Among eight other nominees, Laura Lupei, the Senior Director for University Budget at Sonoma State University, won 2020’s Wang Family Excellence Award For Outstanding Staff Performance. 

The Wang Family Excellence Award chooses four faculty and one staff member who are honored for their remarkable dedication to student achievement and their contributions in their work environment. Each recipient receives $20,000 to show appreciation for their hard work for CSU schools. The honorees were recognized during the Board of Trustees’ meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 28, at 8 a.m in Glenn S. Dumke Auditorium in Long Beach. 

This award was established in 1998 by Stanley Wang, a prominent supporter of higher education, the founder of Patronix Corporation, and CSU Trustee at the time. He provided $1 million to acknowledge the contributions of CSU’s faculty and staff. 

Another important  supporter of higher education, Chancellor Timothy P. White,. mentioned his appreciation for CSU faculty and staff.  On the CSU website, he said, “We are thrilled to recognize exemplary members and administrators through the generous gift provided by Stanley Wang and his family.These award recipients are truly remarkable and are making extraordinary efforts to serve students and the global learning community.”

Lupei’s hard work serving SSU and her many accomplishments earned her CSU’s most prestigious honor. The award acknowledges her success in leading, developing, implementing and managing approximately $250 million annually.

Lupei said one of her major accomplishments is the, “work on building our campus strategic budgeting framework over the past 3 years.  This effort focuses on linking planning to budgeting to ensure that our financial resources are aligned with our strategic goals.  Strategic planning helps the campus be more transparent about our budget and helps the campus invest in our Strategic planning helps the campus be more transparent about our budget and helps the campus invest in our student success goals.”

Lupei is not only exceeding expectations while working at the university, but she is also an alumna from SSU. Lupei received her bachelor’s in psychology and her master’s in public administration from SSU. Because Sonoma State has such a small-town feel, Lupei has called it home since she was a first-year more than 20 years ago. “I have always felt a sense of community here, whether as an undergrad, a graduate student or throughout my career,” she said.

Although Lupei has felt very challenged and burnt out at times, she still feels fortunate because she has always felt like she is making a positive contribution to an organization she cares about.  That is what has kept her committed to her work and Sonoma State for so long. 

She recognizes that students have pressure on them to make that first career decision, but advises students “to relax a little bit, don’t put so much pressure on yourself.  If you don’t like it, you have plenty of time to change your mind later!  Every experience you have is going to help you in your career, even those things that might feel like mistakes at first.”