If you've got a bright idea, take one giant step forward. In Don Kassing's world, ideas are a precious commodity, one of the most valuable things a staff member can bring to the table. He loves to kick around a new concept and see where it leads. Even when his staff is frustrated, eager for a decision, SJSU President Don Kassing pushes to keep new ideas alive.
If that sounds like a prime characteristic of a visionary, Kassing qualifies. Yet he is also strongly data-oriented and urges his staff to make decisions based on facts, not folklore or myths.
These are just two of the skills that Kassing brought to the table when he was appointed president of San José State in 2004. As he begins a well-earned retirement this month, he is widely recognized as having been the right person at the right time for San José State, inspiring remarkable change and progress throughout the campus. Yet his presidency has also been serendipitous, an unexpected gift at a critical time in the university's history.
In August of 2004, Don was in his 11th year as vice president of administration and finance at SJSU. One morning his assistant alerted him that California State University Chancellor Charles Reed was on the line. "You know, as a VP, you kind of cringe when you get a call from the chancellor," Kassing says. "The first thing he said to me was, ‘Don, we've got trouble in Houston.' Then he told me that our new president, Paul Yu, who had been with us just two weeks, was resigning for health reasons."
That was startling enough news, but it was compounded by the fact that this was a second consecutive presidential search at SJSU that hadn't worked out. Thinking back on that time, Kassing recalls trying to reassure the chancellor that the vice presidents would keep things going and get the new semester started. The chancellor flew to campus a couple of days later, and Kassing jokes that it was probably a fateful decision that he elected to pick up Reed at the airport. "When Charlie got off the plane, I had the impression he was thinking, ‘Who can I get? Who's standing around? Don--what are you doing?'"
But Reed, who smiles at that version, knows exactly why he turned to Kassing. "Don had an outstanding and deep knowledge of how SJSU worked," he says, "and has the best people skills of anyone I've ever known."
Kassing's experience, while not the strongly academic profile that presidential candidates usually present, was considerable. He had worked for 11 years in the corporate world, both for General Motors and as manager of a large operation for the Brown Shoe Company. In his transition to higher education he served as a tenured faculty member and chair of a faculty union. Before coming to SJSU he worked at four other campuses, with experience both as vice president of administration and of advancement. At SJSU he led the development, construction and successful opening of two major facilities: the award-winning Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library, a first-of-its-kind creative partnership with the city of San José; and Campus Village, a state-of-the-art residence complex for students, faculty and staff, the largest such project in the California State University system. Reed recently called Kassing a "five-star performer" and said that the CSU will be alert in future presidential searches for candidates who bring such untraditional but compelling experience.
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| Opened in 2003, the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library, a city/ university project, has earned 14 awards, including a gold prize from the National League of Cities for municipal enrichment. Kassing led the development and construction of the library on the university side. |
From the time he first came to SJSU as VP for administration and finance in 1993, Kassing proved to be a genuine and warm individual who inspired people's trust. The current VP for Administration and Finance Rose Lee says, "Don is just down-to-earth and approachable. He talks to everybody and -- he remembers their names." Fred Najjar, vice president for university advancement, notes with a smile, "I don't know how he does it, but Don treats us all as if we are his favorite."
The president's honesty and integrity are cited by all who work closely with him, along with a personal modesty and a great sense of fun. "Don makes me smile every day," says his assistant Zaynna Fakhreddine. "We're always cracking up because of his questionable computer skills, and he teases the heck out of me because I ration his office supplies."
Provost Carmen Sigler recalls that just after Yu resigned, there was a lot of speculation and anxiety on campus. "People were disoriented," she says. "But when we heard the announcement about Don serving as president, we knew we were in good hands." She is one of many who recall that in his first address to the campus, Kassing characterized the moment as "a time to lead." He asked everyone to be on board with him and said he hoped people would look back on this time with admiration for how we handled ourselves in a crisis. "I felt that was a turning point for the campus, a very special moment," says Sigler. She made a personal resolve: "I felt then, from the bottom of my heart, that I was going to do whatever was needed to support him."
Sigler was one of many who lined up with Kassing. He says, "I will always appreciate how the campus responded that fall. My message basically was, ‘This is our time, a time to lead, and we're good enough to do this.' I could quickly make you a list of 40 or 50 people who picked up on what I was saying."
Kassing set about assembling a team of people he felt he needed to move forward. They included such veteran citizens of the university as Gerald Selter, long-time dean of science, who left the operation of a major college to serve as Don's executive assistant.
Selter says, "I saw that Don was making bold and courageous moves and thought, ‘This could be interesting.'"
The campus quickly learned that although Kassing was initially an acting president, he was no placeholder. He was intent on advancing the university, setting high expectations, fixing things that were broken. At a campus that had become strongly decentralized, he introduced campus-wide strategic planning, which led to the university's current Vision 2010. He strongly supported a culture of improved service to students. Despite foot-dragging, he insisted that the university create a real Homecoming tradition. He hammered out a plan to put athletics on a stable financial footing with a modest increase to a student fee that had not been raised since 1979. He sought and got the help of the late and legendary alumnus Bill Walsh to hire a new athletic director and revitalize the athletics program. He mentored his new VP for Advancement Fred Najjar, also a veteran SJSU administrator, who was relatively new to the role of fundraising. Najjar's team doubled the university's private giving in 2005-06, and doubled it again in 06-07, bringing in $50.5 million and making SJSU tops in the 23-campus CSU for private giving that year.
