Norma Rees, former president of CSU East Bay from 1990 to 2006, died in her Hayward home last week leaving behind a legacy of new curriculums, new campus buildings a well as a new name for the university.

“She helped make the university the wonderful, transformative institution it is today,” said current CSUEB President Leroy Morishita in a campus press release.

Jodi Servatius, a professor of emerita of Education, said she was a professor at CSUEB for four years when Norma Rees arrived as president.

“I found her to be delightfully direct, a no-nonsense person. I admired her keen intellectual curiosity and wide ranging interests,” said Servatius.

Aside from being the first female president to serve in any CSU system, Rees helped pioneer CSUEB’s engineering and biotechnology program, a masters degree program in social work and multimedia, and helped boost the university’s reputation internationally by delegating an American style MBA program in Russia.

Rees’ influence during her tenure as university president was substantive, reads Morishita’s press release.  She ushered the development of new buildings on the Hayward campus, such as the Pioneer Heights and New University Union.  She was fundamental in raising funds for the Wayne and Gladys Valley Business and Technology Center and also expanded the Concord Campus into Oakland by opening the Oakland Professional Development and Conference Center in 2001.

As the university continued to expand its programs, Rees was included in the controversial campaign to change the name from CSU Hayward to CSU East Bay. The purpose of the name change was to reflect the University’s engagement as a regional-serving institution open to the entire East Bay community.  However, this caused disenchantment within some students as well as Hayward residents.

“I graduated from Cal State Hayward,” said Hayward Mayor Michael Sweeney, in a segment called Campus and Community on Pioneer Web TV.

“That’s what my diploma says,” responded Fran David, the Hayward City Manager nodding in agreement.

Since the unanimous decisions from the CSU Board of Trustees in January 2005, to change the name to CSU East Bay, the strong feelings towards Norma Rees involvement has been replaced with fond memories of her style and impactful contributions.

“She could explain the etymologies of the most arcane words, discuss Russian literature or the music of the Harlem Renaissance.  She could sing an aria. She also had a wicked sense of humor,” said Serviatus.

Norma Rees is survived by two sons, Raymond A Rees and Evan L Rees.