David Allen Dowell
I am fortunate to serve California State University Long
Beach (CSULB) as Vice Provost, Director of Strategic Planning, and Professor of
Psychology. As Vice Provost, I am responsible for planning and managing an
academic budget in excess of $120m, admission policies and practices,
enrollment of 37,000 students, leadership of student success initiatives, academic
support services, and academic facilities. As Director of Strategic
Planning, I collaboratively lead the annual campus strategic planning process
and cross-divisional initiatives related to enrollment, student 
success,
and accountability.
As a scholar, I specialize in applied social research and
program evaluation. I have authored or co-authored more than 120 scholarly
publications, presentations and technical reports as well as numerous external
grants totaling several million dollars. I founded and for several years
directed the California K-16 conference held annually in
In the past, I have served as: Acting Dean of the
Selected Administrative Accomplishments
Strategic Planning
ˇ Created and led a highly effective annual university-wide strategic planning process (http://www.csulb.edu/divisions/aa/planning_enrollment/strategicplanning.html)
ˇ Effectively led revision of CSULB’s mission and vision statements (http://www.csulb.edu/about/)
ˇ Effectively led the CSULB’s process for a new Enrollment and Physical Master Plan Framework (http://www.csulb.edu/divisions/aa/planning_enrollment/campusmasterplanning.html)
ˇ Effectively led biennial university-wide accountability reporting
Academic Budgeting and Facilities Planning
ˇ Played a central role in protecting CSULB from effects of the recent state budget crisis in early 2000s and currently playing a key role in planning for budget crisis of 2008
ˇ Enlarged academic division funding for faculty scholarly and creative activities
ˇ Enlarged academic division funding for student success activities
ˇ Changed key academic budgeting practices to be more responsive to student needs
ˇ Planned and oversaw $120m academic division budget
ˇ Successfully revised budget model for student study abroad, leading to dramatic expansion of student participation
ˇ Launched a successful facilities planning effort to prepare for anticipated enrollment growth
ˇ Effectively oversaw academic aspects of major capital (Library remodel, planned Science, Nursing, Liberal Arts buildings) and minor capital projects (student services, Arts, and Engineering)
Student Success
ˇ Effectively led University-wide student success efforts to meet and exceed campus student success goals
ˇ Initiated a successful program (Beach Learning) aimed at the most academically challenged freshmen
ˇ Successfully implemented campus-wide second semester freshman advising
ˇ Relocated Academic Advising and Learning Assistance to the heart of campus, implementing for CSULB a “one stop shop” in a high-impact, student-friendly environment
ˇ Led a team in the landmark 2005 national study of student success sponsored by the American Association of State Colleges and Universities and The Education Trust; brought key ideas back to CSULB; led a second team in 2007
ˇ Initiated a project with non-state funds to improve African American male academic success
ˇ Led Western Association of Schools and Colleges campus accreditation “Commitment III,” focusing on student success
ˇ Initiated and annually updated “CSULB Student Success Plan” (2003) and initiated a web-based project management to track progress (http://fglibrarycsulbedu/)
ˇ Initiated program to provide deans with resources to initiate student success projects
ˇ Initiated a highly successful program of academic advisor training
ˇ Initiated a project to address high failure rate courses
ˇ Strengthened academic advising and increased staffing
ˇ Increased staffing to address Graduation Writing Proficiency needs
ˇ Initiated inclusion of student success expectations into academic program review
ˇ Initiated use of department-specific graduation rate data
ˇ Successfully expanded graduation support programs
ˇ Stimulated and supported innovation with math remediation
ˇ Enlarged support for linked classes to almost all freshmen (Beach Beginnings)
ˇ Supported revamping first semester advising into a more personalized format
ˇ Initiated changes in freshman placement and testing
ˇ Authored publications and presentations about campus innovations in student success
K-16 Collaboration
ˇ Co-authored the “Long Beach College Promise” (2008), creating incentives for local youth to pursue college aspirations
ˇ
Initiated a support program for transfer
students from
ˇ Co-founded the nationally recognized Long Beach Seamless Education Partnership
ˇ Co-developed school-university collaborative and service-learning: Service Experiences for Re-Vitalizing Education, High School Outreach and Academic Preparation, Lakewood California Academic Partnership
ˇ Founded and for several years led the externally funded California K-16 Partnerships and Student Success Annual Conference at CSULB, attended by up to 1,000 people
