Estela Mara Bensimon, a national expert on methods to improve equity in higher education, spoke at CSUN during the fifth annual Terry Piper Lecture. Photo by Lee Choo.

Estela Mara Bensimon, a national expert on methods to improve equity in higher education, encouraged campus leaders at California State University, Northridge to “deconstruct” the institutional structures that prevent college campuses from making “race talk” a routine practice.

Bensimon, a distinguished professor of higher education at the USC Rossier School of Education and co-director of the Center for Urban Education, which she founded in 1999, spoke April 5 during the fifth-annual Terry Piper Lecture in the University Student Union’s Northridge Center. She said talking about race helps campuses engage in a process of self-reflection regarding race, equity and student success.

“We need to look at institutional structure, culture, practices and routines,” Bensimon said. She said institutions of higher education must take responsibility and examine everything from the language used to discuss and describe race and ethnicity to the data and diversity of the faculty teaching today’s students.

She said the use of ambiguous language such as URM (underrepresented minorities), at-risk, minority and highest-performing demographic can be insulting and get in the way of productive conversations about race. She also urged attendees to avoid terms such as Caucasian and European American.

“It’s another way of sweeping race under the rug,” Bensimon said. “Labels can be stigmatizing.”

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 lecture series was conceived for the purpose of gathering together faculty, staff and administrators from all areas of the campus to acknowledge and promote our work together and reaffirm our mutual and interconnected responsibility for supporting student learning and success,” said William Watkins ’74 (Urban Studies), CSUN’s vice president of student affairs and dean of students, to the audience.

He said this lecture is a fitting tribute to not only Piper but to José Luis Vargas ’74 (Sociology), M.A. ’75 (Educational Psychology and Counseling), the longtime director of CSUN’s Educational Opportunity Programs (EOP) who passed away on March 19 after a brief illness.

Watkins asked the audience to stand and join him in a handclap of recognition for the two departed leaders.

Yi Li, CSUN provost and vice president for academic affairs, said the lecture serves to “build bridges.”

Bensimon, who developed the Equity Scorecard, a process for using inquiry to drive changes in institutional practice and culture, said universities have to look at structural racism.

“Many of our institutions of higher education were created at a time with different values,” Bensimon said. “Even though the demographics have changed, the same structures continue.”

As an example, Bensimon compared the racial and ethnic makeup of CSUN’s faculty to its student population.

In 2015, 66.3 percent of CSUN’s tenured and tenure-track faculty were white; 12.4 percent Asian; 9.5 percent Latina/o; 4.7 percent African-American; and 0.9 percent American Indian. However, 44.2 percent of CSUN’s students are Latina/o; 24 percent white; 11.5 percent Asian; 5 percent African-American; and 0.2 percent American Indian.

“We find ourselves in a perfect storm,” Bensimon said. She said today’s faculty is “unprepared for the students we have today.”

Rodolfo Acuña, Ph.D., Historian
from Chicano Male Unbonded series
©2000, Harry Gamboa Jr.

The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery and the Autry Museum of the American West have acquired several photographs by California State University, Northridge Chicana/o studies professor Harry Gamboa Jr. for their permanent collections.

The photographs are from Gamboa’s acclaimed ongoing series, “Chicano Male Unbonded,” black-and-white portraits of more than 100 Latino males that call into question the assumptions and stereotypes society has of men of Mexican descent. Among the photographs going to the National Portrait Gallery is one of CSUN professor Rudolfo Acuña, a founder of CSUN’s Department of Chicana/o Studies who is often hailed as the “father” of the field of Chicana/o studies.

Gamboa, an internationally recognized artist who co-founded the pioneering Chicano art group Asco (Spanish for “nausea”) with Gronk, Willie F. Herrón III and Patssi Valdez, said given the current political climate, he was particularly moved that images from the “Chicano Male Unbounded” series were chosen for acquisition.

“I created this work as a way to counter the negative stereotypes people have of Chicano men,” he said. “They are all photographs of men I know on some personal level. Some I know from academia and the art world, others are family or friends. They all self-identify as being Chicano. It’s very interesting to stand back and listen as viewers speculate on who the men are. I’ve heard people comment, just from looking at the pictures, that they are gang members. But then they get closer, read the descriptions and discover that the ‘gang members’ are lawyers, Ph.Ds, artists and novelists.

“In these days, when political talk includes discussion about the mass deportation of Mexicans and Mexican males in particular are negatively portrayed, this work stands out,” Gamboa continued. “It provides a positive discussion about what these men could be and who they actually are and what they represent — pillars of not only Chicano culture, but American culture.”

Kim Sajet, director of the National Portrait Gallery, said the gallery aims “to interpret the American story through the people who made a contribution to its history.”

“Important to that effort is to represent achievements that often make a major impact in a specific field but receive little national recognition,” Sajet continued. “Harry Gamboa’s portrait of Rudolfo Acuña acknowledges how Chicana/o studies came into the modern university setting and has subsequently broadened the understanding of who we are as a people.”

