San Francisco State University hired its first female president in the campus’s 120-year history, administrators announced Wednesday.

Lynn Mahoney, provost of Cal State Los Angeles and its vice president for academic affairs, will become San Francisco State’s 14th president in August, replacing retiring President Leslie Wong as head of the campus of nearly 30,000 students.

“I look forward to working with faculty, staff, students, community members and campus administrators to ensure a welcome and inclusive environment for our students as is befitting of one of the most socially conscious cities in the country,” Mahoney said in a statement.

As an academic, Mahoney, 55, is a social historian specializing in race and women’s rights. She is the author of a 2004 book on the 19th-century American poet and novelist Elizabeth Stoddard, and holds a doctorate in history from Rutgers University and a bachelor’s degree in American Studies from Stanford.

As an educator, Mahoney has focused her attention on top priorities for the California State University system: helping students graduate more quickly, helping them stay in school and reducing crowded classrooms.

Before becoming the chief academic officer at Cal State Los Angeles in 2015, Mahoney worked in a variety of administrative roles for seven years at Cal State Long Beach, overseeing institutional research and enrollment planning.

Earlier, she was on the faculty at Purchase College, which is part of the State University of New York, and served as an associate provost there, and as vice president for students.

“Throughout her career, Dr. Mahoney has been dedicated to student success and has made a profoundly positive impact on the lives of tens of thousands of students across the CSU,” said Rebecca Eisen, a CSU trustee and chair of the search committee. “She is the type of bold-thinking leader who will continue to elevate SFSU.”

Mahoney will be just the second new president of San Francisco State since 1988. She will earn a base salary of $367,690 a year, the same compensation as Wong, who arrived in 2012 and retires at the end of July. The prior president, Robert Corrigan, led the university for 24 years.

Nearly a century ago, in 1927, Dean of Women Mary Ward briefly became interim president after the death of President Archibald Anderson. Ward served over the summer, until the new president, Alexander Roberts, arrived in the fall.

Nevertheless, CSU officials said that Mahoney will be recognized as San Francisco State’s first female leader.

On Wednesday, the CSU trustees also announced a successor to Lisa Rossbacher, the departing president of Humboldt State. He is Tom Jackson Jr., president of Black Hills State Univesity in Spearfish, S.D.

Jackson will be Humboldt State’s first African American president.

Nanette Asimov is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: nasimov@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @NanetteAsimov