Sac State president’s first performance review is in. Here are big takeaways
In Luke Wood’s first official performance review since he took over as president of Sacramento State in 2023, the California State University leadership found he was a “highly energetic, charismatic and boldly innovative leader.”
They also identified growth areas for Wood’s presidency: building trust with the campus community, growing the national brand of Sacramento State and cultivating camaraderie within the leadership team, among others.
In his three years of leading the 31,000-student campus, Wood has made sweeping changes to the school’s offerings and attempted to reinvent its identity — big moves that have attracted praise and scrutiny in equal measure.
Wood launched the nation’s first Black Honors College and the Wileety Native American College. He was also accused by his former chief diversity officer of discriminating against her on the basis of race, gender and age. Wood upgraded Sacramento State to college football’s top level, the Football Bowl Subdivision. He also committed roughly $24 million to do it even as campus expenditures continued to outpace revenues in the 2025-2026 fiscal year. Under Wood’s leadership, the school hit new enrollment records. But simultaneously, it struggled to provide space for all its students to get into the classes they needed.
In a letter to the campus community Wednesday, CSU Chancellor Mildred García announced the completion of a months-long evaluation of the leader. The president review, conducted at all campuses every three years, was based on feedback from faculty, staff, students and community members as well as the Office of the Chancellor’s independent evaluation. That independent evaluation included university visits, regular interactions with the campus community and data on operations, finances and student success.
“The president was widely commended for being uniquely attuned to the needs of Sacramento State’s dynamically diverse student body and unwaveringly committed to meeting those needs, as demonstrated by the development of specialized and culturally responsive academic pathways and an impressive and growing number of inclusive and forward-focused student support programs,” said Chancellor García in her letter.
García highlighted Wood’s “demonstrated ability” to engage the broader community, citing increased internship opportunities for students and new academic and workforce development partnerships in the region. She drew attention to the downtown project, which seeks to develop a new campus only steps away from the California State Capitol.
Growth areas
As part of the evaluation process, the CSU board of trustees and Wood held a meeting in May to discuss conclusions and next steps. Together, they identified six goals for President Wood to focus on going forward.
First, Wood is tasked with strengthening trust with the campus community by transparently communicating what the university is doing, why it matters and how its success is being assessed. To do this, he must increase campuswide messages from his office, publish progress reports and grow positive media presence, García’s letter said.
He will also work on boosting Sacramento State’s reputation externally. The goal of this, the letter said, is to grow the school’s out-of-state student population, who bring in more revenue. A third goal is to improve relationships among the members of the president’s cabinet by engaging an executive coach “to support transition and teamwork.”
Across the campus, the CSU leadership has identified accountability and prevention programs for discrimination, harassment and retaliation as a priority. For this, the action steps outlined in García’s letter include increasing participation in conduct-of-concern trainings, mapping average time taken to address cases and strengthening the Office of Equal Opportunity’s capacity by integrating it into a new Division of People and Climate by the end of the 2025-2026 fiscal year.
Wood has also been asked to complete the repatriation of all tribal ancestors and cultural items as required by the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990 and the California Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 2001. As of April, Sacramento State had repatriated 89% of ancestral remains and 78% of cultural items.
Finally, Wood will work on merging Sacramento State’s business operations with Stanislaus State. The finance teams are to be integrated by July 1 and procurement operations by June 30, 2027.
Continuous review
President reviews, according to CSU policy, allow the CSU board of trustees to understand the unique characteristics of each campus, assess their leadership and further the school’s progress. Upon recommendation of the chancellor, the board makes decisions on appointment, salary and continued employment of presidents. At present, Wood’s salary stands at $504,799 per year with a $60,000 housing allowance and a 10% annual performance incentive. He received a 6% boost in November following a systemwide change in the framework for calculating executive salaries.
The next three-year review of Wood’s performance will begin in 2029. Until then, CSU Chancellor García will continue to hold “less formal” annual reviews with him as is protocol, she said.
