CSUMB’s new president shakes up her administration and a big building project is shelved.

For the official ceremony installing her as president of CSU Monterey Bay on Friday, Feb. 10, Vanya Quiñones and her administrative leadership team walked into the World Theater to the tune of “One Love” by Bob Marley and The Wailers, with the message of “Let’s get together and feel all right.” During her first six months as president beginning in August, the love apparently did not extend to one member of her management team, Larry Samuels, who was serving as vice president of strategic initiatives.

In an email sent Dec. 1, Quiñones announced to faculty and staff that she was streamlining operations by eliminating Samuels’ vice president position and shuffling him back to a lower-level position he previously held for a time under former CSUMB president Eduardo Ochoa, special assistant to the president. Samuels was no longer a member of the president’s cabinet and no longer executive director of University Corp., a legally separate nonprofit that manages grants and contracts for CSUMB and manages housing, dining and other campus services. No announcement was made to the public about the reorganization.

Quiñones put Glen Nelson, vice president of administration and finance and CSUMB’s chief financial officer, in charge of University Corp., with over $68 million in assets reported to the IRS in 2021. CSUMB’s director of strategic initiatives, Anya Spear, was moved to the Division of Administration and Finance. Quiñones announced other changes to her administration as well.

Within days, Samuels was gone from CSUMB. He took a job with UC Santa Cruz Chancellor Cynthia Larive as special adviser for economic development and partnerships, a similar role to the one he had for years at CSUMB: fostering relationships with local governments and partnerships with private businesses to pursue projects designed to further the educational mission of the university. Samuels confirmed his new job, but declined to comment on his departure from CSUMB.

One of Samuel’s public/private partnership development projects announced in October is now off, according to an email sent to faculty and staff on Jan. 24 by Nelson. The planned 72-acre development at the corner of 2nd Avenue and 8th Street in Marina included up to 1,700 apartments for families and senior citizens and a town center with shops and restaurants, open space, trails and a gathering and entertainment space.

Nelson said that after a review of feedback from the CSUMB community, the financial needs of the project and its possible benefit to students, the CSUMB “leadership team has determined development of the site is not an option at this time.

“Given our need to focus resources and attention on increasing enrollment and improving the student experience on campus, we want to direct our collective energy and resources on projects” directly related to students and the campus community, Nelson wrote. Like the rest of the California State University, which is down 7-percent in enrollment this year, CSUMB has seen a decline in student enrollment by at least 5 percent since 2020.

Nelson added that the parcel “remains an important part of CSUMB’s future and we are open to pursuing the appropriate development of the site, with campus input, at some point in the future.”