W. Richard West, president and CEO of the Autry Museum, said his museum’s selection of works is based on criteria such as art historical significance and connection to the museum’s mission to bring together the stories of all peoples of the American West.

“Our acquisition of Harry Gamboa’s portraits — including those of Willie Herron and Louie Perez — contributes to our ability to present a more comprehensive narrative of the Chicano experience in Los Angeles,” West said. “We plan to exhibit the portraits in fall 2017 in tandem with an exhibition of photographs from ‘La Raza’ magazine as part of the Getty’s broader ‘Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA Initiative.’’

Willie Herrón, Artist/Musician, 2000
from Chicano Male Unbonded series
Autry Museum of the American West
©2000, Harry Gamboa Jr.

Amy Scott, the Autry’s chief curator and Marilyn B. and Calvin B. Gross Curator of Visual Arts, said Gamboa’s “Chicano Male Unbonded” series “sits at crossroads, between traditions of photographic portraiture and street performance, between self-styling and artistic presentation.”

“As a result, the series constitutes a versatile framework for reconsidering some of the many labels so often applied to men in the Chicano community or of Mexican descent,” Scott continued. “Autry visitors will have the opportunity to examine traditions of photographic portraiture relative to race and identity in Los Angeles, and the West at large.”

When Gamboa and his colleagues first hit the streets of Los Angeles more than 40 years ago with Asco, the community did not know what to make of its performance pieces, which tackled the day’s issues, including racism, head on.

The initial reaction to Asco’s work was resistant and political. Over the years, art collectors, museum curators and academics have hailed Asco and its members for presenting the realities of a community that was long ignored and provocatively translating the universality of its experience. The Smithsonian American Art Museum created a special exhibition in 2013 that includes their work, “Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art.” The exhibition is currently on display at the Delaware Art Museum.

For the past four decades, Gamboa has documented and interpreted the contemporary urban Chicano experience through his art, whether in photographs, videos or performance pieces.

Last year, the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York featured pieces by Gamboa from its permanent collection as part of its opening celebration of its new home in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District. Some of those pieces will be on display later this month as part of the Whitney’s new exhibition “Human Interest: Portraits from the Whitney’s Collection,” which is scheduled to run from April 27, 2016 to Feb. 12, 2017.

Gamboa’s work has been exhibited in museums around the world. Despite the international acclaim for his work, Gamboa continues to teach four classes in CSUN’s Department of Chicana/o Studies and is a faculty member in the photography and media program at California Institute of the Arts.

California State University, Northridge students Navin Row, Ali Saeed-Alqahtani, Ryan Duckworth and Harout Ter-Papyan approached their entry into the second annual AppJam Showcase — a contest where undergraduate and graduate students competed to create the best mobile app — with the goal of transforming what started out as a simple idea into a service that could help their fellow students.

According to the group, the inspiration for the app Fyndit came when a classmate in their senior design class kept asking them where he could access a variety of campus resources.

“[My classmate] would always ask where on campus he could use a microwave or where he could go to print out papers,” Row said. “Finally he said, ‘You guys should just make an app that shows people where everything is at.’”

Fyndit was born with the goal of helping CSUN students find everything on campus from classrooms to vending machines. To see that idea come to fruition took many hours of work. “There was a lot of communication back and forth, a lot of in-person meetings and a lot of late nights,” Duckworth said.

That hard work received its reward at the March 30 AppJam Showcase, when the creators of Fyndit earned first place and a cash prize of $3,000 for their winning app. Yet theirs was just one of several success stories on an energy-filled afternoon, when 33 teams presented their apps for the campus community to view and in some cases test out the teams’ innovative creations.

Second place and $2,000 went to students Benjamin Villalobos, Edward Villamor and Scott Judge for Bike Tracker. The app is meant to immediately assist students if their bicycle is stolen. The app will alert students that their bike has moved and if someone suspects that a bike has been stolen, the owner will be able to file a police report through the app using the account information they provide when initially signing up.

Armen Arslanian and Saba Janamian received $1,000 for their third-place app, CSUN Easy-Park. The app gives students real-time updates about how many spaces are available in each CSUN parking lot.

“AppJam exemplifies the innovation and forward thinking that leads to student opportunities,” CSUN President Dianne F. Harrison said. “This competition is an opportunity for students to flex their creative muscles, to push their natural skill set and to collaborate with a team. These are all factors in preparing our students for rewarding and impactful careers.”
 
All the winning groups — including the popular-vote winner, SideBySide, a health-and-communication app voted by students on Portfolium, CSUN’s new, digital portfolio and career-readiness network — will receive professional start-up counseling in order to help advance their apps, through expert advice and networking from Bixel Exchange and the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI).

“These startup resources will allow each of the winning teams to receive advice and counsel to potentially take their mobile app idea to the next level,” said CSUN Vice President for Information Technology Hilary Baker. “We are thankful to both LACI and Bixel Exchange for offering these services for our winning CSUN AppJam teams, and I look forward to seeing the outcome of the incubation discussions.”

Elizabeth Say (Humanities) has received $89,997 from the National Security Agency in support of a project entitled “STARTALK CSUN Russian Language & Culture Immersion Program.”

