CSU Trustee Professor at Cal State L.A. Receives the Inaugural Reginald Wilson Award

Jewel Plummer Cobb, CSU Trustee Professor at Cal State L.A. and CSU Fullerton President Emerita, is among the first three recipients of the Reginald Wilson Award given by the Washington DC-based American Council on Education (ACE), Office of Minorities in Higher Education. The inaugural honor, given to individuals who have made significant and noteworthy accomplishments to diversity in higher education over a lifetime or a career, was presented during the organization's conference and 20th Anniversary Diversity Celebration, "Educating All of One Nation," held recently in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Reginald Wilson, a dedicated advocate for more diverse educational environments and increased professional opportunities for academicians of color, was director of the Office of Minority Concerns, and senior scholar of the American Council on Education.

Born in Chicago, Jewel Plummer Cobb's love of biology took her to the University of Michigan-Talladega College for her bachelor's degree, and New York University for her master's and Ph.D. degrees. After a National Cancer Institute postdoctoral fellowship at the Cancer Research Foundation of Harlem Hospital and at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, she joined the faculty at the University of Illinois College of Medicine and then Sarah Lawrence College until 1969.

Dr. Cobb began her distinguished career as an academic administrator in 1969. While dean of Connecticut College, she held the post of professor of zoology and continued her oncology research. Between 1976 and 1981, she became professor of biology and dean of Douglass College of Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. As president of the California State University, Fullerton from 1981 to 1990, she created the first privately-funded gerontology center in Orange County, established new academic opportunities for ethnic students, and successfully lobbied the California Legislature for new student housing on the Fullerton campus. In commemoration of her achievements at Fullerton, a campus dormitory bears her name. Dr. Cobb was a recipient of the 1999 Achievement in Excellence Award by the Board of Trustees of the Center for Excellence in Education. Dr. Cobb was presented the award for her contributions to science and education.

Dr. Cobb has served on the Cal State L.A. campus as Trustee Professor of the California State University system since 1990, following her retirement as president of CSU Fullerton. She is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. She has also served on several corporate boards. She was formerly the principal investigator of the ACCESS Center at Cal State L.A., a program designed to encourage economically disadvantaged middle and high school students to pursue careers in mathematics, the sciences and engineering. She is currently the principal investigator for the Science Technology Engineering Program (STEP) Up for Youth--ASCEND project at Cal State L.A. This project enables the University to conduct informal science activities in the community for middle school students and their families.