By Walter Ryce

The division of Academic Affairs has been re-energized with a leadership team of people who are new to campus, but who bring substantial experience and passion for the mission of CSUMB. Among them is Cindy Juntunen, associate provost for research and dean of Graduate Studies. 

Juntunen grew up on a North Dakota farm and lived most of her life in the state. She comes to CSUMB with nearly 30 years of higher education experience at the University of North Dakota, where she most recently was the dean for the College of Education and Human Development. 

But she’s had a taste of California before, having earned her doctorate in counseling psychology from the University of California, Santa Barbara. 

“I liked the energy out here,” she said of her time on the West Coast. 

Juntunen had originally planned to be a therapist, but while studying for her master’s degree, she told a mentor that she wanted to help people. That mentor told her that if she did therapy she would help one person; but if she did research she would help thousands of people.

That helped Juntunen see research as a tool for social good. 

She has trained psychologists and counselors for 22 years, and she herself specializes in vocational psychology.

“I’m really invested in making the rewards of work equally accessible, in gender differences in work, social class and poverty, rural health and ethics,” she said. She’s interested in how all that manifests through people’s work aspirations. 

She saw in CSUMB a younger campus that has room for growth. 

“I saw the opportunity to be focused on building up the research supports and infrastructure,” she said. “I enjoy getting into systems and finding ways to improve them.” 

In her role, she’s charged with overseeing and supporting research and graduate students across the colleges, encouraging undergrads to seek more education, recruiting and promotion, and creating opportunities for students and faculty to explore their scholarly interests. 

She hopes to figure out the way forward through consensus, but recognizes that she will also need to make decisions. She’s started by doing a lot of listening sessions.

“Lots of listening, lots of meetings,” she said. “Also, reading a ton of documents. The listening is a lot more interesting.”

On her own time, she reads a lot of science fiction, and is currently immersed in the “Hyperion” series. She also likes to garden, bead, make jewelry and generally go outside and be around water, which should be a lot easier now. 

“It’s nice to go from land-locked North Dakota to here,” she said.