Frances Moore Lappe

Award winning author and food activist Frances Moore Lappe will speak at 3:15 p.m. April 5 in Morris Dailey Auditorium. She will be introduced by Jesse Cool, a nationally recognized Bay Area chef, owner of Flea St. Café in Menlo Park, and advocate for local and organic foods.

The SJSU Sustainability Initiative, Environmental Resource Center, Division of Student Affairs, College of Social Sciences, and Salzburg Program will sponsor the event, which will be preceded by LOCAVORE! a food and garden fair beginning at noon in the sculpture garden near Clark Hall.

Frances Moore Lappe is the author of 17 books, including her best-selling Diet for a Small Planet.  Celebrating its 40th year, this book aims to inspire changes in eating habits in order to save the planet. Francis also leads the Small Planet Institute with her daughter Anna Lappe.

Focusing on the excerpts from her latest publication, EcoMind: Seven Thought Leaps for Our Planet and Its Changing Climate, Lappe talked to SJSU Today about what sustainability means to her and why the key to change is connecting with other people.

Among the messages she emphasized were “we have hit the limits of a finite planet,” “the answer is no growth,” and “consumer society is to blame.” The following was edited for length and clarity.

SJSU Today: Can you tell me about the keynote address you have in store for SJSU?

Frances Moore Lappe: This address is an attempt to identify some of the ways that we can frame the environmental crisis and the ways we can go beyond what we consider limiting. Instead of being trapped in mechanical ways, the focus is thinking in terms of the fundamental principal of ecology. Thinking like an ecoystem helps us to focus on the connection rather than the separateness.

SJSU: Can you tell me about how you started being sustainable-conscious?

Lappe: The best decision I ever made was to ask the most basic question in the world: Why is there hunger? Addressing the number one question — Why are we together in societies creating a world that not one of us as individuals would ever chose for ourselves? — that’s the question our species has to answer.

SJSU: Which part of researching sustainability was the most interesting or inspirational to you?

Lappe: The heart of my message now is that if we really incorporate the ecological worldview into our daily existence and really understand how incredibly interconnected we are, we have the power to fix it. The key is to understand that every choice we make has ripples throughout the system. Everything we do is changing the world. The choice we have is whether we are changing it consciously in the way that we want to.

SJSU: What else do you want SJSU students and alumni to know about sustainability or being mindful about their diet?

Lappe: Connect with other people and challenge yourself to learn and push the edge for the things that you are most excited about. There are endless possibilities to being sustainable, from getting rid of bottled water to choosing sustainable foods to recycling. The key is to connect with other people on your campus who are energized and bring that “what-can-you-do” attitude.

Originally published in the San Jose Mercury News on March 27, 2011.

By Mike Cassidy

If you’re one of the thousands of teachers who’ve found inspiration in the National Writing Project, think of the end of its federal funding as a bit of foreshadowing.

This sort of pulling the fiscal rug out from under a valuable program (to use a cliché) is likely to happen with depressing frequency as the endless budget battle in Washington rages on. (Yes, “endless” is hyperbole.)

Foreshadowing, cliché, hyperbole. If you’re among those who’ve found inspiration in the National Writing Project, then surely you’ve talked about writing devices when you gather for the Berkeley-based program’s intense summer sessions on college campuses nationwide. And increasingly you’ve talked about the

No doubt you’ve brought those lessons back to other teachers, who in turn have used them to mold their students not only into writers, but into writers ready for the digital age. Think of it as viral professional development, which is the beauty of the program, which pays to run 200 local project sites in all 50 states. The local sites host the summer programs where teachers share best practices and work on their own writing. The project also arranges workshops throughout the year, launches intensive writing programs in local schools and supports youth writing programs, among other initiatives, that reach 130,000 teachers and more than a million of their students each year.

