(L-R): Harvey and Harriet Bookstein and Rafi Efrat celebrate Efrat being named CSUN’s first Bookstein Chair in Taxation in the David Nazarian College of Business and Economics. Photo by Lee Choo.

California State University, Northridge honored accounting professor and institute director Rafi Efrat in January for his innovative leadership and expansion of the Bookstein Institute for Higher Education in Taxation. CSUN named Efrat ’89 (Accounting Theory and Practice) as the university’s first Bookstein Chair in Taxation in the David Nazarian College of Business and Economics. This is the college’s first endowed chair within the Department of Accounting and Information Systems.

Launched in 2005 with the support of an endowment created by philanthropist and longtime public accountant Harvey Bookstein ’70 (Business Administration) and his wife, Harriet, the institute assists about 130 low-income taxpayers each year to resolve their disputes with the IRS — free of charge. The institute’s clinic opened in 2008 and is the only one of its kind in Los Angeles County.

“I did this as a way to give back to the school, but I had no idea there would be someone of the caliber of Rafi — someone who would take it to a whole other level,” Harvey Bookstein said. “What Rafi has done for the school is beyond expectation. He’s got the IRS believing in the institute, and other CPA firms believing in it. His passion is demonstrated every day on campus.”

Harriet Bookstein, who also attended CSUN, echoed those sentiments. “Rafi has done an amazing job of bringing the institute to this point and should be recognized for it,” she said.

The clinic grew out of the institute’s master of science in taxation program, and many of the graduate students are supported by scholarships from the institute’s endowment. Students work as a team, studying federal tax procedures and meeting with clients on campus, as well as researching tax issues.

The federal government recognizes the clinic’s community service. The U.S. Department of the Treasury has supported the program with matching grants since its inception. It awarded $70,000 in matching funds in 2014. In September, the IRS honored the contributions of the Bookstein Institute, presenting Efrat with its Excellence in Partnering Award.

The institute aims to empower students to reach their potential in the field of taxation and to fill the unmet needs of the underprivileged in the community, said Efrat, who has taught at CSUN for 15 years and has led the institute since 2006. The ability to serve the community through hands-on learning and experience in technical areas is a win-win for CSUN students and Los Angeles, he said.

“I feel very strongly about the mission and the purpose behind the institute, and what we do here,” Efrat said. “I’m deeply honored to be the inaugural name holder of the chair for the institute. It characterizes the success that one of our own alumni has exhibited in professional life. Harvey is an example of the best of what our students do when they leave us. To be associated with his legacy is a great honor.”

In 2014, the California Society of Certified Public Accountants recognized Efrat with its Outstanding Educator Award. The university also has celebrated him for his leadership and dedication to students, honoring Efrat with accolades including the Distinguished Teaching Award, the Preeminent Publication Award, the Visionary Service Award and the Outstanding Service Award.

He mused that his work with the Bookstein Institute and the new title seem to bring things full circle: In his undergraduate days, Efrat worked as an intern at Bookstein’s accounting firm, RBZ.

Kenneth Lord, dean of the Nazarian College, praised Efrat as one of the leading scholars in his discipline.

“Rafi’s visionary leadership of the Bookstein Institute is a best practice in higher education in taxation and provides invaluable service to our students and the community,” Lord said. “I am thrilled that he is being recognized in this way through the generosity of CSUN’s dedicated alumnus and friend Harvey Bookstein.”

“Rafi makes our department and programs better, and impacts our students in a positive and significant way,” said Paul Lazarony, chair of the Department of Accounting and Information Systems.

The Bookstein Institute’s tax clinic is so popular that it has a waiting list, and most clients come to the program by referral from the IRS website or word of mouth. Graduate students also travel around Los Angeles presenting workshops in several languages. Popular topics include the earned-income tax credit and payroll tax FAQs for small-business owners. The students offer about 30 workshops each year, reaching about 700 Angelenos.

“Acknowledging Rafi’s great work in building the institute and the master’s in taxation more than warrants this chair and shows how important the Bookstein Institute is to the university — and there’s no one more deserving than Rafi,” said Matt Rinnert, senior director of development for the Nazarian College.

He also praised Bookstein’s engagement with CSUN students and commitment to give back to his alma mater. “As significant as this gift has been, what’s even more significant to the university has been the involvement of Harvey and Harriet with CSUN and their impact.”

Bookstein said Efrat’s bold leadership of the institute has given him high hopes that the program will continue to educate generations of future tax professionals and contribute even more to the community, especially with support and recognition from the IRS. Efrat echoed those hopes for the future.

“We’ve grown and established ourselves primarily in the San Fernando Valley, but there is clearly an unmet need beyond the immediate vicinity,” he said. “We hope to expand services so that we can serve other neighborhoods outside the San Fernando Valley, in the greater Los Angeles area.”

The quality of young Americans’ higher education will make or break our nation’s future in the global economy. California State University, Northridge President Dianne F. Harrison addressed national leaders on this topic at the recent Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) centennial symposium in Washington, D.C.

Harrison presented as part of a plenary session, “Mobilizing Bold Leadership for America’s Global Future,” that included leaders from Mount Holyoke College, the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education, the Lumina Foundation and the S. Engelhard Foundation. The session explored how leaders in philanthropy, policy and education can make the quality of students’ college learning a national priority and a shared achievement.

“The issue of preparing problem-solvers for our future is really critical,” Harrison said. “We want all college graduates to possess specific competencies when they finish: the ability to problem solve, to think critically, to think creatively, to communicate, to be culturally competent and work in a team — things that will carry graduates into the future, no matter what that future is.”

The daylong national conference, “America’s Global Future: Are College Students Prepared?” was designed as a “deep dive” for leadership teams — presidents, senior academic leaders, and key partners such as trustees, employers and policy leaders.

AAC&U advocates for the quality, vitality and public standing of undergraduate liberal education, according to its mission statement. Founded in 1915, the organization counts nearly 1,350 member institutions, including public and private colleges, community colleges, research universities and comprehensive universities. Harrison served on the AAC&U board of directors from 2011 to 2014.

