Soraya M. Coley

University president Soraya M. Coley was born on November 25, 1950 in Wilmington, North Carolina to Majoria Morgan and John Moore. She received her A.B. degree in sociology from Lincoln University in Pennsylvania in 1972; and subsequently her M.S.S. degree in social planning and social research; and her Ph.D. degree in social policy and planning from Bryn Mawr College in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania in 1974 and 1981, respectively.

In 1975, Coley was hired as the national director of the Child Abuse Prevention Project at the National Urban League. She worked as the project site director at Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. in 1979 and was promoted to survey manager in 1980. She then served as a professor of human services at California State University, Fullerton in 1981; and, in 1994, she became an administration fellow and was appointed dean of Fullerton’s College of Human Development and Community Service in 1996. In 2001, Coley became Alliant International University’s founding systemwide provost and vice president for academic affairs before being named professor emeritus at California State University, Fullerton in 2003 and senior research fellow at Children and Family Futures in 2004. In 2005, Coley was hired as provost and vice president for academic affairs at California State University, Bakersfield and hired as the interim vice president for university advancement affairs in 2011. In 2014, Coley made history when she was appointed president of California State Polytechnic University, Pomona as the first African American and first female to hold this position. She held this position to her retirement in 2025.

During her career, Coley served on the board of directors for Children and Family Futures and Ready to Start. She also chaired Kern County’s strategic planning committee to address the problem of methamphetamine use and its impact on Kern County. In 2019, California Governor Gavin Newsom appointed Coley to the California Future of Work Commission.

In 2015, Coley received the Distinguished Alumni Award from Bryn Mawr College and the Trailblazer Award from Leadership California. Coley was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters from Lincoln University in 2016 and was honored by the African American Civic Engagement Project and California Assemblymember Sebastian Ridley-Thomas in 2017. She was named Woman of the Year by California’s 20th State Senate District in 2022.

Coley and her husband, Ron T. Coley, live in Pomona, California.

Soraya M. Coley was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on September 18, 2024.