Greg Sawyer, the new vice president for student affairs starting April 1, comes to Sonoma  State University, most recently serving as Vice President for Student Affairs at CSU Channel Islands. While there, the university’s Division of Student Affairs was recognized as one of the nation’s Most Promising Places to Work in Student Affairs for the past three years by Diverse Magazine. In an interview with Sawyer, he offered some thoughts on his new position at Sonoma State, his background and what drives him to make a difference.

STAR: Can you tell us about your educational background? 

Sawyer: I did my undergraduate work at a small private school in Ohio called Mount Union College, now known as University of Mount Union. My background is organizational communication, so I studied communication, theater and journalism. I ended up with several majors, but that’s my earliest background. I also have a master’s degree from Eastern New Mexico University in Portales and that’s in organizational communication. And then my doctoral degree is from the University of North Texas in Denton. And it is a PhD in higher education administration with an emphasis in organizational communication. 

STAR: Can you tell us about your professional background?

Sawyer: I started off teaching at Amarillo College at the age of 23, teaching communication. I was there for two years then decided to work on my achieving my PhD after that. But I went from Amarillo to Denton, Texas, and I started off as a hall director, financing my way through school. Basically in a nutshell, I’ve been in [higher education] all my life. I was an adviser for a lot of clubs on UNT’s campus—The Progressive Black Student Organization, MASA and GLAD. I ended up being at the University of North Texas for several years. I went from a services coordinator to assistant dean to associate dean to dean of students all at that institution. I was a dean there for 10 years. And then I went on to start my career at the Florida Gulf Coast University, and I was there almost seven years as founding dean. 

Sawyer: After that, I had a chance to start at CSU Channel Islands, where I was the founding VP. I was at Channel Islands for 16 years until I decided I was going to retire. And then this wonderful opportunity came about. I’ve known president Sakaki for several years, and I thought, “Wow, to be able to work with her and work in Sonoma; I will only come out for this one.” So I decided to come out of retirement for Sonoma State.  

STAR: What are your goals within this position when you arrive in April?

Sawyer: The first 100 days for me would really be to find out where everybody is. The last thing anybody wants is someone coming in making changes, and they don’t even know your campus. One thing Diverse Magazine does for the last five years is identify those promising places to work in student affairs within the nation. What I would like to do at some point is make Sonoma one of those promising places to work in student affairs. They picked the top 13 schools for this year. I would love to be able to say Sonoma, we are there. We are a place that students want to come. In terms of students affairs, I want to help in any way, shape or form for students to matriculate and to help students graduate on time. 

STAR: What is the one thing you’re most looking forward to at Sonoma State?

Sawyer: I love the campus, but I’m most looking forward to getting to know the students. That’s my number one priority. I’m very eager to know the students, understand them and in terms of student affairs find answers: Why Sonoma? What makes Sonoma the draw? What is it like to be a Seawolf? What is it like to be part of this community? That to me is very, very exciting. I am eager to tap into that excitement because I can see it and I can feel it. I just want to hear it from the people. 

STAR: What is the biggest challenge you anticipate within your position at Sonoma State?

Sawyer: I think right off the bat there is a lot of work to be done when we start with a new strategic plan. It’s not so much the challenges; it is getting everyone to read the same sheet of music. It seems as though that has already been done. Also, particularly for the smaller campuses in the state of California, the budget is always going to be an issue. I think those are things we would work together on with the brand new cabinet that I’m very excited about working with. 

STAR: What is an initiative you’ve worked on or implemented that you are most proud of?

Sawyer: I can speak to Channel Islands, but also other campuses, but that is having the students walk away with a sense of pride and understanding that they can be trustees of their communities, now that they know how to be leaders. Being a leader doesn’t mean one got elected, because that could be a popularity contest. Instead they found they were leaders because of the skills, characteristics and values that they were able to bring to the table to help change policy. They were able to help individuals move along and help other students reach leadership goals. That is the initiative that is sustainable. Those, to me, are some of the most important things we’ve done.