Her aspiration was to build something lasting: a culture where community partnership would become so deeply embedded in CSUSM’s identity that it became a shared responsibility across the entire campus.

“I wanted to work myself out of a job,” Prado-Olmos said. “My marker was that community-engaged work would be so endemic across the institution that it would be a hallmark of who Cal State San Marcos is. We would hear about that as a hallmark in the community. And people on campus would be saying, ‘Well, of course, that’s what we do. That’s part of who we are.’

“We’re really at that point, and I think we’ve been at that point for a couple of years.”

CSUSM will continue to build on her legacy and its strong foundation in community engagement, with more information on next steps being shared in the new academic year.

As for Prado-Olmos, she has decided that she will retire at the end of the 2026-27 academic year and conclude her 30-year career at CSUSM, including the last six as chief community engagement officer.

Prado-Olmos not only has served as a senior leader overseeing the Office of Community Relations & University Engagement, but she also has been a trusted confidante of President Ellen Neufeldt as a member of the President’s Advisory Team (PAT). Neufeldt said she remembers fondly Prado-Olmos’ role in welcoming her to campus as a part of the presidential search committee in 2019.

“I am profoundly grateful for all that she has contributed to and shaped at our university,” Neufeldt said. “I am also thankful that she will remain with us in the year ahead, continuing to support the institution to which she has given so much. Her wisdom and care have made me a better leader.”

In many ways, community has been a touchstone for Prado-Olmos throughout her life. She grew up in El Monte, east of Los Angeles in the San Gabriel Valley, in a Mexican American community where family and working-class values were treasured. Her father was a firefighter, and she had uncles who were plumbers and foundry workers.

A first-generation college student, Prado-Olmos chose Pomona College, which felt many more miles from her hometown than the approximately 20 that actually separate the two locales.

“It wasn’t until I got to college that I understood in really stark ways that there were people who didn’t regard my background, my family, the schools I came from, the city I grew up in as having value,” Prado-Olmos said. “I knew the value of my family and the languages and my community and everything that came with me, but it was not recognized or validated.

“So when I decided to stay in higher education – and I chose public education for very specific reasons – I said to myself, ‘I’m going to work to change that narrative, where what communities bring is valued.’ ”

At the advice of a Pomona professor, who thought she would be a natural in the classroom, Prado-Olmos elected to pursue a doctorate in educational psychology at UC Santa Barbara. Her first teaching position was in the School of Education at the University of Houston-Clear Lake, where she immediately sought to embed herself in the local school districts.

Two years later, in 1995, Prado-Olmos found herself as a visiting professor back at Pomona, a university that didn’t have a reputation for strong community ties. She tried to change that. Teaching an educational psychology class, she took her wide-eyed students on field trips to area schools to make observations.

“It was kind of breaking the boundaries, but people at Pomona took notice,” she said, adding that the college now boasts the Draper Center for Community Partnerships.

Prado-Olmos, though, truly found the alignment between her personal philosophy and a university’s mission when her third faculty position brought her to CSUSM in 1997. Hired as a professor in what then was called the College of Education, she had been teaching for only a couple of years when she was given a chance to build an internship credential program with school districts in the Temecula Valley, a region where CSUSM now has a secondary campus but then was largely unmined territory.

“An assistant professor two years in rarely gets those kinds of opportunities,” Prado-Olmos said.

Opportunities kept coming for Prado-Olmos, and she kept seizing them – further ensconcing herself in both the campus and external communities. She said yes to an offer to move into the administration as associate dean of the College of Education under Mark Baldwin. She accepted a job as the first director of the Alliance to Accelerate Excellence in Education (The Alliance, for short), a grant-funded program aimed at improving college attendance and graduation rates for all students in CSUSM’s service region.

And when Jan Jackson retired as the university’s first vice president of community engagement, Prado-Olmos stepped away from a classroom role again and into Jackson’s shoes in January 2015.

“I knew that Cal State San Marcos had a lot to offer and that we, at the same time, had a lot to learn from communities,” she said.

When she assumed the VP position, Prado-Olmos recalled, there were pockets of community engagement across campus that needed to be centralized under one umbrella. That became her charge. Her office took on internships, service learning, community outreach, tribal relations, presidential councils and civic education, among other initiatives.

