Chris Sullivan, the Associated Students President for the 2024-2025 school year, is representing the student voices of Chico State.

Sullivan grew up in Inglewood and attended a low-income high school in the area. He was raised with his sister by a single mother. His father was in and out of the prison system.

“Where I come from definitely is a testament to how I respect others here,” he said. 

He said that he was always “educationally oriented” in high school, and found mentors who helped him apply as a first-generation college student to Chico State. 

Sullivan joined the Educational Opportunity Program upon moving to Chico. He said that it allowed him to find a strong sense of community among other students, who often were also low-income, first generation students. He was involved for all four years of his undergraduate education. 

The experience of joining the EOP led Sullivan to mentorship. He mentored first-year experience program students for four years and mentored for the REACH program for three years. 

“You learn while helping, which is a cool thing about mentoring,” he said. 

During his last semester of undergrad, Sullivan joined the government of student affairs team as the director of social justice and equity. He said that the skills he learned in the role are skills that he wanted to apply to a bigger leadership position.

Sullivan earned his BA in sociology with minors in multicultural studies and ethics, justice and policy. 

Sullivan dually applied to schools for his master’s degree and campaigned for AS President. He decided to stay at Chico State for grad school after winning the election for president. 

This is Sullivan’s first semester as AS President. He aims to advocate, unite and understand the needs of Chico State’s student population. 

Sullivan said that representing students of all backgrounds and demographics is important to him. His role as president is to ensure that every student has a voice.

His responsibilities as president include overseeing the budgeting for dining services and facilities on campus, and making sure that student dollars are properly allocated. 

Sullivan externally represents Chico State through the California State Student Association, CSSA, where he meets once a month with all 23 California State University AS presidents. 

CSSA discusses student concerns and works to advocate for policies that meet the needs of the students. 

He said the language of many school policies are difficult for people to decode. As president, he aims to help “break the language barriers” that might prevent students from understanding Chico State’s policies and rules, he said. 

“Representation matters. This is how I’m influencing those after me,” Sullivan said.

Lexi Lynn can be reached at [email protected].