By Genoa Barrow | OBSERVER Senior Staff Writer
Going from a student to the president of his alma mater was something Dr. Luke Wood envisioned as an undergraduate more than 20 years ago.
“I was obnoxious in telling everybody who would listen that I was going to be the president of Sacramento State,” Dr. Wood says.
It wasn’t simply the title he envisioned, but the potential impact it comes with.
Dr. Wood, 42, is 16 months into his dream job and this year has been a busy one, as he positions the campus to better serve Blacks and other students of color, including those struggling with homelessness or emerging from foster care. That intentional and unapologetic commitment has led to his selection by The OBSERVER as its 2024 Person of the Year.
This year saw Dr. Wood launch the nation’s first Black Honors College, focused on serving students who are interested in Black history, life and culture. The local campus also became the first to be designated a Black-serving institution by the state of California.
“We have the largest population of Black students, not just in the Cal State system, but in all four-year colleges and universities in the state,” Dr. Wood, a former Hornet, declares with pride. “Sacramento State has always been an amazing institution and has always provided a great environment, but that environment and benefit of the institution hasn’t always been experienced equally across our most minoritized communities.”
Leader Of The New School
Sacramento State occupies a unique space, Dr. Wood says, as the only four-year institution in the state, outside of Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science and CSU Dominguez Hills, that is focused on serving Black students unapologetically. In addition to the new Black Honors College, Sac State is also home to the Cooper Woodson College Enhancement Program, a Martin Luther King Jr. Center and the CSU Black Student Success Center.
“We represent something that’s different from anywhere else in the country,” he adds.
Dr. Wood is tasked with leading through the darkest of times. “There is the darkness of finances, the darkness of enrollment challenges, the darkness of political change,” he says. “If you look at places like Alabama, Georgia, Florida, and Tennessee – outlawing critical race theory, getting rid of diversity, equity, inclusion, outlawing AP African American studies – and then you look at a place like Sacramento State that’s going in the opposite direction and leaning in, our whole philosophy is that we’re becoming the North Star of the West. We shine even brighter when all this darkness has happened.”
Black student enrollment and retention rates have declined in recent years. CSUs graduate just 49% of Black students in six years, whereas the system’s overall graduation rate is 62%.
The times require bold action, Dr. Wood says. “We are in a unique historical moment.”
Even with pushback against diversity, equity and inclusion and recent political upheaval, the Black Honors College wasn’t a hard sell, Dr. Wood says.
“We have faculty and staff here who truly do care about students and student success.”
Sac State is also federally designated as a Hispanic-serving institution, and as an Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-serving institution. A Native American Honors College launches in 2025.
“Every single thing that we’ve done is reflective of the value system that is the DNA of Sacramento State,” Dr. Wood says. “That’s not what you’ll see at other universities. That’s not what you’ll see with other campus leaders. That’s not what you’ll see with other faculty leaders. But that’s the special sauce of Sacramento State.
“Students are drawn to a place like Sacramento State and the faculty and staff, too, because unlike everyone else when they’re leaning away, we’re leaning in. We’re creating pathways and access to the campus for populations that most people don’t care about.”
In 2024, Sacramento State partnered with the United Way California Capital Region to create a collegiate version of United Way’s guaranteed income program. The program provides a sense of financial freedom for students participating in the university’s Guardian Scholars Program for former foster youth. Ten women are receiving $500 a month for a year, which helps them address everything from housing challenges to food insecurity. Dr. Wood is also expanding the program by creating guaranteed admission for qualified former foster youth like himself.
Dr. Wood also partnered with UFC hall-of-famer Urijah Faber at the beginning of the year to form Combat U, the first university-backed development program for combat sports. The program, a collaboration with Faber’s nearby Ultimate Fitness gym, offers students a pathway to both a top-tier education and elite combat sports training and competition opportunities.
Made At Sac State
During his last few years as a Sac State student, Dr. Wood advocated for access and equity for Black students.
“A group of us put together a list of demands,” he says, including more Blacks in leadership roles and more funding for programs such as the Cooper Woodson Program.
“We were able to accomplish some things and there were some other things that we weren’t able to accomplish, but the passion around that never went away,” Dr. Wood says.
That list of student demands was present during his interviews for the presidential position.