The organization also featured Harrison and CSUN in its recently released centennial video, which explores the power of “an engaged, public-spirited liberal education to transform students’ lives and address the ‘big questions,’” according to the AAC&U. The video spotlighted just a handful of member institutions, including CSUN, Cal State Fullerton, Michigan State University and The College of Wooster in Ohio.

In its opening minutes, the video introduces CSUN fourth-year student Bobby Lebeda and Harrison, talking about best practices for 21st-century liberal education.

“It really has to be an institutional effort, understanding what it is that we’re trying to achieve with our students, what our students are trying to achieve,” Harrison said. “I think AAC&U is encouraging us to ensure that all of our students have culminating experiences, so that they can demonstrate that they have the skill set needed to do analysis, to do research, to think about problems as they affect the wider society.”

The video highlights the national organization’s commitment to experiential, problem-based education to foster undergraduates’ future success. CSUN shares these priorities, with a commitment to experiential education that contributes to and solves problems in the surrounding community.

As part of CSUN’s student-run Theatre Guild, Lebeda is working on a yearlong documentary project studying “emotional eating” and how it impacts college students, he said in the video.

“The cool thing here is you do a lot of projects that are designed to be outside of the class,” said Lebeda, who is studying cinema and television arts, with an emphasis in screenwriting.

“Seeing how emotional eating has impacted my life and those around me, I want to shed some light on the problem,” he said of his documentary. “That’s a huge project that I’m working on outside of the class that I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to have unless I went to Cal State Northridge. … Once I started doing those projects, I started to make connections with other people, I started to feel more confident and I think those skills are transferable to any profession.”

The video also includes David Rattray, senior vice president for education and workforce development for the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, visiting the CSUN campus. Rattray commented on the economic value of college graduates who are ready to go to work and employ their knowledge. Those graduates, he said, will “get a job, keep a job and do well.”

To mark its 100th year, AAC&U is exploring what its leaders have dubbed “the equity imperative”— the need to provide an empowering liberal education to the rapidly growing “new majority” of college students who have, traditionally, been underserved in higher education.

“We’re also talking about inclusive excellence. We are a minority-serving institution. We have a large number of students, and many of them are first generation,” Harrison said. “We talk about cultivating talent. We want all of our students to have these kinds of opportunities for excellence and high-quality learning.”

Serving more than 40,000 undergraduate and graduate students each year, CSUN is one of the largest universities in the United States. CSUN ranks 16th in the country in awarding bachelor’s degrees to underrepresented minority students, fifth nationally in awarding master’s degrees to Hispanic students, and enrolls the largest number of deaf and hard-of-hearing students of any U.S. state university. CSUN is recognized for the opportunities it provides students to climb up the social and economic ladder. The university was recently ranked as the fifth-best in the country for enhancing the social mobility of its students, in a study by Payscale and College Net.

Helping kids become critical thinkers and lifelong learners is the theme of California State University, Northridge’s next Education on the Edge lecture.

The third and last lecture in the series is scheduled to take place Thursday, March 12, from 7 to 8 p.m. in the University Student Union, located on the west side of the campus off Zelzah avenue. Alfie Kohn, who Time magazine called “perhaps the country’s most outspoken critic of education’s fixation on grades [and] test scores,” will lead a discussion titled “The (Progressive) Schools Our Children Deserve.”

“The primary purpose of the Education on the Edge series is to bring issues and information to CSUN and the surrounding community about cutting-edge educational topics,” said Wendy Murawski, executive director of CSUN’s Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) and Eisner endowed chair. “Alfie Kohn was selected as speaker because … he questions why we do homework, standardized testing and grading in the way we do [and] asks for evidence to support our actions.”

The Education on the Edge speaker series is free and open to the public. However, reservations are required. For more information and to reserve a seat, visit www.CTLalfiekohn.eventbrite.com.

The lecture kicks off CTL’s “What Really Works in Education” 2015 conference to be held the following day, March 13, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. in CSUN’s University Student Union. CSUN alumna and 2012 National Teacher of the Year Rebecca Mieliwocki will moderate the panel of distinguished teachers and counselors. The keynote address will be given by 2014 National Teacher of the Year Sean McComb, of Baltimore, MD.

“Speakers will present evidence-based strategies that are practical and doable in today’s schools, for K-12 teachers, administrators, counselors, students and parents,” said Murawski. “At the CTL, our focus is on what really works in education. We know that the only way we can truly identify what really works is to have individuals who are willing to analyze, question, research and disseminate their information.”

The conference fee is $125, with discounts offered to CSUN students, CTL partnership schools and groups of five or more. Each registered attendee will receive a free copy of the “What Really Works” book by Corwin Press. To register, please visit www.WhatReallyWorks2015.eventbrite.com. For questions, please call (818) 677-7494.

CSUN’s Center for Teaching and Learning is the research, collaboration and professional development arm of the Michael D. Eisner College of Education. Faculty from departments across the college are conducting cutting-edge research and professional development to address the needs of schools, in collaboration with K-12 teachers and administrators and community members.

The center was established in 2002, thanks to a generous gift from the Eisner Foundation, the family foundation of Michael and Jane Eisner. The center initially focused on neurodevelopment and how knowledge of those constructs can be taught to teachers — and ultimately impact the way they teach and the way students learn. During the past few years, the center has broadened its scope. Faculty and affiliates are researching and analyzing multiple innovative approaches to teaching, counseling, educational therapy, administration and professional development. The center also offers a speakers bureau that provides local schools and organizations an opportunity to bring these new approaches to their campuses. For more information on CTL go to www.csun.edu/ctl.

Donzaleigh Abernathy, the daughter of the late Rev. Ralph David Abernathy, offered personal insight into the lives of the men who led the civil rights movement, during a presentation on Feb. 25 as part of California State University, Northridge’s Black History Month celebration.