Now the dramatic tension: The writing project, which started on the UC Berkeley campus 37 years ago, is staring death in the face. When Congress passed a resolution early this month to keep the government running, something had to give. Literally — and in this case literarily. Among the nearly $4 billion in cuts in the March 2 resolution was $25.6 million for the writing project, money that the national organization uses to attract an equal amount of matching money from states, universities, local school districts and nonprofits.

“It’s really rather devastating to us,” Sharon Washington, the writing project’s executive director, says of the loss of federal funds. “To me, it seems shortsighted to take those cuts out of education.”

Of course it’s shortsighted. Shortsighted is what we do now that politicians are obsessed with figuring out a way to pass a budget while showing voters back home that they’re doing something, anything, logical or not, to reduce the ballooning deficit.

The writing project was sentenced to death because it is an earmark, a phrase associated with pork projects and bridges to nowhere that benefit small constituencies. But it turns out all earmarks are not created equal. (Or equally, if you prefer.) The term actually refers to spending that Congress grants directly to an organization without a bidding or a competitive application process.

I can’t say that $25.6 million is the right number for the writing project. No question we eventually are going to have to tame the deficit and that will mean cutting spending and raising taxes. The problem is cutting without thinking.

How many times have you heard a politician say children are our future? How much talk have you heard about the need to develop our children’s 21st-century skills? And how often have you heard President Barack Obama talk about “winning the future?”

The writing project is on board, focusing in recent years on digital literacy — the idea that as writing tools evolve and the expectations of how we communicate change, students need to be armed with the writing skills that employers will demand. It’s a mindset that should resonate especially in Silicon Valley.

“It’s really about using digital tools, like word processing programs; people using their smartphones; common white spaces, like Google Docs,” Washington says. “Writing is still about thinking and composing. It’s also looking at how can we integrate and include things like pictures and sound and weave it all together into what people are calling digital storytelling.”

Besides teaching teachers ways to teach, the writing project gives them the time and space to really think about writing, to learn new ways to get young writers jazzed. It’s the kind of thing that doesn’t happen in schools with overcrowded classes, limited class time, an obsession with test scores and other distractions.

“For a lot of us, it reinvigorated our love of writing,” says Chong Vue, a language arts teacher, who, inspired by the writing project, started a writers group for students at Quimby Oak Middle School in San Jose. “I just learned so many amazing things that I wouldn’t have been able to learn on my own in 10 years.”

Ultimately those amazing things make their way to the small hands of students, who spend a shrinking amount of time on writing during school hours. Jonathan Lovell, an English professor and director of the writing program site at San Jose State, shared with me a letter from a middle-school student who attended one of the Saturday young writer sessions in San Jose.

“I learned many things that will help me now and later on in life such as: researching as much as possible; imagining being the character; not ‘hitting the reader over the head’ to create curiosity; but most importantly putting your heart into the story,” wrote the student, who for privacy reasons was identified as Diana G.

Writing project leaders aren’t sure how they’ll keep all the learning going without federal money. They have funding through September. Washington says they are looking to private donors and are encouraging Congress to at least set aside a pool of money for which the project could compete. “It’s the biggest challenge I’ve had in my professional career,” Washington says.

We’ll have to wait to see how it all plays out. Think of it as a cliffhanger.

Contact Mike Cassidy at mcassidy@mercurynews.com or 408-920-5536. Follow him at Twitter.com/mikecassidy.

Opinion originally published in the San Jose Mercury News on March 24, 2011.

There are lots of reasons to be optimistic about the choice of Mohammad Qayoumi as president of San Jose State, not the least of which is that he apparently wants to be here.

San Jose State has had four presidents or interim leaders in eight years. One lasted all of three weeks; another was practically invisible. The university needs a president with the leadership skills, imagination and — this is key — commitment of Robert Caret, who led the campus from 1995 to 2003, or Don Kassing, who graciously returned as interim president last year when the most recent president left.

Kassing and Caret got us spoiled. Both raised the university’s profile and deepened its partnership with the city, to the benefit of both.

