Inauguration Set for Mildred García, Seventh President of CSU Dominguez Hills

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,” says 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 Trustees member and 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. Following her installation as president, García will deliver an address articulating her vision for the next chapter in the history of the institution.

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.

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.

"It is our hope that the week of inauguration events will show the community what we offer to students at Dominguez Hills and in turn, what our students will offer the world," says García. "As an institution that serves students from all walks of life, we should be proud of a mission that has changed so many lives, not only for our students, but their families and all whose lives they touch as educators, policy makers, medical professionals and in other professions that constantly shape the economy and our society."

A full list of events for the week, as well as other information about the inauguration, is at www.csudh.edu/inauguration.

- Amy Bentley-Smith