Karen Y. Zamarripa is Assistant Vice Chancellor for Advocacy and State Relations for the system working directly with elected officials and their staff, state government and the Governor’s office on budget and legislative matters important to the CSU. Ms. Zamarripa has almost thirty years of experience in education issues, legislative advocacy, strategic communications, state budget and politics having worked in the legislature, for public schools and the CSU.

Ms. Zamarripa is a proud alumnus of CSU Sacramento earning her Masters in Public Policy and Administration (MPPA) in 2001. She completed her undergraduate degree in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Southern California in the late 70’s.

She has been honored by CSUS as a Distinguished Alumni award recipient but also by her higher education advocacy peers with the Suede Johnson award in 2004. This award is sponsored by the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC), the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU), the Council for the Advancement of Education (CASE) and the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges (NASULGC) and recognizes outstanding leadership and achievements in advocacy for higher education.

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