One of Prado-Olmos’ closest colleagues in the division was Sarah Villarreal, who served as her associate VP responsible for community outreach for almost five years. The pair still work together in PAT, with Villarreal being Neufeldt’s chief of staff.

“In every context, she has brought an unwavering commitment to social justice and a deep belief in the importance of authentic partnership between the university and the community,” Villarreal said. “She reshaped how I think about engagement – not as something we do for a community, but something we build with community. Her emphasis on mutual benefit and shared purpose has had a lasting impact on both my work and perspective.”

What, at its core, does it mean for CSUSM to be a community-engaged university?

“I think it means that our students have unique learning opportunities that they can’t always find at another institution,” Prado-Olmos said. “It means that they’re learning a value set and a skill set about how to do things and how to interact with people in partnership that creates a stronger whole. That could not happen without faculty who have the talent to help students translate what they’re learning in the classroom to something applied in a variety of community settings, and that’s the kind of faculty we bring here because they thrive here.”

In retirement, Prado-Olmos wants to spend more time with her family, including her mother, two adult children and two grandchildren. She also wants to take time to really think about what comes next.

“People ask, ‘Well, what do you like to do these days?’ ” she said. “I don’t even know. I like to rest. I enjoy cooking. I enjoy learning. I just don’t know what I want to learn next. Maybe how to do retirement well.”

But Prado-Olmos has one more year to reflect on it, and one more year to keep community – of every stripe – close to her heart.

Media Contact

Brian Hiro, Communications Specialist

bhiro@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7306

Student success efforts are underway at every level of California State University to support educational opportunities and close opportunity and outcome gaps. The network offers forums for sustained, cross-campus, cross-role, evidence-based, professional learning opportunities. 

Petersen, who has served on the board since 2018, will help guide the network into its next phase. 

At CSUSM, he leads efforts to improve student retention and graduation, particularly for traditionally underserved groups, by overseeing academic support programs such as peer-led tutoring and developing systems to identify and assist students experiencing academic challenges.  

Petersen received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in political science from the University of San Diego and San Diego State, respectively, and earned a doctorate in educational leadership from the joint program at CSUSM and UC San Diego. 

Media Contact

Eric Breier, Interim assistant director of editorial and external affairs
ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314

Wyden was named the winner of the 2025 Distinguished Business Officer Award as NACUBO recognized six business and finance leaders and one university during its annual meeting, which started Saturday in Washington, D.C.

“This recognition holds profound meaning for me – not only as a personal milestone, but as a testament to the collective efforts, encouragement and wisdom I have been fortunate to receive throughout my career,” Wyden said at the awards ceremony. “This award is more than a professional achievement; it is a reflection of the values and community that NACUBO represents. To be recognized by peers and leaders whom I so deeply respect is both inspiring and humbling. It reaffirms my belief in the transformative power of collaboration and service in higher education.”

Wyden was honored for his significant positive impact on advancing business and finance administration in higher education and on the association. Since joining CSUSM in 2021, he has had wide-ranging impacts on campus, from expanded student housing and dining facilities to sustainable energy practices and streamlined business operations.

Wyden is active in NACUBO, has served as a board member for regional affiliate EACUBO and has been a peer evaluator for the Middle States Commission for Higher Education, among many other volunteer engagements.

“Throughout his four-year tenure at CSUSM, Leon has accomplished what would take many others decades to achieve,” CSUSM President Ellen Neufeldt said. “He exemplifies the very essence of strategic leadership, fiscal stewardship and innovative thinking, significantly advancing the financial and administrative excellence of our institution and the broader higher education landscape. Leon has been instrumental in transforming CSUSM’s financial operations, leading with integrity, vision and a steadfast commitment to student success.”

CSUSM is the latest stop for Wyden in a distinguished career spanning institutions such as Howard University, Upper Iowa University, Tiffin University, the University of Findlay and Frostburg State University.

NACUBO, founded in 1962, is a nonprofit professional organization representing chief administrative and financial officers at more than 1,700 colleges and universities across the country.

Media Contact

Brian Hiro, Communications Specialist
bhiro@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7306

The Council of Independent Colleges (CIC), the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU), and the American Academic Leadership Institute (AALI) collaborate to offer ELA participants unparalleled learning, mentoring and networking opportunities. The ELA kicked off the year-long program with an in-person seminar June 16-17 in Washington, D.C.

