The California State University (CSU) Board of Trustees appointed Richard Yao, Ph.D., to serve as the fourth president of California State University Channel Islands (CSUCI).
Yao—who identifies as a Chinese Filipino American—first joined CSUCI after he was appointed to the position of vice president for student affairs in 2018. He currently serves as interim president of CSUCI, a role he has held since January 2021.
Yao is a licensed clinical psychologist and was previously the founding Dean of Students and the chief student affairs officer at Nevada State College.