California State University, Northridge’s Tseng College, one of the largest providers of English-language and college-preparation instruction for international students in the United States, received the 2016 Export Achievement Award at the World Trade Week Kickoff Breakfast on May 3.

The Southern California World Trade Week Awards Committee, in conjunction with the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, bestows this award to an outstanding company in the Los Angeles area that has successfully entered and/or expanded in the international marketplace. CSUN partners with more than 100 institutions of higher education in 22 countries around the globe. It attracts the second-largest international student population of any U.S. master’s-level institution.

“The Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce World Trade Week Committee is pleased to recognize California State University, Northridge’s Tseng College for its success growing international student enrollment in its graduate and mid-career education programs,” said Carlos J. Valderrama, the chamber’s senior vice president of global initiatives. “The chamber greatly appreciates the significance of this growth for CSUN and its impact on the greater Los Angeles economy.”

CSUN has extensively collaborated with the U.S. Commercial Service in a variety of activities and initiatives that demonstrate CSUN’s proactive approach and commitment to exporting and international growth. The university has participated in the Commercial Office ShowTime events at NAFSA (National Association for Foreign Student Advisers), where CSUN has met with experts in international markets from Mexico, India, China, Thailand, France, Kazakhstan and the Czech Republic.

“Los Angeles is an international city, a global center of industry and trade,” CSUN President Dianne F. Harrison said. “With 41,000 students, CSUN’s impact on Los Angeles is significant, and we directly support Los Angeles’ position in the world by sending our students and faculty abroad and drawing a strong international presence back to Southern California. International students bring an invaluable global perspective into the classroom, elevating the educational experience for all students.”

CSUN, through the Tseng College, has made extensive use of the U.S. Department of Commerce and State Department services recruiting students in Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America. The university has actively promoted its programs through participation in several StudyCalifornia.us and U.S. Commercial Service (Global Markets) export promotion activities and services during the last five years.

According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, international students studying in the United States contribute more than $30 billion to the U.S. economy in tuition and living expenses. The total number of foreign students increased 10 percent during 2014-2015, and more than 70 percent of students studying in the United States use outside sources to fund their international study, making education and training services a valuable U.S. export.

For 90 years, World Trade Week (WTW), an initiative of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, has been the most extensive and unique program of its kind in the country. WTW dedicates itself to educating the public on the importance and benefits of global trade on the local and national economy through a series of educational programs and events.

World trade is celebrated throughout the month of May with more than 30 events hosted by partnering organizations in Southern California that are jump-started by the chamber’s annual WTW Kickoff Breakfast with more than 700 guests. World Trade Week supports college and high school scholarships, high school student and career counselor workshops, as well as briefings for civic and business leaders interested in benefiting from the global economy.

California State University, Northridge hosted the third-annual Rally in the Valley event May 7 in Redwood Hall, to showcase technology and engineering-related projects of more than 200 elementary school students from the San Fernando Valley.

Co-sponsored by the Los Angeles Unified School District and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the competition required student teams to design, build and program Lego Mindstorms robots, challenging other teams for awards.

“We were very excited [about the event] and pleased to promote awareness for parents and educators about the important way STEM-integration (science, technology, engineering and math) events like robotics offers girls and boys diverse opportunities to apply math and science in the problem-solving that engineers do every day,” said Susan Belgrad, one of the event’s main organizers and CSUN professor of elementary education.

Belgrad said the Rally in the Valley student activities, which students prepared for all year long, engaged them in 21st century learning skills: collaboration, communication, critical thinking and creativity. Developing these skills can help increase access to college majors and careers in STEM for the participants, she said.

“The teacher-coaches from the seven elementary schools (Stanley Mosk, Castlebay Lane, Pacoima Charter, Haskell, Santa Monica Boulevard Community Charter, Victory and Haddon Avenue) have my deepest admiration,” Belgrad said. “Parents were absolutely amazed to see that their children have the capability to program these robots and overcome difficulties by collaboration and teamwork.”

It takes hard work, determination and long hours in the library to master the art of juggling an often capricious schedule amidst the demands of midterms, multi-page papers and final projects. It pays off in the end, as thousands of family members, friends and fellow classmates will cheer as California State University, Northridge’s class of 2016, more than 11,120 strong, walks across the stage at graduation ceremonies beginning May 20.

Some of the graduates are the first in their families to get a college education. Others set out on a path forged by a desire to learn more about the world or through the determination of loved ones who believed that education would open doors to new opportunities.

Here are some of those students’ stories:

Charles Etienne, B.S. in Physics, with an emphasis in Astrophysics

Charles Etienne

“I have an astrophysics degree,” said Charles Etienne, 35, of North Hills. “I work as an engineer in industrial design. And I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for CSUN.”

Etienne was born in Canada and grew up in New Jersey. He had dreams of being a musician, so after high school he moved to New York City, where he got a job as a sound engineer and played in a band. After six years, the band members moved to Los Angeles because of its thriving music scene and a lower cost of living. They settled in Van Nuys in 2001.

“I would work as a sound engineer during the day, temporary jobs here and there, and play shows at night,” Etienne said. “Wherever I worked, as things broke I would repair them. That sparked a curiosity about the principles behind why things work and why they don’t.”

After he got a job in technical support for the music equipment company Line 6, he started taking classes in 2009 at Pierce College to see if he could find the answers to his questions about how things worked. Eager to learn all he could, he decided to take a class at CSUN the following year.

While on campus, he stumbled upon CSUN’s Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Formula One car design project. Learning that the student team needed members, he volunteered.

“There was chemistry on the team and, lo and behold, a couple of months later, I was the project manager,” Etienne said. “That really was an experience. It exposed me to engineering, and I fell in love with math all over again — in the relationships between math and how things work in the world.”

He enrolled at CSUN that year as a physics major. Inspired by his time with the Formula One team, Etienne decided in his sophomore year to look for a similar experience in CSUN’s physics department.

“I was willing to sweep the floors somewhere — perhaps someone needed help cleaning up,” he said. “I knew how to solder, and I thought that might be of use. Dr. [Hendrick] Postma was ‘Welcome. Come in. You can help out.’”

In his spare time, Etienne would wander around CSUN, hoping to learn as much as he could about the “interesting things that were happening all over campus.”

“I would go into buildings,” he said. “If the door was locked, I wouldn’t go in. But if the door was open, I would go in and talk to whoever was there. I think I have been to part of every building on campus, and I have had interesting interactions with other students and professors. I felt there was a willingness and openness in the people in the different departments to say ‘This is what we’re working on.’ Those, for me, are the moments that I remember, that I treasure, from being at CSUN.”

In spring 2015, in the third week before the end of his last semester, Etienne, who had just landed a full-time job as a mechanical designer at the music technology company Strymon, was diagnosed with testicular cancer. His professors suspended his studies while he sought treatment. Etienne had surgery and is now cancer free. A few months after taking a health leave from CSUN, Etienne returned to the campus, finished his assignments and completed the requirements for his bachelor’s degree in physics, with an emphasis in astrophysics.

Etienne has been invited to take part in the commencement ceremony for the College of Science and Mathematics at 6 p.m. on Sunday, May 22.

“There is a tremendous sense of accomplishment, satisfaction and pride when I’m around the Valley or wherever, and I see a Matador sticker or a CSUN T-shirt, I think ‘Yep, me too,’” Etienne said.

He will be touring this summer with his band, The Alpine Camp.

Tamus Glunz, B.S. in Business Administration, with an emphasis in Real Estate and a minor in Business Law

Tamus Glunz

Tamus Glunz’s world imploded in 2009, during the worst of the recession. She lost her home and investment properties, and was left homeless.

“Life changed dramatically,” she said. “It was a matter of reinventing myself. I’ve been as low as the darkest of the dark, and I’ve been back in the sunshine. I’ve learned in my 50s that it’s not about ‘you,’ and you can’t accomplish it all on your own. You have to surround yourself with positive people and move forward.”

