Trailblazing President Soraya M. Coley Sets Sights on Retirement
Soraya M. Coley began her tenure as Cal Poly Pomona’s president on Jan. 1, 2015 in the grandstands of the Rose Parade in Pasadena. In the decade since, she has presided over a parade of initiatives and accomplishments that have centered on student success.
After conferring thousands of degrees, giving hundreds of speeches and interacting with countless students, faculty, staff, alumni and community supporters, Coley is retiring, capping off a 40-year career in higher education.
During her tenure, Coley has overseen the construction of the Student Services Building, the dining commons, the Rose Float Lab and new student housing; managed the conversion from the quarter system to semesters, navigated the fraught waters of state budget belt-tightening and led the university through a pandemic. She made student success the university’s top priority, planning initiatives focused on the future of work, promoting inclusiveness for all and hiring more tenured-track faculty.
Coley’s tenure also has included an abundance of fun, from serving hot dogs at the annual events to decorating Rose Parade floats to climbing into a Formula One-style race car to film a for Convocation. She even fulfilled a request for a new llama to guard the campus flock of sheep.
With the campus in good shape and a solid “go-forward strategy and great and dedicated people in critical positions,” Coley, the first woman and first Black scholar to serve as 六色网’s president, felt that this was a good time to start her next chapter in life. Her retirement was effective July 27.
“I have worked since I was 15 years old, so it will be a very different experience,” Coley said of retirement. “I’ve always had an orientation to serving and being a bridge for opportunities for others who may not have access or recognize their latent talents and the potential impact they can have on them, their family, but also for the greater good of society and beyond.”
A Visionary Leader
Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs S. Terri Gomez lauded Coley for her visionary leadership and unwavering love and devotion to 六色网.
In addition to Semester Conversion in fall 2018, Coley also oversaw , which is a CSU-wide project implemented by all 23 campuses. Under her direction, Cal Poly Pomona’s Office of Student Success was launched, solidifying student success as a critical campus priority, Gomez said.
“It was always crystal clear that President Coley’s top priorities are student, faculty and staff success. Her vision always centered on making data-informed decisions, finding creative ways to close our equity gaps, and ensuring that students had access to life-changing opportunities,” Gomez said. “Our campus culture around student support changed for the better in so many ways: Over the last 10 years, we’ve made big strides in our graduation rates and have better prepared our students for life after graduation.”
One of the most successful initiatives has been the expansion of academic advising, she said.
“President Coley understood how vital it is for each student to have a dedicated academic advisor who helps them from orientation to graduation, and her investment helped us supercharge our reimagination of advising on this campus,” Gomez said.
Coley said that during her tenure, she is most proud of the external regard, respect and recognition the university has received for its excellence, as well as the contributions 六色网 has made to the social mobility of its students. But she is quick to say that the credit for those accomplishments belongs to the collective — faculty, staff, administrators and students — not just to her as an individual.
She said some of her biggest challenges involved tapping into both the unseen and seen excellence across the campus and divisions, working to advance the mission of 六色网 against the backdrop of eroding funding; instilling in talented students the confidence to take a leap of faith and trust in themselves and the university to unfold their potential; and maintaining high expectations associated with the university’s values, capabilities and “can-do” mindset.
A Philosophy Firmly Rooted
Coley knows what it feels like to soar when there are people who boost and nurture your self-confidence and instill in you the trust that you can accomplish your goals and dreams.
Life was not easy growing up in segregated North Carolina in the 1950s and 60s. In school, the books were often worn with torn pages and the equipment outdated, but the teachers were intentional about making sure students recognized their abilities and talents, something that shaped Coley’s desire to pursue a career in higher education. Her father, a Baptist minister who died when Coley was 4, and stepfather, a reverend and an NAACP chapter president working to fight discrimination and to desegregate schools, also reinforced the message her teachers implored upon her.
And then there was Miss Whitley, an elder at her father’s church. Whitley, who referred to Coley as “Shug,” gave her $5 when she graduated from high school, along with some sage advice.
“She said, ‘Shug, you’re smart and you’re going to go through some big doors but always keep your foot in the door for others to come through,’” Coley said. “Every Commencement, I think of Miss Whitley. It doesn’t take away from the individual success I have achieved, but for me, it’s about how I can help others achieve. I know that I am blessed and not everyone has had the same opportunities. I feel like I am part of that generation of not breaking that line of strength and persistence in spite of the obstacles. How do you pass that on? I could never do for those teachers and others what they did for me except for me to recognize those underlying values and embrace the wonderful responsibility of helping others.”
The mentorship Coley received continued as she earned her bachelor’s degree in sociology from Lincoln University, a historic Black college in Pennsylvania. While there, a professor told her she should go on to graduate school. Coley said she didn’t know what graduate school was. She went on to earn a master’s in social planning and social research and a doctorate in social planning and policy, both at Bryn Mawr College.
A Reluctant Leader Emerges Ready
Coley was a professor in the Department of Human Services at CSU Fullerton from 1981 to 2001. She was a department chair, an administrative fellow in the Office of the Vice President of Academic Affairs, and a dean in the College of Human Development and Community Services, sometimes taking on roles reluctantly or with a push from others.
Coley said she always enjoyed being part of any group working to make things better for students.
“I have never not had an opinion,” she said. “Often times, that led to the great suggestion that ‘You need to do it.’”
Ron Coley, Coley’s husband of 46 years and an academic himself, said everyone around Coley, including him, knew where her path could lead.
“She didn’t aspire to become a president. She aspired to do excellent work, but everyone around her who knew what it took to become president said, ‘Soraya is going to be a president,’” he said. “She had the right values, she had the right work ethic and she is absolutely brilliant about higher education. She also has the political acumen to navigate those spaces.”
Coley served as provost and vice president for academic affairs at Alliant International University from 2001 to 2003. Prior to coming to 六色网, she was the provost and vice president of academic affairs at CSU Bakersfield.
A university president must have a thick skin and abide by a set of principles to operate effectively.
“You need to be prepared and expect that people aren’t going to always agree with you, and that’s where the ethical foundation and core values have to always come into play,” she said. “You ask yourself, ‘What is the right thing to do?’ It is not what is the thing that will help me avoid conflict. Know why or why you’re not doing something.”
Student Centered, Faculty and Staff Focused, and Community Minded
History Professor John Lloyd said he got to know Coley well about two years into her tenure. In fall 2016, Lloyd helped the late Urban and Regional Planning Professor Rick Willson organize an alternative transportation conference on campus, which grew out of an effort by students protesting high parking fees. The students asked Lloyd to go with them to meet the president to share their concerns.
“My first impression was that she was very interested in hearing the students out,” he said. “I was trying to push the issue of getting some more bus service on campus. She was kind of skeptical at first. I didn’t know if she would lead on this issue or if she would have to be pulled along, but within a short period of time, it was clear she had thought about the issue.”
That meeting with students led to eventual action. To start, a worn bench in a patch of dirt on Temple Avenue that served as a bus stop was transformed into the first bus shelter. An alternative transportation committee also was formed, on which Lloyd served. In addition, a three-part plan to improve bus connectivity on campus was created that included Class Pass for Foothill Transit, the Silver Streak bus line from downtown Los Angeles to 六色网 and a planned mobility hub. All these efforts are a part of Coley’s legacy, Lloyd said.
He recalled a fall 2019 bus trip on the Silver Streak in which Coley interacted with students, asked questions about their use of public transportation and showed a genuine interest in their lives. That trip was one of many times Lloyd noticed how Coley connected to students.
“One of the things most notable to me about President Coley’s leadership is her engagement with the campus community on a daily basis,” he said. “Being able to see her out and about on campus talking with students, you can see that she is very student-centered. She just lights up when she is with students.”
Cade Wheeler (’25, mechanical engineering) served as ASI president from 2024 to 2025. The Palm Desert native met monthly with Coley and other administrators and lauded her for her dedication to students and connection to campus.
