Lisa Rossbacher, the president of Marietta’s Southern Polytechnic State University, has been named president of Humboldt State University in California.
She will step down from her SPSU position this summer and begin at the new school in July. She will be the university’s seventh — and first female — president, according to a statement issued by Humboldt.
Rossbacher, a geologist, was already slated to lose her job here next year when SPSU completes a consolidation with Kennesaw State University. KSU President Dan Papp will lead the new institution.
Over the past few years Rossbacher has pursued a number of positions. She was a finalist for jobs at New Mexico State University, Southern Utah University, Wichita State University and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
During her tenure at SPSU, which began in 1998, enrollment has increased by 78 percent, and new academic programs were added in civil, electrical and mechanical engineering, new media arts, and game design. During the same period, she helped increase campus diversity, and nearly 50 percent of students are now from traditionally underrepresented groups, according to the University System of Georgia.
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