Qayoumi appears to be in the same mold. And he knows what he’s getting into, having worked here from 1986 to 1995 and having spent 26 years in the CSU system, most recently as president of Cal State East Bay, in Hayward.

Qayoumi’s personal history is inspiring, even in Silicon Valley, where immigrants’ amazing success stories are commonplace. His journey from a childhood in Kabul through Beirut to America sounds like material for a novel, but Qayoumi is all science and budgets, with multiple engineering degrees and an MBA. That’s a good fit for San Jose State, which prepares a huge portion of the engineers who fuel the valley’s innovation economy.

The CSU system is in crisis today, with budget cuts forcing the betrayal of California youth once promised a college education, only to find themselves shut out. San Jose State needs a leader who can win the trust of faculty and students to guide the campus through this perilous time — and who, ideally, can engage the community in the future of its university. We’re hopeful that Qayoumi is the right person.

Opinion originally published in the San Jose Mercury News on March 24, 2011.

There are lots of reasons to be optimistic about the choice of Mohammad Qayoumi as president of San Jose State, not the least of which is that he apparently wants to be here.

San Jose State has had four presidents or interim leaders in eight years. One lasted all of three weeks; another was practically invisible. The university needs a president with the leadership skills, imagination and — this is key — commitment of Robert Caret, who led the campus from 1995 to 2003, or Don Kassing, who graciously returned as interim president last year when the most recent president left.

Kassing and Caret got us spoiled. Both raised the university’s profile and deepened its partnership with the city, to the benefit of both.

Qayoumi appears to be in the same mold. And he knows what he’s getting into, having worked here from 1986 to 1995 and having spent 26 years in the CSU system, most recently as president of Cal State East Bay, in Hayward.

Qayoumi’s personal history is inspiring, even in Silicon Valley, where immigrants’ amazing success stories are commonplace. His journey from a childhood in Kabul through Beirut to America sounds like material for a novel, but Qayoumi is all science and budgets, with multiple engineering degrees and an MBA. That’s a good fit for San Jose State, which prepares a huge portion of the engineers who fuel the valley’s innovation economy.

The CSU system is in crisis today, with budget cuts forcing the betrayal of California youth once promised a college education, only to find themselves shut out. San Jose State needs a leader who can win the trust of faculty and students to guide the campus through this perilous time — and who, ideally, can engage the community in the future of its university. We’re hopeful that Qayoumi is the right person.

Originally published in the San Jose Mercury News on March 23, 2011.

By Lisa M. Krieger

Three times a week as a youngster, Mohammed Qayoumi walked several miles across a rural suburb of Kabul Afghanistan just to learn English. Now, four decades later, the son of a carpenter, whose mother never learned to read or write, has been selected as the new president of San Jose State University

On Wednesday the California State University board of trustees introduced the financial expert and engineer who gained a reputation during his presidency of CSU-East Bay in Hayward for his cost-cutting, global perspective and shifting the school’s academic emphasis to the sciences, engineering and math. He holds four engineering degrees and an MBA.

That portfolio could serve him well at a culturally diverse campus that cherishes technology — yet faces significant budget reductions due to CSU’s projected $500 million shortfall. The San Jose-based school of 30,000 students is the number one supplier of engineering, education, computer science and business graduates in Silicon Valley.

“San Jose State University has always had a strong tradition of excellence, and has played a vital role building the human capital of the region. It has a great community. All of these will make it thrive even further, despite the financial challenges,” said the 59-year-old Qayoumi, who graduated from college in Beirut, Lebanon, just as it erupted into civil war. He came to the United States, supported by a modest scholarship, and worked his way through graduate school, eventually earning a PhD in electrical engineering.

His appointment represents a return to SJSU for Qayoumi, who between 1986 and 1995 served as SJSU’s vice president for administration. He ran the operational side of the campus, from staff training and energy sustainability, to the closing of San Carlos Street. He also oversaw development of a Master Plan for the physical design of the campus while working for Kassing, who was said to favor his appointment.

