December 16, 2022 - Provost Larson Announces Retirement

To: Campus Community

Today I write with the bittersweet news that Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Debra Larson has announced her retirement from the position of provost, effective immediately. As she emphasized in her statement at Academic Senate today, this decision is solely her own and a move she has been contemplating for more than a year in a desire to relocate home to the Midwest. As a two-time cancer survivor and caregiver for her family, she realized during the fall break her immediate need to prioritize her health, her mother, and her daughter’s family. I will miss her leadership, but I greatly respect her desire to focus on her family and her health.

Provost Larson was the first Cabinet member I hired, stepping into the role as vice president for Academic Affairs in March 2017. She came to Chico State from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, where she served as dean of engineering since 2011. She previously served as chair, associate dean, and associate vice provost during her 17 years of service at Northern Arizona University, as well as working as a civil engineering professional for more than a decade. From those roles, she brought an engineer’s strategic thinking, wise countenance, innovative ideas, and a deep passion for student success.

I am deeply grateful for Provost Larson’s leadership and friendship for nearly six years. With her analytical, data-driven mindset, she’s been an invaluable thought-partner, a contrarian at times when it was needed, and a stalwart member of Cabinet. She has helped us not only weather numerous challenges, from the Camp Fire to the COVID-19 pandemic, but she has initiated growth and improvements to individual programs, structures, and processes that will benefit us for decades to come.

With expertise, wit, and care, she has advanced our institution and student success. Her accomplishments and contributions are too numerous to note, but I will do my best to showcase some of the most impactful.

One of her first tasks was to bring stability to Academic Affairs through reorganization, updated policies and procedures, and ending the division’s pattern of deficit spending. She next led the University through its reaccreditation from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges in 2019. With her leadership, we also

• reorganized the University’s approach to sustainability with a focus on meeting our carbon-neutral pledge, the hiring of a sustainability manager, reenergizing the Sustainability Committee, and enhancing This Way to Sustainability;
• established Chico State Enterprises as a single organization for research and sponsored programs;
• facilitated the transfer of the Butte Creek Ecological Preserve to the Mechoopda Indian Tribe;
• hired transformative leadership, including a vice provost, six deans, two AVPs, the CEO of the CSE, and the director of the Big Chico Creek Ecological Reserve; and
• energized Professional and Continuing Education and its efforts to increase self-support and online programming, including a successful launch of an online MBA, a certificate in educational technology, and a MS in Interdisciplinary Studies-Wildland Management.

And of course, she has advanced equity through Graduation Initiative 2025 and initiated the Enrollment Continuum that is now setting our campus on a growth trajectory.

Most provost positions are held for less than three years, but Provost Larson spent nearly six years at the helm of Academic Affairs—a testament to her commitment to Chico State and the legacy she has created.

Please join me in thanking her for her service and wishing her the best as she starts this next chapter. After consultation with the Academic Senate Executive Committee, I will announce an interim provost and vice president for Academic Affairs and share plans for the recruitment process when we return from winter break.

Sincerely,

Gayle E. Hutchinson
President