Geoff Chase to Join WASC as Commission Vice President
The dean of Undergraduate Studies has championed student success in 14 years at SDSU.
A champion of student success at San Diego State University is retiring next week after nearly 14 years of service.
Geoffrey Chase, dean of the Division of Undergraduate Studies, will be honored on Wednesday, Nov. 18, during a reception for faculty and staff hosted by Provost Chukuka S. Enwemeka. The event begins at 4 p.m. in the Parma Payne Goodall Alumni Center.
Chase is leaving SDSU to join the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC), the accrediting commission for educational institutions in California, Hawaii, the Pacific Region, the Middle East, Asia, Africa and Europe. He will be vice president for the WASC Senior College and University Commission.
Chase played a leading role in several campus initiatives, including the University Honors Program — which has become the Susan and Stephen Weber Honors College — and the Center for Regional Sustainability. He has developed and supervised undergraduate research and community-based service learning programs designed to increase student success and achievement.
During his tenure at SDSU, the university posted the largest gains in graduation rates of any research institution in the United States, increased its diversity and it erased the achievement gap for six-year graduation rates.
“Geoff has worked to elevate our Student Success initiative, the role of undergraduate research and study abroad in the San Diego State student experience,” said Enwemeka. “The students have always been his first priority.”
In 2013, Chase co-edited, with Peggy Barlett, Sustainability in Higher Education: Stories and Strategies for Transformation published by MIT Press. He was a founding board member and board chair of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) and also served on the executive committee for the American Conference of Academic Deans (ACAD).
