Dr. Alexander Gonzalez has served more than three decades as a professor and education leader, including serving as president of California State University, Sacramento, since 2003.
As the first person in his family to graduate from college, Dr. Gonzalez has devoted his career to ensuring greater opportunities for students. He grew up in East Los Angeles with six siblings, graduating from high school at a time when students did not have the same options for higher education that they have today.
Dr. Gonzalez enlisted in the U.S. Air Force at age 17, served four years and then used the G.I. Bill to graduate from Pomona College in Claremont, Calif. He graduated with honors and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He later earned a master’s in psychology and doctorate from the University of California, Santa Cruz, before serving as a postdoctoral research fellow at Stanford University.
His experience includes six years as president of California State University, San Marcos, and 18 years at Fresno State, where he was a faculty member and chair of the Psychology Department before becoming the university’s provost and vice president for academic affairs.
At Sacramento State, Dr. Gonzalez implemented his Destination 2010 initiative to transform the campus into a premier metropolitan university. The bold initiative seeks to make Sacramento State a campus of choice for students in the Sacramento region and beyond.
Following his belief that universities and communities must work together to improve lives and opportunities, Dr. Gonzalez serves on the Sutter Health Board of Directors and the Pomona College Board of Trustees.
He previously served on the President’s Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans and the Valley Vision Board of Directors. His service on several boards and commissions includes six years as a commissioner for the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, the accrediting agency for higher education institutions in the western United States. He also served as chair of the Governing Board of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities.
His commitment to the California State University system includes serving on a work group that reviewed and recommended corrective action on remedial education, and, more recently, as a member of a committee of presidents considering policy on enrollment management, the CSU’s Technology Steering Committee, and the Institute for Teaching and Learning.
Dr. Gonzalez is Sacramento State’s 11th president. His wife, Gloria, is also a graduate of the CSU. They have two sons.
