 In 1982 Reynolds was designated chancellor of the California State University system, replacing Glenn S. Dumke, who had held the job for twenty years, most of the life of the CSU system.During the late 1980s when the CSU system was contemplating a facility in the northern part of San Diego County, she was insistent that it be a full fledged university, California State University San Marcos (CSUSM), rather than a satellite campus of San Diego State University.It was the nation's first new state university in more than 20 years.