Timothy White, former University of Idaho president, was named head of the 23-campus California State University system Thursday.
White was president at UI from 2004 until 2008 when he accepted the position as chancellor of the University of California, Riverside.
In his new position, White will assume leadership of the university system that faces $500 million budget cuts if Proposition 30 — a tax initiative — doesn’t pass in November.
White wrote an open letter to the UC Riverside community where he said he felt this was a tremendous opportunity for him to try and do more for higher education in California.
“It is an opportunity to affect the futures of some 430,000 CSU students, and those yet to come,” White said in the letter.