Solís steps up to plate, assumes new post  

By Luz Peña / Vida en el Valle

After 20 years as a professor at California State University, Fresno, Rafael Solís has a new job -- director of the Craig School of Business.
Solís took his position about a month ago. Previously Solís taught statistics and information systems in word-related programs like word programming called information architecture. Now Solís is teaching two statistic classes while being full-time director.

"I needed some challenges in my career. I think a professor should be in administration. I'm still teaching but I'm teaching fewer classes. I think every professor should be in administration to understand what's going on because when you're a professor you're behind a smoke screen," he said. "You're protected by it, but it's a smoke screen, so it's not that protective."

His experience, he said, makes him cut for the job.

"When you get older I think it's a good idea, (because) you're wiser and older to become part of the administration," he said. "It has been hectic, steep learning curve program but I am adapting very quickly."

Solís was born in 1950 in Campeche, México, which is southeast of the Yucatán. He arrived in the United States in 1977. He earned his doctorate from the University of Waterloo in Canada and has held various college-level teaching jobs throughout the United States and abroad. He came to Fresno in 1985 after teaching at the University of Florida in Miami.

Through the years, he has taught in places like Sydney, Australia, at the University of New South Wales and also Kazakhstan, which is north of India.

Now he's ready to make changes in the Fresno business school to better serve its students.

"I think in any kind of organization when you start working there, you see a different perspective, you see the problems the previous person probably saw, but never acted upon," he said. "There's problems with the way the program is right now; curriculum problems, marketing problems. All are not major problems, but problems I see that need to be corrected."

Another goal is to get the Master of Business Administration program up to speed with other colleges by making it more interdisciplinary. He would like students to be able to take classes not only in the business program but in others like public health, engineering, sociology and special education.

Solís believes the MBA program at Fresno State is one of the best in the country because it is accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, it has a knowledgable faculty and is affordable.

MBA students are required to produce a real-life project. Students will go into a business in the valley and help consultant the company. For a mere $3,500 fee students will solve problems within the company. The money made helps pay for scholarships and helps the project's coordinating professor recruit.

"Everybody wins, I think the companies get good quality work and it helps students to graduate," he said. "Students get the experience they need and get scholarships. The professor get a little money to coordinate, so it's really a win-win situation."