Abernathy, an actress and author, chronicled the lives of her father and his best friend, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., with mostly black-and-white photographs and reflections found in her book, Partners To History: Martin Luther King, Ralph David Abernathy and the Civil Rights Movement.

“They had a mutual respect, love for one another,” said Abernathy to a packed audience at the Plaza del Sol Performance Hall in the University Student Union. “It’s been said that Uncle Martin was the voice and my dad was the architect (of the civil rights movement).”

She said the two men were almost inseparable from the day Abernathy and King met in the 1950s, when both dated the same woman. Later, after the men married their wives, their families became close-knit too, she said.

“We vacationed together and shared so much,” said Abernathy, at one point highlighting a photo of her parents, King and his wife, on vacation in California. “Uncle Martin was always at our house.”

Abernathy said both her father and King were dedicated, loving and kind men who gave what they had to support the civil rights movement. Her father continued to fight for the rights of the poor and disenfranchised until his death in 1990.

“People know Martin Luther King and daddy not for what they got but what they gave,” Abernathy said. “We were so blessed to have had them in our lives.”

The event was sponsored by the Division of Student Affairs, the University Student Union, Associated Students, the Department of Africana Studies and the CSUN Black Alumni Association.

Elizabeth Say

Elizabeth Say, dean of California State University, Northridge’s College of Humanities, has been elected president of the Council of Colleges of Arts and Sciences.

Say, who is currently president-elect of the organization, will take her place as head of the council in November. The Council of Colleges of Arts and Sciences is a national association of deans of colleges of arts and sciences whose purpose is to sustain the arts and sciences as a leading influence in American higher education.

“It’s an honor to be elected to lead such an important body,” Say said. “I am, and the council is, firmly committed to the principle that liberal arts and sciences are the foundation of democracy. If we don’t have citizens who can think, read and write critically and understand the critical issues and global implications of a changing society, then we don’t have a future.

“The humanities and liberal arts provide the lifelong learning skills that are necessary for people to succeed, and for us to succeed as a nation,” she said.

An alumna of the university, Say received her bachelor’s of arts degrees in English and religious studies in 1981. She has a doctorate in religious social ethics from the University of Southern California.

She returned to CSUN in 1989 as a faculty member in the Department of Religious Studies. She is the founding chair of CSUN’s Department of Women’s Studies and served as associate dean of the College of Humanities before being named dean in 2004. Her research and publications are in the areas of women and religion, and gay and lesbian studies.

The Council of Colleges of Arts and Sciences, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, serves as a forum for the exchange of ideas and information among deans of arts and sciences representing member colleges and as a representative of the liberal arts and sciences at a national policy-making level. It seeks to support programs and activities to improve the intellectual stature and public understanding of the disciplines of the arts and sciences.

Arts and sciences colleges represent more than half of the undergraduate instruction offered at their institutions, and many member colleges are responsible for a wide spectrum of master’s and doctoral degree programs. The council’s member institutions represent the largest component of American higher education in publicly and privately supported universities and colleges.

With eight academic departments and seven interdisciplinary programs, CSUN’s College of Humanities is the most diverse college at the university. The college comprises disciplines that traditionally make up the study of humanities — including philosophy, English and modern and classical languages — while also housing one of the oldest and largest Chicana/o studies department in the United States and the only Central American studies program in the country. Also core to the college is a Liberal Studies Program that puts CSUN among the top three institutions in California in preparing K-6 educators for the classroom. Among the college’s newest programs are minors in Middle Eastern and Islamic studies and queer studies. In all, the college offers students more than 40 major, minor and graduate degree paths, with many potential options for specialization.

California State University, Northridge will confer honorary doctorates on acclaimed film director Robert Townsend and former Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky during its commencement ceremonies in May.

Townsend will receive an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts during commencement ceremony on Saturday, May 16. Yaroslavsky will receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters during the commencement ceremony on Sunday, May 17.

Hollywood legend Robert Townsend talking about the power of film during at lecture at CSUN last year. Photo by Victor Kamont.

“I am pleased that we can honor both Robert Townsend and Zev Yaroslavsky for their achievements in their respective fields, but also for their contributions to the greater community and to our students,” said CSUN President Dianne F. Harrison.

“Robert Townsend is a successful actor, comedian, screenwriter, director, producer. Yet, he has also found time to mentor our cinema and television arts students,” Harrison said. “Zev Yaroslavsky has a distinguished record of four decades of public service to both the city and county of Los Angeles, and he played a visionary role in such areas as health care, transportation, the arts, the environment and civil rights. He also was a key supporter in CSUN’s efforts to develop the Valley Performing Arts Center as well as our public transportation station.

“I am grateful to both men for what they have done for CSUN and the community at large,” she said.

Yaroslavsky and Townsend said they were honored to be receiving the recognition from CSUN.

“California State University, Northridge is a great university,” Yaroslavsky said. “It has a rich and storied history and a very illustrious group of alumni. It’s an economic engine of the San Fernando Valley and an important player in the region. To be recognized at the end of one’s career by an institution of higher learning such as CSUN is quite an honor.”

Townsend agreed.

“As an artist, you always try to do good work and, hopefully, your work will affect people and matter on some level,” he said. “When the dean called me and told me about the honorary doctorate, I thought ‘Oh, my God, what a gift!’ My sweet spot as an artist is teaching and giving back. I give from my heart and don’t expect anything in return, so to be acknowledged like this is truly an unexpected honor.”

Townsend grew up on the west side of Chicago and was one of four children raised by a single mother on welfare. He caught the acting bug while in high school and studies acting and performed at Chicago’s X-Bag, the Experimental Black Actors Guild. He appeared in his first film at 16 years old, landing a speaking role in the urban classic “Cooley High.” He moved to New York and became a regular at the acclaimed comedy club, The Improve.

 Townsend then made the move to Hollywood. His break came while performing on several TV comedy specials, including “Rodney Dangerfield: It’s Not Easy Bein’ Me” and “Uptown Comedy Express.” He co-starred opposite Denzel Washington in “A Soldier’s Story” and appeared with Diane Lane in “Streets of Fire” and Kevin Costner in “American Flyers.”