Rafi Efrat ( Accounting & Information Systems) has received $70,000 from the U.S. Department of Treasury in support of a project entitled “Bookstein Tax Clinic.”

Beverly Cabello and Julie Coveney (CARE Center) have received $50,000 from the LA Housing and Community Investment Department in continuing support of a project entitled “Family Source Evaluation 2015-16.”

Three influential California State University, Northridge alumni took the stage separately at the Four Seasons Hotel Westlake Village on April 16 to give acceptance speeches after receiving one of the university’s highest honors — the Distinguished Alumni Award. Each speech delivered its own distinctive feel.

Opera singer and educator Shigemi Matsumoto’s speech was inspirational. Urban developer and philanthropist James Ring’s was emotional. And financial industry leader and social justice advocate Robert D. Taylor’s was powerful.

CSUN’s 18th-annual Distinguished Alumni Awards was a celebration of achievement and recognition of three Matadors who have brought honor to the university through their work, service and dedication.

The first honoree of the evening was Matsumoto ’68 (Music), who acknowledged her mother in her speech. Matsumoto wore a gold coat that her mother made for her some 40 years ago.

The opera singer, who performed in front of thousands throughout the world and has impacted numerous students as an educator at CSU Long Beach, USC and through private lessons at her home in Northridge, detailed her life story to the nearly 500 people in attendance at the event. She spoke of how her parents, survivors of a Japanese internment camp, adopted her at three months old and helped lift her to great heights through their own sacrifices.

“You cannot imagine how proud I am, as you’ll hear in my speech,” she said earlier in the day. “Nothing makes me more proud than to be able to give. That’s the proudest moment of my life of accomplishment — giving back.”

Ring ’70 (Psychology), ’72 (Urban Studies), who has been one of the most successful urban developers in the greater Los Angeles area and a hero to many — including those in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at CSUN — brought tears to many eyes with his speech and determination. Ring, who was in the hospital battling an illness a week prior to the event, needed the assistance of a walker to get to the podium to deliver his address. He said he wasn’t going to miss this event.

When Ring reached the microphone, he spoke with great strength and pride.

“My love of this university is tremendous,” Ring said. “I must tell you, it gives me great pride to reach out and help my fellow students. I guess I feel like I’m always a student.”

Ring, who created the James H. Ring Professorship in Urban Studies and Planning and the James H. Ring Urban Studies Scholarship through a generous gift, announced at the ceremony that he also would create a scholarship for graduate students.

When he left the stage, Ring’s family walked over and embraced him, tears flowing from his youngest daughter’s eyes. It prompted the night’s emcee, former CSUN Distinguished Alumni Award honoree and CNBC anchor Bill Griffeth, to say, “How’s that for perseverance?”

Then, Griffeth commented that Taylor had a tough act to follow. But Taylor, who has been a leader throughout his career as a private equity investor, financial leader and champion for social justice, spoke with such conviction that Griffeth suggested afterward that Taylor should run for office and that he would vote for him.

Taylor ’82 (Engineering), who was a central figure in restoring ravaged communities after the 1992 LA riots — through his leadership in then-Mayor Tom Bradley’s Rebuild LA initiative — credited his mother, among others, for motivating him to become the person he is.

“Work hard,” Taylor began, relaying the message his mother gave him. “Be graceful. Believe in yourself. Stick together. Don’t complain. Don’t quit. And don’t embarrass me by wasting the sacrifice I made for you.”

He later said: “My life is the American Dream. But CSUN played a vital role in my American Dream.”

On this night, all three honorees were celebrated for living their dreams — and helping so many live theirs as well.

For Your Information shares announcements of events, public meetings, notices, classes and deadlines relevant to CSUN faculty and staff. The submission deadline is noon on Monday, one week before the next post.

The deadline for the May 2 posting is Monday, April 25.

We strive to include all items submitted by deadline occurring until the next post. You can submit future items by emailing pubinfo@csun.edu, sending them to mail drop 8242 or faxing them to (818) 677-4909. Email is the preferred method of submission.

Events

April 20

CSUN Slam Poetry Club and Open Mic

CSUN’s Slam Poetry Club will host a performance and open mic event from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Learning Commons. To sign up and show the CSUN community your creative ability, visit http://library.csun.edu/events/NPM-2016-slam-open-mic?type=event

April 20

Big Read by Luis J. Rodriguez

Luis Rodriguez is a Poet Laureate of Los Angeles and has 15 books in poetry, children’s literature, fiction and nonfiction. He will be speaking at the USU, Northridge Center from 12:30 to 1:45 p.m.

April 21

Earth Day 2016

EarthFair is an all-day outdoor campus event featuring yoga, crafts, music,giveaways, and interactive activities. This event, which is from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Bayramian Lawn, is designed to inform CSUN students of both environmental conservation and world issues facing our society today.

