Four Finalists Named for Post of Northridge Chief

Four finalists have been announced for the presidency of Cal State Northridge. All four will visit the campus next week for public forums, and the Cal State Board of Trustees will interview the finalists the next week.

Chancellor Charles Reed called the four “the strongest pool of candidates in my 15 years of looking for presidents. They are simply outstanding leaders in higher education.”

Reed said the candidates were chosen for their depth of academic experience, their outreach efforts at other universities and their strength in fund-raising.

The finalists are: Gretchen Bataille, provost and academic vice president at Washington State University in Pullman, Wash.; Antoine Garibaldi, provost and chief academic officer at Howard University in Washington; Jolene Koester, provost and vice president for academic affairs at Cal State Sacramento; and Jane Pisano, senior vice president for external relations at USC.

Albert Kinderman, Cal State Northridge’s faculty president, said he was pleased with the finalists, who were selected from a pool of about 100 candidates. He and Chancellor Reed said the candidates’ strength was a testament to the campus’ rising fortunes since it was devastated by the 1994 earthquake.

“They all know that we’ve spent $350 million rebuilding the campus,” Reed said. “That’s attractive to them because they know that facilities are not going to be the biggest issue they will be dealing with.”

Blenda Wilson, the last president of Cal State Northridge, left last June to head the Nellie Mae Foundation, an education reform organization in Braintree, Mass.