Leroy M. Morishita served as the fifth president of California State University, East Bay. He was appointed to the position in January 2012 by the CSU Board of Trustees, after taking office on July 1, 2011 as the Interim President. He came to Cal State East Bay from San Francisco State University, where he served as Executive Vice President for Administration and Finance and Chief Financial Officer. Dr. Morishita retired in December of 2020 from this post.
A native Californian, President Morishita holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of California, Berkeley and a Master of Science in Counseling from San Francisco State University. He also received a Doctorate in Education in Administration, Planning and Social Policy from Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Morishita has more than 40 years of experience in higher education, as an educator and administrator. He first worked in the California State University system from 1978 to 1981 as Counseling Coordinator and Counselor for the Educational Opportunity Program at San Francisco State University.
Morishita’s administrative experience includes working in Massachusetts at the Institute on Computing in Schools at Harvard Graduate School, at Salem State College, and at Tufts University working as the Director of Asian Student Programming. Returning to the CSU system in 1984, he worked in Admissions and Records at SFSU and in 1987-88 was an Administrative Fellow to the Provost at CSUEB (then Cal State Hayward).
In 1988 Morishita was hired as the Director of University and Budget Planning at SFSU. In 1996 additional responsibilities included serving as the Interim Executive Director of Enrollment Planning and Management. He became the Associate Vice President of Budget Planning and Resource Management in 19997 and was selected as the Vice President of Physical Planning and Development in 2001. Morishita was named SFSU’s Vice President of Administration and Finance and Chief Financial Officer in 2002 and Executive Vice President in 2009.
Morishita has been a Commissioner of the Western Association for Senior Colleges and Universities since 2007, and chair of its Finance & Operations Committee since 2010. He also has also served on several committees for the CSU, including the CSU Risk Management Authority since 2002, serving as Chair from 2006 to 2010 and Vice Chair from 2004 to 2006; the CSU Systemwide Budget Advisory Committee since 2004; the CSU Human Resources Advisory Committee since 2008, and the CSU Investment Committee (2007-10).
Locally, Morishita is a former chair of the Institute of Buddhist Studies in Berkeley. He has been a board member of the JACL Health Benefits Administration since 2001. He is a former board member of the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California; and former president and board member of Oakland’s Asian Community Mental Health Services.
Dr. Morishita is married to Barbara Hedani-Morishita, and they have two children, Kyle and Derek.