April 27

Kinesis: Emerging Choreography

This dance concert features the works of top undergraduate student choreographers and dancers. Produced by the Department of Kinesiology, with the support of the Institutionally Related Activities program. The event will take place at 8 p.m. at the Plaza de Sol Performance Hall. The cost for students and seniors is $15 and for adults it’s $20.
To register for this event, visit http://www.csun.edu/as/ticket-office

April 28

American Islam and the Challenge of Islamophobia

This event explores the effects of Islamophobia on American Muslim communities, past and present. This event is from 9:30 to 10:45 a.m. in the USU, Thousand Oaks Room.

April 28

Money Smart Week

Money Smart Week is a public awareness campaign designed to help people better manage their personal finances. Through these free events, CSUN students, faculty, staff and community members will be able to identify numerous financial resources available to them.

To RSVP, visit http://library.csun.edu/events/moneysmart?type=event

April 28

Envisioning California Lecture: Year of the Angry Voter

This event, which is from 7 to 10 p.m. in the Nordhoff Hall 121, will discuss the unprecedented nature of the 2016 elections. Our panel discussion will include Dan Schnur, Director of the Jesse Unruh Institute of Politics, Kareem Crayton, Visiting Professor at Vanderbilt Law School, and Adrian Pantoja a professor in Political Studies and Chicano Studies at Pitzer College and also Senior Analyst for Latino Decisions.

To register, visit https://www.eventbrite.com/e/envisioning-california-the-year-of-the-angry-voter-your-guide-to-the-2016-elections-tickets-22792660461

Classes

April 19

Intersectionalities of Sex Work

In this workshop, which is from 4 to 6 p.m. in the USU, Thousand Oaks Room,  topics discussed in the prior two “Behind Closed Doors” events will be expanded, but there will be a direct focus on intersectional identities in sex work.

April 19

Performance Management/Providing Useful Feedback

Attend this session, which is from 10 to 11:30 a.m. in the Human Resources Training Room, Oviatt Library 16, and learn the critical steps for a collaborative and successful performance management process as well as discuss the staff evaluation instruments and contractual requirements to help navigate our performance management process.

For steps to register, visit http://www.csun.edu/development/training/events/performance-managementproviding-useful-feedback

April 20

The Intersectionality of Gender and Race of Black Students

This event, which is from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Residential Life, Multi-Purpose Room, will be a group discussion on the struggles of being both Black and female in a society that has a turbulent history of dealing with racial and gender discrimination.

April 20

Dealing with Workplace Violence and Fear or Threats of Violence – PART II

This workshop will deal with the worst case scenario of an active shooter situation on campus. A dynamic video will be shown and discussion will follow to explain the survival mindset necessary in that situation as well as realistic strategies for dealing with it. The class is from 9:30 to 11 a.m. in the Department of Police Services, 2nd Floor Training Room.

For steps to register, visit http://www.csun.edu/development/training/events/dealing-workplace-violence-and-fear-or-threats-violence-–-part-ii

April 20

Toastmasters Informational Meeting

Your participation in a Toastmasters club can lead you to conducting effective meetings, guiding successful team collaborations, and enhancing your listening and speaking abilities. This class is from noon to 1 p.m. in the Human Resources Training Room, Oviatt Library 16, Garden Level.

For more information and steps to register, visit http://www.csun.edu/development/training/events/toastmasters-informational-meeting

April 21

Stress Management Workshop

Participants will be able to identify stressors (frequency, severity), gain aware-ness of reactions to stress, and identify ways to overcome stress. Cristina Rubino will facilitate the course, which is from 9 to 10:30 a.m. in Juniper Hall 4117, and will provide follow-up coaching and training via email.

For steps to register, visit http://www.csun.edu/development/training/events/stress-management-workshop-20160421

April 21

Transitioning from Peer to Supervisor

Whether you are aspiring to become a supervisor or manager, a new supervisor or manager, or whether you have served in that role for some time, you will find this workshop helpful. Attendees will explore how to start off on the right foot with a new boss or team; how to establish an open and positive work environment and how to avoid the most common mistakes of a new supervisor. This course is from 10 to 11:45 a.m. in Human Resources Training Room, Oviatt Library 16.

For steps to register, visit http://www.csun.edu/development/training/events/transitioning-peer-supervisor-0

April 26

Student Connection Panel

This interactive presentation, which is from 10 to 11:30 a.m. in the Human Resources Training Room, Oviatt Library 16, will allow you as faculty and staff to explore and ask questions about the motivations, needs and challenges facing our students while you help contribute to the success of our student population.
For steps to register, visit http://www.csun.edu/development/training/events/student-connection-panel

April 27

Fire Safety in the Home and Wildfire Preparedness

This course, which is from noon to 12:50 p.m. in the Department of Police Services, 2nd Floor Training Room, will focus on fire hazards, covering fire safety in the home as well as wildfire specific preparedness measures. Home fires are very common in the US, and often times they are preventable.

For steps to register, visit http://www.csun.edu/development/training/events/fire-safety-home-and-wildfire-preparedness

Notices

2016 Honored Faculty Reception

The annual Honored Faculty Reception is on May 23 at 1:30 p.m. in the Grand Salon, University Student Union.  Faculty awards will be presented for Outstanding Faculty; Distinguished Teaching, Counseling, or Librarianship; Scholarly Publication; Creative Accomplishment; Extraordinary Service; and Visionary Community Service-Learning.   Emeritus professors and faculty completing milestone years of service will be honored.  Refreshments will be served.   Click here to RSVP by May 13.

