Walt Jacobs has accepted the appointment as provost and vice president for academic affairs at California State University, East Bay in Hayward. He will begin his new job on July 1.
California State University, East Bay enrolls about 13,000 undergraduate students and 3,000 graduate students, according to the most recent data from the U.S. Department of Education. African Americans make up 10 percent of the undergraduate student body.
Dr. Jacobs said he is honored to join a community so committed to working together toward students’ and the university’s success. “Our ultimate goal is student success, which includes helping students to recognize the things they do better than anything else while establishing pathways for them,” Dr. Jacobs said. “I see myself as a ‘Chief Enabling Officer,’ where my job is to facilitate discussion about which initiatives are feasible, build consensus about the best possibilities, clear the road of obstacles, and motivate everyone on the trek to realize our objectives.”
Since 2015, Dr. Jacobs has served as the dean of the College of Social Sciences at San José State University. Prior to his arrival in California, he was the founding dean of the College of Social Sciences and Professional Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside. Earlier, Dr. Jacobs was on the faculty of the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities for 14 years, including five years as chair of the department of African American & African Studies.
Dr. Jacobs earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology. He holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in sociology from Indiana University-Bloomington.
