California State University (CSU) has hired Dr. Mildred García to be its 11th chancellor. García is currently the president of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU), a position she has held since 2018.
She is well-acquainted with the CSU system, having previously served as president of two of its campuses – California State University Fullerton (2012 to 2018) and California State University, Dominguez Hills (2007 to 2012).
García will be the first Latina to head the CSU’s 23-campus system, which is the nation’s largest public university system with 23 campuses and an overall enrollment of nearly 460,000 students and a workforce of 56,000 faculty and staff. She is slated to begin her tenure as Chancellor on October 1, 2023.
Garcia is succeeding Interim Chancellor Jolene Koester, who has led the university since May 2022, after the prior Chancellor, Joseph I. Castro, stepped down in February of that year amid charges that he had mishandled sexual harassment complaints against an administrator while he was president of Fresno State University.
“The California State University is a powerful engine of change and upward mobility for California and the nation, supporting hundreds of thousands of students in achieving their educational, career and personal aspirations,” said García, in the university’s press release. “I am honored, humbled and excited for this opportunity to serve the nation’s largest four-year university system and work alongside its dedicated leaders, faculty and staff, and its talented and diverse students to further student achievement, close equity gaps and continue to drive California’s economic prosperity.”
While serving as AASCU’s president, García has been a strong voice for public higher education at the national level and has helped lead a policy agenda to recognize and strengthen the role of public universities.
“Dr. García is a highly skilled, dynamic and principled leader who has championed student success—especially for those students from underrepresented communities—throughout her long and distinguished career in public higher education,” said Wenda Fong, chair of the CSU Board of Trustees. “Her optimism, authenticity and courageous leadership will inspire greatness for the California State University community as we meet the challenges and seize the opportunities ahead and chart a path toward our great institution’s brightest future.”
García has also previously served as the CEO of Berkeley College, a private for-profit institution, where she was the first systemwide president for all six campuses in New York and New Jersey. She has held both academic and administrative positions at Arizona State University; Montclair State University; Pennsylvania State University; Teachers College, Columbia University; and the Hostos, LaGuardia, and City Colleges of the City University of New York.
A recipient of many awards for her higher education work, García was appointed by President Barack Obama to serve on several advisory boards, including the President’s Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanics, and by the U.S. Secretary of Education to serve on the Committee on Measures of Student Success.
The first person in her family to earn a college degree, García received her associate degree from New York City Community College, her bachelor’s in business education from Bernard M. Baruch College and a master’s in business education from New York University. She earned a master’s degree and a doctorate in higher education administration for Teachers College, Columbia University.
Garcia takes over the helm of the CSU system at a critical time. Not only is it facing significant enrollment losses, CSU workers are unhappy about their compensation, the system has a budget hole of more than $1 billion, and it may be forced to push through a substantial new tuition increase.
Those economic woes led a few CSU trustees to express concerns about the size of Garcia’s compensation package – an annual salary of $795,000, $80,000 in annual deferred compensation, an $8,000 monthly housing allowance and a $1,000 monthly auto allowance – with some viewing it as excessive in light of the institution’s overall financial condition.
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