Qayoumi’s 26-year-long commitment to CSU is seen as a major asset for a university that has experienced great turnover in the president’s office, with four leaders in eight years.

At CSU East Bay, “He is generally held as a transparent leader — he lets the faculty know what is on his mind and where the money is going or not going,”said statistics professor Mitchell Watnik.

With an MBA and world-world engineering experience, “his background is in finance,” added Watnik. “Most of the time, university presidents come through the academic side. He’s never been a provost, for example. The perception is that he is a ‘bottom-line’ guy, interested in the budget. He’s been able to balance the budget here, unlike his predecessors.”

While at CSU East Bay, he not only improved financial stability and transparency but also increased the number of tenure-track faculty, enhanced physical facilities and adopted a new long-range academic with a focus on science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education.

Walking to English lessons

Qayoumi, (pronounced kigh-YO-me) grew up in a rural suburb of Kabul, Afghanistan, the eldest of six children. His parents valued education, seeing as a way to break class barriers. So he learned English as a child and his skills solidified in high school, where he studied technical coursework at a U.S.-funded campus. And his neighborhood turned prosperous as foreigners and diplomatic families moved in, offering him exposure to many different cultures.

He earned a degree in electrical engineering from American University of Beirut, in Lebanon, where he said he experienced first hand the power of higher education to transform a person’s fate. It was there he met his future wife, Najia Karim, a fellow Afghan student.

Civil war erupted during their graduation year, and they listened to the radio each morning to learn which roads were free of sniper attacks.

“It had a deep impact on me how a nice comfortable calm and serene area turn into a major site of carnage. So quickly things can change in one’s life,” he once said. “The thinness of that veneer of calm and serenity that we live in can be so fragile. Many times we don’t appreciate, as fully as we should, that the balance of a situation can be so delicate.”

During the oil boom of the mid-1970s, he worked on engineering projects in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. At the age of 25, he supervised crews of 50-100 people, from a dozen countries, speaking many languages.

Working Through Grad School

Then a scholarship offer from the University of Cincinnati brought him to the United States.

Like many CSU students, he worked and studied full time — while also teaching.

“My advice is to set audacious goals. To quote Eleanor Roosevelt, ‘the future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.’ And after you set those goals, work systematically to achieve them — recognizing that you’ll have setbacks and disappointments.”

On an urban campus with a substantial number of working students he added: “Recognize that there is not one particular road to get to where you’re going. But you need mental fortitude…and passion. And time management is critical. It’s the most precious asset we have.”

After the terrorist attacks of September 2001, when traveling in Europe, Qayoumi was sometimes set aside for additional searching and questioning, “but I did not feel it was intrusive or extraordinary,” he said. A bigger disappointment, he said, was the “short-lived” interest in learning about Islam, “a culture that constitutes more than one-fifth the world’s population.”

Upon arriving in the Bay Area with its strong Afghan community, “I felt like I was coming home.” His father is buried in a Hayward cemetery and many members of his wife’s family live nearby.

At CSU East Bay, “In these budget times, he has put the ax down on quite a few things, even in academics,” said Watnik. “Some faculty members don’t like the ways he has chopped — reducing lecturers on non-tenure track faculty in departments that were reliant on them, which hit pretty hard” he said. But in other departments, “he made a concerted effort to increase tenured faculty.”

“He also pushed this idea of STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education. A lot of folks in the liberal arts or social science disciplines felt alienated by that.”

Arrives in early July

He came to Cal State East Bay from Cal State Northridge, where he served as vice president for administration and finance and chief financial officer from 2000 until 2006, and was also a tenured professor of engineering management. Previously, Qayoumi served as vice chancellor for administration at SJSU.