“I folded it up and I put it in my front coat pocket, close to my heart, intentionally, so that I would always be reminded of the reason why I was seeking out this role: to create hope and dignity for Black students on this campus – for all of our minoritized students who are deserving and worthy of an experience that values them, that centers them and validates them,” he says.
The conference room where he now meets with his team and visiting stakeholders is the same place he and other student activists fought for change.
College is often where folks develop and cultivate their activism and learn to use their voices for causes they believe in. Given his own history, Dr. Wood is happy to foster the next generation of self-expression.
“It’s part of the culture here,” he says. “We have a lot of students who do marches, protests and demonstrations. As a former student activist myself, there’s nothing I love more.… When our students see an issue in the world that drives them to want to go out of their way to do a march, a protest, a sit-in to create change in the world, we should celebrate that. Those are the types of people who are going to go on to be the leaders in our community who are going to advocate for positive change. When I see student activism, I don’t see it as a threat. I see it as a beautiful example of what the future will be.”
For The Culture
The past year has been a period of significant progress for Dr. Wood and his team.
“We don’t just talk about it, we walk about it,” he says.
That he does his walking in colorful Nikes and Jordans that are coordinated with his outfits doesn’t make the strides any less impactful. In defying the conventional image of a university president, Dr. Wood is changing perceptions of not only what one does indeed look like, but what a university campus can look like under a Black leader, and how that doesn’t lessen anyone’s overall experience, as critics may claim.
“President [Robert S.] Nelsen was an amazing president,” Dr. Wood says. “He did a great job here at this university. He wore cowboy boots. He got to express his culture. He got to express his people. I wear sneakers. I’m going to express my culture. I’m going to express my people.
“All I’m doing is what was done before. What makes it different is because the culture I’m expressing is one of Blackness. Sometimes people have a different reaction to that, but what I’ve seen is that people have felt empowered and liberated to be more themselves on this campus. I see more people wearing sneakers. I see more people wearing whatever it is that makes them feel comfortable. You can be professional and wear sneakers. What’s on your feet has no relationship to the work that you do.”
When students see Dr. Wood, they see possibilities.
“That’s based upon how I present myself to the world,” he says. “When the students see me, they see someone who is an alum of this institution and it’s like, ‘Hey, he went to school here too.’ I got my bachelor’s degree here. I got my master’s degree here. My twin brother went to school here. My wife went to school here. I met her here. They can see themselves in that.”
The same goes for students impacted by the child welfare system.
“They can say, ‘Hey, he’s a former foster kid. If he can do it, I can do it.’ I think when people experience food and housing insecurity, they know that I struggled with that when I was here. There are different elements of my story and my journey that resonate with people simply because it’s closer to the experience of the average student here. … I’m more like the students who are here probably than any other administrator who’s ever been here.
“I think [faculty and staff] members have been very supportive of me because I’m a byproduct of their work. I always tell people, ‘If I do well, if I hit the mark, if we improve Sacramento State, you can thank the faculty and staff that are here’ because I’m a byproduct of this institution.”
Worldly Aspirations
Nelsen, the former president, rallied Hornets past and present with a “Stingers Up!” cry and gesture, adopting the university’s sports battle call. Dr. Wood’s tagline is less of a hand signal and more of a call and response.
“I say, ‘Our hive’ and then people respond, ‘Our home.’ It’s actually a play off of a Ghanaian call and response that they use to welcome people to an environment, to gather people’s attention when they’re beginning to share information. It’s an intentional piece of embedding Afrocentrism into the university environment.”
The university president recently returned from Africa, where he’s building relationships and partnerships that benefit students locally and abroad.
“It’s about creating opportunities for students from the continent to be able to come here and be part of the experience that we’re building. We’re a Black-serving institution, but I believe in Pan Africanism,” he says. “I want Black students from Brazil. I want Black students from the Caribbean. I want Black students from the continent of Africa. I want domestic African Americans here so that when they’re in an environment, it’s recognizing the incredible diversity that resides within the Black community.”
This is also true of those staffing the Black Honors College.
“It’s purposely and intentionally trying to be reflective of the diaspora. When we went to Nigeria, we focused on recruiting students to come to Sacramento State. What I told them was this: a lot of institutions that you’re going to go to, you’re not going to feel like you fit in. You’re not going to feel like you belong, but if you come to a place like Sacramento State, you’re not going to feel like a guest in someone’s house. You’re gonna feel like you’re home. That message definitely resonated with folks.”
