Sacramento State provost, Steve Perez, has been named the interim president of San Jose State University.
Steve Perez, who joined Sacramento State in 2001 as an assistant economics professor and currently leads the university’s academic affairs division, will take over the interim leadership role at San Jose State in January, Sacramento State President Robert Nelsen said in a letter to campus Monday. “It is with sadness for us, and immense pride in him, that I must announce that Provost Steve Perez has been appointed Interim President at San Jose State University,” Nelsen wrote.
Current university President Mary Papazian will step down next month as the school reels from a major sexual abuse scandal in its athletic department. The Department of Justice investigation into San Jose State and Shaw has precipitated two settlement agreements with female former student-athletes totaling $3.3 million and $1.6 million. The larger settlement was announced last week, the Bay Area News Group reported.
Perez has been provost and vice president for academic affairs at Sacramento State since September 2019. He was also Sac State’s NCAA faculty athletics representative from 2009 to 2018.