Glunz said she found those positive people at Allan Hancock College in Santa Maria and at CSUN.
The 58-year-old Northridge resident spent much of her childhood in Europe, living in Germany, Spain and Majorca and traveling. Her father was a pilot and her mother a stewardess for Pan American World Airways. The family moved back to the United States when Glunz was in fourth grade and settled on a ranch in Madera, Calif.

Glunz’s longtime passion for photography turned into photojournalism in high school and college, which led to a job as a concert photographer. Her first black-and-white images were for the musical group KC and the Sunshine Band. Over the years, Glunz has held a number of jobs, including postal worker.

All that time, she flirted with the idea of returning to college to finish her degree, but never felt comfortable in the classroom. But as the physical demands of her postal worker job began to take a toll on her mobility and issues concerning her investment properties came up, Glunz decided to give college another try.

In 2006, Glunz enrolled at Hancock College — her sixth attempt at completing her college degree — before transferring to CSUN in 2013. It was during her time a community college in Santa Barbara in the 1980s that an attentive professor realized that Glunz had a learning disability and made accommodations. When her world imploded during the recession, Gluntz was determined not to give up.

Despite being homeless — sometimes living on friends’ couches, housesitting or helping those in need of in-home healthcare assistance, or occasionally living out of her car — Glunz dedicated herself to her education. She said she owes her bachelor’s degree in part to the staff at Hancock College and CSUN’s Educational Opportunity Programs (EOP)and Disability Resources and Educational Services, who helped her when she needed it most with words of encouragement, guidance or accommodations for her disabilities.

Singling out CSUN TRIO Director Frank Muñiz and late EOP Director Jose Luis Vargas, Glunz teared up. “I am so lucky,” she said. “I am a lucky girl to have found such amazing people.”

In 201 4, realizing that there were other students like her — homeless or unsure where their next meal would come from — Glunz started what is now the Matador Food Bank, with the help of Justin Weiss, former director of CSUN’s student volunteer service program Unified We Serve. The food bank fed more than 300 students this past year. Glunz has met with CSUN and California State University system leaders about food insecurity and homelessness among CSU students.

At 8 a.m. on Sunday, May 22, Glunz will take part in the commencement ceremony for the David Nazarian College of Business and Economics. As for what comes next, Glunz said she is going to take a minute to breathe and take care of some long overdue health issues.

“I have a lot of opportunities, an abundance of opportunities, and I need a minute to think,” she said. “It’s been a decade-long journey, but we made it.”

Nazanin Keynejad, M.A. in English

Nazanin Keynejad

Nearly 23 years have passed since the first time Nazanin Keynejad stepped onto the CSUN campus. At that time, she was here to get a degree, and nothing else. Her employer at the time had promised her a promotion if she had a college degree. She applied to CSUN to finish a bachelor’s degree in English, which she had started a few years earlier at UCLA.

“I was here during the [1994 Northridge] earthquake,” said Keynejad, of Oak Park. “I went to classes in the trailers. It was a very wet winter that year. They had these wooden planks between the trailers and the mud. People would walk outside on the planks, the trailers would shake and literally, spiders would fall on you. It was a very interesting experience.”

Keynejad, who immigrated from Iran as a teenager with her mother, said she finished her degree and she was able to take advantage of the job promotion. She eventually got married, had a son and started her own event marketing company. Then the recession hit in 2008, and work became scarce.

One day, while cleaning, she found a journal dating back to 1989 in which she had written her dreams of getting a master’s and doctorate in English.

“I talked to my husband,” Keynejad said. “He said, ‘You’ve been thinking about this for 20 years. You don’t have a steady job right now. Maybe it’s time to do it.’ It was the spring of 2012. I just opened up the [CSUN] catalog. Unbeknownst to me, I signed up for one of the toughest undergrad classes with one of the toughest professors in the department. I took the class and loved every minute.”

Keynejad hadn’t given much thought to her grades when she first attended CSUN, and she had to make up for that. She spent a year taking classes through the Tseng College’s Open University program to spruce up her academic credentials before formally applying to the Department of English’s graduate program.

She said CSUN’s English faculty have fueled her passion for English literature and encouraged her interest in studying the rise and progression of the strong female literary characters in the 18th century. Her efforts earned her the CSU’s prestigious 2015-16 Sally Casanova Pre-Doctoral scholarship. The scholarship is designed to give historically underrepresented students more access to doctoral-level study. It places a special emphasis on increasing the number of CSU students who enter a doctoral program at a University of California institution.

In addition to her studies, Keynejad is the graduate student representative on CSUN’s Community Engagement Advisory Board and a graduate assistant in CSUN’s Learning Resource Center.

“What I want to do is get my Ph.D., come back and teach here at CSUN,” she said. “I love CSUN. As a good friend of mine once said, ‘CSUN is the school of second chances.’

“I have had the opportunity during the past couple of years to be a supplemental instructor in freshman composition,” she continued. “I am so humbled by these students. I had students who would take the bus at five in the morning to make it to class. Some are the first people in their families to go to college. If I can help just one of those students get to where they want to be, that would be the only reward I would need in my life.”

Keynejad is scheduled to take part in the commencement ceremony for the College of Humanties at 6 p.m. on Monday, May 23.

Laura Ontiveros, B.S. in Public Health

Laura Ontiveros

When Laura Ontiveros walks across the stage in front of the Oviatt Library later this month as part of commencement, the loudest cheers will be coming from her parents, Jose and Hermalinda Ontiveros. They made the decision more than 26 years ago to immigrate to the United States from Mexico, in hopes of creating a better life for their children.

Laura Ontiveros, the fourth of their five children and the first in the family to be born in the U.S., watched as her parents, who spoke limited English, struggled to make ends meet. She knew education was important, but it was the unwavering support of a counselor at Arleta High School that convinced her that college was possible.

Ontiveros, 25, of Pacoima, was the first in her family to go to college. Her sister, Yesenia, who will be finishing her degree in psychology this summer, is the second to get a college education.

An honors student in high school, Laura Ontiveros chose biology as her major freshman year at CSUN because she thought a career in healthcare would be interesting. She admitted to struggling that first year to find her foothold at the university, and being disappointed when she discovered biology just wasn’t her forte.

During her sophomore year, Ontiveros joined a sorority, Sigma Alpha Zeta, to become more involved on campus and find a way to give back to the community. The sorority is involved in several community projects, from working with survivors of domestic violence to feeding and clothing the homeless and helping organize the campus’ annual Relay For Life, which raises money for cancer research.

Aware that Ontiveros was looking for a new major, one of her sorority sisters suggested she explore public health.

“I ended up taking a class with professor Carla Valdez, and that first day of class, I knew it,” Ontiveros said. “She showed us the big picture of what it means to be a public health educator and I was like, ‘This is it!’ I remember, that same day I went back to my sorority sister and told her, ‘I found what I want to do for the rest of my life.’”

Ontiveros said she treasured her time at CSUN and the lessons, beyond the classroom, that it taught her.
“Sometimes, as a Latina woman, you don’t know how far you can go. You don’t know your worth,” she said. “Coming to college gave me a sense of who I am and how powerful I can be, and what I can do in the world. It gave me confidence in myself — that I am smart. I have reached goals that I never thought I could reach back in middle school. I never knew I’d graduate from college.”

Ontiveros will take part in the commencement ceremony for the College of Health and Human Development scheduled for 8 a.m. on Monday, May 23. She said she hopes to find a job as a public health educator after graduation, but eventually wants to return to CSUN to get a graduate degree in public health.

David Stamps, M.A. in Mass Communication

David Stamps

David Stamps, 35, of Simi Valley, is passionate about taking his thesis, the We Matter Project, to the next level when he graduates from CSUN later this month.

