Kern County businesswoman Raji Brar was appointed Thursday to the California State University Board of Trustees.
Brar, who earned a bachelor’s degree in biology and a master’s in health care at Cal State Bakersfield, becomes one of only 25 trustees responsible for setting policy for the 23-campus state university system.
“I’m so excited,” she said upon receiving word from The Californian Thursday evening that the appointment had been finalized. “I think this is absolutely beautiful for Kern County and CSUB.”
Brar is chief operations officer of Countryside Corp., her family’s development company and chain of convenient stores. A Democrat, she served for two years on the Arvin City Council and co-founded the Bakersfield Sikh Women’s Association.
At CSUB she is president of the CSU Bakersfield Foundation Board and has a seat on the Kern County Hospital Authority Board, as well as the Kern High School District Education Foundation Board and the advisory board to local angel-investor organization Kern Venture Group.
She will have to be confirmed by the state Senate before officially assuming her position, which pays $100 per day on meeting dates.
Brar said Thursday how proud she was to share news of the appointment with her mother, who is illiterate. Her mother encouraged her to get an education because no one can take that from her, Brar said.
“For me,” being named a CSU trustee “it’s just something that I never thought I would do or be able to do.”