Former LA County Supervisor speaking during a ceremony celebrating the naming earlier this month of a rehearsal room the the Valley Performing Arts Center in his honor. Photo by Nestor Garcia.

While in Hollywood, he noticed the difficulty black actors had and the lack of good work available for African Americans in the film industry. He used those observations to create “Hollywood Shuffle,” the 1987 critically acclaimed satire depicting the trials and tribulations of black actors.

The film’s success led to other directing and producing opportunities, including “Eddie Murphy Raw,” “The Meteor Man,” “The Five Heartbeats,” “Carmen: A Hip Hopera” and “10,000 Black Men Named George.” He also served as president and chief executive officer of production for The Black Family Channel for four years before it was sold to the Gospel Music Channel in spring 2007. Townsend has been nominated for more than 30 NAACP Image Awards for film and television.

He continues to act, direct and produce. One of his latest projects is a romantic comedy entitled “Playin’ For Love,” that will premier on television this summer. He recently signed on as director for the remake of the Hollywood classic “Brewster’s Millions.”

In recent years, Townsend regularly mentors students in CSUN’s cinema and television arts program, which the Hollywood Reporter recently named one of the top 25 film programs in the nation. Townsend has provided students with access to network projects and the benefit of his decades in the entertainment industry.

Yaroslavsky retired last December after nearly four decades in public office, including five terms as a Los Angeles County supervisor. His district included most of the San Fernando Valley.

During his political tenure, Yaroslavsky was a key player on such issues as health care, transportation, judicious municipal growth and development, the environment and civil rights. His passion for the arts and his appreciation for the important role the arts play in education were well known. Though downtown Los Angeles was not part of his supervisorial district, civic leaders credit Yaroslavsky with playing a key role in leading the artistic and cultural revitalization of the area.

Seeking to expand arts opportunities in the San Fernando Valley, Yaroslavsky worked closely with CSUN officials in the mid-2000s to develop plans for what is now the Valley Performing Arts Center. Yaroslavsky cemented his commitment to the project by contributing $2 million from his district’s discretionary capital funds for the project in 2007.

Serving on the board of directors of the Metropolitan Transit Authority, Yaroslavsky’s direction was instrumental in creating the CSUN public transportation station. That hub offers local and non-local service through Metro bus lines, the CSUN Metrolink shuttle service and Antelope Valley Transit Authority bus lines.

Can love truly conquer all? California State University, Northridge’s incoming freshmen this fall will have the opportunity to explore this question with the 2015-16 Freshman Common Reading selection “Every Day” by David Levithan.

The story introduces the reader to A, a teen who wakes up each day in a different body without warning about gender or other circumstances. A has acclimated to this existence by living within a kind of code: don’t get too attached, avoid undue notice and leave things as much the way they were as possible. All goes well until the day A meets Rhiannon while inhabiting the body of her boyfriend, Justin, and soon the code no longer applies.

What happens next is a tale of love’s possibilities in the face of extreme inconsistency.

“I think the book raises all kinds of questions about identity and love,” said English professor Cheryl Spector, director of CSUN’s Academic First Year Experiences program. “There is also a theme about maturation. The main character, A, clearly facing adult decisions for the first time.”

Freshman Common Reading books are chosen by a volunteer committee that consists of CSUN students, staff and faculty. Selection criteria consider such things as range of interdisciplinary context, diverse cultural and social perspectives and ability to promote intellectual conversation and growth.

The program aims to “engage new CSUN freshmen in the academic and intellectual community through shared consideration of a common text,” Spector said, “and to give the entering freshman class a shared identity extended through the Freshman Convocation ceremony.”

Freshman Convocation will take place on Thursday, Sep. 10, on the Oviatt Lawn at 6 p.m. Levithan will be the keynote speaker.

The Freshman Common Reading program is one of the many ways that CSUN supports first year and transfer students via Academic First Year Experiences. Programs such as the Common Reading Program and Freshman Convocation provide opportunities to link classes to co-curricular learning so that first-year students begin university life smoothly.

For more information about the Academic First Year Experiences program, call (818) 677-6535.

Each year, thousands of upcoming California State University, Northridge graduates congregate for their personal once-in-a-lifetime celebration — the CSUN GradFest. As soon as they enter the Matador Bookstore Complex, ushers guide them through the booths and vendors that provide a variety of graduation options. From picking out caps and gowns to choosing a frame for their diplomas, CSUN grads can get everything they need for graduation in one quick, and fun, place. GradFest 2015 offered a wealth of resources, but it also offered an opportunity for future graduates to take selfies and consider joining the CSUN Alumni Association. GradFest is one of the final steps for graduating Matadors before leaving the university with that diploma in hand. 

The mission of California State University Northridge’s Delmar T. Oviatt Library is to support the diverse information needs of CSUN’s academic community through the delivery of relevant library resources and services. With students, faculty and staff flowing through at all hours of the day, the Oviatt is hardly hidden to the community.

However, covertly located on the garden level of the Oviatt Library, the Teacher Curriculum Center (TCC) is home to the K-12 curriculum materials library for CSUN. It serves as a resource for instructional materials to students, faculty and community educators.

“By providing resources that help lay out and create lesson plans for use in the K-12 classroom, such as teacher-edition textbooks and curriculum guides, the TCC collection directly benefits its users by allowing them to borrow materials for short-term use that they might otherwise have to purchase themselves,” said Mara Houdyshell, director of the Teacher Curriculum Center.

The development of critical thinking and research skills are crucial components that will prepare students for lifelong success in the digital age. Partnerships with CSUN faculty and staff in the education of students enhance the availability of supplemental resources that incorporate hands-on learning for children who are visual learners.

The TCC specializes in providing access to both print and non-print materials that are used within elementary and secondary school settings. Exemplifying CSUN’s commitment to diversity, the center accommodates those who are visually impaired by providing the entire collection of J.K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter” series in Braille.