Dr. Wood is laying the foundation for the future.
“We’ve created relationships with Nigeria. We have formal agreements with South Africa to send students here, with Rwanda to send students here, and are working on agreements with other nations. What you’re going to see three years from now is that we’ll have probably 20 agreements with nations across the world that are sending students here to Sacramento State to have a Black-centric experience in California.”
In addition to growing existing programs in 2025, Dr. Wood plans to expand the university’s focus on artificial intelligence. He has also launched a new state-of-the-art sports and entertainment stadium project along with the “ambitious” goal of providing more housing options for students.
For good measure, he has added in some “fun” experiences as well, including an HBCU-type drumline and majorettes and more visibility for Black sororities and fraternities.
“When people think about the most enjoyable university to go to in the country, they say ‘Oh. I’m going to Sac State because it’s gonna be a fun time and I’m going to learn a lot,’” he says.
Balancing Acts
Dr. Wood is only the second Black man to lead Sac State and one of just a handful of Black college leaders to have served in the region. Dr. Gary May, UC Davis’ first Black chancellor, has led the nearby campus since 2017. Dr. Edward Bush has been president of Cosumnes River College since 2015. African American women have also led at the community college level: Queen Randall served as president of American River College from 1984-1993; Kathryn Jeffries served as president of Sacramento City College; Thelma Scott-Skillman served as president of Folsom Lake College; and Melanie Nixon resigned as president of American River College in fall 2022. Dr. Michael V. Drake also announced he’s stepping down as president of the UC system after serving in that role for five years.
These roles come with a different level of pressure than most people understand, Dr. Wood says.
A typical day for him begins around 3 a.m. with a quick check of messages before catching a few more hours of sleep. By 5:30 or 6, he’s fully awake and diving into a schedule packed with meetings and travel, interspersed with moments like creating encouraging social media posts and recognizing the contributions of the university’s janitorial staff. Dr. Wood must also find time to fulfill his roles as a husband and father of three young children.
Under the immense weight of expectations, and aware that any stumble could be weaponized to undermine faith in Black leadership, Dr. Wood safeguards his well-being through self-care practices. In his free time, he boxes and wrestles. He also plays guitar and a “little bit of piano,” having developed a love of music as a child in church. There just so happens to be a grand piano in Sacramento Hall, where Dr. Wood’s office is located. It was donated by late university President Donald R. Gerth.
“Three or four times a day, I’ll go down there, sometimes it’s only for a minute, sometimes it’s 10 minutes, and I’ll play. I could be coming out of the most stressful meeting, having to have made the most difficult decisions, and then get on the piano and play.”
Depending on his mood, he might coax the keys to produce classical music – classics meaning Billy Joel and Elton John’s “Piano Man,” “Let It Be,” by The Beatles and Eminem’s “Still Dre.”
“Sometimes the Guardian Scholar students will come out and sing,” Dr. Wood says. “That’s what lightens my day. One of the things that balances the pressure the most is when you walk on campus and your students are excited to be here, they’re excited to see you because they believe in the vision that you’re creating for the future.”
Grading His Own Progress
With all he has accomplished in 2024, Dr. Wood gives himself only a B-minus for the year.
“That’s not because I don’t think great things happened, but because if I was the type of person who went around and celebrated what we did, I would feel like we’ve arrived and we’ve done what we needed to do,” he says.
“I’m always going to be harder on myself and on what we’re able to accomplish because there’s still more students who don’t graduate from Sacramento State than do. I cannot be satisfied when I know that there’s more that we could be doing. People are always saying, ‘You’ve got to college.’ We never talk about ‘You’ve got to finish college.’
“We know more people who failed from a place like Sacramento State than who succeeded. … We know more people who felt alienated, marginalized and isolated than those who felt like they belonged,” Dr. Wood says.
For him, it’s not just about making sure every student graduates, but changing the narrative about what an educational institution can offer.
“I will always give myself a B-minus or C, because until we’ve gotten to the point where every single student comes to this door and then graduates and every single person in the community can talk good about the work that we’re doing, we haven’t arrived.”
THE OBSERVER proudly salutes Dr. J. Luke Wood as its 2024 Person of the Year.