SJSU News Archive
Date: 04/29/2008
President Kassing to be Honored for Extraordinary 15-Year Career
Contact:
Pat Lopes Harris, SJSU Media Relations, 408-924-1748
SAN JOSE, Calif., -- President Don W. Kassing's extraordinary 15-year career at San José State will be celebrated during SJSU's commencement ceremony, which will begin at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, May 24, in Spartan Stadium. Kassing will receive the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters. California State University Chancellor Charles Reed will confer the degree upon Kassing. San José Mayor Chuck Reed will be the commencement speaker, reflecting the strong tie Kassing nurtured between the university and city.
Approximately 6,000 candidates who completed their studies in August 2007, December 2007 and May 2008 are eligible to participate in commencement. Around 25,000 graduates, family and friends are expected to attend the ceremony. Commencement will be Kassing's last official public duty as San José State's top administrator. He will retire July 1 after four years as president and 11 years as vice president for administration and finance.
Kassing will receive the honorary degree in recognition of his profound contributions to San José State. Kassing's vice presidential tenure was marked by the successful design, construction and opening of two SJSU landmark facilities, the award-winning Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library, in partnership with the city of San José, and Campus Village, a state-of-the-art residence complex for students, faculty and staff.
Upon his appointment as president, Kassing made judicious changes in the senior management team, led campus-wide Vision 2010 strategic planning, strongly supported improved services for students, established open and meaningful communications with faculty, stabilized funding for athletics, and catalyzed dramatic increases in private fund raising, with a record-breaking $50.5 million garnered in 2006-2007.
A campus committee that recommended Kassing receive the honorary degree summed up his contributions to San José State by quoting Ralph Wolff, executive director, Western Association of Schools and Colleges: "The commission would like to extend its commendation to the San José State University community on the truly remarkable distance it has traveled since fall 2004. The team report notes significant progress ... and above all, dramatic changes in culture, energy and focus on campus."
"Wolff's words are an excellent summation of the transformation that Don has brought about at San José State," the committee wrote to the CSU Board of Trustees. "He habitually deflects praise away from himself, but it has been Don's high expectations and his unrelenting emphasis on doing what is in the best interests of San José State and its students that inspired our work and led to our phenomenal success."
San José State will honor Kassing in several more ways. A celebratory dinner entitled "A Night of Storytelling in Honor of Don W. Kassing" will be held at 6 p.m. Thursday, May 29, in the SJSU Event Center. Also, two endowments have been established in his name, the Don W. Kassing Endowment for academic use and the Don W. Kassing Football Scholarship.
To make a reservation for the Night of Storytelling in Honor of Don W. Kassing, call 408-924-1472.
Make a gift to the Kassing endowments.
Read Kassing's bio and obtain a high-resolution photo of him.
Visit the SJSU commencement Web site.
San José State -- Silicon Valley's largest institution of higher learning with 32,000 students and 5,700 employees -- is part of the California State University system. SJSU's 154-acre downtown campus anchors the nation's 10th largest city.