The ELA has a highly selective application process, and the program prepares experienced provosts and vice presidents as the next generation of college and university presidents. The CIC and AASCU each selected 18 leaders from member institutions to ensure representation from both independent and state-supported colleges and universities.

“I'm humbled to have been selected,” Oling-Sisay said. “The ELA enables a deeper dive into higher education leadership with distinguished colleagues from around the nation alongside leading experts. I look forward to sharing and applying what I learn to enhance the great work underway here at CSUSM.”

Since its inception in 2009, over 100 individuals who have completed the ELA program have been appointed as presidents or chancellors of colleges and universities. The ELA program equips those moving into presidential and senior executive roles with the diverse skills necessary to navigate the ever-changing challenges of the higher educational landscape.

“At a time when working in higher education feels particularly challenging, the participants of the ELA program show how committed they are to the sector and their institutions,” CIC President Marjorie Hass said. “CIC is fortunate to partner with AALI and AASCU to provide this opportunity to leaders at our member institutions and prepare them for the challenges ahead.”

Some key features of the ELA program consist of a tailored professional experience plan aimed at addressing the specific skill and experience gaps of each participant; mentorship provided by the participant’s current president alongside the ELA program director; guidance on the executive search process; and access to peer-led webinars, regional meetings and cohort-wide activities. The ELA cohort will convene in June 2026 for a closing seminar in Washington, D.C.

Oling-Sisay was one of two people from California selected along with Ben Corpus, the vice president of Enrollment Management and Student Affairs at Cal State Monterey Bay.

Media Contact

Eric Breier, Interim assistant director of editorial and external affairs
ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314

Diaz is one of only 26 higher education professionals nationwide to be selected.

Programming for the MLI cohort will take place June 11-14 in Washington, D.C.

“I’m honored to be part of the next MLI cohort and to learn alongside a distinguished group of higher education leaders from across the country,” Diaz said. “My goal is to bring back knowledge, tools and perspectives that will help me grow as a leader and better serve our students, staff, faculty and the entire CSUSM community. I’m deeply committed to our shared mission and excited to apply what I learn to strengthen our collective efforts.”

Established in 1999, MLI is a premier leadership development program designed to prepare senior-level education leaders for the rigors of college and university presidencies or chancellorships through workshops, discussions and practical training. By connecting them to the expertise, experiences and resources they will need to thrive, participants become equipped to navigate the unique challenges presidents face in today’s complex higher education landscape.

Throughout the program, the cohort will receive mentoring from experienced presidents and shadow their presidential mentors as part of MLI’s immersive experience. This support includes guidance from MLI’s President in Residence Mickey Burnim, who will serve as an adviser to the participants.

Since MLI’s inception, 777 college and university leaders have participated in the program, with 166 going on to become university presidents or chancellors, while 46 have served multiple presidencies or chancellorships.

“We are pleased to welcome the incoming cohort of talented and qualified individuals to MLI as they embark on their professional journeys to fill presidencies, chancellorships and other senior-level vacancies in higher education,” said Charles L. Welch, AASCU president and CEO. “For more than two decades, MLI has built a strong and lasting network of higher education leaders who reflect the rich perspectives and experiences of our nation and the students we serve.”

Media Contact

Brian Hiro, Communications Specialist
bhiro@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7306

Diaz is one of four recipients of the 2022 San Diego Art Prize, an annual award that honors exceptional artistic expression in the San Diego cross-border region from Fallbrook to Ensenada, Mexico.  

Diaz won the award as part of a collaboration, called Cog•nate  Collective, with Amy Sanchez Arteaga, a lecturer of art history at San Diego State. Cog•nate Collective is based in National City, and the artists work between Tijuana and Los Angeles.  

“It's an honor to be recognized by my colleagues in the San Diego arts community and this year's curatorial selection committee alongside such a wonderful cohort of fellow artists,” Diaz said. “I am excited to participate in the SD Art Prize exhibition in September and look forward to welcoming CSUSM students and colleagues to this celebration of our San Diego/Tijuana trans-border region.” 

The San Diego Art Prize winners were selected by a panel of four curators; three represent museums in the United States (the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum in New York and the Frost Art Museum in Florida), and the fourth is an independent curator from Mexico City and Vienna.  

Diaz’s artwork will be displayed alongside that of the other winners in an exhibition at the Central Library Art Gallery in downtown San Diego from Sept. 17 until Jan. 7. 

