91麻豆天美app

• February 9, 2015

Don't throw Lee Blitch a retirement party just yet. Blitch, 73, is the interim vice president of university advancement at California State University, East Bay. His last day on the job is Feb. 13. His successor, Tanya Hauck, takes reign of the university's fundraising efforts on Feb. 16. After 36 years at AT&T as a region vice president and five years as vice president of university advancement at San Francisco State University, Blitch has no plans to slow down.

Blitch spoke exclusively with the Business Times about CSU East Bay receiving a $2.7 million grant from the S.D. Bechtel Jr. Foundation to help bolster its STEM programs.

Why is the $2.7 million grant and STEM program important for CSU East Bay? We have a STEM workforce that is 80 percent white. By 2018, California will need 1.1 million workers in STEM, and there's already a shortage in the Bay Area. Our growing population is Latino and African American. Cal State East Bay is the most diverse university in the U.S. and 85 percent of our students get jobs within six months of graduation. We're the source that has to get people ready for the workforce.

What's the vision for CSU East Bay's Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Collaborative Learning Building? Cross-pollination. The program is the first of its kind with the CSU system where we will locate the teachers that are going to be teaching STEM with researchers and scientists. The idea is that they will take breaks together, and the professors will be working to put a product together.

What is the campaign goal for the building? $17 million

How has fundraising changed at CSU East Bay? It's a new world. Our alumni weren't used to being asked for money. We are getting better (about fundraising). The California State University used to be 100 percent funded by the state.

What lessons have you learned after working for 50 years? I've always found that in any management job, just look at three things: number one, the employee's job. They need to understand why their job is important to the mission of the organization. Number two: you've got to empower the people after proper training to make decisions about their job. Number three: you have to set up a feedback system to recognize their performance.

What's next for you? Expanding what we are doing at Educational Results Partnership in Sacramento. ERP is recognizing the schools and teachers that are getting really good results.

Lemery Reyes is an editorial researcher for the San Francisco Business Times.