Sandra Lerner
Philanthropist/Entrepreneur
California State University, Chico
Sandra Lerner is a visionary and a role model. Her accomplishments continue to serve as an inspiration to California State University, Chico and its students.
Ms. Lerner co-founded Cisco Systems, Inc., maker of the first commercially viable router that allowed computers to network. She also founded Urban Decay, a cosmetics company grounded in an alternative line of products.
She is the recipient of numerous awards for her philanthropic and literary contributions, including the inaugural JANE Award from the Jane Austen Society of North America, the IEEE Award for Lifetime Technical Achievement, and awards from the Feminist Press, United Animal Nations, and Friends of Animals. Ms. Lerner has recently published a novel, Second Impressions, written in the idiom of Jane Austen's time. This is a sequel to Austen's Pride and Prejudice.
Ms. Lerner is the chair, BGLI Enterprises; chair and trustee, Chawton House Library and the Centre for the Study of Early English Women's Writing, Chawton, Hampshire; founder and director, XKL Systems Corporation; president and trustee, Bosack & Kruger Charitable Foundation; publican, Hunter's Head Tavern; founder, Chief Engineer Sono Luminus; co-owner, Home Farm Store; and founder, Virginia Organic Producers' and Consumers' Association, Ltd.
She received a bachelor's degree in international relations from California State University, Chico, finishing in two years. She earned her MA in econometrics at Claremont College and an MS in statistics and computer science at Stanford University. She is the 1996 Distinguished Alumna, College of Behavioral and Social Sciences, at CSU Chico.
She helped create Petlink, a database system of missing and up-for-adoption cats and dogs. Her 800-acre property, called Ayrshire Farm, is home to her and her pets.
In recognition of her professional accomplishments, her philanthropic ventures and her entrepreneurial spirit, the Board of Trustees of the California State University and California State University, Chico are proud to confer upon Sandra Lerner the honorary degree of Doctor of Science.