Thomas A. Parham, who currently serves at UC Irvine as the vice chancellor of student affairs, was recently appointed to be the next president of California State University, Dominguez Hills, in Carson. He discussed his feelings about the campus, and plans for the university in a recent interview.
Parham feels that the position he will soon take over is a calling, rather than a job, since it requires the individual to make a commitment to the personal and intellectual development and growth of the students. When an individual takes a new position such as this, he or she can work with a business card printing company to create appropriate cards for their use.
Parham notes that in many cases, institutions of higher learning have done little more than replicate privilege, allowing students in because their parents attended the school, while keeping many others out. He believes that Cal State Dominguez Hills is different, since many of the students are not in the top percentile, but still have a great deal to offer.
The school has many students who also work, and are still attempting to get their education. Parham sees it as his job to make Cal State a destination campus that people want to attend, not a place they enter by default. To that end, he will oversee construction of several new buildings—the Science and Innovation Building, the Innovation and Instruction Building, and new residence halls—in the coming years.
