Chapman University’s board of trustees named Chancellor Daniele Struppa “presidential designate,” making him the eventual successor to President Jim Doti.
Struppa, 58, has been the second-ranking official at the school in Orange since he started as chancellor in 2006.
Doti, 67, has no immediate plans to retire. He has said he will give a year’s notice when he decides to step down from the post he has held since 1991.
“While this action will not have any immediate impact, it paves the way for me to work more closely with [Struppa] on presidential matters,” Doti wrote last week in a message to the university’s students, faculty and staff members.
Doti had earlier said the move to designate Struppa as his eventual successor also would help retain him at Chapman, where his work as chancellor has led to a “growing stature in higher education.”
The announcement on the trustees’ decision followed a Chapman Faculty Senate vote also approving Struppa as Doti’s successor.
The trustees’ vote made the designation final.
