Sacramento State names two new deans after national search | The Sacramento Bee

Pierre A. Balthazard, dean of the College of Business at St. Bonaventure University in New York, has been named to lead the College of Business Administration at Caifornia State University, Sacramento.

University officials on Friday also announced the appointment of Chris N. Boosalis as associate dean of the College of Education. Boosalis currently serves as teaching performance assessment coordinator and lead assessor in the College of Education at California State University, Stanislaus.

Balthazard will fill the post vacated by Sanjay Varshney at the end of the last school year. Balthazard was selected following a national search, according to Frederika “Fraka” Harmsen, Sacramento State’s provost and vice president of academic affairs. His appointment is effective Feb. 2.

Before accepting his current position at St. Bonaventure, Balthazard spent 18 years at Arizona State University, where he held senior academic leadership positions, including associate dean of the School of Global Management and Leadership and director of graduate programs in the W.P. Carey School of Business, West Campus. In announcing his appointment, Sacramento State officials cited Balthazard’s record of scholarly contributions and multimillion-dollar grant-funded projects, including contributions to “the neuroscience of leadership,” saying he has emerged as one of the leading national authorities in the interdisciplinary field.

Balthazard earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and computer science at McGill University in Canada. He also earned a master’s degree in management information systems and a joint doctorate in business administration and systems and industrial engineering from the University of Arizona.

“The college is a community-engaged organization with an outstanding record of success and innovation,” Balthazard said in a written statement regarding his Sacramento State appointment. “It is also clear that those who represent the college, internal and external, are poised to achieve even greater goals. I look forward to getting to work. We all have a very exciting future ahead of us.”

Boosalis also was selected following a nationwide search and will join Sacramento State’s College of Education on Jan. 20. He has held several leadership positions in the College of Education at CSU Stanislaus, including coordinator of assessment. He is the author of four books, has experience managing assessment data and reporting for the National Council of Accreditation of Teacher Education, the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing and the CSU Chancellor’s Office.

Editor’s note (Dec. 23): This article has been updated based on revised information from Sacramento State.