Dr. Saul E. Lankster II, former three-term Compton School Board President and Civil Rights and the Law Adjunct Professor at California State University Long Beach, has been appointed Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice and Law for National University School of Professional Studies, effective August 1, 2015. Lankster, a retired Compton Police Detective, made history in 1967 when he came home to Compton from the Vietnam War and integrated the previously all-white Compton Fire Department. He taught Ecology of Black Crime and authored the course “Racism in the American Military” at California State University Long Beach and taught a host of law courses at Compton Community College. He began teaching as an adjunct professor in 2009 at National University and was subsequently elevated to the position of Core Adjunct Professor in the School of Education.
Dr. Lankster is currently teaching Motivational Leadership in the National University School of Education Masters Degree program for July 2015, having taught Challenging Behavior in Early Childhood during the month of June 2015. National University operates a one class per month system and provides 28 campuses in California and Nevada. It also offers classes on ground and online, and operates a growing number of cohorts in the community. Dr. Lankster was recently nominated for a Congressional Gold Medal in connection with the Selma Alabama “Bloody Sunday” civil right demonstration. While studying at Selma University in the early 1960’s Lankster was a student leader in the movement. He can be seen in the Eyes on the Prize documentary, Episode Number 6 called Bridge to Freedom, marching and being arrested with now Congressman John Lewis of Georgia, and others. Dr. Lankster is certified as a “Footsoldier” of the civil rights movement and is listed on their website. He is also a certified Agent Orange Survivor in the nation’s Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Agent Orange Health Registry (AOR) Program from his service at the Vietnam Demilitarized Zone (DMZ).
“I am excited and delighted for this opportunity to join the prestigious National University faculty as an associate member, and I am also humbled by the great opportunity . . . and I can’t wait to get started,” Lankster said. According to Dr. Lankster, National University prepares and graduates more credential teachers than any other university in the state of California for the last 14 years in a row, more than UCLA, USC or the California State universities. The National University School of Professional Studies is expanding it outreach in the Los Angeles and Orange County metropolitan area. The Los Angeles Campus headquarters of National University in located at 5245 Concourse Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90045-6905. The Orange County Campus headquarters is located at 3390 Harbor Blvd., Costa Mesa, CA 92626-1502.