Steven Stepanek Appointed to CSU Board of Trustees

Steven Stepanek has stepped down as chair of the computer science department to serve on the California State University Board of Trustees. Stepanek was appointed by Governor Jerry Brown to represent faculty interests on the 25-member board, which is responsible for the oversight of the 23-campus CSU system. He is the first CSUN faculty member to be appointed to the board.

Stepanek has spent more than 40 years at CSUN, earning his bachelor’s degree in mathematics from the campus in 1974 and his master’s degree in computer science in 1980. He has been working in the Department of Computer Science since 1976, first as a lecturer and then as a full-time professor, earning tenure in 1984. He served as department chair for 14 years and was a member of the CSUN Faculty Senate from 1994 to 2013, elected to its executive committee for most of those years. He spent the past eight years as a member of the CSU statewide Academic Senate and has served on several statewide committees.

Stepanek’s two-year appointment to the CSU Board of Trustees is a full-time position. In addition to attending CSU trustee meetings, he will be traveling to CSU campuses across the state to meet with faculty about the issues that are important to them. “But CSUN will always be my home base,” he says. “When I am not traveling, I will be here. I want to stay connected with the campus. It’ll help me keep grounded, and the knowledge I gain at CSUN and from my visits to other CSU campuses will assist me in carrying out my responsibilities on the board.”