<Begin Segment 14>

KU: And then after your stay at UMass Amherst, looks like you came back to California. Can you talk about that transition and what made you leave UMass Amherst?

BS: Yeah. Well, by that time I had been at UMass for about ten years and I thought I would be buried there. But then an African American colleague of mine called me up and said, "You know, I received this letter recently from a childhood friend of mine who's become the president of Cal State LA, and he's looking for people to fill various administrative positions. Why don't you apply? You always talk about going back to California." And I said, "Oh, I don't know, I'm very comfortable here." But almost on a lark I applied, not knowing even what position I was applying for, because he said that they had several administrative positions open. Turned out they wanted me to consider graduate studies and research, Dean of Graduate Studies and Research. To make a long story short, I was selected to be interviewed, and I went to this area and interviewed with the people on campus and then with the president Jim Rosser. And when I met with Jim, we hit it off real quick, and a week later I got the offer to become Dean of Graduate Studies and Research. And so that's how I ended up going there.

KU: Can you set up that time that you got back involved in the community, and there was the Asian American theater program that you were involved in?

BS: Well, one of the programs we established at Cal State LA was the Asian American theater program with Nobu McCarthy. And she turned out to be just an amazing teacher, and she got Asian American students who were majoring in engineering and architecture and all these other areas involved in acting and really helped them develop themselves. It was a very successful program, and Nobu McCarthy was an amazing teacher.

KU: I didn't realize that was on campus at Cal State LA.

BS: Yeah, it ran for a couple of years. And I think UCLA might have asked her to come, and some other institutions, I don't remember.

Off camera: I think she might have went there after you left.

BS: Yeah, maybe.

<End Segment 14> - Copyright © 2018 Densho. All Rights Reserved.