A tenured professor of engineering at CSU-East Bay, he has published eight books and more than 85 articles. In addition to a B.S. in electrical engineering, he holds a Master of Science in nuclear engineering, a Master of Science in electrical and computer engineering, and MBA, and a Ph.D. in electrical engineering

Qayoumi will assume the San José presidency in early July, and succeeds interim President Kassing who retired in 2008, and returned last September to serve in an interim capacity until a new president is selected. The Board of Trustees will set Qayoumi’s compensation during its May board meeting.

“Dr. Qayoumi’s proven leadership abilities, commitment to students and administrative experience will be a tremendous asset to the campus and the community,” said CSU Trustee Debra Farar, chair of the presidential search committee. “His energy, innovation, progressive vision and ability to connect with students provide a strong foundation to lead San José State moving forward.”

Contact Lisa M. Krieger at (408) 920-5565.

Mohammad Qayoumi

Born: Kabul, Afghanistan, the eldest son of a carpenter.

Education: B.S. in electrical engineering, American University of Beirut, and four degrees from the University of Cincinnati: a Master of Science in nuclear engineering, a Master of Science in electrical and computer engineering, and MBA, and a Ph.D. in electrical engineering.

Wife: Najia Karim, Persian poet and clinical dietician at Eden Medical Center.

Languages: English, Persian Dari, Pashto, Arabic, with some Italian, German and French.

Hobbies: Travel, reading philosophy and religion and listening to classical music. While he favors Stravinsky, Beethoven and Tchaikovsky, “there a Persian saying,” he added, “that every flower has its own fragrance.”

Originally published in the San Jose Mercury News on March 23, 2011.

By Lisa M. Krieger

Three times a week as a youngster, Mohammed Qayoumi walked several miles across a rural suburb of Kabul Afghanistan just to learn English. Now, four decades later, the son of a carpenter, whose mother never learned to read or write, has been selected as the new president of San Jose State University

On Wednesday the California State University board of trustees introduced the financial expert and engineer who gained a reputation during his presidency of CSU-East Bay in Hayward for his cost-cutting, global perspective and shifting the school’s academic emphasis to the sciences, engineering and math. He holds four engineering degrees and an MBA.

That portfolio could serve him well at a culturally diverse campus that cherishes technology — yet faces significant budget reductions due to CSU’s projected $500 million shortfall. The San Jose-based school of 30,000 students is the number one supplier of engineering, education, computer science and business graduates in Silicon Valley.

“San Jose State University has always had a strong tradition of excellence, and has played a vital role building the human capital of the region. It has a great community. All of these will make it thrive even further, despite the financial challenges,” said the 59-year-old Qayoumi, who graduated from college in Beirut, Lebanon, just as it erupted into civil war. He came to the United States, supported by a modest scholarship, and worked his way through graduate school, eventually earning a PhD in electrical engineering.

His appointment represents a return to SJSU for Qayoumi, who between 1986 and 1995 served as SJSU’s vice president for administration. He ran the operational side of the campus, from staff training and energy sustainability, to the closing of San Carlos Street. He also oversaw development of a Master Plan for the physical design of the campus while working for Kassing, who was said to favor his appointment.

Qayoumi’s 26-year-long commitment to CSU is seen as a major asset for a university that has experienced great turnover in the president’s office, with four leaders in eight years.

At CSU East Bay, “He is generally held as a transparent leader — he lets the faculty know what is on his mind and where the money is going or not going,”said statistics professor Mitchell Watnik.

With an MBA and world-world engineering experience, “his background is in finance,” added Watnik. “Most of the time, university presidents come through the academic side. He’s never been a provost, for example. The perception is that he is a ‘bottom-line’ guy, interested in the budget. He’s been able to balance the budget here, unlike his predecessors.”

While at CSU East Bay, he not only improved financial stability and transparency but also increased the number of tenure-track faculty, enhanced physical facilities and adopted a new long-range academic with a focus on science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education.

Walking to English lessons

Qayoumi, (pronounced kigh-YO-me) grew up in a rural suburb of Kabul, Afghanistan, the eldest of six children. His parents valued education, seeing as a way to break class barriers. So he learned English as a child and his skills solidified in high school, where he studied technical coursework at a U.S.-funded campus. And his neighborhood turned prosperous as foreigners and diplomatic families moved in, offering him exposure to many different cultures.

