Cal State trustees to hear state of the system and budget update

California State University Chancellor Timothy P. White will present an overview of the system’s priorities in the next year and discuss continuing budget challenges at a meeting Wednesday of the Board of Trustees.

The “state of the university” address will highlight a two-day meeting of the trustees in Long Beach that also will include an update on Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposed budget for the 23-campus system and the possible appointment of a new Cal State Long Beach president.

Brown, a trustee, was scheduled to attend Wednesday’s meeting.

Trustees were set Tuesday to interview a “handful” of candidates for the Long Beach post, with a possible announcement at Wednesday’s meeting, spokesman Mike Uhlenkamp said.

The new president will replace F. King Alexander, who departed last summer to become president and chancellor of Louisiana State University.

The only remaining presidential vacancy is at Humboldt State, with a permanent appointment expected to be filled this spring.

White, Cal State’s seventh chancellor, assumed his duties in December 2012 as the university system was reeling from $1 billion in state funding cuts, a succession of tuition hikes and enrollments cuts. The passage of Proposition 30, Brown’s tax initiative, stemmed further losses and annual tuition -- currently $5,472, not including campus-based fees -- has remained steady for three years.

But there remain steep challenges to increase the number of classes offered systemwide and to move students more quickly toward completing degrees.

The system received more than 760,000 undergraduate applications for fall 2014, the largest number ever.

White has visited all 23 campuses, met with state and federal leaders and with his counterparts at the UC system and the community colleges, and “he’s in a position to share his insight about the opportunities as well as the challenges for the system,” Uhlenkamp said.

“Obviously the core of our mission is students, so achievement and completion will be part of the address,” he said. “Collaboration with the other systems, including efficiency and the role of technology and online education, should also likely be topics that he’ll touch on.”

Brown’s 2014-15 budget proposal includes an increase of $142.2 million for Cal State, far less that then $237.6 million the system requested to meet enrollment demand, fund student success programs and put a dent in a backlog of maintenance and repairs.

Still, White said he was encouraged by the proposal.

“The good news for the CSU and its students is that the proposed budget will enable the university to improve existing programs and services, and maintain tuition at the current rate for the fourth consecutive year,” White said in a statement after the release of the governor’s budget.

carla.rivera@latimes.com

Twitter:CarlaRiveraLat