Revised Senate Policy

The Basic Skills policy was recently revised and apporved by the Faculty Senate on March 10 and by President Dianne F. Harrison on April 7.

To read the updated policy, visit http://www.csun.edu/sites/default/files/basic-skills-policy.pdf

California State University, Northridge geology professor Julian Lozos has a history with earthquakes. His research on a magnitude 7.5 earthquake that occurred in 1812 in the Inland Empire used historic accounts to help understand how fault lines affect not only the Earth, but life on it.

His study, published in the March issue of “Science Advances,” was based on a unique scientific approach that utilized historic accounts from Missions San Juan Capistrano, San Gabriel, San Fernando Rey and San Buenaventura, alongside custom-made computer simulations of fault activity on the San Andreas (SAF) and San Jacinto (SJF) fault lines to reproduce what seismic activity happened on Dec. 8, 1812.

Lozos’ study is one of the first to connect major earthquake phenomenon on the SAF, which runs north and south along California, to the SJF, which is smaller and runs northeast and southwest through Riverside County. His project provides proof that the 1812 earthquake may have caused damage in various Missions in the Inland Empire if the SJF ruptured first, and caused enough fault stress to make the SAF rupture as well.

“[The data shows that] the earthquake was in a different place,” Lozos said. “A way to explain [the ruptures] is that you could be driving on the [Interstate] 5, which is a long freeway. You can go a long distance on the I-5 by itself, or you could exit and go on [Route] 170 and still get to the same place.”

While the science behind earthquakes is interesting, exploring the human experience of them is just as important to understanding how they behave and affect people, Lozos said. Historic seismology, which uses historic documentation of earthquakes, provides a human perspective on how a large earthquake, like the 7.5 magnitude that occurred in 1812, might affect people residing in the Inland Empire in the present.

“This is a hazard we are talking about — a very real hazard,” Lozos said. “If this were to happen today in densely populated areas, it would be a massive disaster.

“Earthquakes are fascinating from a physics standpoint,” he continued. “But one of the things that makes [seismology] such an interesting and rewarding field to me is the way that it influences people,” he said. “The science is fascinating to me, but people living in earthquake country might not give a care about science. They certainly might give a care about their house breaking. There is something to be gained from that.”

Lozos explained that while his research looks at past earthquakes to understand current fault line activity, predicting the next earthquake is not yet feasible.

“I always make the point that this has nothing to do with timing,” he said. “We can’t predict earthquakes, nobody can. The best we can do is look at the statistics. But the idea that it happened once and it can happen again is a very real thing.”

“The Blacker the Ink: Constructions of Black Identity in Comics and Sequential Art,” an anthology that explores black identity on the comic pages and in comic books and graphic novel, and co-edited by California State University, Northridge professor Frances Gateward, has been nominated for a Will Eisner Comic Industry Award.

Named for acclaimed comics creator Will Eisner, the awards, sometimes called “the Oscars of comics,” are given by Comic-Con International to highlight the best publications and creators in comics and graphic novels. “The Blacker the Ink” has been nominated for an Eisner in the category of best academic or scholarly work.

Gateward, an associate professor in CSUN’s Department of Cinema and Television Arts who heads the media theory and criticism option, said the nomination was unexpected, but welcomed.

“I have geek credit now,” she said, laughing. “[The nomination] feels fantastic. What really excites me is that most of the publications I write for tend to be academic. I am a cultural critic, and I’d like to think I have a wider audience than that. This nomination means that people outside of academia have seen my work, and that’s a great validation.”

Gateward co-edited “The Blacker the Ink” with John Jennings. The duo earlier this year received the Ray and Pat Browne Award for Best Edited Collection in Popular Culture and American Culture, from the Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association.

The 15 essays in the book, written by academics, explore a gamut of sequential art — from the early days of newspaper comic pages to graphic novels — with subjects such as race and science fiction, gender construction, colonialism and African-American history.

Gateward said comics have always been part of popular culture, serving as a way to illustrate or comment on contemporary society. How people are portrayed, however, depends on who controls the publication.

The emergence of African-American newspapers in the early 20th century, she said, offered an alternative portrayal of African-American life to those found in the stereotype-riddled images of more mainstream publications.

“The people in power wanted to define what blackness was, rather than let black people define themselves,” she said.

As African-American artists began to publish independently — and to find jobs at Marvel and DC Comics — they began to tell their own stories in the comic pages and graphic novels.

“Stories of who we are and what we are capable of began to change,” Gateward said.

Today, there can be a black-Latino Spiderman, and people, regardless of race, are reading the story, she said.

The encyclopedia salesman knocked on the door, and Geneva Williams answered. He gave his pitch, and then Geneva looked to her 8-year-old son, Robert D. Taylor, for advice.

Not a good investment, the little boy told his mother. But for some reason, she decided to go through with the purchase, despite being cash-strapped.