He earned a degree in electrical engineering from American University of Beirut, in Lebanon, where he said he experienced first hand the power of higher education to transform a person’s fate. It was there he met his future wife, Najia Karim, a fellow Afghan student.

Civil war erupted during their graduation year, and they listened to the radio each morning to learn which roads were free of sniper attacks.

“It had a deep impact on me how a nice comfortable calm and serene area turn into a major site of carnage. So quickly things can change in one’s life,” he once said. “The thinness of that veneer of calm and serenity that we live in can be so fragile. Many times we don’t appreciate, as fully as we should, that the balance of a situation can be so delicate.”

During the oil boom of the mid-1970s, he worked on engineering projects in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. At the age of 25, he supervised crews of 50-100 people, from a dozen countries, speaking many languages.

Working Through Grad School

Then a scholarship offer from the University of Cincinnati brought him to the United States.

Like many CSU students, he worked and studied full time — while also teaching.

“My advice is to set audacious goals. To quote Eleanor Roosevelt, ‘the future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.’ And after you set those goals, work systematically to achieve them — recognizing that you’ll have setbacks and disappointments.”

On an urban campus with a substantial number of working students he added: “Recognize that there is not one particular road to get to where you’re going. But you need mental fortitude…and passion. And time management is critical. It’s the most precious asset we have.”

After the terrorist attacks of September 2001, when traveling in Europe, Qayoumi was sometimes set aside for additional searching and questioning, “but I did not feel it was intrusive or extraordinary,” he said. A bigger disappointment, he said, was the “short-lived” interest in learning about Islam, “a culture that constitutes more than one-fifth the world’s population.”

Upon arriving in the Bay Area with its strong Afghan community, “I felt like I was coming home.” His father is buried in a Hayward cemetery and many members of his wife’s family live nearby.

At CSU East Bay, “In these budget times, he has put the ax down on quite a few things, even in academics,” said Watnik. “Some faculty members don’t like the ways he has chopped — reducing lecturers on non-tenure track faculty in departments that were reliant on them, which hit pretty hard” he said. But in other departments, “he made a concerted effort to increase tenured faculty.”

“He also pushed this idea of STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education. A lot of folks in the liberal arts or social science disciplines felt alienated by that.”

Arrives in early July

He came to Cal State East Bay from Cal State Northridge, where he served as vice president for administration and finance and chief financial officer from 2000 until 2006, and was also a tenured professor of engineering management. Previously, Qayoumi served as vice chancellor for administration at SJSU.

A tenured professor of engineering at CSU-East Bay, he has published eight books and more than 85 articles. In addition to a B.S. in electrical engineering, he holds a Master of Science in nuclear engineering, a Master of Science in electrical and computer engineering, and MBA, and a Ph.D. in electrical engineering

Qayoumi will assume the San José presidency in early July, and succeeds interim President Kassing who retired in 2008, and returned last September to serve in an interim capacity until a new president is selected. The Board of Trustees will set Qayoumi’s compensation during its May board meeting.

“Dr. Qayoumi’s proven leadership abilities, commitment to students and administrative experience will be a tremendous asset to the campus and the community,” said CSU Trustee Debra Farar, chair of the presidential search committee. “His energy, innovation, progressive vision and ability to connect with students provide a strong foundation to lead San José State moving forward.”

Contact Lisa M. Krieger at (408) 920-5565.

Mohammad Qayoumi

Born: Kabul, Afghanistan, the eldest son of a carpenter.

Education: B.S. in electrical engineering, American University of Beirut, and four degrees from the University of Cincinnati: a Master of Science in nuclear engineering, a Master of Science in electrical and computer engineering, and MBA, and a Ph.D. in electrical engineering.

