By Mercedes Walker |Staff Writer|
Thomas D. Morales is the new CSUSB president. The former Cal Poly Pomona administrator has dedicated more than 30 years of his life to higher education and administrative leadership and is bringing this experience to CSUSB this fall, following President Dr. Albert K. Karnig’s retirement.
For six years Morales has served in various capacities at Cal Poly, including vice president for student affairs, provost and vice president for academic affairs, professor of education and principal deputy to the president.
At Cal Poly Pomona, Morales established a university honors college, realigned the division of academic affairs and played a key role in completing a $23 million expansion of the student center.
The 58-year-old was appointed to serve as the third president of the College of Staten Island in 2007. He holds a bachelor’s degree in history from The State University of New York, New Paltz, and earned his doctorate in educational administration and policy studies from Suny, Albany.
One of the few higher education administrators in the United States, he has held senior administrative positions at the three largest public university systems in the nation: the California State University, The State University of New York and The City University of New York.
The CSUSB news website stated that in addition to building the university honors college at Cal Poly Pomona, Morales helped faculty to secure a $3.5 million National Science Foundation ADVANCE grant to create a university-wide program for the recruitment and development of diverse faculty in the STEM fields.
The San Bernardino Sun interviewed Morales asking him his thoughts on increasing the number of minorities and financially challenged students on campus. Morales responded saying,” I certainly feel that and I’m committed in continuing Karnig’s work in this area.”