At some point soon after, Taylor decided what he would become when he grew up — a scientist. So, he looked it up in the new encyclopedia, and it prompted him to keep digging until he read about engineering.

“At that age, I knew I wanted to be an engineer,” Taylor said.

Forty-five years later, Taylor insists that at age 8, he made his life plan: earn an engineering degree, go to law school, create jobs and opportunities for African-Americans and make a difference in society. He met all of those aims. And something he didn’t plan or ask for happened on April 16: California State University, Northridge honored Taylor with one of the university’s highest accolades — a Distinguished Alumni Award.

Taylor ’82 (Engineering) admitted being slightly uncomfortable with the honor. He often uses the example of Capt. Chesley Sullenberger, who safely landed a disabled plane carrying 155 people on the Hudson River in New York in 2009. Sullenberger struggled with the word “hero” and said on many occasions that the safe landing was simply the result of a job done well.

“I have lived my life the way I think my mother would be proud, the way that Captain Sullenberger recommended,” Taylor said. “He inspired me to continue to labor without concern about whether or not anybody notices. That’s what I [have said] to my team: ‘The most important thing is what we do when no one will notice.’”

Taylor is one of the most impactful African-American financial industry leaders in California. He is a private equity investor and partner at holding company 3.5.7.11. Taylor began his career at McKinsey & Company, one of the world’s most-recognized management consulting firms, where he helped improve the performance of large, complex for-profit and nonprofit enterprises. He also has been a difference maker in the community, serving as an instrumental figure in the rebuilding of Los Angeles after the 1992 riots and as a leader in the National Urban League and Los Angeles Urban League (LAUL). He also has served on the CSUN Foundation board and the CSUN Task Force on Engagement.

Taylor’s Mission

Taylor’s connection with CSUN began when he was drawn to the school’s engineering program. Professor and later Dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Science Raymond Landis founded the Minority Engineering Program at CSUN — the first such program in the state. Landis and the program’s associate director, Rick Ainsworth, became mentors to Taylor and helped support his work.

“Right from the beginning, he was a standout,” Landis said. “It was almost like he didn’t need the program, the program needed him. He was such an outstanding young man — bright, motivated, caring. He set an example and was a role model for others.”

After earning his degree in engineering from CSUN, Taylor went to Stanford, where he earned an MBA and a law degree. That led him to McKinsey, where he quickly climbed the ladder.

His teams’ work often featured pioneering solutions to pivotal business challenges ranging from broad-based, physician-led innovation in the practice and management of medicine, to re-engineering the investigation and resolution of property casualty claims. In the process, Taylor rose to become the firm’s only black partner.

Charles Schetter, a former senior partner at McKinsey, began working with Taylor in 1986, shortly after Taylor graduated from Stanford Law School. He said Taylor was the glue of the company.

“I entrusted to Robert the people processes for the several hundred people we had in the practice,” Schetter said. “Robert is a man of great empathy and an inspiring leader, and he is the person I wanted to be in charge of the care and feeding of our people.”

Schetter also called Taylor a crusader. In 1992, in the aftermath of the Los Angeles/Rodney King riots that ravaged the inner city, Taylor told people close to him — Schetter and his wife, Joy, primarily — that he felt a calling to help. Mayor Tom Bradley started the Rebuild L.A. initiative and placed 1984 Time Magazine Man of the Year and former Major League Baseball Commissioner Peter Ueberroth in charge of the effort. Taylor reached out and offered his assistance.

“I reached out to all kinds of communities. We needed thousands of people to help us, but we needed some really key leaders — and Robert was one of the first to step forward,” Ueberroth said. “He showed a calmness and a skillset that was very unusual, and it was key to our success.”

McKinsey volunteered early on to help organize the rebuilding effort, with Taylor playing a significant leadership role.

“He was not afraid,” Ueberroth said. “It’s a nasty assignment. He wasn’t looking to be a hero. He wasn’t looking to be in the newspapers. He was working to make the city better. He knew as a citizen, he’d make the city better. … It was totally unselfish. It was a case where he wanted to give back. Not a lot of people do that, but those were the kinds of people we attracted, and he was a superstar.”

It was through Taylor’s work with Rebuild L.A. that he caught the eye of the National Urban League.

Taylor became a longtime volunteer for the Urban League, whose mission is to enable African-Americans to secure economic self-reliance, parity, power and civil rights.

On two occasions, Taylor led the effort to fundamentally reset the Urban League’s strategy, as well as assisting with the design and execution of key programs and chairing several board committees during his tenure. The highlight of Taylor’s service was being entrusted with the position of senior vice chair (the most senior volunteer role) from 2005-12.

“[Taylor] possesses a really strong passion and commitment and compassion for making a difference in this community and beyond this community,” said civic leader and former LAUL president John Mack. “[He applied] his knowledge, his expertise for creating a level playing field for people of color … to educate their children, to live in a safe community and provide for them … and narrow the gap of the inequities. He really has a passion in that regard. It wasn’t just about doing his professional thing. There was the compassion, the human spirit that Robert possessed and brought to the table.”

