The board of trustees of the 23-campus California State University System has chosen Thomas Parham as president of California State University, Dominguez Hills. Dr. Parham will take office in June as the 11th president of the university.
California State University, Dominguez Hills, located in Carson between Los Angeles and Long Beach, enrolls nearly 13,000 undergraduate students and more than 2,000 graduate students. African Americans make up 13 percent of the undergraduate student body, according to the latest data submitted to the U.S. Department of Education.
Currently, Dr. Parham serves as vice chancellor for student affairs at the University of California, Irvine. He has held that post since 2011 and has been on the university’s staff for more than 30 years. Early in his career, Dr. Parham served on the faculty at the University of Pennsylvania. He is a past president of the National Association of Black Psychologists. Dr. Parham is the co-author of Psychology of Blacks: Centering Our Perspectives in the African Consciousness (Psychology Press, 4th edition, 2015).
Dr. Parham is a graduate of the University of California, Irvine, where he majored in social ecology. He earned a master’s degree in counseling psychology from Washington University in St. Louis and a Ph.D. in counseling psychology from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.
