Students and staff at California State University East Bay are getting a new president, university officials recently announced.
Oakland native Cathy Sandeen has been appointed president of the school and assumes her official duties Jan. 4.
Sandeen is currently the chancellor of the University of Alaska Anchorage campus. She said she is a first-generation college graduate and got her start in the Cal State system, so she is passionate about what the university is passionate about.
“It’s wonderful to have that strong match,” Sandeen said. “That makes it very exciting.”
She said she embraces the university’s commitment to communities of color and sustainability and will be working to further the school’s leadership in those areas.
“Throughout her career in higher education, Dr. Sandeen has created and implemented initiatives to increase diversity, equity and inclusion,” said Jack McGrory, CSU Trustee and chair of the search committee, in a statement.
Sandeen has been chancellor of the University of Alaska Anchorage since 2018. Before that, she was chancellor of the University of Wisconsin Colleges and University of Wisconsin-Extension from 2014 to 2018.
She has taught at Santa Clara University, San Jose State University, the University of Utah, Stanford University and San Francisco State University.
Following a bachelor’s degree at Humboldt State University, she earned a master’s degree in broadcast communication at San Francisco State University, and MBA from the University of California at Los Angeles and a doctorate in communication from the University of Utah.
CSU East Bay has campuses in Hayward and Concord.
