“Some of us may feel protected from social bias because we have a good job, we are the right color, we smile a lot, or because we have friends in high places. You know, the higher you think with that love of social ignorance, the further you will fall when you realize what is all around you.” This profound reality check was offered by Tommie Smith, the legendary Olympic gold medalist who bowed his head and raised a clinched fist in a black glove on the medal podium at the 1968 Mexico City games as a gesture against inequality and injustice. The civil rights icon shared those words as the keynote speaker during California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH) inaugural Presidential ... Read More
Administration
University Garners Delphi Award for Support of Non-Tenure-Track Faculty
For its success in connecting its support for non-tenure-track faculty to improved mental health counseling for students, California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH) has been honored with the inaugural Delphi Award from the USC Rossier School of Education’s Pullias Center for Higher Education. Announced by the Pullias Center on Oct. 16, CSUDH will officially receive the Delphi Award and its $15,000 prize Jan. 24, 2019 in Atlanta, Georgia. One four year college/university and one two-year college receive this recognition each year. Harper College, a community college in Palatine, Illinois, has also been named a recipient of the award. The Delphi Award is an initiative of the ... Read More
Olympian and Civil Rights Icon Tommie Smith to Speak at Presidential Distinguished Lecture Series
(Carson, CA) CSU Dominguez Hills (CSUDH) will kick off its inaugural Presidential Distinguished Lecture Series on Nov. 7 at 4 p.m. with a program titled “Silent Gesture: Athletics and Courageous Conscience.” The featured speaker will be legendary Olympic athlete Tommie Smith, whose raised his fist on the medal podium at the 1968 Mexico City games became an iconic moment in civil rights history. The event commemorates the 50th anniversary of Smith’s protest. He will speak about the difficult decision to transform his personal achievement into a platform for speaking out against inequality and injustice, and how that decision impacted his own life and the course of the civil rights ... Read More
New Cal State Dominguez Hills President Thomas Parham Discusses Plans to Transform Campus
Thomas A. Parham, 64, vice chancellor of student affairs at UC Irvine, was recently appointed the next president of Cal State Dominguez Hills in Carson. The Southern California News Group sat down with Parham to discuss his vision and priorities for the campus. Q: You have just become president of one of the most diverse universities in the Cal State system after a 33-year career at UC Irvine where you had a reputation for tackling social justice issues such as gender equity. As an African American educator, is this pretty much the logical final step in your career and a dream job? A: I am uncompromising in my clarity about my African-centered roots and my pride culturally. In ... Read More
President Thomas A. Parham Delivers his First Convocation Address
California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH) President Thomas A. Parham gave his first official address as the university’s 11th president on Sept. 20 at the 2018 Fall Convocation. Parham began his speech by expressing how honored he was to be part of the Toro family and introducing himself to faculty, staff, and students. He touched on his “working poor” upbringing in Los Angeles with a single mother and three siblings, as well as other social circumstances that might have predicted the trajectory of his life. “Indeed, trajectory predictions are never a certainty, and yet no mathematical formula or probability statistic could calculate potential, or predict with any ... Read More
