CSUN has joined a national effort,aimed at ensuring success for all students, particularly those who historically have been underserved by higher education.

California State University, Northridge has joined a national effort, called Re-Imagining the First Year of College, aimed at ensuring success for all students, particularly those who historically have been underserved by higher education —   students who are low income, first generation or persons of color.

A coalition of representatives from 44 colleges and universities, all members of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU), will be working together for three years to develop comprehensive, institutional plans to redesign the first-year college experience and create sustainable change for student success. The project is being supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and USA Funds.

“This is a wonderful opportunity to share best practices with the other 43 institutions,” said English professor Cheryl Spector, director of CSUN’s Academic First Year Experiences. “It will be tremendously helpful to have support from nationally recognized experts as well.”

AASCU President Muriel Howard said the association and its members historically have been committed to student success, “with particular concern for those students who have shown great promise but who have encountered stumbling blocks along the way.”

“The Re-Imagining the First Year of College initiative is further testament to this commitment,” Howard continued. “It is a groundbreaking collaboration that we believe will substantively and sustainably alter the first-year experience for students at the 44 AASCU-member institutions that are participating.”

The first year of college has been identified as a critical time in a college student’s academic career — the point when they decide whether to continue their studies or drop out. The project’s organizers recognize that no single intervention is a solution to the retention problem, and that some solutions fail to reflect the differing needs of a changing student body.

Organizers of the Re-Imagining the First Year effort are hoping to inspire redesigned approaches that work effectively for all members of an increasingly diverse and multicultural undergraduate student body.

The institutions participating in the effort will form a learning community that reviews and shares evidence-based practices, programs and implementation strategies. The initiative is designed to include a comprehensive “top-down, bottom-up” approach that engages the whole campus in focusing on four key areas to help first-year students succeed: institutional intentionality, curriculum redesign, changes in faculty and staff roles, and changes in student roles.

Other California State University campuses taking part in the effort include Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, CSU Channel Islands, CSU Dominguez Hills, Humboldt State, CSU Long Beach and CSU Monterey Bay.

Four members of CSUN’s community — Helen Heinrich, director of data and analytics for the university’s division of Information Technology; Patrick Bailey, director of student involvement and development; first-year experience librarian Susanna Eng-Ziskin and Spector — attended a conference last week on the initiative. Spector said they returned “energized with new possibilities and pleased to recognize how much important work is already underway at our campus.”

Spector said members of the team were happy to discover that CSUN already was implementing many of the suggestions made to improve the first-year experience, “though we really are hoping to rethink even the things that are working.”

She pointed to one example: A speaker suggested attendees reconsider the letter campuses send first-year students when they are placed on academic probation. Instead of being stern and threatening, accusing the recipient of “failing” to meet the institution’s high academic standards, the letter could explain the probationary process and give struggling students the name and contact information of someone on staff who could help them take the steps to rectify the situation.

“If you’re talking about struggling first-year students, you don’t want them to give up,” Spector said. “You want to turn them around. I can imagine that if you are a freshman and you receive a letter that implies you have failed, it could be the last straw and you might decide it was just time to give up. We don’t want that to happen.”

One of the key areas in the initiative, “institutional intentionality,” means “establishing a culture of obligation, where everybody on campus recognizes that we are here to serve the students and promote student learning,” Spector explained.

“There are many ideas that I think could be put into action to serve our students,” she said. “The challenge is for us to figure out which ideas fit together best and match our campus’s possibilities best.”

A vintage Cleopatra playsuit dress, photos of legendary Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley and copies of the first independent black student newspaper at California State University, Northridge are among the cultural artifacts on display in CSUN’s Delmar T. Oviatt Library Exhibit Gallery.

The exhibit, which is titled “Historicizing and Contemporizing the Black Aesthetic: Keeping the Legacy Alive,” was organized as part of the CSUN’s celebration of Black History Month. It will be on display in the second floor, west wing gallery through April 29.

“The exhibit offers a glimpse into elements of black history in fashion, art, print and social and political organizations,” said Theresa White, co-curator and professor in the Department of Africana Studies. “It invites viewers to celebrate the history of what black people have done in the past and are doing today.”

Library Dean Mark Stover said the exhibit helps “bring history to life.”

“It helps us to imagine what life was like back in the day,” said Stover at the exhibit’s opening reception on Feb. 10. The reception included comments from some of the exhibitors, a retrospective on the meaning of Black History Month, a spoken word presentation and a “runway” show highlighting natural hairstyles.

The exhibit features several vintage fashion items including jewelry worn by celebrated dancer and singer Josephine Baker, a Negro Baseball League jacket and a 1970s shirt with images of leaders of the Black Liberation Party. In addition, there are photos and newspaper articles about the founding of the Educational Opportunity Programs and the Departments of Africana and Chicana/o Studies; and memorabilia from the Black Student Union, NABJ-Student Association of Black Communicators and several of the Black Greek-Letter Organizations at CSUN.

“All these artifacts represent a time in history in which African Americans thrived, struggled and created with minimal means,” said Cedric Hackett, co-curator and professor of Africana Studies. He said the exhibit is helping to “keep the legacy alive.”

For more information about CSUN’s Black History Month celebration, contact the Department of Africana Studies at (818) 677-3311.

A cluster of California State University, Northridge students gathered with professor Wladimir Lyra to analyze the latest astrophysics data. But these data were not captured by a telescope. Instead they were focused on a YouTube video of Lyra’s most recent 3-D computer model, a simulation of a planet forming from particles around a star in space.

As CSUN’s first theoretical astrophysics professor in years, Lyra’s expertise provides his colleagues and students a novel approach to understanding stars and planets — via inputting complex mathematic equations to one of the world’s largest supercomputers, Stampede.

In December 2015, Lyra received 1.5 million computer hours from the National Science Foundation’s National Center for Supercomputing (NICS) and Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment (XSEDE) to use on Stampede’s 100,000 processors. He explained that because of his access to Stampede, he and his students can now run multiple models in shorter amounts of time than was possible before the supercomputer’s 2013 inception.

“It was amazing to see Stampede,” he said. “You suddenly have access to thousands of processors. It uses as much energy as a small city!”

Karapet Karapetyan, a 2012 CSUN engineering graduate alumnus, associate physics professor and colleague of Lyra, explained that computer simulations allow astrophysicists to study universal activity that cannot be observed through a telescope.

“The major thing about astronomy is that we cannot study and observe, [for example], a star from its birth until it dies billions of years later,” he said. “The simulations give us a way to somehow look at the evolution of these bodies.”

Lyra is currently mentoring four graduate and two undergraduate physics students. Lyra, together with a graduate student Amanda Rowen, is simulating the geophysical behavior of Europa, one of Jupiter’s icy moons that may contain life. The simulation will help Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) understand the moon’s surface features.