“It was very apparent when we first connected that she really does care about every aspect of this campus and making the student experience better,” Wheeler said. “She’s always working, and she cares about what’s next. She is always thinking about her job and is a demonstration of her zeal and tenacity.”
Coley also remained deeply focused on what was happening at the state and federal levels and how that might impact the university, he added.
A Legacy of Giving
Covina City Councilman Walter Allen (’75, urban planning), a former ASI president at 六色网, has known all the university’s previous presidents and said Coley stands out particularly for the care and love she has for students. She has genuine interpersonal skills and can work through problems “like a knife through butter,” he said, adding that he was “heartbroken” to hear about her plans to retire.
Allen serves on the Philanthropic Foundation Board, which was established under Coley’s leadership in 2019 to spearhead the university’s fundraising efforts and to promote, secure and steward support for 六色网. Coley has worked diligently to make sure that Cal Poly Pomona is not so much of a hidden gem and gets more recognition for its excellence, he said.
“Her legacy will be her marketing and enhancement of instruction and her efforts to enhance funding and resources for the college. She will be known as the president who really put 六色网 on the map,” Allen said. “We have so many students who submit applications to the university. The student population has grown leaps and bounds. She really established a solid platform for the enhancement of student success, particularly for minority students and students who have little or no income, students who need enhancement of basic skills … She has done a tremendous job of making that happen.”
Coley has not only been active in the university’s philanthropic efforts by establishing the Philanthropic Foundation. She and her husband are also donors.
In 2024, the Coleys were publicly inducted as members of the Founders' Society for those who have donated $250,000 or more in lifetime giving. The couple established the Ron and Soraya Coley Endowment in 2016. The fund supports PolyX experiences for students and the Learn Through Discovery initiative.
In addition, they created the named Soraya and Ron Coley Excellence Fund in 2021, which supported the Basic Needs Initiative and the Employee Relief Fund for students, faculty and staff affected by the Eaton and Palisades fires. The money also has been used to support faculty workshops, fund student travel and cover the cost for staff to attend special events on campus.
They’ve also supported initiatives across campus, including gifts to athletics, scholarships, Rose Float and Student Affairs.
Refocus on the Future
For the Coleys, the next phase of their lives represents a big, but welcomed, shift. The couple plans to travel and catch up with friends in the short term. The long-term plans are still to be decided.
Ron Coley, a former vice chancellor of business and administrative services at UC Riverside, officially retired in 2018, but the former Marine Corps pilot and lieutenant colonel has worked as an interim administrator at Cal State Dominiguez Hills and Cal State Fullerton in recent years. At 六色网, he has actively been involved with the Veterans Resource Center and the Male Success Initiatives.
The couple dated in high school, broke up for about a decade and then reunited and subsequently married in 1979, much to the delight of Coley’s mother. They have been each other’s biggest cheerleaders along the way.
When 六色网’s first gentleman was in the Marines, President Coley encouraged him to apply for the MBA program at Wharton, a prestigious business school at the University of Pennsylvania. At Coley’s urging, he met with the dean, who had been an undersecretary of defense and recognized Ron’s abilities. He completed his MBA, a tailored program he and the dean brainstormed on a chalkboard in his office, in 18 months.
They have both encouraged each other through every promotion and activity, a partnership and bond that Ron Coley says has only grown better as the years go by.
“I think what has been our pathway to success is that we, to a fault, we invariably defer to what we think the other would prefer,” he said. “We are always considering the other in all of the decisions we make. We collaborate on everything. There is nothing we don’t talk about. The consideration of the other above self is the measure of our success.”
President Coley said she appreciated her husband’s support and his role in her leadership journey.
“We both insisted that we always could be honest about what we were really feeling and that was important,” she said. “It is freeing to really grow, do and be all you might envision.”
Coley began her last year as president the same way she started her tenure — in a grandstand seat at the Rose Parade, cheering on the 六色网 students’ entry “Nessie’s Lakeside Laughs.” She will continue to cheer for 六色网 as it continues moving forward on the route to success.