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I was the first one in my family to have the opportunity to go to college and that has
changed my life. I've done things that I never dreamed would be possible.
John came from Illinois. His father worked on a milk farm and didn't want to see John
to have to work as hard as he did. So John, you know had that passion for the students
in the San Joaquin Valley.
With John Welty it really started with a vision. He had experience in other parts of the country
and saw the impact that major universities can have on their immediate surrounding area
and so, he came here with the understanding that Fresno State could be a major instrument
in turning around a region that really desperately needed it .
I thought that there was a great opportunity here for the university to connect itself
with the region and to demonstrate that a public university can be a major contributor
to the region in which is located.
When John came here he immediately set to work, the long term vision, making Fresno
State a fully engaged university.
And it's been very visionary on his part, I think, that he can muster all the resources
and the wonderful faculty and staff to try to address some of the problems that we face
here in Fresno.
I think Dr. Welty completely changed the way the university connected with the city and
with the region.
Fresno State can never again be thought of as an isolated higher education institution.
It is in fact, the center enterprise for the region.
He has always wanted Fresno State to be seen as a problem solver and a partner throughout
the Central Valley and as a result of his leadership, we are engaged in helping the
region solve it's many problems.
He's made Fresno State the economic engine of the San Joaquin Valley.
If you were to think of one individual that has changed the face of Fresno, that person
would have to be president Welty.
He's a man of great principal and integrity and he's a quiet man with a backbone of
steel.
John Welty has been president of Fresno State longer than any president ever serve there.
But John's greatest accomplishments was the focus of the Central Valley and the young
people from the underserved communities.
He has always put students first.
That is a reflex for president Welty, his commitment for to Students.
Some of the my best memories are about student celebrations, their accomplishments.
I think, what really makes a difference for me, is to see those students, who have overcome
incredible obstacles and they reach success. And that's what higher education is all
about, transforming lives.
I've known him for a long time, through many changes and hairstyles on both of our
parts, actually not on his part, his hair hasn't changed a bit, mine has changed many
times, if you look at the photo today, versus back then. I've been a student at Fresno
State, I've worked for him for eight years, which was a real pleasure and now enjoy the
relationship as Mayor of the city in which his university resides. I think a lot of people
learned as we watched him. We watched him go after big dreams and big visions but in a
very systematic solid step-by-step kind of manner.
He really listens and lets you run with things and that's part of being a great mentor,
a great leader and a great teacher and in many ways he exhibits all those traits every
day.
If you have difficulty things to say, say it to him, his very open and he listens. But
he wants you to get right to it. You always know that you've hit the button if he pulls
this little pad of paper and he sort of, he sort of makes a loud thump on the desk and
he'll scratch out a note, "Oh okay, that, that has to change," so you know that you've
hit paydirt when you got that little pad of paper coming out.
It's fun to work with people that are excited about what they're doing, that have that
gleam in the eye and want to do additional things and then to give them the freedom to
try out things, to learn to be successful and also learn to stub their toe occasionally.
But nevertheless to help them really get prepare to assume leadership positions.
His legacy is going to live for quite some time.
Well, it's a very courageous move to start a capital campaign at this point in our economic
history.
When everything else looks like it's going to hell and hand basket, he sees things as
an opportunity.
He believed in the university and he knew he could go out and tell that story.
I think they support the university because John has painted a picture for them of what
a university can be and I think they see themselves fitting in to that picture in some way, shape
or form.
So, I think his role in the capital campaign is so much more than just raising money for
goals. It's about leaving a legacy, an impression and transformative experience for
everyone what was engaged with him in building that campaign.
There is plenty of bricks and matter around that would not be here, if it weren't for
John Welty.
Our beautiful library, our athletic facilities, our new buildings they are phenomenal!
The Save Mart Center it was a big idea. A lot of people thought it was crazy, but it
sits over there today. We have alumni who come on from the 70's and they go on the
east side of the campus and they get lost. They have never seen any of that.
He's going to be remembered for a number of great things, but, one of the things I
think about president Welty is that he has put Fresno State on the national map in many
ways.
We have more students, we have more courses and we have more graduate programs.
The addition of doctorate programs, 20 years ago, was unheard of and yet he managed all
of that. Only one person gets to lead the university through it's Centennial celebration.
I think we did it with dignity and with excitement and I think John really loved that whole year
of the Centennial celebration. But I know this for sure, when we celebrate the 200 and
they write another book of Fresno State, there'll be at least one whole chapter dedicated to
the tenure of John Welty as president here.
John Welty has been one of the best team players among all of the presidents of the CSU.
He didn't just run this campus. He was a statesmen throughout the system.
Through his leadership he has developed this identity of Fresno State, to make us a major
force and major player both academically and athletically on the national stage.
Dr. Welty over the last decade has made special interest in ensuring that athletics is very
much part of the university.
I thought that it was important for the university to be in the best conference possible.
The advantage that we had as we were looking and aspiring to the Mountain West Conference,
was the great reputation that Dr. Welty has throughout the west. He was highly instrumental
in us being invited into the Mountain West Conference.
That is something that John Welty worked on for 14 years and when he accomplished that,
he really did something for Fresno State.
President Welty currently serves as the Mountain West Conference representative to the NCAA
board of directors and as well as the Bowl Championship series group.
Let's see my first impression of president Welty was, "Does the man ever sleep?" I
would look at his calendar and he would be booked from 7:00 in the morning to 9:00 at
night. Sometimes he'd have three events he would attend in one evening, and I'd
say, "You want me to block of any time?" and he says "No, just keep 'em coming,
just keep 'em coming."
