Cathy Sandeen: Out of the Pandemic

The Women in Leadership Program landed a rare speaker in CSU East Bay’s own president, Cathy Sandeen. Less than a year into her presidency in the midst of an unprecedented time, she answered questions in a virtual chat session from Program Director Asha Rao, and from students, on her history as a leader and her plans to move the university forward.

Q: What is your vision for the university?

“First of all, I truly believe for an organization to move forward, we have to have a collective vision. It’s not just me importing and imposing my ideas. But here are some preliminary thoughts, based on my listening and learning.

“Supporting student success and degree attainment.” Until recently, President Sandeen said, the conversation in higher education was about access to degrees, not necessarily attainment. “We weren’t paying attention to the fact that we were admitting students, but they weren’t finishing.” But the paradigm is changing, and she intends to further East Bay’s work in supporting students through the entire academic journey.

“Closing our equity gap.” Despite increasing graduation rates, she said, “there are certain populations of students who are being left behind.” She pledged to ensure that “anyone coming to us from whatever neighborhood or ZIP code or background has the same opportunity to learn and to complete that degree.”

“To enhance awareness and reputation of this great place.” President Sandeen noted that she frequently hears East Bay described as a hidden gem or the little engine that could. “That bothers me a little bit. Those are positive names, but why can’t we be known as the place to watch?”

Q: How can we support women who are being disproportionately affected by the pandemic?

“With an attitude of flexibility.”

Since women are often expected to take care of children above work or education, many mothers are left with an impossible juggling act. President Sandeen noted that for many of East Bay’s female faculty, research productivity has taken a major hit. “I just try to imagine what it would be like, teaching and then supervising a couple of kids who are at home learning on Zoom.”

President Sandeen praised East Bay’s mental health resources and emphasized the importance of offering them to students in need.

Q: How do you see yourself as a leader?

“My preferred style is one of openness, transparency, and input.” People who work at a university, she said, are usually here because they care about the mission, and they want to have an active role in what happens. “At the same time, we can’t just talk about things forever.” When the conversation starts to feel repetitive, she knows it’s time for an executive decision. “People will appreciate and support a decision if they know what went into it and that they had some level of input.”

Q: What’s the most challenging situation you’ve faced in leadership as a woman?

“You know, I’m going to go back to probably my first manager job at University of California San Francisco.” The campus was male-dominated, President Sandeen said, and although she was at the same level as her male colleagues, they would expect her to take the notes.

“It took a lot of strength to say ‘No, it’s someone else’s turn to take the notes this time.’ I might have even said, ‘Just because I’m the only woman at the table doesn’t mean I’m the one who should take the notes!’ So that was kind of a breakthrough — to recognize that’s what’s going on and to have the courage to say something.

“Fortunately, the response was positive. You know, it could have gone the other way.” But in this case, speaking out was a game-changer, “because all of a sudden, I was perceived as a peer, and not this junior person sitting at the table.”

Q: You’ve taken over during one of the most challenging times for so many universities. How will you get us back to normal?

“Fortunately, at Cal State East Bay the leadership really did a good job in responding to COVID, so it’s not like I had to come in and really fix anything.”

The trickiest part during the coming year, she said, may be making sure students and faculty feel safe returning to campus. “Even though the facts may say that in the fall it’s going to be safe, we’re still going to have people who need some time to feel comfortable. I think leading at this time is balancing those two things.

“You know,” President Sandeen said, “students are really hanging in with us. But we know they’re tired, and we know our students do much better if they have that personal contact. I want to get us back to more and more face-to-face. So we’ll probably have our class schedule be about 50%. But we’d like to be able to add a lot more activities so we’ll have more life on campus. I think that environment will inspire people to continue in a positive direction.”

For more information on the program, please visit Women in Leadership Program, CBE.