“I am building software to model the ice shell on Europa,” Lyra explained. “It has a crust of ice, and under this ice we have pretty good evidence that it has an ocean. There are surface features that can be easily explained by water, at least by convection in the ice.”

Convection is the movement caused within a fluid, like water, by the tendency of hotter and less dense material to rise and colder, denser material to sink due to gravity.

“We are going to model that in detail,” he continued. “This is very interesting for the Europa mission [that JPL] is going to launch in the early 2020s. These are pretty exciting times.”

Without a computer model, it would take up to 200,000 years to observe a full cycle of Europa. It takes a matter of days running the proper equations for convection through Stampede’s processors, Lyra said.

Rowen, who graduated from CSUN in spring 2015 with a bachelors of science in physics, said she is excited to work on the simulation.

“During my undergrad here, I did icy moons as well. Icy moons are interesting because we can actually get to them in our solar system,” she said. “I am mostly excited because we are essentially trying to figure out things that nobody on Earth knows yet.”

CSUN astronomy and physics department chair Say-Peng Lim said Lyra’s astrophysics work taps into students’ desires to learn more about the subject.

“We had always had a stronger emphasis on solar physics because of the gift of the San Fernando Observatory to CSUN by the Aerospace Corporation,” she said. “There is a lot of student interest in astrophysics, so we decided to bring someone who specializes in something other than solar physics. Now students have opportunities to work on research projects on astrophysics.”

Undergraduate physics student Sean Snyder said he is looking forward to working with Lyra on planet formation simulations.

“I just think it’s pretty cool that a computer allows us to be able to simulate something within a week that would take billions of years to see,” he said. “I was really excited when I heard Dr. Lyra was coming to CSUN [in fall 2015]. He is a great person to work with and he is really helpful.”

Lyra is eager to expose more students — especially undergraduates — to building their confidence in theoretic astrophysics research.

“The students here traditionally come from underprivileged backgrounds … a significant fraction of them are the first ones in their families to come to college. I am a person who cares a lot about the social aspect of science,” he said. “Science can and should be a way to advance social equality.”

As of 2013, about 65 percent of CSUN students are first generation college students, and more than 40 percent come from low-income families, according to university data.

“One of the things I hear a lot with the students here is that they would like to work with me, but they don’t think that they are bright enough,” Lyra continued. “A big chunk of the students is smart, but they don’t know it. They are as smart as [California Institute of Technology students], but not everyone can pay a Caltech tuition. I hope that when they start doing research, and they see that they are progressing, they realize that they can do this work. This is a reward from being at CSUN that brings me a sense of personal and social fulfillment.”

A method to measure student success — including employment and earnings — over a 10-year period after they graduate from California State University, Northridge has been singled out as an “Innovation that Inspires” by an international coalition of business schools.

The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), a global accrediting body and membership association for business schools, honored CSUN’s David Nazarian College of Business and Economics earlier this month for the work of management professor Richard Moore and economics professor Kenneth Chapman. It was one of only 30 “innovations” from around the world to be recognized.

The duo have developed what they believe is a more accurate way of measuring the success of college graduates, using state employment and tax data to track how much alumni earn two years, five years and 10 years after they graduate from an institution. Their method takes into account students who drop out or transfer to other institutions, and it tracks the success of students who go on to graduate school.

“CSUN’s top strategic priority is the success of our students — not only during their years on campus, but also over a lifetime of economic and social contribution,” said Kenneth Lord, dean of the Nazarian College. “Rick Moore and Ken Chapman have applied their creative talents and expertise to develop an automated benchmarking system that integrates data from university and government sources to yield perhaps the most comprehensive information about graduates’ career outcomes over the short, medium and long term that is to be found at any institution of higher education.

“Their findings give me pride in the outstanding accomplishments of our graduates and insights that will help us plan for even higher levels of lifetime student success,” Lord continued. “I am delighted that the impact of their work has been recognized as one of only 30 ‘Innovations that Inspire’ from around the world by the prestigious AACSB International.”

Chapman and Moore said they were honored to receive the recognition, and they hope that it inspires other institutions of higher learning to consider their approach to measuring student success.

“It’s nice that our work is getting attention,” Chapman said. “The whole point is to make it easier for parents, perspective students and others to get a clearer understanding [of] how well an institution and its graduates do. The data may reassure a parent that their child, who may want to major in the arts, will indeed find a job and be able to live comfortably, five or 10 years after graduation, and that they will not spend the rest of their life living on their parents’ or someone else’s couch.”

Moore said today’s students and parents, more than in previous generations, want to make sure that a college education will lead to career success.

“The ability of a business college and a university to show the value of a degree in terms of career success is crucial to maintaining the college’s or campus’ reputation and brand value,” Moore said. “Public universities also are challenged by policymakers and the public to show how they contribute to the state or regional economy. Historically, higher education has used national data to show the value of a degree, and relied on anecdotes to show the success of their graduates and their contribution to the economy. Our methodology goes well beyond that.”

The duo, with the help of Bettina Huber, CSUN’s director of Institutional Research, established five guiding principles they argue create a realistic, unbiased way of measuring the success of an institution’s students: follow all matriculated students over time; use standard data available in every state, such as employment records and tax rolls; create standard, easy-to-understand labor market measures; break down the data to the campus and program level; and make the results public.

The trio of researchers used this method to measure the economic success of CSUN students. They collected records for all entering students, including first-time freshmen and transfer and post-baccalaureate students, for the years 1995-2000. They issued their first report in 2013, offering a snapshot of CSUN students’ success.

Five years after leaving CSUN, the average annual salary for the university’s graduates was about $51,000. For those who completed graduate degrees, the average annual salary five years out of CSUN was more then $68,000, while the salary for those who dropped out of the university was about $38,000.

The follow-up study, released last fall, took a look at the annual salary for CSUN students 10 years after they leave the university. CSUN graduates earn, on average, $64,000 annually a decade after leaving the university. Those who complete graduate degrees have an average annual salary of more than $73,000. Those who drop out of the university earn, on average, about $44,000 a year 10 years after leaving CSUN.

A copy of the complete report, including a breakdown by college and program, can be found on the university’s Office of Institutional Research website in the “CSUN by the Numbers” link under Alumni Earnings.

Chapman said data generated by CSUN provide understandable information that helps students and their parents make informed decisions about about the students’ futures.

“For most parents, the question is not, ‘Will my child be rich?’” he said. “The question is ‘Will they be adults who can take care of themselves, get work that is rewarding and a career path that is going somewhere?’ The data also help colleges and universities make informed decisions about the programs and courses they offer to help their

California State University, Northridge cancer researcher, mentor and professor Steven Oppenheimer is celebrating 20 years collaborating with Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) teachers to promote science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) for K-12 students.

