When Wilson came to California State University , Northridge in 1992 , she was the first African American woman to become president of a large ( over 25,000 students ) American university . She was president of CSUN during the 1994 Northridge earthquake , one of the worst natural disasters in U.S. history . Wilson oversaw the $ 400 million rebuilding of the campus over several years , where 107 buildings were damaged or destroyed , making it at the time the most expensive natural disaster to impact a university in the United States . While Wilson received local and national praise for her work in earthquake recovery at CSUN , she also was criticized for scandals that marred her presidency . During a time of severe budget cutbacks , she was criticized for planning faculty layoffs . She responded by telling the CSUN Faculty Senate that " This is not an employment agency , this is a university . " Wilson served on many nonprofit boards over the years , including trustee for the Getty Foundation , the James Irvine Foundation , Boston College , the College Board , and Deputy Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston
1994 Northridge earthquake
1994 Northridge earthquake
Blenda Wilson