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In The News
April 17, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Inauguration Set for Mildred García,
Seventh President of CSU Dominguez Hills
WHAT: Inauguration of President Mildred García
WHEN: Friday, May 2, 10 a.m. - noon; reception, noon - 1 p.m.
WHERE: California State University,
Dominguez Hills, 1000 E. Victoria St., Carson
(Carson, CA)— Dr.
Mildred García will be inaugurated as the seventh president
of California State University, Dominguez Hills on Friday, May
2. Taking place on the Loker Student Union North Lawn, the ceremony
will begin at 10 a.m., followed immediately by a reception at
noon in the Loker Student Union Dominguez Ballroom. Inauguration
day events are open to the public.
García assumed the presidency in August 2007 and in doing
so became the university’s first female president and the
first Latina president in the 23-campus California State University
system. She succeeds James E. Lyons Sr., who retired last year
after seven years as CSUDH president to take a position as secretary
of higher education for the Maryland State Higher Education Commission.
García brings to the university
more than 30 years of higher education leadership. She was previously
president of Berkeley
College, a private institution with seven campuses in New York
and New Jersey, and served in various administrative capacities
at Arizona State University, Montclair State University and Hostos
Community College of City University of New York.
García
began her career in higher education as a professor and considers
herself an educator foremost. She continues to produce
scholarly work focused on issues of equity in higher education.
Her commitment to ensuring equitable access to higher education
is well served at a university considered one of the most ethnically
and culturally diverse in the western United States. With the theme “Transforming Lives: Our Heritage, Our Future,” the
installation ceremony of President García will highlight
the rich history and promising future of CSU Dominguez Hills.
“The inauguration will be a celebration of all that is good
about CSU Dominguez Hills, especially our students, faculty, staff,
supporters and community,” said Dr. Kate Fawver, professor
of history and chair of the Inauguration Committee. “This
campus has a tradition of courage, hope and extraordinary commitment
to the success of our students. This event will be an opportunity
for others to see that CSU Dominguez Hills is among the best universities
around.”
The proceedings will include a formal procession of faculty,
staff and alumni in full academic regalia, performances by a
student-faculty-alumni inauguration choir and the Carson-Dominguez
Hills Symphony Wind Ensemble, and speakers from the campus community,
the local Carson community and visiting universities. Dr. Herbert
Carter, CSU Board of Trustee member and a former CSU Dominguez
Hills interim president, will preside over the morning’s
festivities and give the opening remarks. García will
be installed by CSU Chancellor Charles B. Reed.
Among the individuals who will officially
welcome García
to the university will be Walter Neil, Carson Chamber of Commerce
president and vice president of public affairs for BP; Dr. Carlos
Hernández, chair of the American Association of State Colleges
and Universities and president of New Jersey City University; and
Dr. Evelyn Hu-DeHart, professor of history and director of the
Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America at Brown
University. Hu-DeHart will give the inauguration’s key address.
A noted scholar on the Asian diaspora throughout
North and South America, Hu-DeHart has also written extensively
on issues of ethnicity,
race and gender, and the importance of multiculturalism in higher
education curriculum. She and García met through their shared
interest in the area of women and minorities in higher education.
Following her installation as president,
García will give
an address on her vision for the next chapter in the history of
the institution.
More than a ceremony, the inauguration
also serves as a fundraiser for the university’s Presidential
Scholarship program, which awards $4,000 scholarships to high
school and community college
transfer students who demonstrate outstanding academic achievement.
The scholarship was established in 1994 and annually supports more
than a dozen students. To date, the inauguration event has raised
$175,000 through local business sponsorships for the scholarship
fund.
Leading up to the Friday inauguration,
a week of special events has been planned to further celebrate
the students, academic achievements
and history of the university. On Friday, April 25, Associated
Students, Inc. (the student governing body), the Office of Student
Life and the Loker Student Union Foundation will host the Student
Inaugural Ball, the university’s first student formal. As
part of the ball, a special student swearing-in of President García
will take place.
Among the inauguration events open to the public are a town hall
on the commendations and recommendations from the recent reaccreditation
process by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC)
and the unveiling of the Dominguez Family and CSU Dominguez Hills
Heritage Project. Funded by the Carson Companies and the Watson
Land Company, the Heritage Project is a past-to-present photographic
exhibit highlighting the history of Rancho San Pedro, the first
Spanish land grant. CSU Dominguez Hills is on land that was once
part of the rancho owned by the Dominguez family since 1784.
The WASC town hall will take place from noon to 2 p.m. on Tuesday,
April 29, and the Heritage Project reception will be from 4 to
6 p.m. on Wednesday, April 30. Both events will take place in the
Loker Student Union on campus.
A full list of events for the week, as well as other information
about the inauguration, is at www.csudh.edu/inauguration.
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---------------------------------------------- About
CSU Dominguez Hills -- California
State University, Dominguez Hills is a highly diverse,
urban university located in the South Bay, primarily
serving the
Los Angeles metropolitan area. The university prides itself
on its outstanding faculty and friendly, student-centered
environment.
Known for excellence in teacher education, nursing, psychology,
business administration, and digital media arts, new degree
programs include computer science, criminal justice,
recreation and leisure
studies, social work, and communication disorders. On campus
is the Home Depot Center, a multi-purpose sports complex
that hosts
world-class soccer, tennis, track and field, lacrosse, and
cycling.
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