The English-language arts and development resources, along with the math and science resources, are closely monitored by the center’s staff to ensure it has approved and credible resources for students, faculty and the community alike.

“We strive to meet the needs of our student teachers, working with local schools,” said Gabriel Castañeda, the TCC’s supervisor. “For example, the Common Core standards have been recently implemented. Our librarian is ordering new textbooks with that in mind.”

Oviatt staff work closely with local schools to make sure the TCC has the approved and adopted materials that they are currently using. These course materials, such as the latest editions of “California Treasures and Contemporary Classics” textbooks, are resources that include vocabulary lists, lecture outlines that focus on literary themes and motifs, as well as worksheets to accompany and reinforce the lesson plans.

Course materials are also available in various languages including Spanish, German and Japanese.

The center aspires to provide students, faculty and staff with authentic reproductions of approved teaching materials, and to make these materials available to the San Fernando Valley community. For a $25 monthly fee, anyone can become a TCC member. As a community user one has complete access to everything the TCC has to offer. This is an ideal method to access materials for local student-teachers and those who homeschool their children. The resources are available for all users to check out and even take home. Undergraduate students have a two-week checkout period while graduate students have a four-week rental period.

The checkout access includes — but is not limited to — games and hands-on materials available within the center. Puppets, board games for all ages and hula-hoops are just a few of the items available from the center.

Aside from having staff readily available to help patrons find supplemental items to assist them, the center has begun to increase its on-campus visibility by creating a “road show,” or an in-classroom overview of what the TCC has to offer. For more information about the TCC, please visit http://library.csun.edu/Collections/TCC.

The Oviatt Library is home to Northridge’s academic community, delivering credible library resources to support teaching and learning for CSUN faculty and students alike. The Oviatt Library serves as the main research facility in the San Fernando Valley.

The library is located at the center of the CSUN campus at 18111 Nordhoff Street. Parking is $6, and daily permits may be purchased at kiosks, information booths or in advance online at The Permit Store at https://www.thepermitstore.com/csun/event/. For more information about all library events please visit the Exhibitions and Events at http://library.csun.edu/events or call (818) 677-2638.

Elaine Berke’s passion about mainstreaming education began during a visit to her 9-year-old granddaughter, Lana’s, classroom. Lana, as a child with special needs, was part of a mainstreamed classroom, where students with special needs are integrated into general education classrooms.

“When the children began to do their reading, the teacher put up an easel and gave Lana crayons,” Berke said. “It was wonderful how many kids would rush to help her, but after the class, I asked the teacher what Lana’s goals were. She answered, ‘Socialization.’ I said, ‘She’s too social — she needs to learn to read!’ And the teacher said, ‘Those aren’t my instructions.’ That’s what prompted me to look into mainstreaming.”

Mainstreaming can present challenges for unprepared educators, who must meet the needs of both sets of students simultaneously. Berke believed it was important to help future teachers gain a deeper understanding of the most effective methods of mainstreaming children with special needs.

Having lived in the San Fernando Valley for more than 50 years, Berke chose to give to CSUN’s Michael D. Eisner College of Education because the university is an integral part of her hometown. “I live in the Valley, and CSUN is a Valley school,” she said. “I believe it’s important [to give to] your community.” That generosity and philanthropic spirit lead to the College of Education’s Berke Assessment Clinic and Library.

The Berke Assessment Clinic and Library serves local residents by offering low- or no-cost learning assessments to children with learning differences. Part of the Teaching and Learning Counseling Consortium, the Berke Assessment Clinic provides assessment materials and curriculum support for CSUN students earning their degrees in special education, under the supervision the clinic’s director, Dr. Wilda Laija-Rodriguez.

Berke credits her husband, Lou, with teaching her the value of giving. Born in blue-collar surroundings in Brooklyn, N.Y., Berke didn’t come from wealth; she graduated from high school at age 16 and immediately went to work to help support her family.

“I was married at age 19, and Lou and I were together for 30 years until he died in his 50s,” Berke said. “We were both of modest means. The December before our marriage, he called me and said, ‘You’ll never believe it: They just gave out year-end bonuses! I got $1,000, so I’m giving $100 to the United Jewish Appeal!’

“I said, ‘Are you crazy? You make $90 a week, I make $45 a week, we’re getting married and nobody can give us anything. How could you possibly give away $100?’” she continued.

“Then he said, ‘Okay, let’s start this conversation over. ‘You’ll never believe it: They just gave out year-end bonuses! I got $900!’ He believed if you didn’t give first, you wouldn’t have money left over to give. That’s how I learned philanthropy,” she said.

Sadly, Berke and her family lost Lana as a child to a malignant brain tumor, but the work she inspired has had a lasting impact for both Berke and CSUN. “Even though Lana died, it didn’t stop me from wanting to take care of more children like her who were being mainstreamed but not really taught,” she said. “I believe it’s important for student-teachers to learn about these children so they can be better educated to get to whatever academic level they’re capable of.

“I’m not a wealthy person, but I believe in giving,” Berke added. “These student-teachers will teach our future generations. It’s as simple as that.”

Latina professionals will share their stories with 400 high school students at the Comision Femenil San Fernando Valley (CFSFV) 22nd Annual Adelante Mujer Latina Career Conference on Saturday, March 21, from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. at California State University, Northridge.

The Latina Career Conference engages high school students in workshops led by Latina professionals, many of whom are from the same neighborhoods as the attendees. This year’s workshops will include more than 20 professional Latinas who use their careers to promote social justice. The Latina women from different educational backgrounds including medicine, dentistry, urban planning, education, physics, design, law, law enforcement and engineering hope to inspire the students by sharing their personal stories of achievement.

Students will learn the necessary steps they must take to pursue their educational ambitions.There will be a workshop focused on preparing students for college and informing them of the financial aid process. The conference will conclude with a college and resources fair.

“The conference cultivates a sense of solidarity as presenters share their passions for their careers,” said Rocio Leal, lifetime member of CFSFV. “Attendees gain new perspectives and wisdom, which may help them develop a stronger connection to their community. I believe it is crucial for women to share their passion with the community because it is at the passion that motivates and inspires others to take action.”

Ana Guerrero, who serves as Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti’s chief of staff, will be the keynote speaker for the event. Comision Femenil addresses the unique challenges faced by Latinas. “As women share their passions with the community, they share their stories, perspectives and knowledge, which call attention to important issues that are often overlooked or dismissed,” said Edith Guerrola, CFSFV co-president.

The Latina professionals emphasize the different challenges they have encountered such as pursuing a career in male- and white-dominated fields, navigating through college as a first-generation student, facing resistance from family or friends when leaving home to attend college and financing an education when the family income is at or below the federal poverty level.

Adelante Mujer Latina Career Conference is organized by Comision Femenil San Fernando Valley, a nonprofit professional volunteer service organization, with the support of Los Angeles Unified School District. CFSFV’s mission is dedicated to improving the quality of life for the Latina and her family through education, leadership development and community involvement.

Six faculty members have been selected for the California State University, Northridge Research Fellows Program for the 2014-2015 academic year in support of their research and academic development in their fields of study. Top (left to right): Susan Auerbach, Maia Beruchashvili, Vibhav Durgesh, Martha Escobar, Ellen Jarosz. Bottom (feft to right): Brian Burkhart, J’aime Morrison, Ani Nahapetian, Carrie Rothstein-Fisch,Hélène Rougier and Cristina Rubino.

Examining morals and ethics from an indigenous philosophy, cellphone security and how culture impacts problem-solving and learning are all topics under investigation by faculty selected for California State University, Northridge’s Research Fellows Program for the 2014-2015 academic year.

The program, founded in 2007, was created and is funded by the Office of the Provost — and administered by the university’s colleges and the Delmar T. Oviatt Library — to offer faculty an opportunity to pursue compelling research or a creative activity.

“The Research Fellows program’s significance is that it allows the selected faculty the time to expand their existing work or begin new creative projects both on their own and with colleagues across the research space,” said Marianne Afifi, former associate dean of the Oviatt Library and the program administrator. “CSUN, as well as the research community at large, benefit from these endeavors as they shed light on the exciting work that these faculty members embark on.”

Six research fellowships were awarded last year, based on the extent that the proposed activity explores creative or original concepts; the likelihood of achievement of the stated outcomes in the proposed time frame; the benefits of the research or creative activity to society; the organization of the proposal; the ability to disseminate the results widely to advance understanding; and the contribution to the field of study or across other fields.

Research fellows are required to present their findings at a colloquium in the fall. The selected research fellows and their respective projects are:

Brian Burkhart (College of Humanities) – Burkhart, faculty in the American Indian Studies program, will focus his research on the “American Indian/Indigenous Philosophy and Environmental Ethics.” His goal is to reshape the way society thinks about the environment and create a different context for how human beings think about what is moral in environmental ethics, animal ethics and the like. In presenting an indigenous philosophy of the environment, he must counter the deeply held stereotypes of native people’s relationship to the environment as something animalistic and magical, and not rational and reasonable. He has been teaching at CSUN since 2010.

J’aime Morrison (Mike Curb College of Arts, Media, and Communication) – Morrison, faculty in the Department of Theatre, will develop a theater piece based on the history of Los Angeles. Her research will involve “performative research,” a way of engaging with history, landscape and memory that includes texts, documents and images but also involves site visits to downtown Los Angeles and other historic areas. She has been teaching at CSUN since 2001.

Ani Nahapetian (College of Engineering and Computer Science) – Faculty in the Department of Computer Science, Nahapetian’s research will focus on “Mobile Sensing-Based Stealth Computer Monitoring.” She will examine mobile system security and use sensors, readily available on most mobile devices — namely accelerometers, microphones and ambient light sensors — for the recovery of users’ computer usage activity with keyboard, mouse and screen emanation sensing. She has been teaching at CSUN since 2011.

Carrie Rothstein-Fisch (Michael D. Eisner College of Education) – Rothstein-Fisch, a professor in the Department of Educational Psychology and Counseling, will focus on “Connecting Cultures: Problem-solving in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM).” It will examine the framework of individualism and collectivism in exploring how teachers can use knowledge of students’ home culture to shape their curricula. She will be using an ethnographic approach. She has been teaching at CSUN since 1986.

Hélène Rougier (College of Social and Behavioral Sciences) – Faculty in the Department of Anthropology, Rougier’s research is titled, “Saint-Césaire (France): Reassessment of a Prominent Neanderthal Site.” She plans to re-examine and sort the faunal collections from the site of Saint-Césaire, in southwest France, to check for the presence of Neanderthal remains that may have been overlooked. Her project has the potential to shed new light on the disappearance of Neanderthals and their replacement by early modern humans, our direct ancestors. She has been teaching at CSUN since 2009.

Cristina Rubino (David Nazarian College of Business and Economics) – Department of Management professor Rubino will focus her research on “What Do You Bring to the Table? Examining the Role of Personal Resources in Various Work Contexts.” Her goal is to expand employee well-being and diversity research by investigating how individual factors help employees manage stressful situations that can contribute to strain, burnout and turnover. She has been teaching at CSUN since 2011.

How do you attract the most creative minds to the manufacturing industry?

California State University, Northridge graduate students: James McCloskey, pursuing a master’s degree in the Department of Manufacturing Systems Engineering and Lily Thiemens, earning a master’s degree in English Literature, have the answer. The pair were recently awarded the first-place prize and $7,000 for The Miller Ingenuity Challenge, a national competition aimed at encouraging more individuals to pursue careers in the manufacturing industry.

“At Miller Ingenuity we know new ideas that can benefit our customers come from working together cross departmentally,” said Steve Blue, CEO and president of Miller Ingenuity. “Like these two students, the best outcome came when people with different expertise were able to collaborate and solve the challenge at hand. Imagine the possibilities for American manufacturing if we could use this same principle on a much larger scale.”

McCloskey, and Thiemens, who just so happen to be dating, submitted a seven-page written response and a video that addressed the question: “How might American manufacturers attract the best and brightest innovative minds to pursue careers in the manufacturing industry?” The three-tiered plan starts with introducing manufacturing to elementary students through the use of video and simulation games, then engaging them through after-school programs and mentorships in high school and the final tier focuses on recruiting the best and brightest from colleges and universities.

“I believe that manufacturing is going through a renaissance and we need the best and brightest minds to bring us to new places,” said McCloskey, who would like to use his knowledge and skills to manage teams of engineers so they can build products that make the world a better place.

Thiemens said she and McCloskey drew from their own life experiences to develop their presentation. She said both of them were involved in after-school programs and clubs that encouraged and supported their respective pursuits of their disciplines at an early age. They also have enjoyed playing video games and have found that as a way to engage young minds.

“The tiers, stages all made sense to us, so we just put it all together and incorporated the use of simulation games and technology to present manufacturing concepts,” said Thiemens, whose goal is to earn a doctorate and teach literature at a university.

The national contest, which received more than 30 submissions, was launched in celebration of the opening of Miller Ingenuity’s Creation Station, a Google-like think space in the middle of the factory. Under the leadership of Blue, Miller Ingenuity has undergone significant changes, which resulted in quadrupled total sales. Company officials said the construction and opening of Creation Station is the physical manifestation of the cultural change taking place. The contest, a first for the Minnesota-based rail manufacturing company, was seen as a way to share how it gained its success in order to strengthen manufacturing in Minnesota and throughout the U.S.

Blue said the award stems from his mission to save U.S. manufacturing from decades of outsourcing and shifting generational interest.

“We are delighted that the submission from James and Lily has been selected as the winning entry in the Miller Ingenuity Challenge competition,” said S. K. Ramesh, dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Science. “It is a testament to the quality of our programs as students from our college continue to shine in various national and international events.”

CSUN offers cutting-edge programs in engineering and computer science and is one of 150 universities across the country to pledge to help “fuel a renaissance” in American manufacturing as part of the White House Maker Faire Initiative launched in June 2014. CSUN is also taking a leadership role in the University Alliance Partnership to build strategic partnerships with universities around the country to strengthen advanced manufacturing.

The university, under the leadership of President Dianne F. Harrison, Provost Harry Hellenbrand, Dean Ramesh and Tseng College Dean Joyce Feucht-Haviar, is also part of the Investing in Manufacturing Communities Partnership, an initiative launched last year by the U.S. Department of Commerce designed to revolutionize the way federal agencies leverage economic development funds. It encourages communities to develop comprehensive economic development strategies that will strengthen their competitive edge for attracting global manufacturing and supply chain investments.

CSUN is part of the Southern California effort, one of 12 communities selected by an interagency panel for the program out of 70 nationwide. The Advanced Manufacturing Partnership of the Southern California Manufacturing Community is focused on aerospace and associated industries in the supply chain. The partnership is led by the University of Southern California’s Center for Economic Development and includes local governments, businesses and educational institutions, including the five CSU campuses in the area.

Crist Khachikian

Crist Khachikian, a professor of civil engineering and construction management and associate vice president of research and graduate studies at California State University, Northridge, has been named one of 47 emerging college and university leaders in the 2015-16 class of the American Council on Education (ACE) Fellows Program.

Established in 1965, the ACE Fellows Program is designed to strengthen institutions and leadership in American higher education by identifying and preparing emerging leaders for senior positions in college and university administration.

“It is a dream to get some precious and protected time to immerse myself in a project that will help me grow as a leader and, in the long run, will help CSUN develop in exciting new ways,” Khachikian said. “I will hopefully spend some time at another university that has successfully transformed itself into a more research-intensive institute, while holding on to their core mission to provide access and quality to diverse students.

“Three previous CSUN employees have served as ACE Fellows — Mack Johnson, Juana Mora and Naomi Bishop,” he said. “I am honored to join their ranks and the ranks of the current and all past ACE Fellows, who are truly an amazing group of higher education professionals.”

ACE President Molly Corbett Broad noted that the fellows program is celebrating its 50^th anniversary this academic year, and that over those five decades nearly 2,000 higher education leaders have participated, with more than 300 fellows having served as chief executive officers of colleges or universities and more than 1,300 have served as provosts, vice presidents and deans.

“The ACE Fellows Program enters its second half century committed to further growing and strengthening the nation’s premier higher education leadership development program,” Broad said. “The diverse and talented 2015-16 fellows class embodies why the program has been such a vital contributor to expanding the leadership pipeline for our nation’s colleges and universities.”

The ACE Fellows Program combines retreats, interactive learning opportunities, visits to campuses and other higher education-related organizations, and placement at another higher education institution — to fit years of on-the-job experience and skill development into a single year.

Khachikian has a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from UCLA, a master’s degree in civil and environmental engineering from MIT and a doctorate in civil engineering from UCLA. He spent a number of years teaching at California State University, Los Angeles — where he was director of the university’s Center for Energy and Sustainability and director of research in engineering — before moving to CSUN in 2013.

At Northridge, Khachikian serves as associate vice president for research and graduate studies and graduate dean. He also is one of the principal investigators of the $22 million NIH-funded Building Infrastructure Leading to Diversity (BUILD) Promoting Opportunities for Diversity in Education and Research (PODER) program, an undergraduate research training program that gives sophomores, juniors and seniors an opportunity to take classes and work directly with professors on research projects that relate to health.

It started as a rare opportunity for local college students to meet and learn from a top-level foreign dignitary from a nation halfway across the globe. What followed was more than their political science professor could have dreamed: a real-life practicum in free speech, civil discourse and diplomacy in action.