Creating Opportunity

Taylor did all that while maintaining a strong passion for his professional work. His objective from an early age was to become an entrepreneur and bring his skills and resources back to his community to create opportunities. He has done that at many steps along the path.

Taylor co-founded two private equity firms, including Centinela Capital Partners, LLC. That firm has backed 46 new and emerging investment teams who have created an estimated $5 billion in value and unprecedented levels of diversity among their general partners, according to Taylor.

CSUN recognized how vital Taylor has been to his field and his community. On the night he received the Distinguished Alumni Award, Taylor seemed to find more comfort in accepting the honor and expressed excitement.

When he got on stage, Taylor thanked his wife and children, CSUN mentors Landis and Ainsworth, friends and colleagues, his alma mater, and most importantly he reflected on what his mother did for him.

“I’ve had help and guidance from a lot of people,” he said. “Mom, through her sacrifice.”

Then, Taylor shared her advice to him:

“Work hard. Be graceful. Believe in yourself. Stick together. Don’t complain. Don’t quit. And don’t embarrass me by wasting the sacrifice I made for you.”

Social media has become an indispensable medium of communication in modern society. Over the past 10 years, networks like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have evolved into platforms of free speech and digital activism. Numerous social movements such as Black Lives Matter, the Arab Spring and the Hong Kong Umbrella Movement have used social media to raise awareness and spark conversations to push for change.

The 25th annual Kenneth S. Devol First Amendment Forum, held on April 21, discussed the impact of social media on social change by examining the influences of hashtags and measuring the outcomes of social media conversations.

“We have opened a door to a whole new social space where we can make social change,” said First Amendment scholar and CSUN Assistant Professor of Journalism Elizabeth Blakey, who organized and moderated the forum.

“We can make social change by networking on the internet,” Blakey said, mentioning that — unlike the mainstream media — no gatekeepers filter information on digital media.

Guest speaker April Reign, the creator of #OscarsSoWhite, talked about her experience initiating a social movement that criticized the lack of diversity in the entertainment and film industry.

“Because of social media, the information and the hashtag can travel around the world,” she said. “Hashtags are incredibly pervasive in society. Even if you’re not on Twitter, you see them used all the time.”

Reign coined the hashtag in response to the 2015 Academy Awards nominations, which lacked ethnic diversity. Though she had no intention to start a movement, #OscarsSoWhite gained great popularity and was a trending hashtag during the 2015 and 2016 Academy Award Shows.

“As the conversation grew, people from literally around the world started to pay attention to this issue,” she said. “We started to have very serious discussions about representation and the lack of inclusion of marginalized communities.”

Reign received interview requests from countries around the world and spoke globally about the issues of lacking representation. People interested in the Academy Awards learned about the racial prejudices of the American entertainment industry, but also spread conversations about the lack of representation in the entertainment industry in their own countries, said Reign.

CSUN graduate student in mass communication David Stamps talked about the importance of social media conversation. The creator of #WeMatterPoject started the hashtag in response to the prominent #BlackLivesMatter to increase the conversation about equality and justice.

“When you lack one-on-one interaction [with marginalized communities], entertainment media brings out stereotypes and biases that you start to hold as true — that’s a problem,” Stamps said. “When we come together collectively, we can change the narrative. We can push forward and see some change happen.”

International hashtags such as #WomenToDrive in Saudi Arabia or #UmbrellaRevolution against police brutality in China have increased public attention toward issues and pressured stakeholders for change.

“You can help to make change using your thumbs and your iPhone,” Reign said.

“Where mainstream media has failed us, digital media has given us an opportunity to raise our voice and bring us back to the First Amendment free speech,” Stamps added. “Digital Media allows us this platform for our voice to be heard and for us to control our narrative.”

One of the jewels in the crown of California State University, Northridge’s Department of Music is its opera program, having produced luminaries such as Carol Vaness and Michelle DeYoung. But the program’s first star — and one of the university’s first musical luminaries — was Shigemi Matsumoto ’68 (Music).

Matsumoto, the adopted daughter of Japanese internment camp survivors, not only brought notoriety to what was then San Fernando Valley State College during her time as a student, but she achieved fame with an internationally successful opera career that lasted more than two decades. She has performed with industry greats and won numerous awards, and she was managed by one of the most influential classical music managers in the world. Since the late 1980s, Matsumoto also has been a valued educator at two Southern California universities.

On April 16, she received one of CSUN’s highest honors as a Distinguished Alumni honoree at CSUN’s 18th annual Distinguished Alumni Awards.

“I was supported here as a student like no other,” Matsumoto said of CSUN. “I felt in many ways Dr. (David) Scott devised the opera seasons around what I was able to do, so that he could give me the opportunity and it would help build his program.”

Scott joined San Fernando Valley State College in 1963 as the school’s first full-time voice teacher and began to build its opera program from the ground up. In 1965, he found the program’s building block — Matsumoto — by chance.

A Distinguished Career

Moriichi and Suki Matsumoto adopted Shigemi in Denver. The family moved west and settled in Reseda, and the Matsumotos opened a beauty salon in Tarzana. She passionately recalled how much her parents did to cultivate her through childhood.

