Longtime Cal State San Bernardino executive William Aguilar, who has served as an administrator at the university since 1989, including nearly five years as CSUSB's vice president for university advancement, retired Dec. 31.

"William has been an excellent colleague whose exceptional leadership skills, vision, experience and understanding of the university allowed him to excel in a host of different management roles at Cal State San Bernardino," said CSUSB President Albert Karnig.

"He established himself as an excellent university librarian, directing development of the university libraries during challenging transitional times. Then he served as the founding vice president for information technology, helping to lay out CSUSB's tech infrastructure, and his work as vice president for advancement was marked by new fundraising records. William's also been a valuable and conscientious adviser as part of our executive cabinet, and we'll unquestionably miss him when he retires."

"Cal State San Bernardino has been the central focus of my life for the past 21 years," Aguilar said. "I will most certainly miss so many things, but above all I will miss my colleagues and friends."

Aguilar joined Cal State San Bernardino as the university librarian in 1989, and was elevated to vice president for information resources and technology when the division was created in 1992. In overseeing seven departments within the division, he also was the chief architect in the transformation of the university's technology infrastructure.

CSUSB's top advancement position sat vacant from late 2001 until March 2005, when, after a national search, Karnig appointed Aguilar as vice president for university advancement. There, Aguilar has overseen the university's offices of development, athletics, alumni affairs, advancement services and public affairs.

"As long as we could have searched, I don't think we would have ever found a better person for this position than William," Karnig said.

Along with serving as the Hispanic Caucus chair of the American Association of Higher Education, Aguilar is the founding president of the Southern California Consortium of Hispanic Serving Institutions.

Prior to joining CSUSB, he worked at Central Connecticut State University, the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Pikeville (Ky.) College and Lamar (Colo.) Community College.

Aguilar has a Ph.D. in library and information science from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. His master's degree in library science is from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and he has a bachelor's degree in secondary education and Spanish from Adams State College in Alamosa, Colo.

He lives in San Bernardino with his wife, Becky, and has a son, Jason, who lives in Riverside.

Francoise Aylmer, CSUSB's associate vice president for development, will serve as interim vice president for advancement beginning Jan. 1.