President Blanchard calls for 'reaching the students who need it most' at his first CSULB Convocation

President Loren J. Blanchard, delivering his first Convocation address for Cal State Long Beach Friday, proclaimed a vision of student success for an inclusive campus where all can flourish.

"Student success is a moral compact that we make with our students and their families," Blanchard said.

"We must help our students persist," he said. "We must help them get to graduation. We must help them leave Cal State Long Beach with a degree of life-altering value."

Convocation is an annual tradition commemorating the start of the academic year. This year, it was also a call to action. Blanchard, joined by Provost Karyn Scissum Gunn and other campus leaders at Carpenter Center for the Performing Arts, encouraged faculty and staff to build on recent improvements in graduation rates while being mindful to uplift students of all backgrounds.

"If we are really serious about student success, we must also be serious about equity," Blanchard said. "Closing equity gaps is not separate from student success. Equity asks whether our systems work for all students. It asks whether support is reaching the students who need it most."

President Loren J. Blanchard, a first-generation college graduate, affirmed CSULB's role to serve students from all walks of life.

'Better than excellent'

CSULB is already nationally recognized for promoting social mobility. More than half of attending students are first-generation collegians, just as Blanchard was when he started out at Xavier University of Louisiana in New Orleans.

Blanchard thanked his parents for connecting him with study partners and professionals of color who provided mentorship while introducing him to a world of possibilities.

Beach students may have robust support systems in their own lives, or they may themselves be responsible for caring for family members, Blanchard said. Students may also contend with such challenges as financial pressures, mental health concerns or self-doubt.

Yet, Beach students arrive with talent and purpose, Blanchard said. This obligates The Beach to uphold its mission of fostering "superior teaching, research, creative activity, and action for the public good."

"To me, superior is a call to be better than the status quo, I would say even better than excellent," Blanchard said. "It is a standard of practice, responsibility and service that we embody. It represents our authentic edge."

Provost Karyn Scissum Gunn called the 2026-27 academic year into session at the outset of Convocation.

'Our collective why'

The program also included perspectives from Academic Senate Chair Neil Hultgren, Staff Council Chair Colleen Ryan and Associated Students Inc. President Sonny Ciampa. Pei-Fang Hung, vice provost for academic programs, and Jeff Klaus, dean of students, also discussed The Beach's role in implementing the CSU Student Success Framework.

During her remarks, Scissum Gunn affirmed that everyone with a connection to The Beach has a role to play in student success. She relayed news from other campus leaders highlighting recent accomplishments.

These updates included a report from Dan Montoya, vice president of university relations and development, that philanthropists contributed $62 million over the past fiscal year. Gifts conveyed over this period include $30 million from Hing '85 and Doris Hung for the Hung Family College of Engineering.

The provost also cited Beth Lesen, vice president of student affairs, who brought attention to Beach programs promoting student inclusion. These include the ASI Isabel Patterson Child Development Center, an option for student parents who need childcare and the Black Excellence Experience summer program.

"Every daily action we take, from our responsibilities on this campus, ultimately bubbles up to our students' experiences," Scissum Gunn said.

"Their advancements, engagement, sense of self awareness and responsibility, resilience, and ultimately, their success to move on to their next great thing in life," she also said. "This, friends, is our collective 'why' at The Beach."

Convocation brings faculty, staff and friends of CSULB together at the start of each academic year.