Cal State Bakersfield opened the Dr. Thomas D. Wallace Black Student Success Center (BSSC),  located in room 101K in the Dorothy Donahoe Hall (DDH), in spring 2025 to provide students with academic and non-academic support and a community that embraces kindness, acceptance, and cultural expression. This center is open to everyone Monday-Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. This center participates in and hosts events, which can be found on the Black History Month February 2026 events  schedule. The BSSC strives to make students feel valued, accepted, and understood. The center is also a meeting room for multiple Black student organizations, including the Black Student Union (BSU), Umoja, Black Women on Campus (BWOC), Sankofa, African Student Association (ASA), NSBE (National Society of Black Engineers), and Excel Scholars.  

“Our roles consist of facilitating and hosting events, making sure that it’s a good environment that’s welcoming of everyone… no matter what, we are going to show them love to whoever comes in here… Even when they [students] don’t want a solution, like they just want someone to hear their plight…  We absolutely will be there to listen,” student assistant Da Monte Thompson said.  

BSSC advisor Tamar Anthony, BSSC student assistant Fitzgerald Graves, and many other members, like University President Vernon Harper, were part of the large committee that created this center. The mentors and support staff in this center provide students with academic, professional, and emotional guidance. The staff and mentors strive to show students their value and opportunities and aid them with career preparation. Overall, the BSSC builds community through events, activities, and support services. Some of the activities the club hosts and attends are showing cultural movies, hosting cookouts, and playing music of different cultures, genres, and generations.   

“To have a space dedicated specifically for you, it’s comforting, it’s rewarding in a way you can’t explain,” Graves said.