The latest “New Journal of Student Research Abstracts” contains hundreds of science project abstracts from students across LAUSD. The abstract subjects range from hypothesizing how fast a plant will grow in fertilized or unfertilized soil to how different video games affect heart rates.

President Barack Obama poses with Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching winners in the Blue Room of the White House Jan. 6, 2010. CSUN’s Steven Oppenheimer is sitting in the first row, second from the left. (Official White House Photo by Samantha Appleton)

“I feel very satisfied that so many, literally thousands, of mostly middle and high school students are doing research,” said Oppenheimer, a professor in CSUN’s Department of Biology. “And, the journal is on the web for free! It’s getting bigger and bigger.”

Oppenheimer added that the abstracts provide students with interest in science.

“It’s a lot of fun. I feel it is serving a lot of students,” he said. “I have many teachers who have been working with me for decades. It is an outstanding group of people who help make this journal a great success.”

Terri Miller, a teacher at Oliver Wendell Holmes Middle School in Northridge, has been involved in the journal since 2000. She said working with the students on their abstracts has created more interest in science in her classroom.

“I think the most important thing is that [the journal creates] a lot of enthusiasm for science,” she said. “The kids are just very excited to get their work published. It means the world to them. It helps them to do their absolute best work.”

Oppenheimer said one of his favorite parts about the journal program is the annual symposium, where CSUN faculty and staff can meet the K-12 students, their teachers and parents to celebrate the science projects the students worked on.

“When the kids hear their names for a medal, the place is in uproar,” he said. “It is better than any sports game. That I think is one of the greatest things to see.”

Miller noted that the students showcase at CSUN every year has provided her students with an additional nudge toward being curious about science.

“We’re just so grateful for CSUN doing this for us,” she said. “It encourages [the students] to go on into science.”

Oppenheimer said the journal helps fill the need to promote STEM careers earlier in students’ academic life.

“There’s a national crisis in terms of getting enough new scientists [in the U.S.]. We believe that starting as early as possible to get students interested in research is the way to start getting new generations of excellent scientists,” he said. “Because in college, many people feel it

is already too late. Students often have made up their minds in what they want to do. So starting, for example in middle school, to excite students in research is a key to protect the security, health and welfare of the country.”

The annual symposium will be at 10 a.m. on Sunday, March 13, in the University Student Union Grand Salon, located on the south east side of campus on 18111 Nordhoff St., Northridge. The event is free and open to the public. Parking is $6 per day. To see the journal online, go to http://scholarworks.csun.edu/handle/10211.3/125029.

A consortium of preschool through 12^th grade educators, advocates and supporters has singled out the alliance between California State University, Northridge and the CHIME Institute as a model of a successful partnership between schools and a university.

The Southern California Professional Development Schools (SCPDS) Consortium honored CSUN and CHIME, regarded by many as a national model for inclusive education, with its Exemplary Partnership Award earlier this month. The award recognizes the richness and strength of the partnership in contributing to the quality of education for the students at the participating school, as well as educational practices overall.

Celebrating the honor from SCPDS are, from left, David Kretschmer, a CSUN elementary education professor and CHIME Institute board member; Annie Cox, executive director of CHIME’s early education programs; Virginia Kennedy, CSUN special education professor; and Amy Hanreddy, a CSUN special education professor. Photo courtesy of the CHIME Institute.

“We are thrilled to be chosen for such an important honor,” said Annie Cox, executive director of CHIME’s early education programs and one of the institute’s founders. “We are so proud of the strong collaboration we have with CSUN, whether it’s with our educational programs, administration or participating on the clinical side for CSUN students. It’s something we’ve been doing since the beginning. It’s something that is part of who we are.”

Special education professor Amy Hanreddy, who serves as CSUN’s liaison with CHIME, called the partnership a boon for both institutions.

“For the past 25 years, CSUN has partnered with CHIME by providing authentic experiences for students that allow them to observe and participate in high-quality educational programs for infants and toddlers, preschoolers and school-age children,” Hanreddy said. “As a teacher-educator, I have observed firsthand the ways in which CSUN student participation in these inclusive programs enriches classroom discussions and promotes critical reflection on the potential of inclusive learning environments. CHIME also provides a resource as a research site for both students and faculty, and the CHIME Research Committee includes representatives from both the school and the university. Overall, this close partnership is both valuable and unique, and it is an honor to be recognized for this longstanding partnership!”

The SCPDS Consortium is a nonprofit, professional organization that provides resources, professional development and advocacy for the professional development school model in teacher education. The consortium functions to support, advocate and nurture collaborative partnerships between preschool to 12^th grade educators, as a center for inquiry that leads to discovery and the sharing of knowledge that shapes educator practices and leadership.

Established in 1990, the CHIME Institute is a national leader in developing and implementing model educational programs and dynamic research and training environments to disseminate best practices in inclusive education. The institute’s research and training center is housed in CSUN’s Michael D. Eisner College of Education.

The institute began with an early childhood education program housed on the CSUN campus. The success of that program, coupled with needs of the community and sound research, prompted a group of parents and CSUN faculty to develop a public charter elementary school in 2001 and a public charter middle school in 2003. The two schools merged into a K-8 school located in Woodland Hills in 2010.

Inclusive education at CHIME means that children who reflect the demographics of the surrounding regions learn side by side. CHIME’s model allows for the individual needs of each child to be addressed in a manner that enhances each child’s strength, while also providing educational progress.

CHIME also serves as a model for educators through its partnerships with the Eisner College and the Los Angeles Unified School District. It facilitates research opportunities and regularly hosts visitors from around the United States and the world who are interested in replicating its successes in their own schools. The institute has been recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as a model for full inclusion of students with disabilities and for providing a blueprint for local schools across the country.

Actress Amy Amy Brenneman at the 2015 CHIMEaPalooza celebration. Photo courtesy of the CHIME Institute.

Luminaries from the performing arts community — from acclaimed actress Amy Brenneman to music legend Stephen Stills — are coming together this Saturday, March 5, to celebrate the CHIME Institute, a national model for inclusive education housed at CSUN.

In addition to Brenneman and Stills, those taking part in the annual CHIMEaPalooza to raise funds for the institute include celebrities Benjamin Bratt, Dave Annable and Jamie Kennedy, musical guests Chris Stills and Lisa Loeb, and author Jonathan Mooney.

The celebration is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. at the El Portal Theatre, located at 11206 Weddington St. in North Hollywood.

“This amazing event allows us to share the CHIME Institute’s vision and mission with the larger community,” said Annie Cox, executive director of CHIME’s early education programs and one of the institute’s founders. “It shines the light on our educational programs and brilliantly represents the voices of all of the children — from those in infant and toddler program to those in eighth grade — and the families we serve. I’m thrilled and grateful for the support from so many talented people.”

