California Lutheran University has entered a transitional phase following the surprise announcement Oct. 15 that President Chris Kimball will step down at the end of the academic year. Kimball has served the Thousand Oaks university for 12 years. Notable accomplishments include negotiating to provide NFL football team the Los Angeles Rams with a temporary training field on campus, and fostering Hub101, an incubator for early-stage startups in Westlake Village. Kimball is known also for his lasting connections with people, a trait that carries over to his role as a history teacher. The university president’s prime reason for stepping down, according to a statement, was to teach and catch up on novel writing. “Always his great gift is his relationship with the students – they absolutely love and respect him,” said Jill Lederer, chief executive of the Greater Conejo Valley Chamber of Commerce in Westlake Village. “I think he has achieved amazing balance in all those necessary areas, but I also know, because he has chosen to continue teaching, just how much the students really appreciate him. Of course, that is what defines a great university.” The university’s board of regents, led by Chairwoman Susan Lundeen-Smuck, is in the process of initiating a national search for Cal Lutheran’s next president. The process involves hiring a consulting company and assembling a committee made up of faculty, staff, administrators, students and members of key constituent groups. A new president will likely be chosen by summer 2020. If the committee and board cannot come to an agreement on a replacement, an interim president will be appointed. “The board is not going to rush the search process to avoid having an interim,” added Karin Greenan, media relations manager for California Lutheran. Search criteria will follow the mission of the university, Greenan said, including growth through purpose and giving back to the community with service-based activities. “The search committee will be the ones to outline what attributes, skills and qualities we’re looking for. They would get input on that from the group of constituents, consultants and the board would be the ones to approve that profile,” added Greenan. “The expectation is the new president would see California Lutheran through its current strategic plan, frame the vision going forward and build on our successes and strengths.” The board has not hired a consulting company yet, according to Greenan. Presidential trends Academic administrators have the increasingly difficult task of balancing fundraising and exposure-gaining endeavors with the needs of students, faculty and staff – in short, actually running the university. “I would say it’s a very demanding position. It’s a 24-hour, seven-days-a-week job; there are no off days. That can be taxing,” said Michael Uhlenkamp, public affairs representative with the Office of the Chancellor at California State University. “Most campuses are like a small city. You have students living on campus, a police force, food services. There is the whole entire gambit.” James Ellis, for example, was in a similar leadership position as the former dean of USC’s Marshall School of Business, and was hailed for bringing in large amounts of funding for the school and bumping up the graduate program in rankings to No. 14 based on the Bloomberg Survey of Best B-Schools. But he was abruptly removed from his position in June due to alleged mishandling of sexual harassment and discrimination claims involving faculty. The California State University system, for one, has seen turnover quicken for the role – Chancellor Timothy White has headed 21 university president searches since being appointed in 2012; ironically, the chancellor himself announced his intended departure from his role this month as well. From what Uhlenkamp has seen, president tenure has shrunk from 20-plus years to five to seven years tops at Cal State’s 23 campuses. Fundraising has become more prominent in the role of a university president within the last five to 10 years, at least for a public school like Cal State, due to diminishing state funding. “As a public institution, we have seen incremental increases in the importance of the folks running the institution to support the mission by generating additional funding from private sources,” added Uhlenkamp. Kimball, however, appears to have had the knack for fulfilling both aspects of his role. His deal with the Rams added millions of dollars into the local economy, Lederer said, but the appeal of California Lutheran as a prospective school for students also enriches the Conejo Valley in the long run. “A successful university is going to benefit the community economically. They’ll bring more students here, it will provide better jobs, it will make teaching a great experience for faculty,” she added.