The vice chancellor for student affairs at UC Irvine will become the eighth permanent president of Cal State Dominguez Hills, the California State University Board of Trustees announced Wednesday.

Thomas A. Parham will begin his new role in late June. He succeeds Willie Hagan, who will retire from the university at the end of the 2017-18 academic year.

“Dr. Parham has an exceptional history of working with students from diverse backgrounds and has demonstrated unwavering commitment to student achievement,” said CSU Trustee Peter J. Taylor, who chaired the CSUDH search committee. “He is deeply connected to the area and is an exceptional choice to build on the foundation laid by Dr. Hagan and to advance the university to the next level.”

Parham grew up in Southern California and earned his bachelor’s degree in social ecology from UCI, where he has been chancellor for student affairs since 2011. During his more than 30-year career at UCI, he has also been an adjunct faculty member and held other leadership positions, including director of the Career and Life Planning Center.

Prior to joining UCI, he was on the faculty at the University of Pennsylvania.

Parham earned a doctorate in counseling psychology from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale and is licensed to practice psychology in California. He has authored six books and is the past president of the National Association of Black Psychologists.

“There is no greater blessing in life, next to being a parent, than being entrusted with the intellectual and personal growth and development of students, and I enthusiastically support the CSUDH mission to provide a transformative education to a wonderfully diverse and intellectually engaged student population,” Parham said. “This is a time of growth and opportunity for the university and there are many exciting challenges that lay ahead at CSUDH.”

–City News Service

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