“It’s about how we use social media to change the narrative,” Stamps said. “I grew up in Ferguson, [Mo.]. That’s my community. But everyone is telling a story, and each one paints a different picture. I am Mike Brown. I am a black male from Ferguson, Missouri. Everything else that is created is painted and told by someone else outside of my control.

“People don’t understand that you don’t have to fit into a box just because someone has created a box for you,” he continued. “We have to be equipped to understand that no one can tell our story but ourselves.”
Stamps’ parents were hard-working people who never had been to college, but were determined that their son have opportunities they never had. He was voluntarily bused to a predominantly white school district so he could have the best public-school education possible. In his junior year of high school, a college counselor pulled him aside and told him she was going to do everything she could to help him get into college.

“I had never thought of going to college before,” he said. “It never seemed like an option.”

In 1999, he enrolled at St. Louis University to study communications and theater. Two years later, he transferred to Columbia College Chicago, where, in 2003, he earned his bachelor’s degree, with honors, in media studies with an emphasis in nonprofit administration.

After graduation, he moved to Los Angeles not exactly sure what he was going to do, but eager to spread his wings.

His love of dance led to teaching jobs and unexpected offers to dance and act professionally. He often would tap into his academic experience to help the small theater and dance companies with which he worked to write their grant applications.

One day, a student in one of his dance classes who worked at NBCUniversal mentioned he was looking for an assistant. Stamps gave him his resume and was hired. He worked for NBCUniversal’s marketing department for about six years, handling talent and arranging media events for more than than 80 films, from “Despicable Me” to the “Fast and Furious” and “Bourne” franchises. He also managed the internship program, which included working with CSUN students.

When Stamps married in 2010, he and his wife talked about starting a family. They knew the long hours his job demanded weren’t conducive to family life.

“I loved my job,” he said. “I knew that I was really good at it, but I realized that I loved working with college students more. I thought I could be a good teacher. In order to do that, I would have to go back to school and earn not only my master’s degree, but also my doctorate if I wanted to become a tenure-track professor.”

Shortly after the birth of his first child in 2012, Stamps quit his job and enrolled at CSUN. He became a stay-at-home dad who juggled three part-time jobs — as a dance instructor, a graduate assistant in CSUN’s Department of Management and a fitness instructor at the Student Recreation Center — and a full course load. He said his wife, Monique, an elementary school teacher, has been his biggest supporter. She offered him words of support when times got tough and has been steadfast in her faith that he will succeed.

Now a father of two, Stamps will take part of the commencement ceremony for the Mike Curb College of Arts, Media, and Communication at 6 p.m. on Friday, May 20. He will be pursuing his doctorate in communication studies at UC Santa Barbara in the fall.

A record number of faculty and staff who were awarded millions of dollars for research at California State University, Northridge were recognized at the annual Principal Investigators (PI) Recognition Celebration on May 11.

“Tonight’s event represents the best of our university,” President Dianne F. Harrison said. “Our Principal Investigators are taking such time and effort to further explore knowledge and creativity, making important contributions to their disciplines, to society and most importantly to our students.”

The University Corporation and the Office of Research and Sponsored Projects invited 190 faculty and staff researchers to the Valley Performing Arts Center. All PIs — the lead researcher on a funded project and co-PIs who have active projects as of Dec. 31, 2015 — were recognized at the event.

Harrison applauded the efforts of the university’s researchers who are working on approximately 230 projects. The president said that for 2015-16, CSUN expects to exceed its all-time record of $31 million in sponsored program expenditures. Between July 2015 and March 2016, CSUN more than doubled the number of students employed by funded projects to 500, and those students have received $1.7 million in salaries and $2 million in stipends.

“Research and creative activity provide a unique experience to our students,” Harrison said. “The advantages of such involvement in experiential learning are generally known and documented. I strongly believe that the extensive involvement of CSUN undergrads and grads in sponsored research and service activities adds value to a CSUN education.”

Yi Li, provost and vice president for academic affairs, also thanked and congratulated the researchers for their work.

President Harrison initiated the annual recognition event in 2012 to highlight the importance of research, creative and service endeavors in the life of the university. Those recognized are researching a range of topics from the study of the ecology of marine fish to projects that support science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education and the retention of underrepresented minority students, to programs that support efforts to recruit and support former foster care youth.

Wendy Palatino has been working toward a more equitable world for the Deaf community since she was a teenager. The 24-year-old California State University, Northridge double major in linguistics and Deaf studies started to learn sign language at 12

Wendy Palatino

so she could communicate with a child she babysat.

That interest grew, and Palatino took a class in American Sign Language, started interpreting at her church and tutoring hearing adults in how to sign.

“I connected with the Deaf community,” Palatino said. “I’ve seen too many travesties in the treatment of those in the Deaf community, and I want to make a difference.”

After earning an associate’s degree in social sciences and foreign languages at American River College in Sacramento, Palatino said she enrolled at CSUN because of the outstanding reputation of the Department of Linguistics and the Department of Deaf Studies, which is one of the oldest and most respected departments in the nation.

“[Deaf studies] is considered a pillar of social justice in the surrounding community,” Palatino said.

Since arriving at CSUN, she has continued to volunteer as an interpreter in the community and to work almost full-time as a teacher assistant at a local elementary school. In 2015, she was accepted as a student-participant to the prestigious Visual Language and Visual Learning Student Network, a research network funded by the National Science Foundation and run by Gallaudet University, the foremost university for Deaf studies in the country.

These are just some of the accomplishments that have earned Palatino the distinction of being this year’s Wolfson Scholar, the top award for a graduating senior. The award is presented each year in memory of CSUN’s first vice president, Leo Wolfson. Not only must the student have an exceptional academic record, but he or she must also have made significant contributions to CSUN or to the community through co-curricular and extracurricular activities. She has a 3.97 GPA.

Palatino said she plans to pursue a master’s degree in Deaf education at CSUN, and eventually pursue a doctorate at Gallaudet University.

“I am exceedingly grateful to my professors at CSUN for giving me the knowledge and the tools I have needed to come this far,” Palatino said. “Before arriving at CSUN, I was merely interested in the intersection of my two majors, and now I’m thrilled to actively contribute to my field.”

Palatino will be recognized along with several other outstanding graduating seniors during CSUN’s Honors Convocation ceremony at 8 a.m. on Friday, May 20. To hear more of Palatino’s story, watch the video:

Each year, four graduating seniors are presented with the Outstanding Graduating Senior Award in recognition of academic excellence, contributions to campus and community, and exceptional achievements or personal life circumstances they have overcome. These $1,000 awards are funded by the CSUN Alumni Association, the University Foundation and the Karen, Leon and Rita Goldstein-Saulter Memorial Fund.

The other 2016 Outstanding Graduating Senior Award winners are:

Devon Coombs, B.S. in Business Honors, recipient of a CSUN Foundation Award with a 3.77 GPA

Devon Coombs, 27, of Woodland Hills, grew up in poverty. He never knew his father, and his mother died when he was 15. He has been on his own since he was 18.

Devon Coombs

Coombs started his own recording label, Antipode Records, at age 19, recording music and creating marketing campaigns for local talent. A shifting business market and the oncoming recession hit him hard, forcing him to liquidate his company in 2007. He lived in his car for more than a year to pay off his debts.

Knowing education was the key to success, Coombs took classes at Pierce College and eventually transferred to CSUN.

While at CSUN, Coombs has been active in the Business Honors Association and Leaders in Alliance, a group of student leaders in the David Nazarian College of Business and Economics, as well as serving on a search committee and the business honors advisory committee for the college. He has made more than 100 educational YouTube videos to assist lower-division business students and created a mentoring program between CSUN business honors students and students at Granada Hills Charter High School. He also runs a small-business consulting and tutoring business on the side.

