The California State University (CSU) Board of Trustees has appointed S. Terri Gomez to serve as president of California State University, San Bernardino (CSUSB). Gomez currently serves as provost and vice president for Academic Affairs at Cal Poly Pomona.

“As a first-generation college graduate and a lifelong resident of the Inland Empire, I am honored to be named Cal State San Bernardino’s president,” Gomez said. “CSUSB is a university of access, talent and possibility, and its success matters profoundly to the Inland Empire, the High Desert and the Coachella Valley. I am excited by the opportunity to lead – alongside CSUSB’s dedicated and talented faculty and staff – a university that serves the communities that have shaped me and honors the values that have guided my career.”

“Dr. Gomez is a principled and respected leader known for her student-centered approach to institutional decision-making,” said Jack B. Clarke Jr., CSU Board of Trustees member and chair of the CSUSB Presidential Search Committee. “The committee is confident Dr. Gomez will build on CSUSB’s strong foundation as the region’s anchor institution, ensuring that students realize the full promise of a CSU education and that the university continues to drive the Inland Empire’s social and economic prosperity.”

During her 27-year career in higher education, Gomez has championed innovative, equity-centered strategies that strengthen academic achievement, improve graduation and transfer outcomes, expand research opportunities and enhance institutional effectiveness. She has led transformative initiatives in academic innovation, artificial intelligence in teaching and learning, career-connected education, enrollment strategy and regional K–16 partnerships that increase educational access and workforce readiness.

As provost and vice president for Academic Affairs at Cal Poly Pomona since 2023, Gomez has advanced efforts to strengthen proactive advising, expanded student success teams and increased institutional capacity to support students at scale. These collective efforts have delivered significant and measurable institutional gains in first-time four-year and six-year graduation rates, while strengthening outcomes for first-generation, Pell-eligible and transfer students. 

Gomez joined Cal Poly Pomona in 1999 as a faculty member in the Department of Ethnic and Women's Studies, where she advanced to full professor and served as department chair. Her academic leadership roles at the university have included those of interim associate dean, associate vice president for Student Success, and associate provost for Student Success, Equity and Innovation.

A first-generation college student, Gomez began her higher education journey at San Bernardino Valley College before transferring to UCLA, where she earned her bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees in political science.

Gomez will assume the university presidency on Aug. 3.

About the California State University
The California State University is the nation’s largest four-year public university system, providing transformational opportunities for upward mobility to more than 470,000 students from all socioeconomic backgrounds. More than half of CSU students are from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds, and more than one-quarter of undergraduates are first-generation college students. Because the CSU’s 22 universities provide a high-quality education at an incredible value, they are rated among the best in the nation for promoting social mobility in national college rankings from U.S. News & World Report, the Wall Street Journal and Washington Monthly. The CSU powers California and the nation, sending more than 123,000 career-ready graduates into the workforce each year. In fact, one in every 20 Americans holding a college degree earned it at the CSU. Connect with and learn more about the CSU in the CSU newsroom.