Under Kassing's leadership, the university received high praise from its accrediting body, along with word of its reaccreditation in 2007. The report cited progress in many areas and "above all, dramatic changes in culture, energy and focus on campus." The campus also celebrated its 150th anniversary in grand style, earning a boost in visibility among the general public and heightened pride among alumni.
Off campus business leaders such as Chuck Davidson, a well-known area developer and an alumnus, appreciate Don's good business instincts, especially in building up the university's endowment. "He talked the language of people who needed to be talked to," says Davidson, who serves on the university's Tower Foundation board and recently made a gift of $15 million to the College of Engineering.
From his vantage point as executive assistant, Selter learned that Kassing is a master negotiator. "He has a knack for analyzing the situation. For instance, there were some pretty intense negotiations last year between the university and the owner of the Earthquakes (soccer team) to rebuild the university stadium. But when the deal broke down, everybody came out clean. Whenever he's negotiating, Kassing's not trying to get the best of anybody. He just wants a fair deal that's in the best interests of the university." Selter adds with some satisfaction and pride: "I've seen people try to play games with him. But you can't strongarm Don. He was something of a street fighter as a boy. He'll protect the university and his people."
But, some may still ask, how did Kassing inspire the campus to advance so far so fast? Beyond his personal strengths, choosing the right team and trusting those on it to do the job, one of Kassing's not-so-secret weapons is storytelling. Stories and lessons from his management years with Brown Shoe Company come up regularly, with references to the value of predicting sales trends. Once when Vice President for Student Affairs Veril Phillips had introduced a new method of enrollment forecasting to the president's staff, Kassing complimented him with a grin, saying, "Well, Veril, now you can make shoes!"
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| Campus Village, opened in 2005, anchors the southeast corner of campus, housing up to 2,000 students as well as faculty and staff. This $206-million "on budget, on time" project was also led by Kassing. |
Mention the sum of $1.68 to anyone in the administration division, and there will be instant recognition of one of Kassing's most-told stories. Some swear they can now recite it with him word for word.
Kassing tells about the time he was on a tight schedule and trying to check out of a hotel. After cooling his heels in line, when he got to the counter, it turned out that his breakfast had not been added to the bill. When the young woman behind the counter asked for the cost of the breakfast, in his irritation he replied, "A dollar sixty-eight." Without skipping a beat, the clerk punched in $1.68, processed his bill and sent a surprised Kassing on his way. He always closes this story by saying, "That young woman was empowered to make a decision at that level about how best to serve her customer. She understood that getting me on my way was more important than the actual cost of a breakfast. As you are going about your work here at San José State, I want you to feel empowered in the same way."
A sports fan, Kassing also drew on imagery from sports to inspire faculty and staff. He likened the campus' remarkable momentum to that of a trademark move of champion bicyclist Lance Armstrong, who at the end of the race could ride "up out of the saddle" to gain the edge. Often teased about his sports references, Don laughs and says, "But you know, people still come to me and tell me they're working ‘up out of the saddle!'"
Beyond the San José State campus, Kassing has long been known and appreciated as a relationship builder and collaborator. Increasingly he is seen as a key player in the community. Bob Brownstein, former policy and budget director for San José, worked with Kassing on the King Library project. "We had some pretty intense meetings," he says. "There was no blueprint lying around for what we wanted to do. But Don was terrific -- flexible, creative, willing to understand both sides of the issues, aware that we both had constituencies with great concerns about the project." Former Mayor Susan Hammer recalls, "If we got to a stalemate, Don and I would come to the table and work things out. He was easy and direct. There was no question of his motives. He wanted what was best for the university and the city."
When asked what inspires him, Kassing first speaks of his father, a hard-working and self-made man who went to work at age 16 and later earned his accounting degree by going to school nights. The family lived in a strongly-knit Irish-Italian neighborhood of St. Louis, where Don got his share of street savvy. The elder Kassing made sure son Don went to college and, when he got his first job after graduation, charged him rent. "My dad emphasized to us that you always have to put something back in the pot," Kassing recalls. "He also often reminded us: ‘You're a Kassing.' That meant -- respect your family, respect your name, don't embarrass yourself."
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| Kassing, here with 2007/08 Associated Students President Ben Henderson, says that contact with young people has been one of the great joys of his work as president. |
Another strong influence was Joe Crowley, long-time president of the University of Nevada, who came out of retirement to serve as SJSU's interim president for a year and a half. Kassing respected Crowley's inclusive style and the strong sense of right and wrong evident in his leadership.
Central to Kassing's life is his wife Amy, with whom he was first smitten in 1963 upon seeing her picture in the St. Louis University school paper as a candidate for the Mardi Gras Queen. At the big event, he stood on his toes just to catch a glimpse of her. "Amy is the glue that holds us all together," says Kassing about their family that includes their three sons, spouses and eight grandchildren. "My sons are my best friends. They know they can count on me, and I count on them. What makes me proudest: They are good dads."
Amy says: "Don has always been the kind of dad I wanted for my sons. He was tremendously interested in them as human beings rather than as just kids. They were his boys and they always knew they were loved. They each flourished because of his attention and the example he set for them."
On and off campus, observers agree that Kassing's key achievement was to convince the campus that it is in charge of its own destiny. Like his father taught him, Kassing taught SJSU faculty, staff and students to know who they are, and to respect and have pride in the university's name. Armed with that powerful knowledge, the university has achieved success after success. Perhaps the best thank you to this remarkable president will be for the campus to show him that --"We listened, Don, and we learned."
--Sylvia Light
The Kassings are looking forward to spending more time with their family, especially the grandchildren, and to visiting the British Isles in July. Don will work on some certification issues with the NCAA and will serve on the board of a medical device company. Their retirement home is in the Phoenix area.
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