IMS Global: You've served at the helm of Cal State Northridge since 2000. What would you say distinguishes your institution? And what have been some of the most significant changes during your tenure?

JK: First of all, we're a regional university and we're committed to making this region a better place. I would also say that we're among the best institutions in the country with that kind of mission. And here I speak very specifically about Cal State Northridge being absolutely indispensable to the San Fernando Valley. Economically, culturally, we provide the intellectual capital. We tend to the quality of life in this region.

IMS Global: How would you say you are different from some of your peer institutions in the California State University system?

JK: I think we've taken the regional commitment up a notch. Our degree programs across the colleges have curriculum and pedagogical elements that take students into the community as part of their learning, but they also get the opportunity to give back while they are learning. We also have a large number of on-campus curricular-driven centers that bring people from the community into the university. I'll give you a few examples. About 40,000 low-income people come through our Communicative Disorders Clinic on an annual basis. Our Physical Therapy program has a Balance Clinic that serves seniors and others with balance-related issues. Our music program has a Music Therapy Clinic that serves students from lower income groups, including a special clinic for kids with autism. Our College of Business and Economics every year runs a volunteer income tax preparation program for people who might not otherwise have the resources. And those are just a few. These services are a commitment back to the community that happened here before community service became popular on university campuses. It's deeply embedded in the fabric of our institution.

The other thing that's unique about Cal State Northridge is that our students do remain in the region locally after they graduate. Our students come from almost every state and more than 70 foreign countries. And yet, 80 percent of our alums live in the greater Los Angeles region.

IMS Global: Next year, Cal State Northridge will celebrate its 50th anniversary. In 1994, one of the most powerful earthquakes to ever hit the Los Angeles area caused a significant amount of damage to your campus community. What effect did that have on the university at the time and how has it recovered? What has changed about the university as a result?

JK: The major impact, I think, was what (then President) Blenda Wilson and her leadership team did extraordinarily well, which was to pause and take advantage of this horrific set of circumstances and re-design the physical landscaping of the institution. It has a very different look and feel now. I wasn't here before the earthquake, but I suspect that we were probably one of the indistinguishable universities then without a lot of aesthetically pleasing characteristics. Our student leaders today, as part of their responsibility, have the opportunity to visit other campuses. And every year, they come to me and say, "We have the most beautiful campus in the California State University." It's wonderful that they take such great pride in it and have these facilities available in which to learn.

Another way we're different is that this campus takes very seriously emergency planning. This is a real live issue for us and we place a lot of emphasis on disaster recovery. I would say as well that during the years immediately after the disaster when the university was still recovering, the university maintained all of its specialized accreditation. There was never an interruption or a beat missed. I think this achievement reiterated for everybody our commitment to students, and naturally led us to our work in the last seven years to focus more on student success.