Longest-serving Cal State president stepping down
Warren J. Baker, the longest-serving campus president in the Cal State University system, announced Monday that he will retire next year as head of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.
After 30 years on the job, Baker is to leave when a successor is found in mid-2010 to lead the 19,000-student campus, which specializes in science, engineering, architecture and agricultural programs.
Trained as an engineer, Baker is credited with improving the school’s academic standing and leading a construction program that added labs, dorms and classrooms.
Baker, 71, began his presidency in 1979, just about a month before the next-longest-serving Cal State president, James M. Rosser of Cal State Los Angeles.
-- Larry Gordon
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