Tickets are $60 pre-sale or $75 at the door. Ticket prices include a pre-show reception from 6 to 7 p.m., the show from 7 to 9 p.m. and a post-show party. To purchase tickets, visit www.chimeapalooza.org.

Established in 1990, the CHIME Institute is a national leader in developing and implementing model educational programs and dynamic research and training environments to disseminate best practices in inclusive education. The institute’s research and training center is housed in CSUN’s Michael D. Eisner College of Education.

Singer Tom Morello performing at the 2015 CHIMEaPalooza with children from CHIME. Photo courtesy of the CHIME Institute.

The institute began with an early childhood education program housed on the CSUN campus. The success of that program, coupled with the needs of the community and sound research, prompted a group of parents and CSUN faculty to develop a public charter elementary school in 2001 and a public charter middle school in 2003. The two schools merged into a K-8 school located in Woodland Hills in 2010.

Inclusive education at CHIME means that children who reflect the demographics of the surrounding regions learn side by side. CHIME’s model allows for the individual needs of each child to be addressed in a manner that enhances each child’s strength, while also providing educational progress.

CHIME also serves as a model for educators through its partnerships with the Eisner College and the Los Angeles Unified School District. It facilitates research opportunities and regularly hosts visitors from around the United States and the world who are interested in replicating its successes in their own schools. The institute has been recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as a model for full inclusion of students with disabilities and for providing a blueprint for local schools across the country.

Proceeds from CHIMEaPalooza will go toward supporting inclusive practices in the institute’s early education programs and charter school. For more information about the CHIME Institute, call (818) 677-4979 or (818) 346-5200, or visit its website at www.chimeinstitute.org.

Months of planning, deliberating and discussion led to the 20th annual Student Research and Creative Works Symposium, showing off some of the best and brightest work that California State University, Northridge has to offer.

Students from every college and background came together in the University Student Union’s Northridge Center to present their research on a number of topics, ranging from solutions to the obesity epidemic and ways to help those living with autism, to the relationship between the Los Angeles River and the federal government.

The event began with students presenting their research to a panel of judges, faculty members and representatives from other organizations. The judges evaluated the content and delivery skills of the students, and the top entries were honored at a ceremony later in the day.

The second part of the symposium was a gallery with posters lining the walls, produced by students participating in various research programs. Visitors were free to walk around and admire the students’ hard work, as well as interact with the students presenting on a more personal level. There was a huge crowd, and the room was packed as students, faculty, and guests walked through the aisles. Assistant Vice President of Graduate Studies Maggie Shiffrar spoke in admiration after talking to each of the presenters.

“There was a young man, and his presentation was impeccable,” Shiffrar said. “Afterward, I asked him what doctoral program he intended to go to, because he was a doctoral-caliber student. It turned out that he was an undergraduate junior. It’s just phenomenal. You have faculty talking about how much they’re learning — these students are upping the bar for all of us. If I could do a cartwheel, I would.”

The accessibility of the symposium allowed other students to learn from one another and become inspired by their peers, Shiffrar said.

“Students can see people with whom they can relate, who look like them, talk like them, from the same background, and they see them doing world-class research,” Shiffrar said. “That changes conversations, because a conversation is no longer, ‘Some people can do cutting-edge research, but I’m not one of those people.’ That’s the beauty of this event. It turns that entire framework on its head, and the conversation becomes, ‘Wow. Look at what my peers are doing. I can do this.’”

Hedy Carpenter, associate director for research programs at CSUN, said she was impressed by how much the symposium had grown since it began.

“This symposium has come a long way,” Carpenter said. “When it first started 20 years ago, we had about 70 participants in total, and today we have 192. We’re even thinking about renting more space and spreading it over two days to accommodate all the projects.”

As Shiffrar took a moment to absorb the talent of the CSUN students on display at the symposium, she was overcome with excitement.

“These are all people who are using their smarts to make the world a better place, and that’s the best thing there is,” she said.

Here is a summary of all the honorees at the symposium:
10-Minute Presentations

Session 1

College of Social and Behavioral Sciences

First Place

Holly Gover, Graduate, Department of Psychology

“Teaching Functional Play Skills to Preschoolers with Developmental Disabilities”

Second Place

Michele Zamora, Undergraduate, Department of Political Science

“Federalism and the LA River: National Government and Local Water Resource Management”

Session 2

College of Science and Mathematics

First Place

Kevin Kossick and Alex Schultz, Undergraduate, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry

“N,N-diarylbenzimidazolium Compounds”

Second Place

Eric McDonald, Graduate, Department of Geological Sciences

“Basin Analysis and Detrital Zircon Geochronology of the El Paso Mountains: Permian Stratigraphic Sequence”

Session 3

College of Health and Human Development/Michael D. Eisner College of Education

First Place

Amy Edwards, Graduate, Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies

“Gender in Higher Educational Leadership”

Second Place

Eugenne Rivas, Undergraduate, Department of Health Sciences

“Text You Later: Preliminary Results of a Texting and Driving Health Education Program”

Session 4

Mike Curb College of Arts, Media, and Communication/College of Humanities

First Place

David Stamps, Graduate, Department of Journalism

“Entertainment Media’s Perception of SNS Use Among Teenagers”

Second Place

Hsiao-Hsien Shen, Graduate, Department of Music

“Chopin Piano Concerto No. 1 in e minor, Op. 11”

Mrinalini Watson, Graduate, Department of Linguistics

“An Examination of Inter-Generational Language Transfer in the Marwari Speech Community of India”

Session 5 

College of Science and Mathematics

First Place

Sarah Merolla, Graduate, Department of Biology

“Effects of Ocean Acidification and Water Flow on Calcification for Different Morphologies of Coralline Algae”

Second Place

Barbara Weiser, Graduate, Department of Biology

“Estuary Opening Effects on Population Connectivity of California Killifish”

Session 6

College of Science and Mathematics

First Place

Andrea Haberkern, Graduate, Department of Biology

“Spider Form and Function: Foraging Guild, Morphology and Performance”

Second Place

Nickie Cammisa, Graduate, Department of Biology

“Genotypic Variation in Response to Mutualists and Drought in an Invasive Plant”

Session 7

College of Science and Mathematics

First Place (tie)

Malachia Hoover, Graduate, Department of Biology

“Identification of a Novel Cripto/MyosinII Interaction that Promotes Stem Cell Mediated Tissue Regeneration”

Justin Molnar, Graduate, Department of Biology

“Quantification of the Metastatic Potential of HER2 Positive Breast Cancer Using the Chorioallantoic Membrane Assay”

Second Place

Sa La Kim, Undergraduate, Department of Biology

“The Role of ITGA1 in Pancreatic Cancer”

Session 8

College of Science and Mathematics

First Place

Eliana Ochoa-Bolton, Undergraduate, Department of Biology

“BMP Signaling Patterns Dorsal Interneuron Populations Throughout Spinal Cord Development”

Second Place

Stephanie Kennedy, Undergraduate, Department of Biology

“Regulation of Tumor Necrosis Factor Alpha-induced Protein 8 and Its Association with B-Cell Lymphomas”

Session 9

College of Science and Mathematics

First Place 

Bobby Teng, Undergraduate, Department of Biology

“Characterization of TBX5 Cardiac Progenitor Cells Derived from Human Embryonic Stem Cells”

Second Place 

Osvaldo Miranda, Undergraduate, Department of Biology

“Developmental Genes Regulate Stress-Induced Sleep in C. elegans“

For some high school students, the option of attending college after high school is not always guaranteed. California State University, Northridge has given many students an opportunity to receive a high-quality education and prove themselves in an academic environment, and this opportunity begins with programs like the Harambee High School Conference.

