Rate My Professor Steven Cleveland

Steven Cleveland is an Ethnic Studies Entitled Lecturer and History Lecturer at California State University, East Bay, where he also serves as DEI Student Center African American Fellow. As a first-generation college student, he co-created the Black Excellence Project with Sarah Aubert, Academic Programs & Services Analyst, in partnership with the Institutional Effectiveness and Research department. This pilot program at Cal State East Bay amplifies Black alumni success stories via social media to affirm graduates, identify campus best practices supporting student success, and build sustainable community networks. Cleveland participated in the CSU’s Student Success Analytics Certificate Program and emphasizes centering Black voices without deficit-focused narratives, noting that Black freshmen graduation rates are less than 10% within four years. The project has cultivated an active Instagram following, featured 30 Black graduate stories, and earned invitations to conferences including NCORE and WASC ARC to share implementation strategies, with plans for expansion to other CSU campuses.

In addition to his teaching in the Ethnic Studies and History departments, Cleveland is a filmmaker and Black scholar who equips students with tools to create commercially successful films promoting diverse representation and challenges monolithic views of BIPOC cinema. He serves as contact for the African American Faculty and Staff Association and contributed to the Scaling Career Services Task Force. Cleveland provided expert insights on Juneteenth, critiquing its historical context as emblematic of systemic racism where de facto freedom lagged de jure emancipation by years, as enslaved people in Texas learned of their status via General Order No. 3 on June 19, 1865. He highlights its role in sparking conversations on policing and allyship, urging non-Black individuals to leverage agency by hiring Black professionals, educating communities, and directly engaging Black students' needs to foster true liberation through service and listening.