“The only way to overcome obstacles is through people helping you, giving you assistance and mentoring you,” Coombs said. “Giving back is such a huge part of my life. If I can reach out to anyone the way I was reached out to and encouraged, then I am going to do that. It gives me the energy to do what I do.”

Coombs has been hired as an auditor by the international professional services firm Deloitte. He has plans to get married next year. In the meantime, he is spending this summer preparing for the certified public accountant (CPA) exam.

Joshua Khabushani, B.A. in Philosophy, recipient of a CSUN Foundation Award with a 3.8 GPA

CSUN philosophy major Joshua Khabushani, 24, said he believes his success cannot be measured merely in his grade point average, but in his well-rounded education from his involvement in the campus community, study abroad, volunteer work and the relationships he has forged during his time at CSUN.

Joshua Khabushani

Growing up in the San Fernando Valley, Khabushani and his mother moved several times, making it difficult to nurture friendships and get involved with service. When he arrived at CSUN and sat through a TAKE performance, a stage performance that includes four skits surrounding issues prevalent to CSUN students, during freshman orientation, Khabushani vowed to give back.

He started by becoming a New Student Orientation leader, and then he became a TAKE cast member, Unified We Serve volunteer, a peer instructor as a supplemental instruction lead for English and a senator with Associated Students.

Off campus, at age 20, Khabushani raised money and traveled to Nepal to volunteer at an orphanage. Donations provided mosquito nets, sheets and private-education tuition to the children. Khabushani said he thought he was going to “save the world,” but he soon realized the money meant far less than the time he spent with the kids in Nepal.

Through all this activity at CSUN and abroad, Khabushani battled depression and an eating disorder, which resulted in hospital stays and a missed semester.

“I’ve had a lot of opportunities to not come back, to say, ‘This is too much’ and drop out of CSUN,” Khabushani said. Instead, he found his passion in philosophy and dove deep into the campus community that he credits as the reason for his success.

After graduation, Khabushani plans to take time away from academics to explore another passion: coffee roasting. He plans to explore the possibility of one day opening a coffee shop near CSUN — the place that has given him so much.

Stephanie Martinez, B.A. in Political Science and Chicana/o Studies, recipient of the Karen, Leon and Rita Goldstein-Saulter Memorial Award with a 3.59 GPA

Stephanie Martinez describes herself as a “Chicana, an activist, a student and a fighter.” One of those distinctions she soon will lose: “Student” will be replaced on her personal ledger by “college graduate.”

Stephanie Martinez

Growing up in Huntington Park, Stephanie recalled how the predominantly Latino community enveloped her and gave her many warm and happy memories as a child. Looking around at the largely immigrant community, she found her calling.

The only child of Guadalupe and Fernando Martinez — who emigrated from Mexico themselves — Martinez saw that if she really wanted to make a difference in her home community and others like it, she would have to get an education. She learned about the Department of Chicana/o Studies at CSUN and read books by department co-founder Rudy Acuña, which inspired her to attend the university.

While working on her double major, Martinez also did volunteer work. Through M.E.Ch.A. (Movimiento Estudiantil Chicana/o de Aztlan), she attended the Raza Youth Conference, helping promote higher education to students of color from underserved communities. She was an academic mentor during CSUN’s Educational Opportunity Programs (EOP) Summer Transitional Programs. Martinez also helped lead caravans to Tijuana to help people who were recently deported.

“Those types of trips open up your eyes to see how privileged one really is. [I thought], ‘Wow, I really do have it all,’” Martinez said. “What am I going to do with everything I have? How is it that I’m going to turn that into resources for others?”

After graduation, Martinez, 22, plans to take a year to work for Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA), a nonprofit organization that caters to the undocumented community in Los Angeles. She also intends to intern at a law firm before beginning law school in fall 2017. But first, she plans to participate in three commencement ceremonies at CSUN, finding at each event her inspiration to graduate from college: her parents.

Laura Saldarriaga, B.S., Manufacturing Systems Engineering, recipient of the Karen, Leon and Rita Goldstein-Saulter Memorial Award with a 3.61 GPA

On June 21, 2005, Laura Saldarriaga’s life changed forever. Traveling in her cousin’s car to pick up Saldarriaga’s little sister, she was riding in a seat with a faulty seatbelt buckle. As they pulled back into their neighborhood, another car slammed into them and Saldarriaga was ejected through the windshield. She was rushed to the hospital, where doctors performed a number of tests before taking her into surgery. That day, they discovered tumors around Saldarriaga’s lungs, heart and in her neck. Saldarriaga had Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

Laura Saldarriaga

Just 21 years old, Saldarriaga recently had emigrated from her native Colombia to Orlando, Fla., with her family. The move had interrupted her college engineering studies, and Saldarriaga was scheduled to start classes at Valencia College in Orlando. Recovering from her injuries and thrown into cancer treatment, Saldarriaga had to put her engineering dreams on hold once again.

Later, in remission, after struggling to balance full-time work with getting the engineering classes she needed at night at the community college, Saldarriaga decided to move to Los Angeles on her own to pursue better college opportunities. Living in the San Fernando Valley and working for Bank of America during the day, Saldarriaga chose CSUN for its convenience and wide array of engineering courses offered at night. She enrolled in 2012, determined to finish her degree.

Her senior year featured one of the highlights of her CSUN career, Saldarriaga said: working on a senior design project. Her team of engineering classmates created a home healthcare system to help families with medical needs such as checking temperature, oxygen and glucose levels. NASA also selected Saldarriaga, based on her qualifications and strong GPA, to work in its Academic Part-Time employee program at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). After graduation, her JPL supervisors plan to keep her on as a cleanroom compliance engineer, she said.

Throughout her journey, the 32-year-old Saldarriaga has remained incredibly positive.

“If I have an opportunity to share my story with someone, I will, because you never know who will hear it and need [the encouragement],” she said. “Cancer is not the end of your life!”

Contributing to this article: Carmen Ramos Chandler, Olivia Herstein, Jorge Martin and Emily Olson.

At age 16, Benjamin Krasner is graduating from CSUN in May 2016 with bachelor’s degrees in music and economics. Photo by Lee Choo.

If Benjamin Krasner’s educational career up to this point were defined by a musical term, it would be allegro — a brisk, lively tempo. This week, Krasner will graduate from California State University, Northridge with two bachelor’s degrees — one in music and one in economics — and this fall, he will head to Yale University on a full scholarship to pursue a master’s degree in music. He’s hit all these high notes at the tender age of 16.

That’s not a typo. At age 12, Krasner enrolled in Pierce College, and by 14, he had transferred to CSUN.

“People ask me when I graduated from high school — I didn’t,” said Krasner, a double major in piano performance and economics. “I went to Malibu middle school, and I skipped eighth grade through high school. My sister gave me a T-shirt that says, ‘I’m a high school dropout and proud of it.’”

Before his acceptance at Pierce, Krasner had to complete a number of interviews and take a host of placement tests “to prove that I was ready to hold my own in this [college] environment,” he said.

“When I started, I was fairly short — I was 5-foot nothing, and I was there with all these 20somethings,” he said, grinning. “I remember my first day of class, the teacher thought I was lost and looking for my parents.”

His adjustment to college classes and life took some time, Krasner said, but he surrounded himself with other musicians and soon thrived. Four years later, the teen has grown quite a bit — in height, in musicianship, in maturity. With a head of dark, curly hair and bright, dark eyes, Krasner is friendly, easygoing and carries himself with the air of a confident college student.

“Every time I tell my story to people, I see a shift in the way they treat me,” he said. “When they know my age first, they treat me more carefully — it’s strange. But when they learn I’m a college student first [before learning my age], they see me with more respect.

“I don’t want them to see me as a child,” he continued. “I want them to see me as a mature person — that I can do all of these things.”

Krasner credited his mother — an artist and Russian-Jewish immigrant with a master’s degree in mathematics — with his early success. His mother and father, who works in IT at Amgen, emigrated from Russia to Northridge in the early 1990s. The couple moved to Malibu after the 1994 Northridge earthquake. His mother tutored Krasner and his two siblings in advanced math from a young age, and his father has been supportive and helpful through all his studies, Krasner said. His older sister, Danielle, was the first to forge an early path to college.

Danielle enrolled at California State University, Los Angeles at age 12, and by 16, she’d earned a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry. She also went to Yale, where she completed a master’s and doctorate in biochemistry. She’s now 24, working on a postdoc at USC — and advising Benjamin on what to expect in New Haven, Conn.

“I’m really happy I was able to get into the program [at Yale],” he said. “The faculty is really outstanding, and Yale can open so many doors for me.”

After completing his master’s, he hopes to pursue an artist’s diploma (a two-year program) and a doctorate. He wants to tour as a pianist, he said, and someday, to teach. Krasner said he owed his development as a musician to his mentor and piano teacher for almost 10 years before arriving at CSUN, Lubov Sorochkina, a former professor at USC and the Moscow Conservatory.

Although piano is his focus and his passion, he chose economics as a double major for its practicality, Krasner said. He credited his CSUN professors — especially his economics advisor, department chair Nancy Virts, and his piano teacher, keyboard studies chair Dmitry Rachmanov — with inspiring him and guiding him through the challenging balancing act of a double major.

“[Rachmanov] is an outstanding musician,” Krasner said. “I admire him so much for his wisdom, and for the way he plays. He is truly a great teacher and has been such a great mentor to me and friend to [my] family.”

The feeling is mutual.

“To work with Benjamin has been a great pleasure, for he absorbed everything you told him instantaneously and brought it to the next level,”Rachmanov said. “Benjamin was introduced to me in his early teens by [Sorochkina]. I immediately felt that his whole being exuded the love of music, an insatiable eagerness to learn and play all the music he could get his hands on with youthful fervor and excitement.”

Krasner was learning and playing well beyond his years — memorizing musical scores, progressing and winning many local contests and festivals, Rachmanov said.

“He already showed the qualities of a natural performer who loved to play for people in a concert setting,” the professor said. “During his two years at CSUN, he flourished, gained a lot of experience and transformed from a youthful 14 year old to a mature young artist.”

Krasner lauded CSUN’s music program as one that encourages students to be active on campus, with chamber groups and competitions.

“It’s been a great experience [at CSUN],” he said. “I found it easier here to make friends — and in the economics program as well. It’s taught me to be more social, and molded me to become a better musician and individual. … The diversity and well-roundedness I was able to develop has been the best part of CSUN — studying in such a great, diverse area as the Valley.”

Krasner’s parents encourage a well-rounded life as well, he said. Beyond academics, the teen nurtures passions for surfing, travel and hanging out with childhood friends. “Growing up, I did any sport that didn’t endanger my hands, like swimming, skiing, surfing,” said Krasner, who began playing piano at age 5.

This summer, he’s looking forward to a family trip to Thailand, as well as playing in a music festival in Portugal at the invitation of one of his new piano teachers at Yale, professor Boris Berman. (At Yale, Krasner also will study piano with professor Wei-Yi Yang.)

First, however, he’ll walk across the stage in cap and gown in front of CSUN’s Delmar T. Oviatt Library, in not one but two commencement ceremonies — claiming diplomas from the Mike Curb College of Arts, Media, and Communication and the David Nazarian College of Business and Economics.

This graduate shows no signs of slowing his tempo.

“It will be a challenge at Yale, because I’ll be working as a TA (teaching assistant)” for older students, Krasner said. “My plan will be to not advertise my age, to let them figure it out.”

After double majoring in piano performance and economics at CSUN, Benjamin Krasner, 16, will head to Yale University on a full scholarship this fall to pursue a master’s degree in music. Photo by Lee Choo.

Smiles, hugs and many happy tears were shed throughout eight commencement ceremonies spread over four days at California State University, Northridge during the annual rite that sets thousands of graduates off on their next adventure.

The ceremonies began Friday morning, May 20, with Honors Convocation, and concluded on Monday evening, May 23. Family, friends and graduates gathered in front of the Delmar T. Oviatt Library, where all eight celebrations took place. An estimated 8,836 bachelor’s, 2,228 master’s and 56 doctoral degree candidates were invited to take part in the ceremonies. Coming in at more than 11,000, it was the largest graduating class in CSUN history.

Here are some photo and video highlights of CSUN’s 2016 Commencement proceedings.

Michael Spagna

California is on the verge of a major teacher shortage, and state leaders need to take steps now if they don’t want to see classroom sizes balloon as education officials scramble to meet the needs of preschool through high school students.

Michael Spagna, dean of California State University, Northridge’s Michael D. Eisner College of Education, said the looming teacher shortage could have severe implications for the future of California’s workforce.

“If we don’t have enough credentialed teachers, then the question is, who will be teaching our kids?” Spagna asked.

He pointed out that over the past decade, the California State University (CSU) system has prepared more of California’s teachers than all other institutions combined, and it accounts for nearly 8 percent of the nation’s teachers.

“But the pipeline of people who want to become teachers is shrinking, especially in California,” he said. “It’s a combination of things, including ongoing negative portrayals of teachers by politicians and others, and a continuing devaluation of the career of a public school teacher. In the past, 98 percent of those who went into teaching did so because they wanted to change the world. That percentage is much lower now.

“At the same time,” Spagna continued, “the cost of living [combined with traditionally low wages] is making it much harder for someone considering becoming a teacher — particularly in areas like Los Angeles and the Bay Area, where the cost of living is astronomical. When you also factor in that over the next three years, up to one-fifth of the state’s teaching force will be retiring, California is facing a tsunami of a disaster when it comes to its teachers in the not-too-distant future.”

He noted that in the academic year 2001-02, the CSU enrolled and credentialed three times as many teacher candidates — 28,656 — than it does currently — only 8,837 in 2014-15.

“This year, school districts project that they will need to hire 21,500 new teachers in California,” he said. “Yet, all the credential programs combined only have about 13,300 candidates, leaving a shortfall of more than 8,000 newly trained teachers.”

Hoping to stave off the pending crisis, Spagna and a team of CSU deans and associate deans of education came up with proposals they hope will deal with the problem. They presented CSU Chancellor Timothy White with a formal white paper outlining their ideas earlier this year.

At the top of their list is removing the obstacles that get in the way of someone who wants to be a teacher, including executive order 1099, in the CSU, which currently prohibits teacher-credential programs from admitting students until they have passed the California Subject Examination for Teachers (CSET).

“We have been eroding the teacher pipeline inadvertently by doing these small paper changes to our programs, such as the CSET requirement,” Spagna said. “In the 2000s, we decided nobody would be admitted in any program unless they passed the subject matter exam. It was well intended, but it hurt us. I don’t see why we can’t admit students who haven’t passed the CSET, but not recommend them for a credential until they pass the CSET. We can soothe the public’s concern that these candidates aren’t going to be teachers until they pass the test, but we also can make it easier for the students to get into a credential program without putting roadblocks in their way.”

Spagna said CSU education programs also can do a better job at fostering and testing alternative models of teacher preparation — from weekend and online courses to co-teaching designs — as well as ensuring that their programs are better aligned and more responsive to the state’s preschool to high school educational priorities.

“We also need to start aggressively promoting teaching as a career,” Spagna said. “If you want to change the world, teaching is a great way to do it. A teacher touches the lives of hundreds of young people, giving them the tools to be successful, contributing members of society. What can be more honorable than educating others? Yet, for some reason, we don’t treat teachers with the respect they deserve.

“It speaks volumes when you look at how they are paid,” he continued. “They are paid nothing at the beginning, hazed during their first two years on the job, forced to pay for supplies for their classrooms out of their own pockets, and then have to hold on for 30 or 40 years before they get good benefits and retirement packages. Do you know what you get after 30 or 40 years with those working conditions? Burned-out teachers.”

Spagna said the state needs to start investing in its public school teachers.

“This is not a waste of money,” he said. “By investing in public education, you are ensuring that California has the educated workforce that employers are looking for and will be looking for in the years to come.”

CSUN was ranked as top school for healthcare administration by healthcare-administration-degree.net.

California State University, Northridge was recently ranked in the top 50 schools across the nation for health administration degrees by healthcare-administration-degree.net. The website particularly highlighted the online Master of Public Administration program for its community and support services.

The ranking also evaluated student outcomes, research and internship opportunities, as well as recognition opportunities such as awards and scholarships.

“We are very proud of our ranking on the top schools for health administration,” said Health Administration Program Director Louis Rubino.

The online concentration for the program is offered by CSUN’s Tseng College of Extended Learning and provides students with flexibility, as well as a cohort for networking with peers. Courses are taught by the same faculty who teach on-campus classes.

“This ranking is evidence that our faculty have been effective in duplicating our traditional on-campus learning environment into the distance learning environment,” said Frankie Augustin, professor in health administration. “Additionally, our program attracts a diverse cohort of students. This is noteworthy, given that the state of diversity leadership in healthcare needs to better reflect the diverse demographic it serves. We are doing our part to help change that.”

CSUN art history professor and 2016 Hanfmann Lectureship recipient Owen Doonan sits in his office. Photo by Luis Garcia.

California State University, Northridge art history professor Owen Doonan has received the Hanfmann Lectureship, one of the most prestigious lectureships offered by the Archaeological Institute of America (AIA).

He will be spending the next academic year traveling to some of the nation’s leading universities to talk about his work on Sinop, a small Turkish town on the coast of the Black Sea where people have lived for more than 2,500 years, according to his research done since 1992.

The lectureship is named after the late George M.A. Hanfmann, who is considered one of the United States’ pioneers of archaeology for his work on the first American-led excavations in Sardis, Turkey, which went on from 1958-76. Doonan is expected to speak at Yale, Brown, Stanford and many more esteemed universities in the U.S.

He said he is excited to be the speaker for such a prestigious lectureship series by the AIA, which has more than 200,000 members nationwide.

“Hanfmann is a very interesting character for me. There are a couple of really interesting nuances,” Doonan said. “My first archaeology professor, [Miriam Balmuth], was one of his students. He’s in a sense my academic grandfather. He taught for decades at Harvard. I grew up in the Boston area. He founded the excavations in Western Turkey. I find it really gratifying to be speaking in the endowed lecture series for such an important pioneer of research in Turkey.”

Doonan said he will discuss his research on Sinop and hopes to highlight the decades of interdisciplinary work he and his team of researchers from fields such as oceanography, archaeology, geography, graphic design and film, have done.

“It brings a lot of recognition to CSUN,” he said. “To be able to represent the AIA through their top lectureship is exciting. My hope is to really get out the word about what I hope [will] become one of the most ambitious interdisciplinary archaeological programs in the Mediterranean. I want to turn the Sinop project i​into one that everybody is watching. To be able to lecture about it at these [universities], where the new leaders in the field are being trained, is really important.”

The University Student Union’s Grand Salon was packed with celebrants at the sixth annual Rainbow Graduation Celebration on May 19.

The event was one of several cultural celebrations to recognize the diversity of CSUN students and congratulate them on a successful academic journey. The ceremony recognized about 40 graduates in CSUN’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) students, queer studies minors and allies.

Raquel Gutiérrez ’02 (Journalism/Central American Studies), a writer and performance artist who has performed nationally and internationally, served as keynote speaker. San Fernando Vice Mayor Joel Fajardo and student speakers Kayla Chambers and MJ Jones offered inspirational messages.

More than 300 guests attended California State University, Northridge’s fourth annual Veterans Graduation Celebration on May 19.

The event, which was hosted by the Veterans Resource Center, was one of several cultural celebrations to recognize the diversity of CSUN students and congratulate them on a successful academic journey. The ceremony recognized more than 50 graduates who served in the military.

Retired Maj. Gen. Mark MacCarley ’71 (Political Science), principal partner at the Glendale-based law firm MacCarley & Rosen PLC, served as the keynote speaker. Jose Acevedo ’16 (Cinema and Television Arts) was the student veteran speaker. Attendees also participated in a special Missing Man Honors ceremony and a toast to the military branches.

California State University, Northridge celebrated the 50th anniversary of the annual Staff Service Awards on May 26 by honoring hundreds of employees for their years of service and outstanding contributions to the university.

“I want you all to remember that you each belong to a community of educators and are key participants in advancing student success and providing exemplary service for all our stakeholders,” said President Dianne F. Harrison to attendees. “By doing your work successfully and consistently, you help the university to fulfill its commitment to students. I’m grateful for your dedication and accomplishments.”

Harrison recognized Kevin Lizarraga ’01 (Journalism), M.A. ’04 (Mass Communications), director of university marketing in the Office of Marketing and Communications, with the Presidential Award. The award honors an individual who has left an “indelible, positive mark” on the university, contributes to improved processes and demonstrates alignment with the mission, vision, values and goals of the university.

Lizarraga is considered a “driving force” behind the campus reputation and visibility initiative, which is bringing a renewed consistency and strength to campuswide marketing efforts. He has served on the Reputation and Visibility Advisory and Steering Committees, the Web Communications Group, the Usability Group, the campus Emergency Operations Center, Clear the Air Communications Subcommittee, Summer and Winter Celebration Committees, the Social Media Committee and numerous other ad hoc groups.

“As a CSUN alum and true Matador, Kevin’s heart and passion are fully invested in elevating CSUN’s reputation and visibility,” Harrison said. Lizarraga’s nominator said he “inclusively collaborates with campus partners and helps oversee the visual identity of the campus — from online content to print, external advertising to internal campaigns.”

The Excellence in Diversity and Inclusion Award went to Yukiko Bryant, manager of student life — international programs and partnerships, for going beyond her normal scope of work to develop, facilitate and support activities for international students enrolled in CSUN’s Intensive English Program and the Semester at CSUN Program. The award is reserved for employees who practice, promote and value efforts to support diversity, inclusion and respect for everyone’s values and opinions.

The CSUN Merit Award recipients were Elizabeth Kioussis, executive assistant at The University Corporation; Robyn McKibbon ’13 (Art), an analyst/recruiter in Human Resources; Ruben Lopez, manager in the grounds department in Physical Plant Management; and Gregory Mena, Ed.D. ’13 (ELPS), an instructional designer in the Faculty Technology Center. This award is reserved for employees who contribute to significant process improvements, provide excellent citizenship to the campus community and have outstanding performance beyond the normal scope of their work duties.

The CSUN Alumni Relations Award went to Antonio Machado ’93 (Environmental Biology), M.S. ’94 (Environmental and Occupational Health), a professor in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health (EOH) and a charter member of the EOH Alumni Chapter. This award is given to an employee who develops initiatives or enhances existing programs that encourage successful, collaborative relationships with alumni, and a greater alumni connectedness that results in achievement of university goals and objectives.

Machado is the faculty liaison to the alumni chapter, faculty adviser to the EOH Student Association and has been a tireless advocate for EOH students, alumni and the department. His talent and experience in the field add to the annual EOH Alumni Chapter Technical Symposium each spring, along with the organization’s speed mentoring event, which raised more than $10,000.

