Cal State Fullerton Athletics

Dr. Michael Perez was named the new Faculty Athletic Representative at Cal State Fullerton as appointed by President Mildred García, it was announced by the athletic department on Sept. 6, 2013.

Perez serves as the university's appointed faculty athletics representative in its relationship with the NCAA and the Big West Conference concerning academic integrity, governance and rules compliance, and student-athlete welfare.

"I am humbled and eager to support our student-athletes in this new role, and I look forward to working with an excellent staff in the athletics department, student affairs, and the President's office to enhance the academic and athletic experiences of our student-athletes in ways that they will cherish long after their athletic careers,” Perez said. “I am also honored to represent my faculty colleagues in intercollegiate athletics, and be a part of this exciting pivotal moment of further bridging academics and athletics on our campus." 

Perez succeeds Dr. Stephen Walk, who operated in the same position from 2004-12, while also functioning as the interim director of intercollegiate athletics from July to December of 2012. Walk vacated the position after recently being appointed Associate Dean for the College of Health and Human Development.

“I look forward to working with Dr. Perez, and would also like to thank Dr. Walk for his years of outstanding service to our department and our student-athletes,” Athletic Director Jim Donovan said. “During my first year at Cal State Fullerton, Dr. Perez has been active colleague on campus, and I know he will be a valuable member of our team.”

Perez is the former Department Chair and Vice Chair of the Sociology Department as part of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS).  He is a member of the Academic Senate, and has served the campus and students in a number of capacities including the University Strategic Planning Steering Committee, HSS Strategic Planning Committee, faculty mentor for the Enhancement of Postbaccalaureate Opportunities at CSUF for Hispanic Students (EPOCHS), advisory board member of the Social Justice Summit, and the Associate Dean Recruitment Committee for the CSUF Irvine Campus.  Perez also served on the Athletic Director search committee that resulted in the hiring of Donovan in December of 2012.

Perez began his tenure-track appointment at CSUF in 2000, earned early tenure and promotion to associate professor in 2004, and early promotion to full professor in 2008.

Perez received his bachelor’s, master’s, and doctorate degrees in sociology from the UC Riverside, upon conducting fieldwork and completing his dissertation on Chamorro/Chamoru identity in Guam in 1997.  

Prior to his time at Cal State Fullerton, Perez was an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Guam in the late 1990s. 

His teaching and scholarly interests include critical race studies, race, ethnic and indigenous relations, Native Pacific studies, sociology of sports, social justice, education and critical pedagogy, deviance and delinquency.

Perez's published work has appeared in Amerasia Journal, Critical Criminology, Deviant Behavior, Ethnic Studies Review, Faculty of Color Teaching at Predominantly White Institutions (Anker Publishing), Global Processes, Local Impacts: The Effects of Globalization in the Asia Pacific Region (University Press of America), Pacific Studies, Social Identities: Journal of the Study of Race, Nation and Culture, Social Science Quarterly, Sociological Spectrum, and Sovereignty Matters: Locations of Contestation and Possibility in Indigenous Struggles for Self-Determination (University of Nebraska Press).

Ancestrally native to the island of Guam, and born and raised in Long Beach, Calif., Perez resides in Corona, Calif., with his wife Amber, and four daughters, Inyssa, Kiana, Jenae and Mihaela.