Cal State University Dominguez Hills, starting next year, will have a new president \u2014 at least, on an interim basis.<\/p>\n
The CSU system, made up of 23 colleges across California including CSUDH in Carson, announced that longtime education leader Mary Ann Villarreal will take over the position at the beginning of next year on Wednesday, Nov. 19.<\/p>\n
Villarreal\u00a0will take over the position from the university\u2019s outgoing president Thomas Parham, who announced his retirement earlier this year. Parham, who served at the university\u2019s helm since 2018, will retire effective Dec. 31, according to CSUDH.<\/p>\n
Currently, Villarreal is the vice president for institutional excellence at the American Association of Colleges and Universities, the CSU said, a position she\u2019s held since 2024. Before that, she was University of Utah\u2019s first vice president for equity, diversity and inclusion.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am thrilled Dr. Villarreal has agreed to return to the CSU to serve as interim president of (CSUDH),\u201d said CSU Chancellor Mildred Garc\u00eda said in the announcement. \u201cShe is equity-minded, student-focused and a champion of strategic innovation. I have every confidence that she will be a principled leader, a compassionate presence and a devoted advocate for the (CSUDH) community through this time of transition.\u201d<\/p>\n
Villarreal\u00a0is no stranger to working with the CSU. She worked at CSU Fullerton from 2014 to 2019, first as the director of strategic initiatives and university projects and later as its associate vice president of academic affairs. More recently, she was a strategic consultant for the Chancellor\u2019s office, the CSU said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am excited by the opportunity to join (CSUDH) and the CSU in advancing their vital mission of serving California students in all the breadth and promise they bring,\u201d Villarreal said. \u201cAs one of the most diverse campuses in the CSU system, Dominguez Hills is a vital anchor institution for the community it serves. A beacon of inclusivity, it inspires hope \u2013 both for the community and for higher education in California.\u201d<\/p>\n
Villarreal\u00a0is also a U.S. Air Force veteran and a first-generation college graduate, the CSU said.<\/p>\n
She will serve as CSUDH president while the CSU finishes its nationwide search for Parham\u2019s permanent replacement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cal State University Dominguez Hills, starting next year, will have a new president \u2014 at least, on an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60836,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[2304,7,16844,23,131,133,132,137,200],"class_list":{"0":"post-60835","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-long-beach","8":"tag-cal-state-domiguez-hills","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-carson","11":"tag-local-news","12":"tag-long-beach","13":"tag-long-beach-headlines","14":"tag-long-beach-news","15":"tag-los-angeles-county","16":"tag-south-bay"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60835","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=60835"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60835\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}