Dr. Steven R. Angle is the last of the three candidates running to be Cal Poly’s next president to visit campus. He is scheduled to visit today.
The three forums Angle will attend are designed for students, faculty, staff and community members to ask questions of him.
Cal Poly Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Robert Koob said while all three candidates’ academic backgrounds and experience are important, he hopes to see more depth to the their character to see how they will adapt to the campus if chosen as president.
“I am looking more for their value set,” Koob said. “This is a growth position that they will have to grow into. College administration is a learn-by-doing job.”
Koob said while all three candidates have backgrounds rich in math and science, he hopes to see them use their experience to think creatively to support Cal Poly’s programs in this difficult fiscal environment.
Similar to Koob, Angle is the provost of Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio. Since beginning in 2007, his duties included overseeing the university’s colleges and nationally-funded research centers. He also supervised the divisions of Business and Finance, Advancement, Student Affairs, Enrollment Management, Curriculum and Instruction and Research.
At the time of his acceptance, administrators were very excited to have him join the university, said Wright State president David R. Hopkins in a press release in 2007.
“He has had great success as an administrator of a complex and multifaceted organization,” Hopkins said. “He has demonstrated a personal commitment to diversity and a dedication to building quality and excellence in higher education.”
Wright State University has more than 18,000 students, about 2,000 less than Cal Poly. It is also credited with establishing the National Center for Medical Readiness, a program intended to train medical personnel for large-scale emergencies such as natural disasters or military-related attacks.
At the university Angle is known to have a good reputation amongst the campus community, said Jenna Ziegler, a Wright State University social sciences education senior. Since photographing multiple events as chief photographer for the college paper, The Guardian, Ziegler has become familiar with Angle while at the campus.
“He has a good presence amongst the students and has been a good asset at Wright,” Ziegler said. “He really takes the time to get to know students and remembers them.”
Before working at Wright State University, Angle was dean of the College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences at the University of California, Riverside (UCR) for seven years. He oversaw 13 academic departments under this college and worked with more than 265 faculty members and 4,600 students. He also managed the college’s daily operations, strategic planning and $54 million annual budget.
Under this title, he worked with campus administration to secure state and private funding for seven major capital projects, began a genomics institute and presided over a 20 percent rise in freshman enrollment.
As an administrator, he lead several construction projects including construction of the Physical Sciences, Biological Sciences, and Science Laboratory Buildings. He also helped secure funding for the Materials Science, Genomics and Geology Buildings, and the Boyce, Webber and Batchelor Halls.
Angle began his career in the education system when he became an assistant professor of chemistry in 1986 at UCR. He became a full-time professor in 1994 and received UCR’s Distinguished Teaching Award in 1991.
He was also elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1999 and an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow in 1993. These awards granted him the funding and means to pursue new research on chemotherapy and experiment with the design of new anti-cancer compounds.
Prior to working at UCR, Angle was vice president of Angle and Babbage Office Equipment, Inc.
He received a bachelor’s of science in organic chemistry from the University of California, Irvine (UCI) in 1978 and a master’s in chemistry from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1981. In 1984, he received a Ph.D in organic chemistry from UCI.
His research interests have included organic synthesis, development of new synthesis methodologies and strategies, bioorganic chemistry, and biomemmetic synthesis.
Angle will visit the campus Wednesday to meet with students, staff and faculty. He will attend the Associated Students, Inc. Student Open Forum from 10:50 to 11:30 a.m. in Chumash Auditorium, then meet with faculty and staff from 1:10 to 1:50 p.m. in Alex and Faye Spanos Theatre. A university and community open forum will also be held from 4:10 to 5:30 p.m. in the Advanced Technology Laboratories.