Robert
C. Maxson
Maxson
takes last presidential steps at CSULB
By
Joseph Serna and Roberta Berredo
Online Forty-Niner
The end of the semester is within sight, as is the end of an era at Cal State
Long Beach.
Robert C. Maxson, CSULB’s president for 11 years, will spend his last
day on campus Dec. 22—a day he said will be full of both sadness and
joy.
“
When I walk out the door, turn out the lights, lock the door, and walk to my
car, that will be an emotional time for me,” he said.
“
I really have mixed emotions,” he said. “After 26 years [as a university
president], I’m excited about doing some other things. But I will surely,
surely miss the students.”
Maxson was known for greeting and being greeted by students as he made the
daily walk to his office from his car, and cheering in the stands at CSULB
sporting events.
“
I’ve been mindful that I won’t be walking across campus everyday,” Maxson
said.
Even now, he said he remains in contact with former students, such as Bobby
Crosby, the shortstop for the Oakland
Athletics, who he talks to every few weeks.
Maxson has a signed picture of Crosby in his office, he said.
Though one may expect an office to gather more and more things over 11 years,
Maxson said when he takes the last item off his shelf, he will have just about
as many things as when he moved in—only now they will have more value.
“
Everything you have in your office has a memory,” he said.
Maxson chuckled when he remembered what it was like when he first came on campus.
These days students approach him to say something, but he remembers when he
was new and had to walk around introducing himself.
Even the conversations he has with students are changing.
“
Students have always stopped to talk to me, but now it’s a different
message,” Maxson said.
“
One student told me she wished I could be there to sign her diploma in May.
That certainly makes me feel good,” he said.
Though the messages have changed over the years, “my relationship with
the students since they first got to know who I am has remained the same,” he
said.
“
When making decisions, I always ask my staff, ‘What is going to be best
for the students?’” Maxson said. “If we keep this in mind,
then I know our decisions will always be right.”
Doug Robinson, vice president of Student Services, said, “President Maxson
taught the campus community that shared governance is by far the best way to
run a large comprehensive urban university.”
Upon Maxson’s arrival at CSULB, he established the Blue Ribbon Task Force
on Services to Students, which upgraded and improved all university services
to students.
Maxson’s intent to assist student needs was evident in both’the
$16 million addition to the University Student Union and the $2.5 million renovation
to the Student Health Center, which he approved.
“
He also kept student fees as low as possible,” Robinson said. “CSULB
currently has the lowest fee structure in the CSU [system].”
Maxson has impacted the CSULB campus throughout his presidential tenure through
his efforts to advance the university’s academic reputation.
“
It’s important for me to make sure that the 35,000 students who go to
school here know the degrees they are receiving are worth more because of the
valued academic reputation of this university,” Maxson said.
Maxson established the President’s Scholar’s and the President’s
Ambassadors programs. He also increased enrollments by placing importance on
the recruitment and enrollment of incoming freshmen at CSULB.
Maxson’s said his goals to increase the university’s academic reputation
were more than reached when CSULB was ranked the third best public university
out of 64 public universities on the west coast.
“
Maxson’s presidency ushered CSULB into its ‘Golden Era,’” Robinson
said. “He raised the academic standards at CSULB, leading to an improved
national profile for the university.”
Maxson’s also oversaw the expansion of the University Library, along
with the university’s transition to a new computer system.
“
I’ve tried to make this the university of choice for students,” Maxson
said. “If they feel good about where they go to school, then they learn
more.”
Maxson’s successor, F. King Alexander, who has a similar relationship
with his students at Murray State University, will hopefully continue the course
of the university and relationship with students Maxson said he’s developed
through the years.
Steering the direction of the university hasn’t been easy, Maxson admitted.
For him, it was a seven-day-a-week job.
“
The president’s job consumes you,” he said. “[And] I’ve
loved every minute of it.”
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