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New Dean Joins College of Business Administration at CSUSM

EDUCATION: Dr. Ronald Ramirez Says Time Was Right for California Return

Fresno native Dr. Ronald Ramirez is still finding his way around the freeways and side streets throughout San Diego County, but the 56-year-old has already started making some headway in his new role as dean of the College of Business Administration at California State University San Marcos.

Ronald Ramirez
Dean of College of Business Administration
Cal State San Marcos

Ramirez, who started at CSUSM in July, took over for Dr. Ben Cherry, who served as the college’s interim dean since August 2021.

Prior to coming to CSUSM, Ramirez was at the University of Colorado at Denver where he started as a faculty member in 2003. Ramirez was the associate dean of programs at the UCD Business School and was faculty director for the school’s professional MBA and information systems program as well as an undergraduate professor.

While in Denver, Ramirez not only worked with marketing communications and technology in the IT departments, he also helped with student success services and initiatives, working to build from the ground up. He helped create tutoring programs for undergraduates, scholarship programs for first-generation college students and veterans, and more.

Ramirez said he loved Colorado, where he lived for 20 years, but at this point in his life, he was ready to come back to where his roots were planted, in California.

 

Central Valley Roots

“I wanted to get back to my home state,” Ramirez said. “When I started a job search, I was looking at Cal State San Marcos. I hadn’t been here much, but I did have a good friend from Fresno State who was from here. I used to visit with him in San Diego every year.”

Ramirez’s father’s side of the family hails from Mexico and moved to California in the early 1900s, settling in a ranching area in the Central Valley south of Fresno. His mother’s family is of Native American descent and “have been here forever,” he said, adding that they too settled in the Fresno area.

Ramirez said he believes it is important for students to see traditionally underrepresented members of the community and minorities as parts of faculties at learning institutions. “If a student sees a person that looks like them up at the front, in the front of the classroom, maybe they will see themselves as pursuing business education and business careers.”

Ramirez said “the feel of the student body” at Cal State San Marcos is similar to that at UCD, although he said “there are more LatinX here.”

Ramirez earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Fresno State University and his MBA in finance from USC’s Marshall School of Business. He also received a Ph.D. in management information systems from UC Irvine’s Paul Merage School of Business.

 

CSU System’s Impact Goes Deep

“I’m direct evidence of the impact CSU can have on generations of families,” Ramirez said.

His resume also includes a long career in private industry, working in the telecommunications, semiconductor and oil industries, which has shown him how important it is to be practical when training students for future careers.

Ramirez said he believes that the College of Business Administration at CSUSM “is exceptionally well positioned to build upon its foundation of excellence and become a higher education leader in the Southern California region. Our agility and entrepreneurial spirit will enable new strategic programs and services that will continue to improve the success of our graduates, our communities and the state of California.”

Carl Kemnitz
Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs
Cal State San Marcos

Carl Kemnitz, CSUSM’s provost and vice president of Academic Affairs, said Ramirez’s substantial industry background combined with academic experience as faculty and administrator allows him “to draw on the best of both worlds, continuing our work to shape CoBA as a welcoming destination for business education in our region and beyond.?

Kemnitz said Ramirez’s collaborative leadership style and focus means he is well positioned to take the department “to new heights, building on the college’s commitment and legacy of innovation, diversity and inclusion, student experience and community engagement.”

Dr. Ellen Neufeldt, president of CSUSM, has led the development of a new strategic plan for the university and Ramirez said there will be a strategic planning process coming to the College of Business Administration that “will align with the university’s plan.”

He said he didn’t see the College of Business Administration’s strategic plan fundamentally changing its role in the community but said that “new opportunities identified as part of CoBA’s strategic plan may lead us to fulfill our role in new ways.”

Ramirez said the challenge for him will be learning to operate in the CSU system, where budget philosophies and revenue models are built and accessed differently than they are in Colorado.

He said he is currently living in south Orange County and looking to move his wife, Johanna, and three of their four children to San Diego. An older son currently attends UC Irvine.

Ramirez said that while he is busy getting to know Southern California’s roads and more, he is meeting with colleagues as well as with different businesses in the North County area to see about partnerships with them. “The faster I learn the quicker I can be effective,” Ramirez said.

Ramirez said he sees three main roles for CSUSM’s College of Business in the region:

  • Providing social and economic mobility opportunity for students.

“Especially as we serve a population of students that includes a high number of first generation, underrepresented and veteran students,” he said. “Their success helps move their families forward. Their success also serves the workforce needs of the San Diego region and helps fuel its economic growth.

  • Making the CSUSM College of Business a hub of knowledge in the region.

“We create new knowledge through the research activity of our faculty and through their comprehensive understanding of the latest knowledge in their field,” he said. “Collectively, such knowledge informs our courses and community events.”

  • That the CSUSM College of Business be of service to the community.

“This occurs through our education and workforce creation role, but also through service learning that takes place as part of our degrees,” Ramirez said.

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