Hye Sharzhoom Armenian Action
Photo: ASP Archive
CSU Public Affairs Department and News Sources
The California State University (CSU) Board of Trustees has appointed Joseph I. Castro, Ph.D., to serve as the eight Chancellor of the California State University system. Castro has served as the eighth president of California State University, Fresno since 2013. He is the first California native and first Mexican American to be appointed to oversee the 23-campus system. Castro will succeed Timothy P. White who is retiring after leading the university since late 2012.
“The California State University provides unprecedented and transformational opportunities for students from all backgrounds to earn a high-quality college degree and to better their families, their communities and the industries in which they become leaders. There is no other institution that makes this great of an impact on the entire state – the CSU is key to a growing and thriving California,” said Castro. “I am truly grateful for and excited about this unique and wonderful opportunity, and I look forward to working with the talented faculty, staff and presidents of the 23 campuses as well the Board of Trustees and executives and staff at the Chancellor’s Office to further increase achievement for our 482,000 students.”
Castro has had a close connection to the Armenian community in the San Joaquin Valley. Under his leadership an Armenian Genocide Monument, the only such Monument on a University campus in the United states, was constructed on campus in 2015. Castro appointed a President’s Armenian Advisory Council in 2017. He has attended each Armenian Studies Annual Banquet, and has been a strong supporter of the University’s Armenian Studies Program.
As president of Fresno State, Castro led the university to become a national leader in recruiting, supporting and graduating students from diverse backgrounds.
Fresno State is routinely among the top public colleges in rankings issued by Washington Monthly, U.S. News and World Report and Money Magazine for its efforts to enhance student achievement as measured by graduation rates and social mobility.
Castro is a respected scholar in the fields of higher education leadership and public policy and has mentored many other university presidents and other senior officers across the nation over the course of his career.
Prior to joining Fresno State, Castro served for 23 years in the University of Calilfornia system, holding a variety of leadership positions culminating in roles of Vice Chancellor of Student Academic Affairs and Professor of Family and Community Medicine at the UC, San Francisco.
Castro was born in Hanford, California. He is the grandson of immigrants from Mexico, son of a single mother, and the first in his family to graduate from a university.
He received his bachelor’s in political science and a master’s in public policy from the University of California, Berkeley and a Ph.D. in higher education policy and leadership from Stanford University.
Castro and his wife, Mary, have three children (Isaac, Lauren and Jess). He will begin his duties as Chancellor on January 4, 2021.