CSUN President Erika D. Beck welcomed faculty and staff back to campus with her annual address on August 21, marking the start of the 2026-2027 academic year. Attendees were greeted at the door of The Soraya with music provided by CSUN’s student jazz musicians, and of course, Matty the Matador was on hand for high-fives and hellos.
The presentation began with a traditional cultural welcome by Rudy Ortega Jr., Hon.D. ‘23 and Mark Villaseñor ’16 (Global Supply Chain Management) from the Fernandeño Tataviam Band of Mission Indians. They were joined on stage by Ortega’s son, 21-year-old Tomiear, a junior and applied developmental science major at CSUN. There were also welcomes from Faculty President Yarma Velázquez Vargas and Associated Students President Hermoni Douglas.
Beck kicked off her multimedia presentation by welcoming new hires, which included 21 new tenure-track faculty members. She looked back on points of pride from the previous academic year, including the joyous commencement celebrations for more than 11,000 graduates and a record-breaking year for fundraising.
In her opening remarks, Beck spoke of how faculty and staff serve as CSUN’s strong foundation.
“Whether this is your first year as a Matador or your 40th, you are part of a foundation nearly seven decades in the making, built by people who show up, educate, challenge, encourage and dare to believe that what seems impossible in one generation can become the possibility that inspires the next,” she said.
Beck noted that the new academic year is starting strong, with a 2% increase in enrollment, resulting in more than 37,000 new and continuing students in attendance this fall.
“This is a remarkable accomplishment, given dramatic enrollment shortfalls in California and across the country,” she said.
Beck spoke of ongoing work to build students’ sense of wellbeing in addition to their academic growth. She noted the opening of the Valera NEST last February, where essential resources are housed, resulting in a dramatic increase in visits to the food pantry in its new, central location. She celebrated hiring more academic advisors and renovating advising suites to invite connections. She also introduced Sunny, an 11-month-old golden Labrador, who is CSUN’s new therapy and comfort dog — the first in the CSU.
Beck also looked ahead to the opening next year of the Matador Success and Inclusion Center (MSIC). The new space will house identity-based resource centers, as well as campus undergraduate research opportunities and academic resource centers. She also announced that work will begin next year on the “Inclusion Quad” next to the MSIC — Beck described it as a new outdoor gathering space to nurture students’ sense of belonging on campus.
“The quad makes visible what we have always believed — that supporting the whole student is not separate from academic excellence — it is fundamental to it,” she said.
Beck spoke of the launch of CSU Forward, a system-wide strategic plan launched by the CSU Chancellor’s Office that includes new graduation rate targets, beginning with the fall 2027 cohort of new students.
“Our historic success and our collective commitment tells me we will get there, together, one persistent milestone at a time,” she said.
There were numerous accomplishments by faculty and staff noted over the past year, including the following:
- 2025-2026 was the highest fundraising year in CSUN’s history, with $106 million raised.
- A 4.5% increase over the previous year in financial aid distributions to students in need.
- More than 300 undergraduate and graduate students earned $1.6 million as paid research assistants.
- The Office of Undergraduate Research launched “Sunrise” — a new paid summer research program for undergraduates and their faculty mentors.
- CSUN became a College Corps campus partner and received $4 million for paid opportunities while serving local communities as part of the state service and career development program.
- Student-athletes achieved the highest cumulative GPA in department history — while making impressive strides in competition, including the Women’s Soccer Team’s Big West Conference regular season championship.
- The Latinx Resource Center and the Asian Pacific Islander Desi American Resource Center launched, each with a new, dedicated senior coordinator.
- CSUN’s designation as a Black-Serving Institution.
Beck remembered President Emerita Blenda Wilson, CSUN’s first female president, who died June 4, 2026, at the age of 85. Wilson was CSUN’s third president and the first Black woman to lead a large American university. Wilson led campus rebuilding efforts following the 1994 Northridge earthquake.
“Her legacy is quite literally built into this campus,” Beck said.
Beck also remembered professor Rodolfo “Rudy” Acuña, who founded the Chicana/o Studies department at what was then San Fernando Valley State College in 1969. Acuña, who passed March 23, 2026, at the age of 93, is considered one of the “academic fathers” of the field.
In her closing remarks, Beck said she will soon be revisiting the conversations she first held on campus when she arrived as CSUN’s president five years ago. She said there will be a new website showcasing what the community has achieved in the years since. She called it “a reflection of what you shared with me when I arrived, and what this community has built as a result.”
Beck said she looks forward to future advances for students by the faculty and staff. “I have seen this community build it, year after year,” she said. “And I have never been more certain of what we can build together, whether the ground is shifting beneath us or the sun is shining and the wind is at our backs. Either way, we build.”
“There is no place on earth that does this work with more skill, more heart or more consequence than California State University, Northridge. Welcome back, Matadors!” she said.