Wife: Najia Karim, Persian poet and clinical dietician at Eden Medical Center.

Languages: English, Persian Dari, Pashto, Arabic, with some Italian, German and French.

Hobbies: Travel, reading philosophy and religion and listening to classical music. While he favors Stravinsky, Beethoven and Tchaikovsky, “there a Persian saying,” he added, “that every flower has its own fragrance.”

Courtesy: San Jose State Athletics

SJSU Spartan Men’s Golf invites you and your guests to compete in The Western College-Am set for Fri. April 15, 2011 at the famed Pasatiempo Golf Club (Santa, Cruz, CA), a spectacular championship course that is commonly referred to in golf circles as MacKenzie’s Masterpiece.

This 18-hole team-format event will also serves as a Practice Round for collegiate golfers competing in the 54-hole Western Intercollegiate set for Sat. April 16 and Sun. April 17.

The Western College-Am attracts alums plus business and community leaders, all with the common desire to experience a tremendous course alongside talented collegiate players. (Each College-Am team will consist of three amateur players and two collegiate players.)

Read full story on www.sjsuspartans.com.

Originally appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle on March 24, 2011.

By Nanette Asimov, Chronicle Staff Writer

San Jose State University named Mohammad Qayoumi, an engineering whiz who has led Cal State East Bay in Hayward since 2006, as its 28th president Wednesday.

In making the leap across California State University campuses, Qayoumi will trade a small school of fewer than 13,000 students for one of 30,000 that is among CSU’s most popular and crowded destinations.

“I am honored and humbled to be selected,” Qayoumi said in a statement. “I look forward to working with the talented students to ensure they have a rich and rewarding college experience and to prepare them for future success.”

Qayoumi spoke optimistically about his new campus, noting that opportunities “will only be limited by our imagination.” But opportunities will soon be constrained by more than imagination at San Jose and at all 23 CSU campuses.

University trustees announced Tuesday that they will bar the door next fall to 10,000 qualified students, and that each campus will have to reduce the number of employees because California will cut CSU’s funding by at least $500 million.

Imagination helped define Qayoumi’s five-year tenure at Cal State East Bay, long a campus of last resort in the CSU system that attracted mainly older and part-time students who declined to live on campus.

But Qayoumi, who has five engineering degrees, imagined it as the go-to school for science, technology, engineering and math education.

He recently pulled in more than $2 million in grants toward that goal, and created new programs in health and environmental fields. A vigorous outreach program at area high schools has more than doubled the number of students living on campus, and led to a steady increase in first-time freshmen.

“He leaves the university well positioned for future expansion, increased excellence and growing prominence,” said James Houpis, provost and vice president for academic affairs at Cal State East Bay.

Qayoumi will join San Jose State next summer, succeeding interim President Don Kassing.

CSU trustees are expected to appoint an interim president at Cal State East Bay before selecting a new president.

Another Bay Area college with a new president is the private Dominican University in San Rafael. The campus has chosen Mary Marcy as the ninth president in its 121-year history. She succeeds Joseph Fink.

Marcy has been vice president of Bard College in upstate New York since 2004.

E-mail Nanette Asimov at nasimov@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page C – 6 of the San Francisco Chronicle

Originally appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle on March 24, 2011.

By Nanette Asimov, Chronicle Staff Writer

San Jose State University named Mohammad Qayoumi, an engineering whiz who has led Cal State East Bay in Hayward since 2006, as its 28th president Wednesday.

In making the leap across California State University campuses, Qayoumi will trade a small school of fewer than 13,000 students for one of 30,000 that is among CSU’s most popular and crowded destinations.

“I am honored and humbled to be selected,” Qayoumi said in a statement. “I look forward to working with the talented students to ensure they have a rich and rewarding college experience and to prepare them for future success.”

Qayoumi spoke optimistically about his new campus, noting that opportunities “will only be limited by our imagination.” But opportunities will soon be constrained by more than imagination at San Jose and at all 23 CSU campuses.

