Cal State San Bernardino announced that Mary Jane McCoy will receive an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters (L.H.D.) at its 2025 Spring Commencement, scheduled for May 17.

Mary Jane McCoy has had a long career as an educator in the Inland Empire, serving as an elementary school teacher and a principal in San Bernardino.

As a charter member of the National Sorority of Phi Delta Kappa, Inc., an international teachers’ sorority, she served as the national president of the philanthropic arm. In this role, she helped direct the Perpetual Scholarship Foundation, which invested resources to provide scholarship funds to five regions annually. Students from the San Bernardino region were recipients and used the scholarships to attend California State University, San Bernardino.

Upon her retirement from San Bernardino City Unified School District in 1992, McCoy relocated to Spokane, Wash., where she served on the One Spokane Program under the leadership of then-Mayor John Powers. The program was commissioned to find ways to save energy in the Spokane area. She was also appointed by then-Gov. Christine Gregoire to serve on a committee that advocated for community colleges in the Spokane area to receive state funds for programs supporting displaced homeless individuals.

McCoy is passionate about programs that teach diversity, serve the needs of the homeless, provide support services for victims of domestic violence, and mentor students in grades K-12. In 2017, she established an endowment for students attending CSUSB to help meet their financial obligations so they can complete the requirements for graduation. The fund helps provide books, housing, tutorial assistance and tuition assistance.

She has also helped provide backpacks for CSUSB students, which include tablets, headphones, speakers and USB chargers. These are presented at the Annual Pioneer Breakfast, hosted by the CSUSB Black Faculty, Staff and Student Association.

McCoy also supports the Running Start Program at Eastern Washington University. This program allows high school juniors to attend and earn credit at a university level. Upon high school graduation, they enter college as a junior.

“This is the way we do it, through honesty, integrity and perseverance and the love of our students and humanity,” said McCoy.  “I am honored to receive this recognition on behalf of our community and all educators.” 

“Conferring an honorary doctorate upon Mrs. McCoy in recognition of her profound impact and dedicated service to California, would be a great honor for CSUSB,” said university President Tomás D. Morales. “As an anchor institution in the region, we would be remiss not to recognize her long-lasting contributions to public education and building the success of school children here in the Inland Empire and her role as a pioneer in the IE’s Black community in higher education. Her achievements demonstrate many of the core values of our community and she will represent the California State University system and CSUSB with distinction.”

In 2016, McCoy was honored at CSUSB’s Pioneer Breakfast as one of only three black students who were part of Cal State San Bernardino’s first graduating class in 1967. She is the first black woman to graduate from the university. She was inducted into the CSUSB Alumni Hall of Fame as the 2023 Social and Behavioral Sciences Paw Print Award Winner for her decades of dedicated leadership, service and generosity to the educational community and beyond.  She has her BA from Cal State San Bernardino in social and behavioral sciences (history).