On Feb. 26, the Northridge Center was filled with 329 students from 13 high schools throughout Southern and Central California, including Village Christian, Bakersfield High School, Taft, Birmingham, Palisades and Price High School, attended the annual conference. Each year, the Harambee Student Association and the CSUN Office of Student Outreach and Recruitment Services invite mostly African-American students to tour the campus and experience what it’s like to be a CSUN student for a day.

The day began with some remarks from Vice President of Student Affairs and Dean of Students William Watkins. Attendees were able to sit in on a lecture, ask CSUN students questions about attending the university and speak to various faculty members about how their goals could be achieved by receiving a college education.

The student panel featured CSUN students from all walks of life speaking about why they decided to go to college and the challenges that they overcame once they were admitted. Student panelist Dirk Braxton (Electrical Engineering) spoke about his frustrations with transitioning from high school and managing his study habits.

“My focus was on my experiences when I came to CSUN,” Braxton said. “I was arrogant.

“I had a good GPA in high school, so I thought it was going to be smooth sailing. But my second year, I wasn’t focused, and I had some problems passing a class. So I had to change my mindset to put the proper amount of time and effort into passing the class.”

The conference also featured a session dedicated to identity, and the different roles one could take on during their lives. The discussions were designed to help students understand that no matter what background they came from, they were perfectly capable of achieving in a university environment.

Academic Adviser Ryan Mason hopes that the program can inspire students and help them not only attend an academic institution, but go on to even greater things.

“The common goal is to see students not only on the access side, but also the retention side, and inspire them to matriculate and ultimately graduate,” Mason said. “My goal as an academic advisor is to be assured that they have a definite career placement, and I would love to see all my students go on to graduate school.”

The day ended with some spoken word performances, and a final opportunity for students to explore the campus and its facilities.

Dianne Philibosian with staff from the Institute for Community Health and Wellbeing at her retirement celebration in August 2015. Philibosian retired as director of the institute. Photo provided by the Institute for Community Health and Wellbeing.

When Dianne Philibosian arrived at California State University, Northridge in 1973, early childhood education was being taught in disparate pockets on campus.

The doctoral student with a specialization in early childhood education was hired as one of the founding faculty in CSUN’s Department of Elementary Education’s early education program. She eventually served as coordinator of an interdisciplinary major in child development — putting CSUN on the map as a place to learn about the education of children.

Today, Philibosian is a nationally known expert on the care and education of children.

She recently retired from CSUN after 42 years of service in various capacities, including as director of the Institute for Community Health and Wellbeing and associate dean of the College of Health and Human Development. She has served as faculty in four different departments and two different colleges.

“I’ve had such a magnificent career,” said Philibosian about her four decades at CSUN. She recalled a multitude of firsts, including serving as head of CSUN’s new pre-kindergarten through third-grade credential program and director of an innovative off-campus early childhood development master’s degree program.

“We were pioneers,” she said. “It was so exciting to be here, laying the foundation.”

Philibosian said she found CSUN through a combination of convenience and timing.

Although she was born in San Diego, Philibosian spent most of her childhood in the Fresno area. After graduating from the University of the Pacific, she taught elementary school in Stockton for several years before entering graduate school.

She earned her master’s degree and her doctorate at Southern Illinois University, spending several years helping establish and train the workforce for the first Head Start preschool programs in Illinois. She was tired of the snow and decided to relocate to Southern California to be closer to her brother, his wife and children, who lived in Tarzana.

“This was a natural place to gravitate to,” Philibosian recalled.

At CSUN, she adopted a teaching approach similar to what she had experienced as an undergraduate and graduate student — close relationships with faculty.

When asked about the best part of her experiences at CSUN, she responded: “The students throughout the years — so many have touched me deeply. We really have unique students who are overcoming seemingly insurmountable odds to stay in school, graduate and launch successful careers.”

“I saw them not as a sea of students, but a sea of individuals,” Philibosian said. “I found ways to personalize my assignments.”

Philibosian accepts an award from Michelle Miranda of Canoga Park-based RUTH YouthBuild, one of the many community groups she assisted.

She also has almost seamlessly straddled the fence between academia and community, serving on numerous state and local boards and task forces, including the state of California’s Child Development Policy Advisory Committee, County of Los Angeles Child Care Planning Committee and working with the Warner Center Association in developing a model early childcare program.

She said her work with the Institute for Community Health and Wellbeing is a great place to end her formal career at CSUN. The institute, which is a collaboration of campus and community members, is committed to enhancing the health and well-being of individuals, families, organizations and communities within CSUN’s service region. The primary mission of the institute is to foster healthy living through community and campus partnerships.

“Our relationships with people and the communities we serve are so important,” Philibosian said. “As we go into the community, we say we are part of the community and let’s plan how we can leverage our faculty, grants and resources so we benefit the community together.”

Philibosian, a Pasadena resident, also has won numerous awards, including CSUN’s Extraordinary Service Award, the Medallion of Excellence Award from the University of the Pacific and the Northridge Chamber of Commerce Outstanding Community Contributions in Child Care Development Award.

She said she plans to remain connected to CSUN. She is currently working as a special-projects consultant with the Institute for Community Health and Wellbeing, the College of Humanities and the Office of Research and Graduate Studies in their efforts to affiliate with the American University of Armenia (AUA).

In October, CSUN President Dianne F. Harrison and the president of AUA signed a memorandum of understanding to foster scholarly and educational collaborations. Philibosian spent two weeks in November at AUA meeting with faculty, staff and students who want to collaborate with CSUN.

“We have many irons in the fire,” said Philibosian about the potential for collaboration and exchange. “It’s all very exciting.”

Philibosian is participating in the campus’ Faculty Early Retirement Program, which allows faculty to transition into retirement by working a reduced schedule over a five-year time period. She said once the project with AUA is completed, she’ll see what’s next.

“It has been a great career,” she said. “I’m grateful to the students and my colleagues, who have made it such a gratifying experience.”

