The California State University Board of Trustees announced Robert Nelsen as Sacramento State’s new campus president.

Nelsen was formerly president of the University of Texas-Pan American in Edinburg, Texas.

He will begin his term in June as the eighth president of Sac State.

“Sacramento State has truly become a destination campus where students receive a transformative educational experience that prepares them for success in the future,” said Nelsen in a press release. “The opportunity to work alongside the many dedicated faculty and staff who guide students along that journey and prepare them for achievements beyond the classroom is incredibly exciting.”

Current president Alexander Gonzalez will finish his 12th year at Sac State and 36th year with the CSU system at the end of June.

Texas State Senator Juan Hinojosa spoke of Nelsen’s appointment as campus president.

“Dr. Robert Nelsen earned a reputation for being able to bring people together and I was most impressed with the manner in which he united the greater community,” said Hinojosa. “When he was asked what he wanted his legacy to be with UTPA, he said he wanted to be known for creating partnerships, and he tirelessly worked to make that happen. Sacramento State is fortunate to have him lead their team.”

In a teleconference with several media outlets including the Sacramento Bee and Capital Public Radio, Nelsen spoke of his goals to improve the campus. Among his objectives were addressing class impaction and faculty salaries.

Nelsen also said he intends to have a new science building at Sac State to increase space for lab classes.

“We’ve got to get a science building,” said Nelsen. “We can’t have these bottlenecks[impacted classes] that we have right now. They[Sac State] retrofitted some of the labs but they’ve also had to close down some of the labs. We need to take care of the infrastructure. That building is a very high priority for what I’m going to do.”

Nelsen mentioned garnering funding from private donors and also state and federal funding since Sac State was named a Hispanic-Serving Institution by the Hispanic Association of Colleges & Universities on February.

“You can build traction if you can tell a story,” said Nelsen. “You have to be a storyteller and you have to tell the story very, very convincingly.”

Nelsen called online classes a “tool that can be used to improve education,” with resources such as online simulations that do not require labs or equipment.

“You want to use technology to help you in every way that you possibly can,” said Nelsen.

UPDATED: This story has been updated to include a teleconference with Robert Nelsen at 1:30 p.m. and a statement from Texas State Senator Juan Hinojosa provided at 3:54 p.m.