The Jolene Koester Team Award, which recognizes outstanding team achievements and is presented annually to a team that has collaborated effectively on a project, process or other significant initiative that has brought positive changes, was awarded to the CSUN Smoke & Tobacco Free Task Force and Implementation Committee. The initiative was launched in fall 2013 when the Help Make CSUN Bright program surveyed the campus community to measure the interest in going smoke-free. The response strongly supported “fresh and clear air” at CSUN. The implementation committee was formed to develop the logistics of the campus becoming smoke-free and tobacco-free by fall 2015. Dr. Linda Reid Chassiakos, director of the Student Health Center; Ken Rosenthal, associate vice president of facilities development and operations; and Diane Schwartz, faculty in the College of Engineering and Computer Science, accepted the award on behalf of the team.

Harrison also presented certificates to the 16 participants in the CSUN Shine from Within Program, a cross-divisional staff development program.

CSUN staff also received recognition for five, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35 and 40 years of service. President Harrison paid special tribute to 45-year service award recipient José Luis Vargas ’74 (Sociology), M.A. ’75 (Educational Psychology and Counseling), the longtime director of CSUN’s Educational Opportunity Program (EOP), who passed away March 19 after a brief illness. She presented a framed CSUN jersey to his wife, Yvonne Vargas.

For a complete list of the honorees, please visit the Office of Human Resources.

When Ryan Davis ’15 (Biology) was in high school, he didn’t even consider going to college. He grew up in a troubled household in Northridge with a father who was addicted to drugs and a mother who barely finished high school.

“It was a chaotic environment,” Davis said. “College was never discussed in my house.”

This fall, the first-generation college student will begin a doctoral program in chemistry at Yale University as a recipient of a 2016 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, the oldest graduate fellowship of its kind and one of the most prestigious. Fellows benefit from a three-year annual stipend of $34,000, along with a $12,000 cost-of-education allowance for tuition and fees (paid to the institution), opportunities for international research and professional development, and the freedom to conduct their own research at any accredited U.S. institution of graduate education.

The 32-year-old Davis said the fellowship was made possible because of the support and guidance of California State University, Northridge faculty and the research he has done.

“CSUN had everything to do with my success,” Davis said. “All the faculty I’ve worked with want to see students succeed.”

Davis transferred to CSUN in 2013 from Pierce College, but his journey was full of obstacles and curves along the way.

Music always had been a significant part of Davis’ life, so when he graduated from high school, the self-taught guitarist thought music was his best option for “escaping” the life he had grown up with.

He poured himself into music and ended up signing with a record label, touring the world and obtaining a “moderate” level of success in the music industry. But Davis was not happy and decided to enroll in a San Diego community college. He enrolled in an introductory chemistry class and fell in love with the subject.

“I fell in love with problem solving, the periodic trends and the predictive power this information provided,” Davis said. “More importantly, I fell in love with the enrichment provided by learning, and it was in this community college classroom that my life began the process of being forever changed.”

He initially thought he would go to medical school. Davis obtained his emergency medical technician license to support himself and get some experience. In 2011, his older sister was diagnosed with cancer and he decided to move back to the San Fernando Valley. He enrolled at Pierce College and took a job working in the college’s chemistry stockroom.

Davis visited CSUN to find out more about its programs, and an adviser recommended he contact Department of Chemistry professor Gagik Melikyan. The two met, Melikyan invited Davis to join his research group and today, the CSUN chemistry professor is the former musician’s No. 1 cheerleader.

“Ryan is one of the best students I have ever had,” Melikyan said. “I’m absolutely positive he will be successful in any doctoral program in this country.

“He is one of the CSUN students who will definitely make us proud,” Melikyan added.

Davis has worked in Melikyan’s research group since 2013, where he has done research at the interface of organic, organometallic, computational and medicinal chemistry. He has co-authored several papers due to be published with Melikyan and presented at numerous conferences. He also has won several other awards, including the 2015 ACS Southern California Undergraduate Research Conference (SCURC) Outstanding Oral Presentation Award, 2015 Sigma Xi CSUN Student Research Symposium Second Place Award and the 2015 Leslie and Terry Cutler Scholarship for Outstanding Promise in Science.

“The faculty here cares,” Davis said. “CSUN is the best thing that ever happened to me.”

Photo by Lee Choo.

The online college search site College Choice has ranked California State University, Northridge’s undergraduate program in accounting and information systems third best in the nation — surpassing top schools such as Cornell University, University of Southern California and UC Berkeley, which makes CSUN the top-ranked school for a Bachelor of Science in accountancy in California.

“We work really hard to attract the best and brightest students into our program, we take really good care of them while they are here, and we help them prepare and find their careers when they leave us,” said Paul Lazarony, professor and chair of the Department of Accounting and Information Systems.

College Choice used data from U.S. News & World Report, the National Center for Education Statistics and PayScale.com to evaluate factors such as reputation, cost, financial aid availability and job market success for graduates to determine the rating.

It is CSUN’s efforts in achieving student success outside the classroom that particularly strengthen outstanding student outcomes, said Lazarony.

For example, four major-related clubs within the department — the Accounting Association, Association of Latino Professionals for America, Beta Alpha Psi and the Management Information Systems Association — help foster mentorship by connecting professionals and alumni from the industry with students. The clubs also provide career advice and offer leadership positions.

CSUN’s Ernst and Young Center for Careers in Accounting and Information Systems helps students connect with top accounting firms and score internships in their desired field.

“[The program] has done an amazing job strengthening our relationships with the firms and growing the internship and full-time recruiting opportunities with them,” Lazarony said. “Today, all of the ‘Big Four’ accounting firms recruit at CSUN — in fact, all of the top 20 accounting firms now recruit our students.”

Each semester, the accounting clubs and the EY Center organize Meet the Firms, a recruiting event that features more than 250 recruiters and more than 700 accounting students.

“We have been told this is one of the largest Meet the Firms events in the country,” Lazarony said.

Professor emeritus Glen Gray, who taught at CSUN for almost 30 years, has seen the increase in professional development opportunities in the department.

“Our students were always smart and hardworking, but back in the day we couldn’t convince students to sign up for internships,” he said. “Now, students better understand the professional world, and they compete for internships as well as for officer positions in student groups. This prepares students to hit the ground running when they graduate and start their new jobs.

“Accounting firms really appreciate this characteristic of our students and subsequently, heavily recruit [them],” Gray added. “This increases CSUN’s reputation and the demand for our students.”

CSUN’s undergraduate program in accounting and information systems has been a leader in training top accountants for decades, producing hundreds of managing partners in CPA firms throughout the Los Angeles region and California. Examples include distinguished alumni and honorary doctorate recipients such as Harvey Bookstein, a 1970 alumnus known for his philanthropy, community leadership and achievements in the fields of finance, real estate and accounting; and Charles “Chuck” Noski, who earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration in 1973 and his master’s in accountancy in 1995 from CSUN. Noski was recently elected chairman of the board of trustees of the Financial Accounting Foundation, which oversees the bodies tasked with establishing private and public sector accounting and financial reporting standards in the U.S.

Lazarony and Gray also praised the department’s faculty for its commitment.

“The faculty has real-world experiences they bring into the classroom to help students prepare for their future,” Gray said. “The faculty is highly dedicated, cooperative and in sync to make the program the best it can be.”

Photo by Lee Choo.

Farrell Webb

Farrell J. Webb, currently associate dean in the College of Health and Human Services at Cal State L.A., has been appointed dean of the College of Health and Human Development at California State University, Northridge.

Webb brings more than 21 years of public and academic administrative experience to the position, including the past two years as an associate dean at Cal State L.A. He begins his appointment at CSUN on July 1.

“Dr. Webb’s areas of academic interest dovetail nicely with those within the College of Health and Human Development,” said Yi Li, CSUN’s provost and vice president for academic affairs, in announcing Webb’s appointment. “He focuses on health disparities, race and ethnic relations, poverty, inequality and HIV/AIDS and their overall effects on well-being. Dr. Webb will be a wonderful addition to the CSUN community.”

Webb said he is excited to be joining the CSUN community, and in particular the College of Health and Human Development.

“I am absolutely thrilled to be able to join the faculty at CSUN,” he said. “It is very exciting for me because the university has a great reputation and fantastic people. I am looking forward to working with the people in the College of Health and Human Development and to continue our journey of improving student success and closing the achievement gap. I am proud to be part of the college’s successful profile on campus, in the state and the nation.”

Webb said he feels lucky to have been appointed dean.

“I get to inherit a lot of good stuff and work collaboratively with some amazing faculty,” he said. “I am looking forward to it.”

Prior to Cal State L.A., Webb spent more than 19 years at Kansas State University, where he was an associate professor of family studies and human services, and director of the Bridges to the Baccalaureate Program. He also spent three years in the Office of the Provost as Kansas State University’s ombudsman.

Webb holds bachelor’s degrees in sociology/political science and communication arts, with an emphasis in film and television production, from Loyola Marymount University. He has master’s degrees in sociology from Cal State Long Beach and New York University. He earned his Ph.D. in family social sciences from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.

Webb has been a post-doctoral scholar and visiting associate professor at Pennsylvania State University’s Center for Human Development and Family Research in Diverse Contexts, where he studies ethnography, geostatistics and epidemiology. He also has received academic certificates from the University of Texas at Austin in hierarchical linear modeling and advanced structural equation modeling.

Webb has taught at NYU, City University of New York, Bloomfield College and the University of Minnesota. He has published more than 30 peer-reviewed articles in professional journals and, numerous book chapters, as well as made more than 50 conference and other academic presentations. He has or has held membership in the American Psychological Association, American Sociological Association, National Council on Family Relations, National Association of Ethnic Studies and the Society for the Psychological Study of Ethnic Minority Issues.

CSUN’s College of Health and Human Development has more than 7,900 undergraduate and graduate students in 11 undergraduate degree, 10 graduate degree and three credential programs. Its mission is to prepare competent and caring professionals with a commitment to enhance and promote the health and well-being of the diverse communities CSUN serves.

The college includes the Departments of Child and Adolescent Development, Communication Disorders and Sciences, Environmental and Occupational Health, Family and Consumer Sciences, Health Sciences, Kinesiology, Nursing, Physical Therapy, and Recreation and Tourism Management. It serves as home to several centers and institutes, including the Aquatic Center at Castaic Lake; Center of Achievement through Adapted Physical Activity; Child and Family Studies Center; Consumer Resource Center; Center for Recreation and Tourism; Marilyn Magaram Center for Food Science, Nutrition and Dietetics; the Physical Therapy Center for Advanced Clinical Practice; and the Institute for Community Health and Wellbeing.

Educators from the San Fernando Valley and other parts of the Southland will gather at California State University, Northridge on Friday, July 29, to take part in a free, statewide day of learning and networking.

Better Together: California Teachers Summit is taking place at 38 locations across the state to provide teachers an opportunity to share ideas, join a teacher network and learn effective strategies for implementing new California standards in their classrooms. The gathering is scheduled to take place from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. The CSUN meeting will occur at the Valley Performing Arts Center, located at the southern end of the campus at 18111 Nordhoff St. in Northridge.

“Events such as Better Together highlight the importance campuses like CSUN play in convening the professional community for the public good,” said Michael Spagna, dean of CSUN’s Michael D. Eisner College of Education. “In this case, Better Together simultaneously fulfills the goals of valuing our teachers and maintaining a strong professional community of practice — both essential to serving the educational needs of the region.”

The program will include addresses by education leaders, TED-style “Ed Talks” presented by local teachers, and “EdCamp” discussions on timely topics such as California’s education standards in English/language arts and math, and the Next Generation Science Standards.

Organizers said attendees will walk away from the summit with access to new resources and concrete tools that are already working in classrooms across the state.

In addition to CSUN, other summit locations in the Southern California area include Antioch University, Azusa Pacific University, Biola University, Brandman University in Irvine, Cal Poly Pomona, CSU Channel Islands, CSU Dominguez Hills, CSU Fullerton, CSU Long Beach, CSU Los Angeles, CSU San Bernardino, Loyola Marymount University, Pepperdine University and University of Redlands.

A unique partnership between the Association of Independent California Colleges and Universities, the California State University (CSU) system, and New Teacher Center formed to host this free statewide day of learning.

During EdCamp sessions, teachers will pick topics – ranging from technology in the classroom to improving literacy in early education, or boosting science, technology, engineering and math education – and exchange ideas with colleagues throughout their region.

The TED-style EdTalks will feature local teachers sharing strategies and classroom victories in implementing the California standards.

More information, a list of event locations and online registration is available at CATeachersSummit.com. Follow #CATeachersSummit for up-to-date information.

A cover photo of Jon Ronson’s latest work, “So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed.” The book is available at CSUN’s Matador Bookstore.

Actions have consequences — especially on social media. This fall semester, California State University, Northridge’s incoming freshman class will explore the drawbacks of living in an augmented reality through its common reading book, “So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed” by best-selling author, journalist, and 2016 CSUN Freshman Convocation keynote speaker, Jon Ronson.

Ronson’s book explores the real-life consequences of social media’s extremely public nature with a quick-witted, anecdotal, case-by-case style. Readers can delve deep into the workings of how public shaming has transitioned from a physical public town square in the 18th century to a virtual one on Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites today.

English professor Cheryl Spector, director of CSUN’s Academic First Year Experiences program, said the nonfiction work was chosen for its potential to engage CSUN’s incoming freshmen in an insightful and critical way through exploring the ins and outs of social media’s public discourse gone awry.

“Whether we like it or not, we all have virtual lives now,” she said. “This book in a way [teaches] that if you stray from the community standards, you could be virtually shot, so to speak. There are a lot of ethical decision points in the book that are of interest to me in my role as the University 100 course director . . . I want people to think about their ethical decision-making critically.”

University 100 is CSUN’s undergraduate lifelong learning course, which helps students get acclimated to college through developing study skills and short and long-term plans for their academic, personal and career goals.

Spector said she hopes students and readers will become more conscious of what they put up on social media after reading the book, just as she now is.

“I think [the book] has tempered my responses on social media,” she said. “I’m like everybody else — quick to anger and quick to love. But it has inserted the hesitation before I write online. I’m more inclined to ask myself how much I know about something [online]. You can’t just go off ranting because you only see a piece of something. I guess you could call it a lesson I’ve learned from the book.”

For more information on CSUN’s freshman common reading and undergraduate programs, go to http://www.csun.edu/undergraduate-studies/academic-first-year-experiences/common-read.

California State University, Northridge was ranked 13th in graduateprograms.com’s list of the top 50 schools in the nation for graduate programs in social work.

The rating was based on submitted feedback from thousands of students who studied the major at the evaluated institution, as well as data from the National Center for Education Statistics. Assessed categories were campus safety, career advising, quality of instruction, student diversity, networking opportunities, student financial services and satisfaction with degree.

In particular, supportive faculty and extended hands-on opportunities in both the online cohort and the on-campus cohort were praised in the students’ feedback.

“The CSUN MSW program partners with numerous human services agencies in the communities where we place our students,” said Amy Levin, professor and department chair of the Master of Social Work program. “In this field education milieu, MSW students get to know the local community, and members of the local community get to see our MSW students in action.”

Initially, the campus-based program focused on serving struggling communities within the San Fernando Valley. Today, the program includes satellite campuses at College of the Canyons and Ventura College, as well as a global online program, supporting vulnerable communities across the United States and even internationally.

“I’m extremely proud that the Department of Social Work continues to earn such high marks from academia and alumni,” said Stella Theodoulou, dean of the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences. “This latest ranking is a reflection of the high quality of our program, students and faculty, is further evidence of CSUN’s importance as a provider of graduate education, and demonstrates the institution’s commitment to serving the region in areas that are critical to the success of California as a state.”