Award-winning journalist and television news anchor Soledad O’Brien provided insider insights under the theme Race and Opportunity in America at a lecture on March 8 at California State University, Northridge’s Valley Performing Arts Center.

O’Brien called herself “Afro-Latina,” meaning she is African, Cuban, Australian and Irish. Her background has allowed her to add context to her reporting — something not common in the industry, she said.

“Take a look at diversity in the media, there is no diversity,” O’Brien said.

O’Brien was the anchor for the CNN morning show Starting Point through 2013, and recently she has been a special correspondent for CNN/U.S. as well as other news agencies. During her career, she has reported breaking news from around the globe and produced documentaries. One of her documentaries, Black in America, featured a series of films aired over a four-month period.

During her presentation, O’Brien shared a few video clips from one of her documentaries with CSUN students, faculty and community members. The clips explored a high school where the majority of graduates — African-American students — attended college. The clips focused on Gloria, an African-American high school student with high hopes to attend college.

“I wanted to tell stories about individuals and the community,” O’Brien said.

She explained that the producer wanted to frame Gloria’s story around her parents, who were drug addicts. O’Brien disagreed, however, because she wanted to tell the story from Gloria’s perspective and not reinforce stereotypes.

“The real diversity is in telling original, authentic stories,” O’Brien said.

Best-selling author and parenting educator Tina Payne Bryson will discuss how teachers can tap into the “whole brain” of a child to help him or her succeed, at the next Education on the Edge lecture on Tuesday, April 5, at California State University, Northridge.

Tina Payne Bryson

Bryson, with child psychiatrist Dan Siegel, co-authored the New York Times best-seller “The Whole Brain Child,” which introduces parents and other caregivers to practical strategies to help them survive the difficult moments in their children’s lives, and how to use those moments to help their children thrive. During her talk, Bryson will take that concept and apply it to student-teacher interactions.

“We are very excited about having Dr. Bryson with us this year,” said Wendy W. Murawski, executive director and Eisner Endowed Chair of CSUN’s Center for Teaching & Learning. “Her strategies will appeal to educators and parents alike. She will help us learn more ways to engage students behaviorally, academically and socially.”

Bryson’s lecture is scheduled to take place from 7 to 8:30 p.m. in the Northridge Center of CSUN’s University Student Union, located on the east side of the campus at 18111 Nordhoff St. in Northridge.

In addition to “The Whole Brain Child,” Bryson and Siegel also co-authored the New York Times best-seller “No-Drama Discipline.” Bryson is the executive director of The Center for Connection in Pasadena, Calif., where she offers parenting consultations and provides therapy to children and adolescents. She keynotes conferences and conducts workshops for parents, educators and clinicians around the world.

Bryson currently serves as the director of parenting education and development for the Mindsight Institute, where, along with Siegel, she teaches parents and professionals how to understand parenting relationships in the context of the changing brain. Bryson received her doctorate from the University of Southern California, where her research explored attachment science, childrearing theory and the emerging field of interpersonal neurobiology.

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

CSUN’s Center for Teaching & 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 better address the needs of schools, as they work in collaboration with K-12 teachers and administrators, and community members.

The center was established in the summer of 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. It has since 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 speaker bureau that provides local schools and organizations an opportunity to bring these new approaches to their campuses. More information about the center can be found at www.csun.edu/ctl.

Estela Bensimon

Estela Mara Bensimon, a national expert on methods to improve equity in higher education, will serve as the keynote speaker at California State University, Northridge’s annual Terry Piper Lecture Series on April 5, offering her perspective on “Making ‘Race Talk’ a Routine Practice on College Campuses.”

Bensimon is a distinguished professor of higher education at the USC Rossier School of Education and co-director of the Center for Urban Education (CUE), which she founded in 1999. She applies her knowledge of organizational learning, leadership and equity with a singular focus on increasing equity in higher education outcomes for students of color. She developed the Equity Scorecard — a process for using inquiry to drive changes in institutional practice and culture.

“As faculty, staff and administrators here at CSUN, we are continually challenging ourselves as to how we can best facilitate the successful persistence and graduation of each and every student who is enrolled at this incredibly diverse institution,” said Shelley Ruelas-Bischoff, associate vice president for student life and co-chair of the event. “A critical element in this process is our responsibility to ensure that our institutional practices are fostering a culture of equity for all students.”

The event will open with a reception at 8:30 a.m., followed by the lecture at 9 a.m. in the University Student Union’s Northridge Center. It is open to faculty, staff and students.

The event is named in honor of Terry Piper, who served as vice president of student affairs at CSUN for nearly 10 years. He strove to actively partner with campus colleagues in support of student success, as a member of the university’s executive leadership team. He is credited with reshaping CSUN’s Division of Student Affairs to align with the most current thinking and practices supporting student learning and success. Piper passed away in May 2010 after a courageous battle with melanoma. This is the fifth year of the lecture series.

“Dr. Bensimon is a trailblazer in addressing accountability of colleges and universities to not just admit students, but to focus on their successful completion of college,” said Merril Simon, a professor in the Department of Educational Psychology and co-chair of the event. “She pays particular attention to first-generation students and those who have been underserved, like many of today’s CSUN students.

“Her work, like Dr. Piper’s, pushes the boundaries and expectations of the status quo by asking us to do more for and better by our students.”

Since founding CUE, Bensimon has worked with thousands of college professionals, from presidents to faculty to academic counselors, helping them take steps in their daily work to reverse the impact of the historical and structural disadvantages that prevent many students of color from excelling in higher education.

The innovative Equity Scorecard process takes a strengths-based approach, starting from the premise that faculty and administrators are committed to doing “the good.” CUE builds upon this premise by developing tools and processes that empower these professionals as “researchers” into their own practices, with the ultimate goal of not just marginal changes in policy or practice, but shifts on those campuses toward cultures of inclusion and broad ownership over racial equity.

Bensimon has published extensively about equity, organizational learning, practitioner inquiry and change. Her most recent publications include a co-edited book, Confronting Equity Issues on Campus: Implementing the Equity Scorecard in Theory and Practice. She is also the co-editor of Critical Perspectives on Race and Equity, a special issue of the Review of Higher Education.

She earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Montclair State University, and her doctorate in higher education from Teachers College, Columbia University.

For more information and to RSVP by Wednesday, March 30, visit http://www.csun.edu/studentaffairs/terry-piper-lecture-series.

By the time students with specific learning disabilities — who make up 5 percent of the school-age population — get to high school, most have reading skills significantly below grade level, according to the National Center for Learning Disabilities.

It is difficult for these high schoolers to catch up. Resources are slim, reading intervention is expected to already have occurred and the focus is on getting the students to graduate. Consequently, many graduate with poor reading skills and bleak future prospects.

