{"id":471309,"date":"2026-09-21T23:14:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-21T23:14:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/471309\/"},"modified":"2026-09-21T23:14:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-21T23:14:09","slug":"why-this-csu-trustees-award-recipient-views-education-as-the-ultimate-equalizer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/471309\/","title":{"rendered":"Why this CSU Trustees’ Award recipient views education as the ultimate equalizer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Quay Dorsey witnessed a lot in his years as a first-generation college student in Pennsylvania. His experiences \u2014 sometimes tough, sometimes revelatory \u2014 inspired him to become an educator.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe that education saved and changed my life,\u201d said Dorsey, who served as a K-12 teacher and instructional leader for nine years after finishing college. He now serves as a senior program manager at WestEd\u2019s Center for Economic Mobility, in addition to pursuing a doctorate in educational leadership<\/a> at Cal State Long Beach.<\/p>\n

Throughout his life, Dorsey has seen education as a means of self-improvement and the improvement of his communities.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom the beginning, my mom \u2014 though we did not have a lot \u2014 she had the knowledge or the instinct, that the schools in our neighborhood were not the schools that I needed to be in,\u201d he said. \u201cMy own economic mobility is why I study economic mobility.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dorsey is CSULB’s recipient of the 2026-27 CSU Trustees\u2019 Award for Outstanding Achievement<\/a>. The annual award is the CSU\u2019s highest recognition of student achievement, and he is one of 22 students across the system who has demonstrated excellent academic performance, personal accomplishments, community service and financial need. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Each Trustees\u2019 Award recognizes a donor or leader, and Dorsey is the SchoolsFirst Federal Credit Union Scholar<\/a> for the 2026-27 academic year.<\/p>\n

The scholarship program was established in 1984 by the William Randolph Hearst Foundation. In 1999, the Hearst Foundation partnered with the CSU Board of Trustees to supplement the endowment with contributions from CSU Trustees, CSU Foundation board members and private donors.<\/p>\n

In his recommendation letter to the award selection committee, CSULB President Loren J. Blanchard wrote, \u201cHe stands out for both his academic work and his commitment to expanding opportunity for students. As a first-generation college student, Mr. Dorsey brings a clear sense of purpose to his research, which focuses on college access, advising systems and economic mobility for students in historically underserved groups.\u201d<\/p>\n

At WestEd\u2019s Center for Economic Mobility, Dorsey leads statewide technical assistance, evaluation and research efforts supporting the California College Access and Outreach Program, also known as Cal-SOAP.<\/p>\n

\u201cCal-SOAP helps high school students complete the financial aid application,\u201d he explained. \u201cThe landscape has changed extremely for students recently. Aid is available for students, but they have to pay careful attention these days. I\u2019m helping the directors of these programs redesign their programs, so they\u2019re serving students to meet best practice standards.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n

Dorsey\u2019s own experiences learning from his mother and through education inspired him to become a full-time teacher and instructional leader, which he did at Title I schools in Washington, D.C. for nearly a decade. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is my calling \u2014 this changes lives,\u201d he said. \u201cMy mother has shown me that resilience, determination and good instincts will change things for you. I remember that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Angela Locks<\/a>, a professor and department chair of educational leadership at CSULB, said, \u201cQuay Dorsey is deeply committed to ensuring that educational leaders are responsible to students and the communities that entrust us with their loved ones. He has enacted this commitment in PK-12 classrooms, student affairs at colleges\/universities, and now with his doctoral journey. His research is about whom the CSU enrolls and serves, exploring how campuses can ensure students\u2019 economic and social mobility.\u201d<\/p>\n

After he obtains his doctorate (anticipated in May 2028), Dorsey plans to continue with his economic mobility research and put it into practice. One day, he hopes to join higher leadership at a college, or within a university system.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to work with students toward the transformation of their lives,\u201d he said. \u201cShow them that education can be a lever, as well as a tool for learning.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n

The CSU Trustees\u2019 Award will help Dorsey pay for his doctorate. Beyond that, \u201cThe opportunity to speak directly with trustees is also important to me,\u201d he said. \u201cGetting in the room with people who are shaping how students are navigating the educational system \u2014 I think that\u2019s extremely valuable.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Quay Dorsey witnessed a lot in his years as a first-generation college student in Pennsylvania. His experiences \u2014…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":471310,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[1818,1820,7,1815,1821,1822,1819,131,133,132,1817,1816],"class_list":["post-471309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-49ers","tag-cal-state","tag-california","tag-college","tag-csu","tag-csulb","tag-dirtbags","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news","tag-long-beach-state","tag-university"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=471309"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471309\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/471310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=471309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=471309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=471309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}