Sonoma State University
Gregory Sarris is many things—a writer, a professor, an activist, a philanthropist, an advocate, a television producer, a board member and even the chair of a federally recognized American Indian Nation.
Dr. Sarris was born and raised in Santa Rosa, California, graduating from Santa Rosa High School in 1970. He attended Santa Rosa Junior College and then transferred to UCLA, where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in English in 1977. He went on to receive his master’s and doctoral degrees from Stanford University in 1981 and 1989, respectively. He served as a professor of English at UCLA from 1989 to 2001, and then became the Fletcher Jones Professor of Creative Writing and Literature at Loyola Marymount University from 2001 to 2005. From 2005 to 2022, he was the Graton Rancheria Endowed Chair in Writing and Native American Studies at Sonoma State University.
An accomplished scholar, Dr. Sarris has published many notable books, written plays and television scripts and had one of his books adapted as an HBO miniseries. His writing has won many awards and much acclaim, and with the Sundance Institute, he developed a summer writing lab for American Indians interested in screenwriting.
Dr. Sarris led the effort to reorganize the Federated Indians of the Graton Rancheria and pushed to restore the Tribe’s status as a federally recognized American Indian Nation. In 2010, he successfully regained a reservation for the Tribe after its people had been homeless for more than 50 years. In July 2013, he raised money to build a resort and casino. Today, that resort is among the most successful American Indian casinos in the nation. He is currently serving his sixteenth term as chair of the Tribe. In addition to serving as president of the Tribe’s Economic Development Board, he oversees the Tribe’s business interests.
In 2023, Dr. Sarris was elected chair of the board of trustees of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian and was appointed by Governor Gavin Newsom to the Regents of the University of California.
Under Dr. Sarris’ leadership, the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria has provided Sonoma State with nearly $8 million. That support has renovated the learning center at Sonoma State’s Fairfield Osborn Preserve, located on the Tribe’s native homeland; funded the annual Summer Bridge program; endowed a professorship in Native American studies; and brought an important collection of art by singer Joan Baez to the university.
In recognition of his exemplary commitment to Sonoma County as demonstrated through his unparalleled generosity of time and community activism, the Board of Trustees of the California State University and Sonoma State University are proud to confer upon Dr. Gregory Sarris the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters.