[2] Wilson was the first African-American woman to become president of a large (over 25,000 students) American university.

[6] Wilson oversaw the $400 million rebuilding of the campus over several years, where 107 buildings were damaged or destroyed, making it at the time the most expensive natural disaster to impact a university in the United States.

[7][8] While Wilson received local and national praise for her work in earthquake recovery at CSUN,[7][8][9] she also was criticized for scandals that marred her presidency.

She responded by telling the CSUN Faculty Senate that "This is not an employment agency, this is a university.

"[12] In 1999, Wilson was appointed president and chief executive officer of the Nellie Mae Education Foundation in Quincy, Massachusetts, where she served until 2006.