President Ronald Rochon serves as the 10th president of California State University, Fullerton, a role he assumed on July 22, 2024. With more than three decades in higher education, Dr. Rochon has held a variety of teaching, research and leadership positions at several leading universities.
A Collaborative Leader Committed to Student Success
Dr. Rochon has dedicated his career to advocating for educational excellence, student success, access and equity. A collaborative academic leader, he is known for always placing students at the center of his work. He has held faculty appointments in educational policy, history and organizational leadership.
Since joining Cal State Fullerton in 2024, Dr. Rochon has engaged with the campus community in implementing the university’s Fullerton Forward Strategic Plan; strengthened its role as an anchor institution and intellectual, cultural and economic hub for Southern California; led, with his team, the approval of a new $67.5 million Engineering and Computer Science Hub to empower the next generation of innovators; fostered cross-college collaboration; prioritized shared governance; and championed excellence in all areas of the university, including student enrollment, faculty and staff success, community engagement, athletics, and an inclusive campus culture.
Prior to Cal State Fullerton, Dr. Rochon served as the president of the University of Southern Indiana and held several leadership appointments at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, Texas A&M University, Buffalo State College, and Washington State University.
Dr. Rochon has served as past chair of the Board of Directors for the Association of State Colleges and Universities and board chair for the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education.
Born and raised on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois, Dr. Rochon is a first-generation college graduate. He earned a bachelor’s degree in animal sciences from Tuskegee University, followed by a master’s degree in animal sciences with an emphasis in reproductive physiology, and a doctorate in educational policy studies from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