California State University, Northridge undergraduates last week had the opportunity to hear from and question guest speaker Nasimi Aghayev, consul general of Azerbaijan for the Western United States. Aghayev, who serves as the top diplomat in California and 12 other states, spoke to about 120 students in professor James Mitchell’s political science class, “American Political Institutions.”

A tiny country — with a population of 9.3 million people and covering an area about the size of Maine — Azerbaijan is a former Soviet republic, a longtime U.S. ally, and the only country to border both Iran and Russia. Located in the Caspian Sea region, the country is, like its massive neighbors, rich in oil and strategically located.

Azerbaijan provided military support to United States forces in Iraq and continues to do so in Afghanistan. It also supplies “energy security” via oil and natural gas to the United States, Israel and Europe, Aghayev told students during his March 16 presentation, “The Art of Alliances.”

The consul general showed a brief PowerPoint presentation on his country’s architecture, multiculturalism and history, including its struggle for independence in the early 1990s after the fall of the Soviet Union.

“Our neighbor Armenia presented the biggest challenge,” Aghayev said, noting the cease-fire that has been in place since 1994 between the two warring nations. He also described “ethnic cleansing” and massacres of civilians by Armenian troops — including one in 1992 in the town of Khojaly (whose circumstances the Armenian community vigorously disputes).

After the brief presentation, Aghayev invited questions from the class. Mitchell’s students were ready. In email exchanges leading up to the class, Aghayev’s staff had indicated that “no questions were off limits,” and their professor had encouraged the undergraduates to present well-researched, hard-hitting questions about the region’s troubled history. Several students posed questions to the consul general about the U.S.-Azeri alliance, and how the conflict with Armenia affects Azerbaijan’s relationship with Russia.

In the final question before class time was up, a young woman, reading from her notes, asked Aghayev to comment about “war acts carried out by Azerbaijani troops against Armenian civilians.”

Aghayev seemed to deflect the question, but noted that Azerbaijan is “still pursuing peace.

“There are very smart Armenians in the U.S. who understand how tragic this situation is and speak out about it,” he said, referring to Armenia’s conflicted history and the mass migration of Armenians to California — many to the San Fernando Valley. “We want to help Armenia get out of this situation of depopulation.

“The goal shouldn’t be to be obsessed with history, but to focus on the future … and to develop tolerance and develop peace,” Aghayev said before departing. “I think we can resuscitate that trust that once existed and find peace.”

The Armenian-American students in the classroom, however, did not leave with a feeling of trust — nor, apparently, of peace. By the following morning, March 17, Mitchell said, he found his email inbox filled with a number of protest letters from the local Armenian community and student groups.

With about 10 percent of its student body of Armenian heritage, CSUN has the largest Armenian student population of any university outside the Republic of Armenia. The university also boasts an Armenian Studies Program (established in 1983), an Armenian language minor, and about 170 Armenian staff and faculty.

A representative of the CSUN Armenian Students’ Association (ASA), Alina Sarkissian, contacted Mitchell to protest Aghayev’s presentation on campus. Mitchell quickly arranged for Sarkissian and ASA President Christine Dashdemirians to discuss the matter in his office. Now, they are working to invite a follow-up guest speaker to the professor’s political science class to provide the Armenian point of view.

“Having received [the complaints], I must say, makes me see the value of the occasion even more,” Mitchell said last week. “A big part of the intellectual and personal development of these students involves not just tolerance, but respect for diverse points of view. The challenge that this poses for some in the class does much more than any lecture that I could have ever given them on the First Amendment.

“It was a chance for CSUN students to be exposed to someone new. I encouraged them to ask hard questions — in fact, I made it a point to call on someone for the last question who I knew would ask something tough about genocide. I am teaching my students about freedom of speech and tolerance, fundamental American principles.”

The CSUN ASA members agreed with Mitchell’s intentions and having a presentation by a foreign diplomat, said Sarkissian, a 22-year-old senior and business management major.

“We would never barrage on Constitutional and First Amendment rights, but we wish Professor Mitchell had taken the initiative himself to schedule a reputable Armenian speaker to come to the same class Consul General Aghayev spoke in,” said Sarkissian, who served as CSUN ASA president from 2013-14.“Nonetheless, Professor Mitchell has been incredibly receptive and communicative since we first contacted him about this issue, and we are deeply appreciative of the strong working relationship we have built with him.”

Last week’s experience, and the discussion it spurred, reminded Mitchell just how important the job of a university professor is, he said.

“I do not think that I ever fully appreciated it. We are the last defense against fascism. I know that others do not mean to but, when [they] call for views or facts — with which [they] disagree — to be shut out of the public discourse, [they] are calling for fascism. That is no different than extremists all over the world.

“It is our responsibility, perhaps our most important responsibility, to keep the dialogue open, against all of the naysayers.”

Responding to students and staff in the CSUN community, Mitchell noted his pride in his undergraduate class, which “behaved with courtesy, grace and class by listening attentively.”

In the Department of Political Science, Mitchell teaches courses such as International Relations, International Politics and Foreign Policy, as well as serving as the coordinator for CSUN’s African Studies Program in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences. He also served as J. William Fulbright Professor at the University of Bucharest, Romania.

Aghayev has served as consul general of Azerbaijan in Los Angeles since 2012. Previously, he served as the counselor for political and public affairs at Azerbaijan’s embassy in Washington, D.C. He also has served at the country’s embassies in Austria and Germany, and as a visiting scholar at the University of Toronto.

The CSUN ASA has proposed bringing in an Armenian speaker to address the history of the regional conflicts in the Caucasus. Working with the student association, Mitchell has sent letters of invitation to Robert Avetisyan, the permanent representative to the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, as well as to Tigran Sargsyan, ambassador of the Republic of Armenia to the U.S. Both diplomats are based in Washington, D.C. For his part, Mitchell sounded thrilled.

“This has been a marvelous First Amendment practicum,” he said.

For more on Azerbaijan, including the Consulate General in Los Angeles, visitwww.azconsulatela.org. For more information on CSUN’s Armenian Students’ Association, visit www.csun-asa.org.