Four California State University, Northridge special education professors are hoping to change that. Through a $1.6 million, four-year grant from the U.S. Department of Education, Sally Spencer, Vanessa Goodwin, Sue Sears and Nancy Burstein are pioneering a model for much-needed high school literacy intervention that can be replicated and used throughout the nation. The Literate Adolescents Intervention Project includes a research component and will produce materials for teachers and coaches, making the model adaptable to any high school.

CSUN is one of only three grant awardees, along with the Michigan State Department of Education and the University of Texas at Austin, to develop literacy intervention models. The CSUN professors are the only group working on high school literacy intervention. In collaboration with the Los Angeles Unified School District’s Intensive Diagnostic Educational Centers (IDEC) program, the CSUN professors began working last fall at Alexander Hamilton High School and will implement their model at two other LAUSD high schools during the next three years.

Spencer said intensive intervention is crucial for the students at risk.

“When we are talking about kids with learning disabilities, the majority of them are put into special education because of reading problems,” Spencer said. “What research tells us is that in order to intervene with their reading problems, intervention needs to start really early and be really intensive. Many schools don’t have the resources for that, and the kids get further and further behind. By the time they go to high school, they are three or four grade levels behind and so discouraged that they’ve lost motivation.

“They still need that intensive intervention,” she continued, “but high schools have even fewer resources for that work.”

The professors — all former K-12 teachers — are building a collaborative model that integrates intensive reading strategies that go beyond intervention classes and into content classes — such as history and science — to make sure the students are being supported in a more holistic way. They are creating a cohort of content-area teachers at Hamilton who will receive training, as well as classroom assistance from a literacy intervention coach, to apply the strategies in their classes from ninth to 12th grade.

They hope to create a model that can be adapted to meet the unique needs of high schools across the country.

“One of the things we are learning is that high schools are very different from one another. What might work at one might be different at another,” Burstein said. “You need flexibility in this model.”

At Hamilton, the reading intervention teacher is CSUN alumna Lindsay Young, who graduated in 2013 with a master’s degree in special education. Young said she is already seeing results from new evidence-based reading intervention strategies that use material appropriate to students’ grade levels, rather than elementary materials that match their reading levels.

The goal is to get the ninth graders integrated into more general education classes, she said.

“Before this, I had just been doing programs that weren’t really working,” Young said. “We have ninth graders who, at first, seemed like they could read a textbook, but had no idea what they were reading. We have an 11th grader who was reading at a second-grade level and until this year, teachers were giving him second-grade level words. For the first time, the teachers are giving him words like ‘preventable.’ At the beginning of the year, when tested on 15 multiple-syllable words, he couldn’t read any of them. This month, he correctly read eight.”

Students who solely have been in special education classes also are far below average in technological literacy, because they have had little to no exposure, Goodwin said.

“We found that some don’t know how to turn on a laptop, so we spent two weeks teaching them how to do that, open a document and save it,” Goodwin said. “We are trying to embed most of their instruction in authentic technology so that they are writing things on the computer, saving documents, pulling them up again, adding to things, and will eventually use speech-to-text and text-to-speech programs.”

Young said literacy intervention in high school is not just for literacy’s sake — reading and writing are crucial to functioning in an adult world.

“They are going to encounter complex texts, such as the driver’s manual and college textbooks — we are preparing them for what they are actually going to see,” Young said.

Low literacy is correlated with more dire consequences than limiting a person’s success. According to the National Center for Education Statistics prison inmates score much lower in literacy than the average person. Spencer said other research has found that 40 percent of juvenile offenders have learning disabilities, as opposed to 5 percent of the general population, and 70 percent of adult inmates have not finished high school.

Jeff Fractor, a special education teacher who serves as the literacy coach at Hamilton, spent time teaching reading in prisons before returning to work in public schools.

“The chance of learning how to read in prison is low,” Fractor said. “Once they’re there, it’s kind of late. They’ve probably already done something that will prevent them from securing a job upon release, and therefore, learning to read isn’t important for many inmates. It’s the main reason why I left the prisons and came back to K-12 — it’s a lot less expensive to provide intensive intervention before they leave school than afterward.”

If their model can succeed in LAUSD, the second-largest school district in the country, it can succeed anywhere, the CSUN team members said. They said they hope to see these strategies adopted in general education classrooms, where students also struggle with reading.

The partnership between CSUN and LAUSD can help encourage a more inclusive culture in education, the professors said.

“We’ve been very fortunate that [the people at] IDEC have been so supportive and collaborative, and lucky that our perspective on how to teach reading was aligned with theirs,” Sears said. “It’s a unique opportunity to make a sustainable difference when a university and a school district are on the same page.”

As former K-12 teachers, the CSUN professors said they are excited to be part of such a groundbreaking initiative. They said they began their journey as educators with a desire to help kids, and this project gives them an opportunity to affect change on a higher level.

“What this grant allows us to do is what you always wanted to do as a K-12 teacher, but never could — to spend as much time as you need to make your instruction as effective as it can be,” Spencer said. “It’s really exciting.”

Terrorism and hate crime expert Brian Levin spoke recently to the California State University, Northridge community about the complexities of extremism and hate, two increasingly important trends facing the nation and the world. With the rise of domestic hate groups and recent international terror attacks, Levin explained how distrust, political dislocation, nationalism, religious tensions, inequality, demographic changes and economic shifts contribute to the emergence of extremism and hate crimes.

Levin is the director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism, and teaches criminal justice at California State University, San Bernardino. Over the course of his career, he has interviewed numerous extremists from all over the world — from prisoners in the Middle East to white supremacists and neo-Nazis.

“What these folks all have in common is they opt out and they view themselves as being part of an uneven war in which their culture, their lives and their legitimacy is at stake,” Levin said. “No matter what kind of fanatic you look at, that’s the common theme I found over many years.”

In his lecture at CSUN, Levin shared local and international hate crime statistics, focusing on Muslim-Americans who have suffered from the prejudice against their community in reaction to terror attacks.

“If people feel that a peer group or a leader identifies someone as a legitimate target of aggression, that can help catapult people toward violence and intolerance,” he said. “Prejudice is distinguished by inflexibility to respect new information. Most hate [crime] offenders act on negative — but not deeply held — stereotypes. That is why many of the hate groups are becoming politically active and endorsing mainstream candidates.”

With seven major terrorist attacks by extremist groups such as ISIS or TAK (Kurdistan Freedom Falcons) — causing hundreds of fatalities around the world — March 2016 was one of the deadliest months in decades. Many Americans have responded with hate crimes against the Muslim-American community and increased support of radical presidential candidates who reject Muslims.

“Hate groups see their messages being retransmitted in the mainstream and are rallying behind certain candidates,” Levin said. “Retaliatory hate crimes against Muslims in the U.S. spiked by nearly three times in the months after the Paris attacks. But torture — along with banning Muslims or [surveillance of] broad communities — [makes us] lose against the terrorists we say we are trying to combat.”

