Officials at California State University Long Beach announced today the appointment of Vice Provost David Dowell as the university’s new interim provost.

Dowell, who currently is in charge of planning and budgets and director of strategic planning, will assume his new role as interim provost July 1 following the steps of Donald Para, who is currently acting as interim president.

According to CSULB, Dowell’s new position as chief academic officer of the institution “will provide academic leadership for the campus and promotes excellence all aspects of the university’s academic mission, including undergraduate and graduate education, research and creative activity, international education, community engagement, service to the profession and faculty academic staff development.”

Dowell has been a part of CSULB for 35 years, holding a variety of job titles including acting and associate dean of the College of Liberal Arts as well as a faculty member of the Psychology Department. Dowell earned his Ph.D. and M.A. degrees in Psychology with an emphasis in program evaluation in 1977 from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. CSULB Provost Donald J. Para, who will start serving as interim president on July 1, said in the press release that Dowell’s track record is the source of his confidence in his appointment to interim provost.

“Dr. Dowell is a collaborative and highly effective leader whose experience, intelligence, and proven ability to get things done will serve our campus very well,” Para said. “I have every confidence he will bring the same level of accomplishment to his new role.”

In the prior job that he held for the past 11 years, Dowell helped navigate the Division of Academic Affairs though several years of state reductions in funding to higher education. He also served as a guiding force in completely overhauling the school’s admission process with the resulting model now being emulated by other campuses. His remodeling hasn’t been relegated to admissions though, the school’s Liberal Art’s Building complex located near the library is headed for a makeover thanks to his leadership in divisional facilities planning.

Dowell is looking forward to the challenges that lay in the future of serving as the interim provost of CSULB.

“I am honored to have another opportunity to serve this great university and work with our outstanding faculty and staff,” Dowell said. “I am proud of the highly valued degrees we award and committed to the success of all our students.”

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Jason Ruiz covers City Hall and politics for the Long Beach Post. Reach him at [email protected] or @JasonRuiz_LB on Twitter.