Samuel H. Bersola, Ph.D.
As a senior higher education administrator, Dr. Bersola served students in all three public higher education systems in California (UC, CSU, CCC) and across the entire educational spectrum—from pre-school to postdoctoral education.
He serves on the Asian Pacific Americans in Higher Education (APAHE) board of directors and is a LEAP Advance/LDPHE alumnus (Class of 2005—Pat Hayashi mentee).
His career and published research have focused on diversity in higher education and on student transitions—from high school to college, from community college to 4-year, from baccalaureate to graduate school, and from graduate school to career.
While Executive Director of External Relations and Strategic Initiatives at the UC Irvine School of Education, he helped the school form its first university-assisted partnership school. As Dean of Students of the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Science, he led during challenging back-to-campus efforts, post-COVID. As Assistant Vice Provost for Graduate Education at UCLA, he led a unit that oversaw over 10,000 graduate students and post doctoral scholars in over 100 programs. He served as Chief Operations Officer and Executive Director of Residential Life at UC Santa Cruz, Vice President and Dean of Student Services at Mission Community College and Assistant Dean of Admission at Amherst College. He also founded the MESA Minority Engineering Program at the CSU California Maritime Academy. He began his career as a high school math and directed a college counseling office.
As an American Council on Education Fellow, he spent a year at Yale University and San Francisco State University mentored by presidents and deans. He was a CA Governor Brown-appointee to two statewide committees—one on early childhood learning and care, and one on innovation within California Community Colleges.
He earned a Ph.D. in education policy from Stanford University, an Ed.M. from Harvard University, and a BS in civil engineering from UC Berkeley.
Accolades
American Council on Education Fellow (2014-15)