University trustees announced Tuesday that they will bar the door next fall to 10,000 qualified students, and that each campus will have to reduce the number of employees because California will cut CSU’s funding by at least $500 million.

Imagination helped define Qayoumi’s five-year tenure at Cal State East Bay, long a campus of last resort in the CSU system that attracted mainly older and part-time students who declined to live on campus.

But Qayoumi, who has five engineering degrees, imagined it as the go-to school for science, technology, engineering and math education.

He recently pulled in more than $2 million in grants toward that goal, and created new programs in health and environmental fields. A vigorous outreach program at area high schools has more than doubled the number of students living on campus, and led to a steady increase in first-time freshmen.

“He leaves the university well positioned for future expansion, increased excellence and growing prominence,” said James Houpis, provost and vice president for academic affairs at Cal State East Bay.

Qayoumi will join San Jose State next summer, succeeding interim President Don Kassing.

CSU trustees are expected to appoint an interim president at Cal State East Bay before selecting a new president.

Another Bay Area college with a new president is the private Dominican University in San Rafael. The campus has chosen Mary Marcy as the ninth president in its 121-year history. She succeeds Joseph Fink.

Marcy has been vice president of Bard College in upstate New York since 2004.

E-mail Nanette Asimov at nasimov@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page C – 6 of the San Francisco Chronicle

Originally published in the Oakland Tribune on March 24, 2011

By Chris Metinko

HAYWARD — Cal State East Bay President Mo Qayoumi will leave his post this summer to assume the presidency at San Jose State University.

The California State University Board of Trustees on Wednesday selected Qayoumi from a list of three finalists to head the South Bay university.

Qayoumi succeeds interim San Jose State President Don Kassing who retired in 2008, and returned last September to serve in an interim capacity until a new president was selected.

“I’m looking forward to going back home, in a way,” Qayoumi said. “But there are definitely mixed emotions. There is certainly a family feel here at Cal State East Bay.”

This is not Qayoumi’s first time at San Jose State. In 1986, Qayoumi began a nine-year run as associate vice president for administration at San Jose State. That was followed by five years at the University of Missouri at Rolla and then six years at Cal State Northridge. He came to Cal State East Bay — which has a campus in Concord — in 2006.

Qayoumi, who recently said he had been approached before for other openings at Cal State schools, said he was attracted to San Jose State because of its place in Silicon Valley and the opportunities the university is provided because of the quality of the city and its schools.

“I am honored and humbled to be selected and to accept the challenge of leading San Jose State University in the years ahead,” Qayoumi said. “The tremendous opportunities and boundless possibilities of SJSU will only be limited by our imagination.”

Qayoumi said while it is hard to leave the East Bay, he is happy in what he has achieved.

“I think when you look at it, we had four key goals when I came — and we accomplished them,” Qayoumi said.

Qayoumi listed those goals as increasing enrollment, bringing in more tenure-track faculty, stabilizing the school’s finances and improving the campus. He added, however, he will miss Hayward.

“I’ll miss the strong sense of community we have here at Cal State East Bay. There is great camaraderie and compassion among students and staff.”

Qayoumi, who grew up in a rural suburb of Kabul, Afghanistan, is the oldest son of a carpenter. His father had only a grade-school education; his mother never learned to read or write.

Qayoumi earned a degree in electrical engineering from American University of Beirut, in Lebanon.

After working on engineering projects in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, he came to the United States and attended college at the University of Cincinnati, where he earned four more degrees.

The other finalists for the San Jose State job were Leroy Morishita, vice president and chief financial officer at San Francisco State; and David Steele, dean of the College of Business at San Jose State.

The board of trustees will set Qayoumi’s salary and benefits during its May board meeting.

This year, the president of San Jose State is making $328,200, plus a $25,000 supplement, with housing provided.

Qayoumi is making $276,055 with a $60,000 housing supplement at Cal State East Bay.

Contact Chris Metinko at 510-293-2479.