Jane Close Conoley

President

Cal State Long Beach

THE LATEST: Cal State Long Beach recently announced that it had increased its four-year graduation rate to 34% in 2019 from 16% in 2015, the largest increase in the 23-campus CSU system. In December, Conoley received an award from the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators for her advancement in the quality of student life on campus due to her support of student affairs staff and initiatives.

BACKGROUND: Founded in 1949, CSULB has 37, 000 enrolled students and 2,100 faculty in eight colleges. Conoley became the university's seventh president — and its first woman leader — in 2014 after holding leadership positions at UC Riverside, UC Santa Barbara, Texas A&M University and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She is the author or editor of 21 books and more than 100 chapters, journal articles and technical reports. Her area of primary interest is interventions with children with disabilities. She also chairs Everyone Home Long Beach, a city initiative to address California&s homelessness crisis and its impact on Long Beach.

YEARS ON THE LA500: 3

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