Levin explained that the lack of trust in the government holding society together enables extremism to flourish by causing more Americans to prefer an authoritarian type of governance in their pursuit of security — sacrificing freedom, tolerance and democracy.

“It goes against our national goal of being a beacon for tolerance,” he said. “But where is the outcry?”

Instead of excluding minority groups, Levin encouraged Americans to include them in civil life and show empathy toward outsiders in order to attain a stable and complete society. He discussed the frequent accusations against President Obama, who spoke out against bigotry and prejudice multiple times.

“President Obama has been called everything from not a real American to a Muslim — as if there’s something wrong with being from a different faith,” he said. “Saying that Muslims aren’t fit for the presidency or that we have to surveil them or ban them … [causes] the exclusion of patriotic Muslim-Americans from civil society.”

Levin’s lecture was held in Sierra Hall’s Whitsett Room and organized by CSUN’s College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, as part of its Richard W. Smith Lecture in Cultural Studies series. Dean Stella Theodoulou said she was pleased with the lecture’s outcome and that Levin’s visit was a real honor for the CSUN community.

“The response to Brian Levin’s lecture was extremely positive,” she said. “One of the many responsibilities of the university is to provide a forum for dialogue around issues that affect the community that we are part of. Professor Levin provided a thought-provoking and extremely informative lecture on a subject that is of great concern to each one of us.”

CSUN math professor Helena Noronha developed the original PUMP program at CSUN and oversaw its expansion to include nine other CSUs. Photo by Luis Garcia.

The Department of Mathematics at California State University, Northridge has received one of the highest honors of the American Mathematics Society (AMS) for the development of a program that provides support to undergraduate students from underrepresented communities to go on and get their doctorates in the mathematical sciences.

The society announced it was giving CSUN its AMS Award for Exemplary Program or Achievement in a Mathematics Department last week, singling out the creation of the PUMP (Preparing Undergraduates through Mentoring toward Ph.D.s) program and its successor, the CSU Alliance for PUMP, which includes other campuses in the CSU system.

“The PUMP program has a tremendous impact on getting and keeping students from underrepresented groups in mathematics,” said Aloysius Helminck of North Carolina State University, who served as chair of the award selection committee. “The program started at CSUN and now includes 10 California State University campuses.

“PUMP takes students early in their college careers and gives them a summer boot camp in math, followed by research opportunities in the academic year,” Helminck said. “Students receive mentoring and are connected to the broader mathematical community by attending conferences. Most of them continue to graduate programs. The success of PUMP is due in large measure to the vision and dedication of its leadership. The program is highly deserving of this prestigious award.”

CSUN math professor Helena Noronha, who developed the original PUMP program at CSUN in 2005 and oversaw its expansion to include other CSUs in 2013, said she was pleased the program was receiving national recognition.

“It’s an honor for CSUN and the PUMP program to receive such a prestigious award,” Noronha said. “This award recognizes that with the appropriate training, encouragement and mentoring, underrepresented minority and first-generation college students can acquire the mathematics background and skills to enter top-quality Ph.D. programs. It also recognizes that one can build a ‘doctoral cultural’ in an undergraduate institution.”

She added that the program would not be the success it is without the “wholehearted support” from mathematics faculty at CSUN and the other participating CSU campuses.

Noronha started PUMP at CSUN in 2005 with a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The goal was to prepare students for Ph.D. programs in the mathematical sciences. It was such a success that in 2013, Noronha received a new NSF grant to establish the CSU Alliance for PUMP. In addition to Northridge, the alliance now includes nine other Cal State campuses — Channel Islands, Dominguez Hills, Fresno, Fullerton, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Pomona, San Marcos and San Bernardino.

A key component of the PUMP program is its summer institute, which pays a stipend to sophomore and junior students to attend four weeks of intensive, rigorous courses in linear algebra and analysis. Those areas were chosen because they are fundamental to any specialization the students might choose in graduate school. Working together in the institute also forges long-lasting bonds among the students and greatly increases their motivation and confidence.

The summer institute also provides students with information about how to apply to and succeed in a doctoral program, and about the career opportunities open to them with an advanced degree in mathematics.

PUMP also provides the undergraduates the opportunity to do research, offering modest financial support to the faculty and students involved.

The AMS judges noted that undergraduate research has become an integral part of the CSUN mathematics department, “and this effect is now spreading to the other institutions in the CSU Alliance for PUMP. The activity fosters closer engagement between faculty and students, thereby leading naturally to better mentoring.”

PUMP also regularly encourages students to apply for off-campus opportunities and provides support for students to attend regional and national conferences.

Prior to the program, according to Noronha, the number of CSUN mathematics students applying to doctoral programs was nominal. Over the past decade, more than 50 CSUN math majors have enrolled in Ph.D. programs, many at top-tier institutions across the country. She noted that three PUMP students have received NSF graduate fellowships, and one received an NSF postdoctoral fellowship.

“What PUMP has done at CSUN, and is now spreading through the CSU Alliance, is to foster a ‘doctoral culture’ in an undergraduate institution,” Noronha said. “PUMP students thrive in this culture, which provides a structure and setting where their knowledge and aspirations can blossom.”

The Delmar T. Oviatt Library is the core of California State University, Northridge. Faculty and staff members keep it running smoothly to ensure that students receive the resources and assistance they need. The library is also composed of many student employees that are the backbone for faculty and staff.

On March 30, the 2016 Library Student Employee Scholarship reception was held at the Orange Grove Bistro to award 21 student employees with more than $20,000 in aid to help ease the financial weight of college expenses.

Scholarship recipients and family members of the recipients were afforded a unique opportunity to thank the donors that make the annual awards possible at the reception.

Eva Cohen, a multimedia production major, is one of the six recipients of the Ann and David Perkins Scholarship.

“I felt very happy and blessed that they [donors] enjoyed my letter,” Cohen said. “I am planning to use the money to buy Adobe Creative Cloud, which is important for my major.”

Donors Ann and David Perkins are retired librarians and through their donations they remain connected to the Oviatt Library.

“We both feel that student support is very important, especially with the increase in tuition and other educational expenses,” Ann Perkins said. “We plan to continue our support through scholarships for Oviatt Library student assistants.”

Out of the 21 scholarship recipients, two students were awarded two scholarships each, which means double the financial aid.

“I was incredibly surprised, super happy and completely grateful,” said Anastasia Peck, a third-year physical therapy student and recipient of the scholarship. “I first got one [scholarship] and then the other one came in a little bit later. I am just so grateful for the donations.”

Peck was awarded the Friends of the Library Scholarship and the Dr. Bonita J. Campbell WISE Scholarship.

Librarian Emeritus Virginia Elwood-Akers, donor to the Friends scholarship, said “I think that giving money to people who are trying to get an education is the best thing that people can do with their money.”