Steven Stepanek

California State University, Northridge faculty member Steven Stepanek has been reappointed by Gov. Jerry Brown to the California State University Board of Trustees.

Stepanek originally was appointed in 2013 and will serve the CSU for another two years.

“I am honored to be reappointed to the board,” Stepanek said. “I am very excited and am looking forward to continuing my work on behalf of the CSU.”

Stepanek, a CSUN alumnus, has been an active member of the campus since 1972. He came to the university as a student and then worked as an academic consultant, operating systems analyst and finally as a professor. He has been a professor of computer science since 1981. Before his appointment to the CSU board, Stepanek served as the chair of the Department of Computer Science and as the CSUN faculty president.

As a veteran of the CSU Board of Trustees, Stepanek participated in numerous special task forces and committees. He recently served on a task force that focused on developing a sustainable financial model for CSU. The existing CSU financial model is based on an antiquated system that no longer meets current needs, he said. Stepanek also has engaged with the greater Los Angeles community through presentations about the CSU.

Stepanek has visited many of the CSU’s 23 campuses during his tenure on the board. He said he has enjoyed the opportunity to sit down and talk to faculty, administrators and student leaders at each of the campuses he has visited. He asked campus representatives to identify two or three things they are doing that truly make the campus outstanding. As an expert in technology, he also said he learned how each campus makes creative use of technology in various capacities.

Stepanek noted that the campuses serve the surrounding communities by identifying regional needs. For example, campuses in the wine country have programs relating to the wine industry. The California Maritime Academy trains people for the maritime industry across all academic disciplines. And at Humboldt, the campus provides forestry programs.

“We are a collective system and yet, each campus has a very distinctive identity — it’s very exciting,” Stepanek said.

Though he represents all of the CSU, he is also very proud to be from CSUN.

“My many different sets of experiences as student, staff and faculty member — both in lecturer and tenure-track positions — give me a background to contribute to and better things,” Stepanek said.

During the next two years, Stepanek will be involved with the next steps after the recommendations from the financial model task force are released later this summer.

He also has been appointed as the CSU board’s chair of the standing committee on institutional advancement and the vice chair of the committee on board organization and rules. He called the appointments a distinct honor because faculty trustees are rarely asked to chair standing committees, due to their relatively short terms.

“That’s going to give me a few more tasks to do,” Stepanek said. “And I’m looking forward to it.”

Computer Science, CSU