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Three years into his presidency, the CSU conducted a monthslong performance review of Sacramento State leader Luke Wood.<\/p>\n
Paul Kitagaki Jr.<\/p>\n
pkitagaki@sacbee.com<\/p>\n
In Luke Wood\u2019s first official performance review since he took over as president of Sacramento State in 2023, the California State University leadership found he was a \u201chighly energetic, charismatic and boldly innovative leader.\u201d<\/p>\n
They also identified future goals for Wood\u2019s presidency: building trust with the campus community, growing the national brand of Sacramento State and cultivating camaraderie within the leadership team, among others.<\/p>\n
In his three years of leading the 31,000-student campus, Wood has made sweeping changes to the school\u2019s offerings and attempted to reinvent its identity \u2014 big moves that, though not directly mentioned in CSU\u2019s public evaluation of Wood\u2019s presidency, have attracted praise and scrutiny in equal measure.<\/p>\n
Wood launched the nation\u2019s first Black Honors College<\/a> and the Wileety Native American College. He was also accused by his former chief diversity officer<\/a> of discriminating against her on the basis of race, gender and age. Wood upgraded Sacramento State to college football\u2019s top level<\/a>, the Football Bowl Subdivision. He also committed roughly $24 million<\/a> to do it even as campus expenditures continued to outpace revenues in the 2025-2026 fiscal year. Under Wood\u2019s leadership, the school hit new enrollment records<\/a>. But simultaneously, it struggled to provide space<\/a> for all its students to get into the classes they needed.<\/p>\n The details of the performance review conducted by CSU leadership are confidential. In a letter to the campus community Wednesday, CSU Chancellor Mildred Garc\u00eda announced the completion of the months-long evaluation of the leader and included some major takeaways and goals identified for the future.<\/p>\n \u201cThe president was widely commended for being uniquely attuned to the needs of Sacramento State\u2019s dynamically diverse student body and unwaveringly committed to meeting those needs, as demonstrated by the development of specialized and culturally responsive academic pathways and an impressive and growing number of inclusive and forward-focused student support programs,\u201d Chancellor Garc\u00eda said in her letter.<\/p>\n Garc\u00eda highlighted Wood\u2019s \u201cdemonstrated ability\u201d to engage the broader community, citing increased internship opportunities for students and new academic and workforce development partnerships in the region. She drew attention to the downtown project<\/a>, which seeks to develop a new campus only steps away from the California State Capitol.<\/p>\n The president review, conducted at all campuses every three years, was based on feedback from faculty, staff, students and community members as well as the Office of the Chancellor\u2019s independent evaluation. That independent evaluation included university visits, regular interactions with the campus community and data on operations, finances and student success.<\/p>\n Future goals<\/p>\n As part of the evaluation process, the CSU board of trustees and Wood held a meeting in May to discuss conclusions and next steps. Together, they identified six goals for President Wood to focus on going forward.<\/p>\n First, Wood is tasked with strengthening trust with the campus community by transparently communicating what the university is doing, why it matters and how its success is being assessed. To do this, he must increase campuswide messages from his office, publish progress reports and grow positive media presence, Garc\u00eda\u2019s letter said.<\/p>\n He will also work on boosting Sacramento State\u2019s reputation externally. The goal of this, the letter said, is to grow the school\u2019s out-of-state student population, who bring in more revenue. A third goal is to improve relationships among the members of the president\u2019s cabinet by engaging an executive coach \u201cto support transition and teamwork.\u201d<\/p>\n Across the campus, the CSU leadership has identified accountability and prevention programs for discrimination, harassment and retaliation as a priority. For this, the action steps outlined in Garc\u00eda\u2019s letter include increasing participation in conduct-of-concern trainings, mapping average time taken to address cases and strengthening the Office of Equal Opportunity\u2019s capacity by integrating it into a new Division of People and Climate by the end of the 2025-2026 fiscal year.<\/p>\n Wood has also been asked to complete the repatriation of all tribal ancestors and cultural items as required by the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990 and the California Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 2001. As of April, Sacramento State had repatriated 89% of ancestral remains and 78% of cultural items.<\/p>\n Finally, Wood will work on merging Sacramento State\u2019s business operations with Stanislaus State. The finance teams are to be integrated by July 1 and procurement operations by June 30, 2027.<\/p>\n Continuous review<\/p>\n President reviews, according to CSU policy, allow the CSU board of trustees to understand the unique characteristics of each campus, assess their leadership and further the school\u2019s progress. Upon recommendation of the chancellor, the board makes decisions on appointment, salary and continued employment of presidents. At present, Wood\u2019s salary stands at $504,799 per year with a $60,000 housing allowance and a 10% annual performance incentive. He received a 6% boost in November following a systemwide change<\/a> in the framework for calculating executive salaries.<\/p>\n The next three-year review of Wood\u2019s performance will begin in 2029. Until then, CSU Chancellor Garc\u00eda will continue to hold \u201cless formal\u201d annual reviews with him as is protocol, she said.<\/p>\n This story was originally published June 26, 2026 at 5:00 AM.<\/p>\n Related Stories from Sacramento Bee<\/p>\n
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