ˇ Co-authored an influential technical report (Cohn, Dowell, et al, 2004) disseminated to about 2,000 individuals that resulted in a new statewide K-16 collaboration project, ARCHES
ˇ Provided testimony to the state legislature about K-16 collaboration
ˇ Published extensively about the Long Beach K-16 partnership work
ˇ Co-authored $3M in grants for school-university collaboration projects
Enrollment and Admissions Planning
ˇ Effectively led University and academic division enrollment planning to cope with 20% growth over several years
ˇ Effectively expanded use of information resources to assist with enrollment management
ˇ Developed divisional plans to admit and enroll Katrina hurricane victims
ˇ Authored publications and presentations about campus innovations in enrollment planning
Faculty
ˇ Excellent teacher of courses in psychology and university honors
ˇ Author of numerous scholarly publications
ˇ Recipient of three (3) Meritorious Performance and Professional Promise Awards
ˇ Recipient of sixteen (16) Scholarly and Creative Activity awards
ˇ Author or co-author of twenty (20) successful external grants totaling over $3.5M
ˇ Mentor for several programs aimed at promoting success of underrepresented students
Prior Appointments
Director of Strategic Planning,
Associate Dean,
Special Assistant to the Provost/Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs (1/96–6/98)
Acting Dean,
Chair, Department of Psychology,
Professor of Psychology (9/86‑present),
Associate Professor of Psychology (9/81‑9/86),
Assistant Professor of Psychology (9/77‑9/81),
Instructor, Department of Psychology,
Education
Ph.D., Psychology, 1977,
M.A., Psychology, 1976,
B.S., 1973,
International Experience
Professional travel:
Selected Recent Publications, Presentations and Technical Reports
Dowell, D., Fung, H., & Wiley, M. (2008) Beach Learning Community: Supporting the Most Academically Needy Students, Annual Conference of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, San Diego, CA, April (Refereed)
Dowell, D. (2008) Enrollment Planning and Management,
Dowell, D., Pellicciotti, B. Gebert, K., Hawkins, C., Kennedy, M., Luckey, R., & Pugliesi, K. (2007) Graduation Rate Outcomes Study, Northwestern State University at Natchitoches, Louisiana, Final Report (Report of a site visit sponsored by the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (Technical report)
Dowell, D. & Thomson, G. (2007) Data-driven Approaches to Fostering Student Success and Accountability, Annual Conference of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, San Jose, CA, April (Refereed)
Alexander, F. K., Dowell, D., Soni, P., & Mistry, S.
(2006) Student Success at
Dowell, D. (2006) Enrollment Planning, Academic Budgeting and
the Graduate Differential at CSULB,
Dowell, D., Roeuny, R. & Herst, D. (2006) Evaluation of the Collaborative Research in Undergraduate Institutions (CRUI) Project at California State University Long Beach (Technical report to the National Institutes of Health)
Dowell, D., Reichard, G., Merryfield, M. and Pellissier, B. (2005) The Beach is Hot: How One Campus Learned to Address Student Needs, Eleventh Annual International Conference of the Coalition of Urban and Metropolitan Universities, Torrance, CA (Refereed)
Dowell, D. (2005) From Budget Crisis to One of America’s Best, The Society for College and University Planning Annual Conference, Washington, D.C., July (Refereed)
Dowell, D.; Batty, P.; Belmear.; M. Bondeson, S.; Cavallaro, C.; Howell, S.; Minks, L.; & Sill, D. (2005) Site Visit Report, Elizabeth City State University for the National Study of High Performing Universities for Retention and Graduation. Site visit report for the national study sponsored by the American Association of Colleges and Universities and The Education Trust (Technical report)
Dowell, D. (2004) How One Campus Learned to Address Student
Needs:
Rendón, L. I., Novack, V., & Dowell, D. (2004) Testing Race-Neutral Admissions Models: Lessons from California State University-Long Beach, The Review of Higher Education 28.2, 221-243 (Refereed)
Dowell D. & Em, R. (2004) Career Commitment of Biomedical Science Students: Three Studies, Final grant report for the National Science Foundation. Research report on grant funded by the National Institutes of Health (Technical report)
Dowell, D. (2004) The Beach is Hot: How One Campus Learned to
Address Student Needs, Students in Transition National Conference,
Dowell, D. (2004) The California
Cohn, K., Dowell, D. Kim, S., Lindahl,
C., Maldonado, C. & Seal, J. (2004) Raising
Student Achievement through Effective Education Partnerships: Policy and
Practice,
Dowell, D. Novack, V. & Rendon, L. (2004) Balancing Priorities:
Admissions and Enrollment Management in a Budget Downturn, Society for College
and University Planning,
Dowell, D., Abrahamse, D., Houck, J., Seal, J., Green, H. J.,
Cohn, K., Ambos, E., Isbell, L., Kahl, K., &
DeVries, K. (2004) Successful partnerships bridge organizational cultures and
unite members around common goals, Chapter 2 in Partnering to Lead
Educational Renewal: High Quality Teachers, High Quality Schools.
