Dr. Thomas Parham is the 11th president of California State University, Dominguez Hills, a comprehensive urban university located in the South Bay area of Los Angeles. Established in 1960, CSU Dominguez Hills enrolls close to 15,000 students and awards more than 3,000 undergraduate and graduate degrees each year. The university is a leader in developing outstanding programs that foster a college-focused culture in the communities it serves, with a goal of becoming a national model for student success grounded in academic excellence.

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.

Dr. Parham previously served 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).