Charles B. Reed, appointed chancellor in 1998, announced his retirement in May 2012, effective upon selection of a successor. The board of trustees picked Timothy P. White, chancellor of the University of California, Riverside, in October to replace him by the end of the year.
Reed is from the tiny coal mining town of Waynesburg, Pennsylvania. The oldest of eight children, he attended George Washington University on a football scholarship. Reed had played quarterback and linebacker in high school, but switched to halfback and cornerback in college. He was elected to the university’s Football Hall of Fame in 1990.
Reed earned a bachelor of science degree in Health and Physical Education in 1963 and an M.A. in secondary education, both at George Washington, before become an assistant professor in teacher education there in 1964. He was a tenured associate professor and director of teacher education at the school from 1968-70, picking up an Ed.D. in teacher education in his final year.
Before leaving the university, he served for a year as director of the National Project for the American Association of Colleges and Teacher Education.
Reed left academia for public service and from 1971 through 1979 was director of the Office of Planning and Budgeting of the Commissioner’s Office of Florida’s Department of Education.
Reed’s next move was into politics. From 1979-1985, he was Chief of Staff to Democratic Florida Governor Bob Graham. He also lectured at Carnegie Mellon University’s Institute on Higher Education during this period.
Reed returned to academia in 1985 when he was appointed chancellor of the State University System of Florida, a position he held for 13 years before becoming chancellor of California State University.
Over the years, Reed has served on several boards, such as the Council on Foreign Relations, the Florida Council on Defense Industry Conversion, the Martin Luther King Institute on Non-Violence and the Corporate Board of Directors of Florida Progress Corporation.
He has also been a member of educational commissions and councils on both the state and national level, including the President’s Roundtable National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, The College Board and the National Center for Educational Accountability.
Official Biography (California State University)
Cal State Chancellor Strives to Promote Quality and Diversity in the Nation's Largest Four-Year College System (by Kathy Witkowsky, National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education)
