie Laity said Wilson had done a good job raising the university’s profile, but said she had perhaps overlooked campus issues in the process.

“She was disconnected from basic aspects of student, faculty and staff life,” Laity said. “I did not get the impression that Blenda Wilson had any significant interest in academics.”

Traci Hart, a graduate student, said Wilson brought “the campus to a higher level, and [got] more respect for it.”

Times staff writers Kenneth Weiss, Hillary MacGregor, Agnes Diggs and Eric Sondheimer contributed to this story.

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Highlights of the Wilson Years

May 18, 1992: Blenda J. Wilson appointed CSUN’s third president, the first black and first woman to head the campus.

Jan. 17, 1994: Northridge earthquake rocks 353-acre campus, causing $350 million in damage.

Jan. 30, 1995: Campus reports 25% decline in fall 1995 applications, its largest drop ever.

Dec. 12, 1995: Administrator Jane Chatham, who oversaw earthquake recovery, is reassigned following Wilson’s censure of Chatham and her husband for accepting free work on their home by a firm managing campus earthquake repairs.

Fall 1996: CSUN joins NCAA Division I-AA Big Sky athletic conference.

June 13, 1997: Four men’s athletic teams are eliminated to comply with gender-equity laws and a deficit-ridden sports budget. Following prolonged protests, Wilson reinstates the sports in December.

Aug. 25, 1997: Wilson is passed over in her bid to become president of Wayne State University in Detroit.

Nov. 19, 1997: CSUN fires Director of Finance Karen Hoefel, blamed by the administration for $2.27-million investment loss.

Sept. 16, 1998: State university trustees approve $80-million biotechnology complex at CSUN. The same day Wilson receives modest 5% raise after performance evaluation criticizes her for having too many outside commitments.

Nov. 3, 1998: Athletic Director Paul Bubb and Judith Brame, associate athletic director, resign following indictment of women’s basketball Coach Michael Abraham on charges of intent to distribute crack cocaine.

Dec. 3, 1998: State audit finds Federal Emergency Management Agency earthquake recovery funds may have been used for moving office furniture for company that employs Wilson’s husband.

Dec. 17, 1998: Arthur J. Elbert, vice president for administration and finance, resigns. In February, Ron Kopita, vice president of student affairs, announces his resignation.

March 2, 1999: Wilson announces she will leave CSUN in June to assume leadership of the Nellie Mae Foundation in Braintree, Mass.

Researched by STEPHANIE STASSEL / Los Angeles Times

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Blenda J. Wilson

* Age: 58

* Residence: Northridge

* Education: B.A., English and Secondary Education, Cedar Crest College (1962); M.A., Education, Seton Hall University (1965); Ph.D., Higher Education Administration, Boston College (1979)

* Career highlights: President, Cal State Northridge, 1992-present; Chancellor, University of Michigan at Dearborn, 1988-1992; Executive Director, Colorado Commission on Higher Education, 1984-1988; Vice President of Effective Sector Management, Independent Sector, 1982-1984; Associate Dean for Administration (1972-1975) and Senior Associate Dean (1975-1982), Harvard University.

* Additional positions: Chair, American Assn. for Higher Education; Director, International Foundation for Education and Self-Help; Director, the J. Paul Getty Trust; Director, Union Bank; Trustee, Northridge Hospital Medical Center.

* Family: Married to Louis Fair Jr., a businessman.