At Maxson's first convocation four years ago, he said he carried one note card with him when he climbed to the podium to give his speech.

As a then new president, there were four areas he wanted to talk about: university of choice, service to students, community relations, and academic reputation.

Since that first year, his state of the university address has continued to be a report card on the areas outlined in that first convocation.

To demonstrate the progress CSULB has made in becoming the aniversity of choice, Karl Anatol, provost and senior vice president, introduced the 74 President's Scholars.

These incoming freshmen were recruited from the top 5 percent of the high school classes in California.

"It was a little bit more then I expected," said Julie Drews, a President's Scholar coming from Porterville, "like the standing ovation."

"These people have Ph.D.s' and they are honoring us. Were only eighteen years old," said Eleanor Garner, who is also a President's Scholar from Porterville.

Maxson said that Bill Lockyear, who is head of the state senate and a leader in the democratic party, issued a proclamation in January calling on other CSU campuses and University of California campuses to consider establishing the CSULB PresidentŐs Scholars program on their campuses.

Maxson also highlighted the referral center which was established in the administrative offices to cut down on students waiting in lines to get academic help.

With the new referral system, Maxson said over 5,000 students were seen in a one-on -one session with specialists in all areas of enrollment services during the first six months.

"No campus in this state, public or private," Maxson said, "is doing a better job at servicing students."

Maxson cited the seamless education program and the pipeline CSULB has created for students to be educated from K-graduate school right in this community as an example of how this University works to establish community relations.

Maxson also said that the University had raised about 26 million in fundraising which is the highest in the nation among similar institutions.

Under Maxson's academic reputation report, he highlighted the CSULB dance department being rated among the top 10 in the nation and Sharron Hefner who is a CSULB student who was one of 60 students to be named an Academic All-American by USA Today.

"I think that we have come a long way from Maxson's four objectives from four years ago, but we still have a lot of work to do," said Associated Students Inc. President Naomi Rodriguez.

"He has more than filled my expectations," she said.