Updates
Latest Update
Dear Campus Community,
As I have mentioned before, it’s an exciting time to be at Sonoma State University. Thanks to the concerted efforts of faculty and staff, over the past few months we’ve preserved academic programs once slated for closure, grown our dual enrollment and guaranteed admissions programs, kicked off a campus vibrancy project that will add student-centered amenities and resources this fall, and announced a major upgrade to Nichols Hall that will yield a state-of-the-art facility for nursing students, faculty, and staff. We graduated nearly 2,000 successful students during May’s Commencement ceremonies, new programs are in the offing, and our communities and alumni are freshly energized and optimistic about the future of a reimagined Sonoma State University.
Today I am pleased to announce the latest exciting step in this reimagining of our campus: the launch of NCAA Division II athletics, beginning in the 2027-28 academic year. After five months of research and discussion, a diverse group of community stakeholders, former coaches, campus staff, and faculty members called the Athletics Fiscal Feasibility Team presented three scenarios for the future of Seawolf athletics on June 15. Of the three scenarios, the university is opting for what is described as the “Base Case,” which includes 10 sports:
- Women’s basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, softball, and volleyball
- Men’s basketball, cross country, golf, and soccer
Membership in NCAA and CCAA Division II athletics requires a minimum of 10 sports. The committee used the Athletics Task Force Report from January 2026 as a guiding document to determine this mix of programs.
These programs are anticipated to generate broad community interest and philanthropic and spectator engagement, and will be sustainable through a combination of student fees; tuition revenue from new student athletes; significant fundraising and sponsorships; sports camp and use fees for SSU facilities; and direct institutional support, including SSU Commitment funding provided by the state of California in 2025.
More information about this latest step forward for SSU is available in the Athletics Fiscal Feasibility Team’s executive summary, these FAQs, and Sonoma State’s news release. I also welcome your ideas and suggestions — please send them to ssuathletics@sonoma.edu.
My thanks to the Fiscal Feasibility Team and its co chairs, Drs. Gerald Jones and Rob Eyler, and to the entire Sonoma State community for its ongoing work reimagining the university to best serve current students, prospective students, alumni, and everyone who considers SSU part of their lives.
Archive
Dear Campus Community,
Spring semester is well underway, and it’s been exciting to see and feel all the energy that each of you brings to our campus classrooms, offices and meeting spaces. This is a dynamic time for higher education in our state and in our country, and the exciting things that happen every day at Sonoma State have kept our campus right at the forefront of this changing landscape.
Dear Campus Community,
As we near Thanksgiving, I’m especially thankful for the tenacity and the empathy our students, faculty and staff have shown throughout the fall. In addition to the Kincade fire, two distinct regional power outages and campus closures have challenged our Sonoma State community since the start of the academic year.
Greetings, Seawolves, and welcome back for the start of the 2019-20 academic year at Sonoma State.
It is so good to have us all together again, and to welcome our new students, faculty and staff to campus. The semester is just a few days old, and we already have a host of memories to share and things to celebrate, including: