Dumke, Glenn S.

History/Biography

Glenn Dumke was born May 5, 1917 in Green Bay, Wisconsin. At age five, his family moved to Glendale, California where his father, William Frederick Dumke, became a buying agent for a major Los Angeles grocery business. Originally, his mother, Marjorie Schroeder Dumke, was the home maker, largely responsible for raising Glenn and his sister. After William died, she went to work as a title searcher in the Land and Titles Office of Los Angeles. Glenn Dumke’s k-12 schooling occurred at the UCLA Training School before attending Occidental College as a history major. While at Occidental, Dumke also studied art and photography before graduating with his history degree in 1938.

Dumke earned a Master’s Degree in History from Occidental and his Ph.D. from UCLA in 1942. Dr. Dumke then took up a teaching position at Occidental College in their history department as a specialist in Western American and Hispanic history. On February 3, 1945, he married Dorothy D. Robison. While teaching at Occidental, Dr. Dumke conducted extensive historical research, published countless articles, and several books. His most notable publications during his Occidental years were the books, The Boom of the Eighties in Southern California (1944), Mexican Gold Trail: The Journal of a Forty-Niner (1945), and co-authorship of the book, A History of the Pacific Area in Modern Times (1949). In later years, Dr. Dumke also published some material under the pseudonyms Glenn Pierce and Jordan Allen. In 1950, Dr. Dumke was offered the position of Dean of Faculty at Occidental, although he also continued to teach occasional classes.

In 1957 Dr. Dumke accepted the position of President of San Francisco State College (SFSC). This was a move he regretted immediately and even explored means of backing out of the appointment and staying at Occidental. Dr. Dumke realized the Presidency was a huge step up for his career but his letters reveal he was not enthusiastic about leaving Occidental, where he had pursued his academic career for more than twenty years.

Shortly after taking up this new position, he was invited to participate on the committee creating the Master Plan for California’s higher education system. Dr. Dumke was offered a position on the committee because of his teaching background as well as his experience as a college administrator. Dr. Dumke had also gained a reputation as an outspoken advocate of state-wide educational standards.

The concept of a unified, state-wide system, had been discussed on and off for many years. However, the concept took on new urgency in the late 1940s and early 1950s as unprecedented numbers of Californians took advantage of funding to attend college-especially returning veterans under the GI Bill. Educators and politicians throughout the state realized that the existing independent campuses could not handle the sheer numbers of students applying for higher education, and that these campuses were not providing uniformly high standards of education. The Master Plan sought to create a two track system of higher education. The Universities of California were to be research schools offering Ph.D.’s and the California State Universities & Colleges were to be four year schools up to the Master’s Degree level.

From 1961-1962, Dr. Dumke served as the first Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs of the California State College system. The first Chancellor of the new CSC system, Buell Gallagher, stunned the Board of Trustees by resigning his position after just eight months. After a short search, the Board offered the Chancellorship to Dr. Dumke. Dr. Dumke immediately tackled the daunting task of firmly establishing a state-wide program for the new CSC system. One of his first important acts as the new Chancellor was the establishment of a system-wide academic senate. He established the precedent of meeting with the campus presidents monthly as well as allowing them strong input on most policy decisions. Dr. Dumke was also responsible for successfully leading the movement to establish the permanent headquarters of the new CSC in Long Beach.

In the twenty years that Dr. Dumke served as Chancellor, he boasted many accomplishments that still influence the CSU today. He expanded several policies that were first initiated when he was Vice Chancellor; such as the creation of more accredited programs, stronger standards for accreditation of all programs, and the establishment of a system-wide general education program. Early in his tenure, he strongly advocated admission standards, although the CSU did not adopt these proposals until 1990. He also oversaw the creation of additional CSU campuses including Dominguez Hills, Bakersfield, San Bernardino, and Sonoma. From 1965-1971, Dr. Dumke was at the forefront of the efforts by the CSU opposing student and faculty strikes. In 1969 he banned faculty strikes outright. He led political and public efforts opposing Governor Ronald Reagan’s proposed cuts to the CSU system in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Dr. Dumke was one of the first California higher education administrators to recognize the changing nature of student needs at the CSU. In 1971 he successfully initiated the “New Approaches to Higher Education” Program. This initiative established the CSU off-campus and extension programs. In 1978, the Chancellor’s office embarked on a new, aggressive, five year affirmative action plan to increase minority and women’s attendance at the CSU. He was also instrumental in establishing legal counsel systems and legal services for faculty and students at each of the CSU campuses.

Dr. Dumke retired as Chancellor in 1982. However, he remained active as President for several think tanks including; “The Institute for Contemporary Studies” (1982-1986) and the “Foundation for the 21st Century” (1986-1989). He also remained an active member on the Board of Trustees for a wide variety of organizations such as Pepperdine University, University of the Redlands, Joint Council on Economic Education, The West Coast Advisory Board, and the California Chamber of Commerce. Additionally, Dr. Dumke remained active in a host of social clubs including; the Bohemian Club, Commonwealth Club, Los Angeles Club, Virginia Country Club, Rotary Club (Long Beach), and the California Club.

For his accomplishments as a historian, educator, and administrator, Dr. Dumke received several prestigious national awards including the USO Distinguished American Award and the award for Individual Excellence in Education from the Freedoms Foundation. Dr. Glenn S. Dumke died suddenly of a heart attack on June 29, 1989. He was survived by his wife Dorothy. They had no children.