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KGI Adds Former CSU Chancellor Dr. Timothy White to Board of Trustees

Keck Graduate Institute (KGI), a biotechnology and healthcare education leader, has appointed former California State University (CSU) Chancellor Dr. Timothy White to the KGI Board of Trustees. KGI’s Board of Trustees consists of more than 20 leaders in biotechnology, healthcare, and education.

“I am delighted to join the KGI Board of Trustees to help advance this remarkable Institute,” said White.

“The nexus among business, industry, and education in biotechnology and healthcare is vital for our diverse graduates to have consequential careers.”

White served as chancellor of the CSU, one of the largest and most diverse higher education systems in the United States, from December 2012 to January 2021. As chancellor, White led a university of 23 campuses and a global community of 486,000 students, 53,000 faculty and staff, and more than 3.9 million alumni.

“We are thrilled to welcome Dr. White to our Board of Trustees,” KGI President Dr. Sheldon Schuster said. “He has already partnered with us to grow the relationship between KGI and the CSU. Dr. White understands and supports our goal of creating career pathways for students in biotechnology and healthcare.”

As the seventh chancellor to lead the CSU, White was an untiring champion of inclusive excellence and a proponent of bringing individualized education to scale by expanding proven best practices. White also positioned the CSU as a state and national leader in promoting and protecting federal Title IX rights, environmental sustainability, and diversity, which is reflected today in the CSU’s diverse campus leadership.

Guiding the CSU to new heights of student success, White led the implementation of Graduation Initiative 2025—the CSU’s bold and innovative plan to increase graduation rates, decrease time to degree, and eliminate achievement gaps between historically underserved students and their peers.

Before joining the CSU, White held senior academic and administrative positions at the University of Michigan, Oregon State University, University of Idaho, and at the University of California campuses in Berkeley and Riverside.

White profoundly believes in and is a product of California’s Master Plan for Higher Education, having pursued his higher education from Diablo Valley Community College, Fresno State, Cal State East Bay, and UC Berkeley. Like many CSU students, faculty, staff, and alumni, White was the first in his family to attend college and earn a degree.

The partnership between KGI and the CSU extends beyond White’s new role as a trustee. In March 2021, KGI announced that the CSU is establishing an admissions pipeline with the KGI School of Medicine. The new partnership will provide CSU students additional avenues to pursue careers in medicine and help alleviate the healthcare crisis and shortages in physicians and other healthcare workers in California and the United States.