Cog•nate Collective was recognized for its “outstanding creativity, dedication to their work and contributions to our region.” Formed in 2010, the collective creates interdisciplinary projects that often address issues of citizenship, migration, informal economies and popular culture, arguing for understanding the Southern border as a region that expands and contracts with the movement of people and objects.  

Diaz has taught at CSUSM since 2019. He earned a bachelor’s degree in art history and Latin American studies and a master’s in Latin American studies, both from UCLA, as well as an MFA in visual arts from UC San Diego.   

Service Learning director honored 

Rochelle Smarr, CSUSM’s director of Service Learning and Civic Engagement, has received the 2022 Richard E. Cone Award for Emerging Leaders in Community Engagement.  

The award has been given out since 1999 by LEAD California (formerly California Campus Compact), a statewide nonprofit membership organization supporting half a million university and college students, administrators, faculty, staff and community members.  

Smarr, who has worked at CSUSM since 2019, was recognized for “her impact on service learning and community-campus partnerships throughout the San Marcos area.” 

Biology student receives African American Scholars honor 

Biology student Amanda Frank is one of 11 recipients of a scholarship from the Aquarium of the Pacific as part of its African American Scholars program. Award winners were announced during the Long Beach-based aquarium’s annual African American Festival in late February. 

Students were honored for demonstrating a commitment to studies related to careers in the aquarium field, including ocean education, animal husbandry, water quality, building maintenance or facilities, microbiology, and business management. Each scholarship recipient receives $10,000 and will be invited to the Aquarium of the Pacific to participate in conservation projects, meetings and other activities. 

Black leaders of influence 

Two administrators from CSUSM were included by the San Diego Business Journal in its annual issue celebrating “Top 50 Black Leaders of Influence.” 

Making the list from the university were Gail Cole-Avent, associate vice president of Student Life, and Leon Wyden, vice president of Finance and Administrative Services and chief financial officer.  

Media Contact

Brian Hiro, Communications Specialist

bhiro@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7306

Dr. Diaz currently serves as associate vice president for Strategic Student Support Programs at California State University, Sacramento, where she serves as one of the primary vehicles for leveraging student success initiatives, breaking down systemic barriers to success, tending to equity gaps and achieving goals set forth by the Graduation Initiative 2025 through program development, implementation, assessment, project management and fundraising. She is also responsible for the leadership of nine Student Affairs departments offering admissions and outreach, academic advising, financial advising, career counseling, experiential learning, leadership development, health and counseling services, tutoring, mentoring, peer-based support and population-specific interventions.  

Her career at Sacramento State and in higher education has spanned 20 years, all of it dedicated to creating a more inclusive campus for first-generation, Pell Grant-eligible, migrant, immigrant, undocumented, LGBTQIA+ and out-of-school youth. Previously, she served at Sacramento State as assistant vice president for strategic diversity initiatives, special assistant to the president, co-director for the DEGREES (Dedicated to Educating, Graduating and Retaining Educational Equity Students) program, director of the College Assistance Migrant Program (CAMP), career counselor/coordinator and admissions and outreach counselor.  

“Dr. Diaz brings a strong commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion as well as cross-divisional campus partnerships and community engagement,” Dr. Neufeldt said. “Her impressive career is in perfect alignment with our collective dedication to student success here at CSUSM. She will be a champion for all our students.” 

“Viridiana is a hero to our students, to her family and to all of Sacramento State,” said Sacramento State President Robert S. Nelsen. “She leads by example, dedicating her career to ensuring that others experience the transformational power of higher education. I will miss her tremendously, and I am so proud of the leader that she has become. She will do great things for CSU San Marcos students.”  

As a first-generation college student, Dr. Diaz completed a bachelor's degree in communications studies, a master's degree in Latin American literature, a second master's degree in history and a doctorate in educational leadership and policy. She is also a graduate of UC Berkeley’s Executive Leadership Academy, Stanford University’s Executive Leadership Management Institute and the Harvard Institutes for Higher Education.

She is currently serving as a 2020-2021 Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU) Leadership Academy fellow and a 2021-2022 American Leadership Forum Mountain Valley Chapter Class of XXV fellow. Furthermore, she is a recipient of the Sacramento Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Latina Star Award and was named by the Vida en el Valle newspaper as one of the “People Who Have Left a Mark in the Sacramento Area.” 

