The Satellite Student Union was alive with murmurs as President John D. Welty announced at the faculty and staff fall assembly that this would be his last year with Fresno State as he plans to retire in the summer of 2013.
President Welty, who has served as Fresno State’s president since 1991, said he has been pondering this decision for the past few weeks, but decided to retire approximately a week ago.
“By the summer of 2013, I will have served as a university president for 29 years,” Welty said. “As the first in my family to graduate from college, I’ve been able to live the American dream.”
Welty said he felt it was time for him to retire and though issues regarding the budget are tense, not everything about a college is dependent on a president. He hopes the transition will be as smooth as possible.
Welty is the longest serving president in Fresno State’s history. Over the course of his career, Fresno State has raised about $350 million in donations. Welty hopes that by the time of his retirement the college will be able to provide more stability to students in regards to classes.
“I think he’s a tremendous steward in a time of economic crisis,” said student body president Arthur Montejano. “I was a little bit surprised, but he’s ready to move on.”
Montejano hopes the new president will love the university and continue on where Welty left off.
Dr. Rudy Sanchez, an associate professor of management at Fresno State was also surprised to hear of Welty’s retirement. He remarked that Welty’s efforts in raising money for the college has been a great part of his presidency.
“I’ve been here for a little over 10 years now and one of the things that I noticed is President Welty’s, and others’, ability to actually continue to reach out to the community, to businesses and to individuals to help us bridge that gap with decreasing state funding and maintain the ability to move the university forward in the academic sense,” Sanchez said.
Welty has stated that he plans to continue his service with the California State University system past his retirement as a trustee professor, but is unsure whether that service will take place at Fresno State or not.
“It has been a great honor and privilege to serve this university and region,” Welty said in a news release. “I shall forever be grateful to our faculty, staff and administration for their sacrifice, dedication and commitment to serving the students of Fresno State.”