He is a tireless worker. He outworks everybody, that's kind of legendary on campus. But,
he also never forgets anything. Sometimes people say the four most feared words from
him are, "Where are we with—?"fill in the blank.
I think, is known for being a hard worker, but, he has balance in his life too.
John and Sharon are the perfect presidential couple. She's got this national reputation
for being the perfect complement to him and he to her.
They're both really witty, they both love golf, they both are just absolute professionals.
I came to Fresno State as a job, at a job interview, and I have to laugh because I came
here I never thought I would be in California. I came here as a practice interview as somebody
from Pennsylvania and thought nobody could ever afford to live in California, but I'll
risk it and go for the interview. I felt in love with California while I was here and
then John and I just found each other, it was kind of a nice thing that happened to
both of us.
Sharon certainly has made a huge difference in my life. That's been one of the great
joys of being at Fresno State. She's probably the one that should be honored completely
this evening because she's really played about three different roles and which can
be very, very demanding.
Took a faculty position, loved being in the classroom and was asked to be the director
of the Join Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership and agreed to do that, and the
rest is all history. I've been very happy here at Fresno State and very happy with my
career.
I think she is a tireless worker also, they both serve this university so well. She's
with him at all the events, they're greeting everyone.
We are very fortunate to have the university house, because it provides a place where we
can showcase the university and entertain guest. It's certainly is a public home.
A lot of people have keys and combinations and you never know who you are going to run
into in the morning when you come down, when you are in your jammies and you run to
the kitchen and there's the plumber, the painter, but it's been a lot of fun.
I think --in this job, if you don't step back and laugh at yourself frequently you
are going to have problems.
Things that people may not know about him, is that he has a wonderful sense of humor.
Particularly when we tell jokes about his driving.
There are two things about him that are legendary one is his driving.
We'll he's kind of speedy and I'm not, so you know, every time I get in that golf
cart with him, I buckle up.
I have looked to avoid getting in the car with him after being in there a couple of
times.
He has one hand on the steering wheel and he opens this briefcase full of papers, and
I'm terrified.
Lynette Zelezny the associate provost and I were coming back from a rotary meeting that
John had also attended. So, I was sort of watching the traffic around
me, there was a very shiny Lexus in a hurry...
It was zooming down the highway and you know
changing lanes very skillfully etcetera.
And I said, "Boy, that person drives just like president Welty," and I looked up and I eent,
"Oh, it is president Welty! And we both really laugh. So yeah he beat us by about 10 minutes
back to the office, but he has things to do, so I get that.
We'll actually I got a pretty good driving record in compared to those who criticize
my driving record. But, I've always try to do as much as I can while I'm driving
and make good use of the time.
The second thing that is legendary about him is his handwriting.
It's gotten worse... to now I have a magnifying glass
Even he can't read it sometimes. We think it's klingon.
The first time he wrote provost on a note to me, it looked like lots of different words
to me and none of them at first glance were provost and then I tried to problem solve,
and I realized well I'm the provost, maybe this is provost, and finally realized that
yes, the word is provost. And from then on of course, %#54*^&, whatever that word was
for anyone else, for me it meant provost. So it's a learning curve, it's a learning
curve.
One of the funniest moments in my entire career, was the day we celebrated John's 20th anniversary
and the Cabinet did this fabulous rendition of Big Bad John.
We were as ready as we could be.
He's dressed up like a fairy, he's milked cows, he's dressed up as a mariachi player.
We dressed him up as King-Kong and he wore the gorilla suit the entire ceremony.
It was a faculty and staff picnic several years ago and the Cabinet did a karaoke of
Gladys Knight and the Pips, we'd trolled to the left and John would troll to the right,
and we give a step forward, and he'd step back, it was just hysterical.
I've done things over the years I didn't think I was ever going to do, but It's always
been fun.
He's not a good pip, he's not a good pip.
I always tried to beat Dr. Smits in that crazy little—whatever it was—tricycle competition
that we used to have on campus. He must of spend so much practicing,
I never could successfully beat him, so, I may still work on that.
There was one year we dressed him up as Disco John and we were The Village Chicks, so we
were all in custom, and I think It was Cindy Matson's first day on campus.
I was just wearing regular clothes cause it was my first day, and got pulled up there
to do the YMCA dance with president Welty and many others, so I remember thinking, Oh
my goodness this is going to be a fun place to work.
We have a Presidential Cheeto box, Dr. Welty's one of his guilty pleasures. So we like to
keep it full for him, it's in his closet, so he always has Cheetos available.
But we never have them at home. So, when I went to his office and found out that he has
a box full of Cheetos everywhere I was pretty surprised.
He might get some in his stocking one year.
Now that we are transitioning out, it is bitter-sweet, it's bitter-sweet.
Primarily, I'm going to miss the people. I've very much enjoyed working with the
people at Fresno State. We got some incredibly talented people who care deeply about what
they're doing, from the staff, faculty and administrators and certainly students and
so it will be lonely not having the opportunity to interact with those folks, but, hopefully
some folks will stop down and see us and if they don't want to play golf, we'll find
out something else to do.
He says he going to do a lot of golfing and he's going to do just fine, I'm not real
sure we'll just have to wait and see. I'm not so sure he's going to be retired, he's
just going to be, maybe retreaded.
There been lots of surprises and it is been a full almost 22 years now. I always believed
you have a responsibility to give as much as you can to the university in the community
in which you are living and I shall never forget these experiences. There's been some
great highs, there's been some lows but, all-in-all, Fresno State is a great university.
It needs to believe in itself because I think it's making a major difference. It certainly
as a distinction at National university at this point. Everyone should be proud of what
they've done.