Ambos, E., Dowell, D., Amaris, M.S.,
Ball, J., Alexander, P., & Dawson, D. (2004) Collaborative interventions to
improve high school students' achievement and college readiness:
The HSOAP story, Chapter 4 in Partnering to Lead Educational Renewal: High
Quality Teachers, High Quality Schools.
Abrahamse, D., Nagel, G., Ambos, E., Curtis, K., & Dowell,
D. (2004) Arts and sciences faculty as partners: What's in it for arts
and science faculty besides feeling good? Chapter 7 in Partnering
to Lead Educational Renewal: High Quality Teachers,
Kim, S., Powers, K., Dowell, D., Hansen, J., Flores, E., &
Trapp, F. (2004)
Dowell D. & Em, R. (2003) Evaluation of the Minority Access to Research Careers Project. Research report on grant funded by the National Institutes of Health. (Technical report)
Smolin, J. M., & Dowell, D. A. (2003) Social identity:
Effects of differentiation and threat on group identification. Western
Psychological Association,
Dowell, D. (April 2003) Review of: Scholarship Revisited: Perspectives on the Scholarship of Teaching in Exchanges, the Online Journal of Teaching and Learning in the CSU, http://www.exchangesjournal.org/reviews/review_1139.html (Refereed)
Dowell D. & Herst, D. (2002) Evaluation of the Collaborative Research in Undergraduate Institutions Project (Report on project funded by the National Science Foundation) (Technical report)
Beasley, K. (author) and Dowell, D. (editor) (2002)
Beasley, K. (author) and Dowell, D. (editor) (2001)
Dowel, D., Cohn, K., Nagel, G., O’Connor, D., Curtis, K., Abrahamse, D., Houck, J. & Person, D. (2001) Final Report: The Integrated Teacher Education Program. Final report on three-year, $450,000 grant funded by the Knight Foundation (Technical report)
Dowell, D. (2000) Evaluation of Seamless Education, The
Education Trust Annual Conference,
Dowell, D., Winters, L., Piscopo, K., Coan, D. and Trapp,
F. (2000) Evaluation of Seamless Education,
Dowell, D. Bachelor, T. and Crowther, S. (2000) Diversity and quality during rapid enrollment growth, American Association for Higher Education Annual Conference, Anaheim, CA, April (Refereed)
Dowell, D. (2000) The Long Beach Seamless
Education Initiative. Jobs for the Future annual conference,
Dowell D. & Herst, D. (2000) Program Evaluation of the Minority Student Development Program, College of Natural Science, California State University, Long Beach. Evaluation report on program funded by the National Institutes of Health (Technical report)
Beasley, K. (author) and Dowell, D. (editor) (2000)
Selected Consulting
Evaluation Consultant, Collaborative Research in Undergraduate Institutions (CRUI) Program (2002-2006): directed evaluation of the CRUI science mentoring program in the College of Natural Sciences & Mathematics funded by a grant from the National Institutes of Health
Evaluation Consultant, Assessment of Science Mentoring Programs (2002-2004): directed research on student commitment to careers in biomedical science funded by a National Science Foundation grant
Evaluation Consultant, Minority Access to Research Careers
(MARC),
Evaluation Consultant, Minority Student Development (MSD) Program (1999-2000): directed evaluation of the MSD science mentoring program in the College of Natural Sciences & Mathematics funded by a grant from the National Institutes of Health
Consultant, Senate Office of Research, California Legislature (1998-1999): conducted research and made recommendations regarding the use of evaluation research in state policy making
Memberships
Society for College and University Planning
American Association for Higher Education
American Psychological Association
American Psychological Society
American Evaluation Association
Phi Beta Delta, the Honor Society for International Scholars
Phi Kappa Phi
Links
Strategic
Planning
Office of
Academic Affairs
Address
Brotman Hall 305
Phone: 562-985-4128
Email: ddowell@csulb.edu
Updated: March 10, 2008