First person of color to serve as chancellor of CSU system

Joseph I. Castro, the first person of color to lead the California State University system, died Sunday after a battle with colon cancer. He was 58.

- COLLEEN SHALBY

'CHAMPION OF HIGHER EDUCATION' Joseph I. Castro served as the eighth chancellor of the California State University system before resigning.

Castro oversaw the nation’s largest four-year public university system from 2021 to 2022 after serving as president of Fresno State, where he won praise for increasing graduation rates and shrinking achievement gaps.

He served as the university system’s eighth chancellor, resigning in his second year amid controversy over how he handled sexual harassment and other allegations against a top executive at Fresno State.

In a statement, the CSU shared its gratitude for Castro’s “many years of service and leadership to the CSU and to higher education in California.”

Castro was a first-generation college graduate who grew up in the San Joaquin Valley. Raised in Hanford, Calif., by a single mother and grandparents who emigrated from Michoacan, Mexico, he earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from UC Berkeley and a doctorate in higher education leadership and policy from Stanford University.