“President Emeritus Susan Martin Interim President of San Jose State University”

Well, here’s an interesting bit of news: from the email sent to EMU’s campus from VP of Communications, Walter Kraft:

To faculty, staff and students:

Eastern Michigan University President Emeritus Susan Martin was appointed Interim President of San Jose State University (SJSU) a short time ago. SJSU is one of 23 campuses that are part of The California State University system. The announcement was made by California State University Chancellor Timothy P. White and becomes effective August 18, 2015.

We are very pleased for Dr. Martin and her new opportunity, and congratulate her on the appointment. She had an outstanding impact at Eastern in her seven years of leadership and we wish her well as she moves on to the next phase of her career.

The rest of the press release is after the jump.

Goodness knows that I haven’t chatted with Sue about what’s up with this, but I would guess– and this is just a guess– two basic things about all this:

• I bet she really is just a one year interim.  In fact, maybe SJSU decided to hire someone from the same “temp agency” for university presidents they hired between presidents a number of years ago at EMU– I can’t remember right now if it was between Fallon and Martin or between Kirkpatrick and Fallon.
• I’m assuming that this means that Martin really is done with EMU at this point: that is, I’m guessing she isn’t doing something like taking a year’s leave from EMU and then coming back to campus as a professor. I’m also guessing that SJSU must be making her a pretty sweet offer for her to give up a year’s sabbatical on full salary.

The full announcement after the jump:

CSU Chancellor Appoints Interim San Jose State University President

**Susan Martin, Ph.D., takes the helm on August 18 **

(July 16, 2015) – Chancellor Timothy P. White announced today the appointment of Susan Martin, Ph.D., as the interim president of San Jose State University (SJSU).  Martin, the former president of Eastern Michigan University (EMU), is a seasoned higher education leader with extensive experience in managing large, diverse universities.   She will assume leadership of the campus on August 18.  Martin replaces President Mohammad Qayoumi who is leaving on August 17 to serve as the Chief Advisor for Infrastructure and Technology to Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani.

“Susan’s background and leadership style is a perfect fit for San Jose State,” explained Chancellor White.  “Her expertise complements campus, and she brings more than two decades of experience in leading strategic planning, overseeing and advancing capital projects, implementing campus safety initiatives and encouraging regional collaborations to improve college readiness and admission rates.”

Prior to her tenure as EMU president, Martin served as the provost and vice-chancellor of Academic Affairs at the University of Michigan – Dearborn.  She also spent 18 years at Grand Valley State University where she was a professor, department chair, program administrator, assistant and associate vice-president for Academic Affairs and the executive associate vice-president of Academic Affairs.

In addition to her extensive higher education experience, Martin brings impressive public sector leadership experience to SJSU.  She worked for many years in the Michigan state government as the Assistant Auditor General and was appointed by two governors to serve as the Deputy State Treasurer for local governments and the Commissioner of Revenue.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in public speaking from Central Michigan University and a MBA and Ph.D. in accounting from Michigan State University.

Trustees will be asked to approve Martin’s salary at their July 21 board meeting.  This fall, the Board of Trustees will initiate a national search for Qayoumi’s successor.