The California State University board of trustees has appointed Mildred GarciÌa to serve as the eleventh chancellor of the university system. Dr. GarciÌa is the first Latina appointed to oversee California State University’s 23-campus system which enrolls nearly 460,000 students and employs 56,000 faculty and staff.
“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 Dr. GarciÌa. “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.”
Since 2018, Dr. GarciÌa has been serving as president of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities. Earlier in her career, she served as president of California State University, Fullerton and California State University, Dominguez Hills.
Dr. GarciÌa is a native of Brooklyn, New York. Her parents immigrated to New York from Puerto Rico. She worked as a secretary to put herself through college, earning a bachelor’s degree in business education from Baruch College of the City University of New York System. She holds master’s degrees from New York University and Columbia University and an educational doctorate from Teachers College at Columbia University.