“I’m honored to join CSUSM as the next vice president of Student Affairs and am eager to work alongside the leadership, staff, faculty, students, alumni and the community at large in moving this remarkable institution toward becoming the first-choice university for first-generation students and future generations in the area,” Diaz said.  

“As a first-generation student myself and a four-time alumna of the CSU, I’m experiencing firsthand the transformative impact of higher education. My mission is to ensure that all students who dream of earning a college degree have that opportunity.” 

Dr. Diaz will follow Dr. Lorena Checa, who is retiring after more than 27 years of service to CSUSM. Her appointment begins Jan. 13. 

Wyden rises every morning at precisely 4:20 a.m., and he does so without the aid of a blaring alarm clock. If that weren’t striking enough, each weekday he goes to the Crunch Fitness gym in San Marcos by the time it opens at 5 for a long, vigorous workout composed of cardio training and weightlifting. He hits the gym on both weekend days as well, but that’s not until 7 – only because Crunch doesn’t open until then on Saturdays and Sundays.

“I’m trying to talk the management to open at 5 on weekends,” Wyden said with a smile. “Just give me a key. I’ll open for you.”

It’s that level of self-discipline and work ethic that Wyden is bringing to his role as one of the new administrative leaders at CSUSM. In late May, he started his position as the vice president of Finance and Administrative Services, succeeding interim VP Mary Stephens and before that Neal Hoss, who served in the job for five years before his retirement last fall.

As the head of FAS, Wyden oversees a division that is composed of 240 employees and six subdivisions: administration, business and financial services, facilities development and management, human resources, the university police department, and the CSUSM Corporation.

“A lot of what I do day to day is operational,” he said. “I pay attention to what’s going on on the finance side. But there’s also a building side, a budget side, a human resources side. And then there’s public safety as well.”

Wyden comes to CSUSM from Frostburg State University in Maryland, where he was vice president for Administration and Finance, overseeing a division that totaled almost 400 employees. The position at Frostburg was the fifth in a series of finance-related stints at universities throughout the East Coast and Midwest for Wyden, who hails from Detroit and is a certified public accountant.

The move to California represented a welcome departure for him and his wife, Karen. The couple is renting a San Marcos home only a few miles from campus.

“When I was a kid, my family would come out west to visit from time to time, and I just loved the area,” Wyden said. “Then, during my professional career, most of the places that I worked had operations in California, so I spent a lot of time out here. When this opening became available, it was one of the things that I thought that I always wanted to do, and here was my opportunity. So far, so good.”

After spending much of the summer acclimating to his new colleagues and surroundings – he went floor by floor through every building at CSUSM with employees from Facilities Development and Management, one of the departments he’s in charge of – Wyden has been busy tackling a host of projects, from return-to-campus and COVID-19 vaccine and testing protocols to telecommuting to reimagining how space is used on campus. Since the university’s physical structures fall under his job description, he’s excited about the prospect of a new integrated sciences and engineering building – the Chancellor’s Office recently allocated $2 million to CSUSM to begin planning for it – and new student housing that’s under construction next to the Extended Learning building.

But Wyden would like to see more, and he hopes to be of assistance in accelerating the process.

“We still need some on-campus housing,” he said. “I think we could double the housing capacity (currently 1,547) and fill it fairly easily. I’ll be talking with the system about what we need to do to kick off housing projects on this campus. But going along with that, we’ve got to have the appropriate dining services for our students. Dining services had its own building at Frostburg; it was about 35,000 square feet, kitchen, lots of stations. We don’t have a lot of resources in that area.”

Like about half of those studying at CSUSM, Wyden is a first-generation college student. The son of parents from rural Tennessee who moved to Detroit as part of the Great Migration so his father could work in a Ford auto factory, Wyden was indoctrinated with the belief that education was a “golden key.” His mom and dad weren’t the only ones hammering home that message, either – it was the next-door neighbors who sent three daughters to college, it was the church, it was the community at large.

“I think my background gives me a great perspective on what our students are going through,” Wyden said. “Because my parents didn’t have the college experience, they couldn’t help me. I was very much on my own. There are so many impediments to learning if you’re a first-generation kid. For so many of them, this is their way out, and I’m happy to do my part to help them on their journey.”

Media Contact

Brian Hiro, Communications Specialist

bhiro@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7306