New
CoLA dean wants to improve graduate program
By Allison Baldwin
Online Forty-Niner
Editorial Assistant
Cal State Long Beach named Gerry Riposa the new dean for the College of Liberal
Arts (CoLA) Monday. Riposa, a professor in the political science department,
was appointed to replace Dorothy (Dee) Abrahamse, who served CoLA dean since
its creation in 1992.
“
She left some pretty big shoes to fill,” Riposa said.
He served as CoLA associate dean for three years before his appointment and has
been with Cal State Long Beach since 1989. He said he wanted to be dean because
it provides a different opportunity and a different challenge.
As CoLA dean, he is responsible for the college’s fiscal and personnel
resources, and is also responsible for coordinating the college’s 31 bachelor’s
degree programs, 17 master’s degree programs, 32 minor programs and 12
certificate programs.
Riposa is responsible for the largest college on campus,
which serves 7,500 students.
“
I believe Gerry has been an incredible associate dean,” said Eileen Klink,
English department chairwoman. “I think he’s going to make an excellent
dean for our college.”
Riposa said he wants to work on improving student success, put resources toward
increasing the college’s master’s program and develop more opportunities
for faculty research.
Riposa said he wants to build up both instruction and student support services
that will increase students’ success by improving retention and graduation
rates. He said he wants to improve CoLA’s master’s program by expanding
it and creating new ones to accommodate increased interest in graduate studies.
Riposa said he would like to see more opportunities for CoLA faculty to do research,
especially in collaboration with students. He said he will bring experience with
budgets and enrollment to the job and he wants to use his knowledge to get more
grants.
According to Klink, Riposa has earned the support and respect of many department
chairs in the college. She described him as a man who is honest, has integrity,
has candor and always thinks about the impact his decision has on students. Klink
said Riposa listens to his faculty and is very approachable. She said he has
an “open-door policy.”
“
If someone asked me to sum Gerry up in one sentence, [it would be] what you see
is what you get,” Klink said.
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