Life Lessons From a University President
Leroy Morishita returns home to share how he went from first-generation college student to leading Cal State East Bay
In a portable classroom in Sanger, California, where he attended high school, Cal State East Bay President Leroy M. Morishita recently shared a secret with approximately 40 sixth-graders at Lone Star Elementary:
“University presidents are not the smartest people in the world — there are a lot of people that work under them that are a lot smarter in different subjects,” Morishita said. “But the key is that if you know how to work with all different types of people, and if you know how to talk to all different types of people, and if you are willing to ask questions, those people will help you.”
Today, the population of Sanger (25,000) is more than double what it was when Morishita was a young student, yet the city’s demographics continue to reflect large segments of immigrants and first and second-generation families who are carving out their piece of the American dream, many of them through California farming. Sanger, a part of Fresno County, is an important contributor to the highest-producing agricultural region in the United States. However, according to data from the 2015 U.S. Census Bureau, just 13 percent of adults age 25 and over hold a bachelor’s degree.