Mandel to leave CSULB

After raising $18 million dollars last year, Vice President of University Relations, Jerry Mandel, is leaving Cal State Long Beach.

Upon UC Regents approval on May 22, Mandel will be taking over the position of vice chancellor of university advancement at UC Irvine.

During his six years at CSULB, Mandel and his staff of 45 have worked to raise funds through private sources for the university.

Mandel's goal was to raise $22 million for CSULB this year. His overall goal was to be generating 20 to 30 percent of the university's overall budget by the year 2000 through his division.

"This is a career advancement for me," said the CSULB alumnus, "Otherwise, I would never leave Long Beach."

Mandel credits his fund-raising talent to the experience he gained at CSULB. "It has been an incredible training ground," he said.

As vice chancellor of university advancement at UC Irvine, Mandel will have a division twice the size of the one he headed at CSULB and will be expected to raise twice the money, he said.

UC Irvine is a research university and focuses more on graduate research. Irvine offers national and international programs as well as a hospital for Mandel to focus on. He said the move will give him a wider range in function.

"It will allow me to double what I've done here and at a much more national prospective," Mandel said.

Robert Maxson, CSULB president, said he is sorry to see Mandel leave.

"This is a good opportunity for him, and although I hate to see him go, I encouraged him to accept the job because it is a wonderful position," Maxson said.

Maxson will be appointing an acting vice president of university relations and development within the next two weeks. He said it will probably be someone from CSULB and that he is currently asking various people around campus for their imput.

The next step will be to start a national search for a permanent vice president of university relations and development. "I hope to have someone hired and on board early fall semester," Maxson said.

Mandel graduated from CSULB in 1962 with a bachelor's degree in speech communication. He then went on to earn his doctorate at Purdue University in this same field.

Mandel is looking at this move as another step in his career. He said, "this is the last phase in my career."