“My parents, my mom wanted me to go anywhere in the world and hold my head up,” Shigemi said. “She made all my clothes. I had ballet, piano, acrobatic and swimming lessons.”

Matsumoto said all of those experiences helped give her confidence as a young woman. She entered San Fernando Valley State College as a history major and joined a sorority. During a faculty appreciation dinner, she was asked to sing. Matsumoto sang a Johnny Mathis song and afterward, a professor approached her and suggested she talk to Scott. She did so and soon switched majors — and was quickly cast as the lead role of Mimi in the Valley State production of La Boheme.

“Dr. Scott started talking about her,” said CSUN music professor emeritus Aurelio de la Vega on how he first heard of Matsumoto. “I went to her senior recital, and it was already outstanding. Then I knew things were going to progress.”

He taught Matsumoto in a non-voice class, but de la Vega still remembers her dedication to her craft.

“It was a very instantaneous rapport,” he said of their connection. “She was a very serious student, and she was a delight to have in class. She was very attentive.”

Her first performance of La Boheme was Dec. 3, 1965. A preview of the event appeared in campus newspaper The Sundial that day. Larry Jarvis, a Valley State music instructor who also appeared in the production, was quoted in The Sundial: “Miss Matsumoto has one of the most beautiful soprano voices I’ve ever worked with, and is also an excellent actress.”

Matsumoto sang six roles while at CSUN. At 22 and still a student, she won the grand prize in the San Francisco Opera National Auditions and earned her first professional contract.

She made her debut as Gerhilde in the San Francisco Opera’s production of Wagner’s Die Walküre.

“If it weren’t for CSUN, I wouldn’t have the nerve, the stamina — or should I say the moxie — to be able to do that, because I had so much experience,” Matsumoto said. “You can’t buy that experience.”

Over the following two decades, she sang with more than 50 national and international opera companies and international symphony orchestras. She performed internationally and was managed by one of the most influential classical music managers of the 20th century, Nelly Walter of Columbia Artists Management, Inc.

She sang with each of The Three Tenors — Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo and José Carreras — and appeared on albums with Pavarotti and with the NBC Orchestra.

Return to the Classroom

After living for 14 years on the East Coast, Matsumoto felt a calling to return home. She and her husband, Marty Stark, whom she met while studying at CSUN, stayed with her mother and aunt. A colleague asked Matsumoto if she would tutor a young singer. She agreed, and she worked with the singer for two months.

Out of the blue, Matsumoto received a call from Michael Carson, the head of opera production at CSU Long Beach, who asked if they could meet. He offered the singer a teaching position with the university, and she accepted. Ten years later, USC also offered her a teaching position. Matsumoto has served on the faculty at the Bob Cole Conservatory at CSU Long Beach for 29 years and USC Thornton School of Music for 19 years.

“I feel like I learn so much from these students,” she said. “I feel like I should pay them instead.

“The most rewarding aspect of teaching is when someone can overcome something they really felt they couldn’t do and had a mental block about it,” she continued. “So, when you give them tools, you use illustration about life and humanity, using all the good feelings of being a human being — that can overcome lots of things. … That is rewarding.”

And she’s meant so much to so many students.

“(She gives) not only lessons in how to sing and how to vocalize, but she teaches how to be a professional artist, how to conduct oneself professionally, which you don’t usually get all in one package with one voice teacher,” said professional opera singer and former student Nathan Stark.

Stark was Matsumoto’s student at Long Beach. Prior to attending, he did an Internet search of opera instructors and came across Matsumoto. He recalled nervously emailing her, not expecting a response. Mere minutes after he sent the email, Matsumoto called him. Stark said she was a significant reason he chose Long Beach, where he studied under her as an undergraduate and graduate student. Since 2004, he has performed regularly throughout the country, including a 2015 debut with the Tulsa Opera in La Boheme.

“(Matsumoto) is probably one of the most generous people I know in the time she gives to her students,” Stark said. “She can teach, but she also goes that extra mile in making those connections with students. She understands they will fly away, but before they leave the nest, they know how to sing, how to act and how to be, and she lays out a clear path.”

In 2012, Stark debuted at New York’s prestigious Metropolitan Opera, and Matsumoto and her husband traveled across the country to witness it. Her presence meant so much to the performer, he said.

“That was Shigemi’s victory, too,” Stark said. “I felt we had done this together. She was instrumental in helping me achieve my main goal of singing at The Met.”

Matsumoto also teaches at her home in Porter Ranch. She plans to continue teaching at Long Beach and USC. Although she has performed since leaving the East Coast, it is a rarity — teaching is her passion now.

Several of her students have fared very well in the music profession — two became Adler Fellows at the San Francisco Opera, and one co-starred in national tours of South Pacific and Evita.

Matsumoto also founded and was the president of the Southern California-based Classical Singers Association — a nonprofit organization dedicated to developing the performance and professional singing skills of its members.

Regardless of her chosen professional focus — teaching, performing or motivating — she has given so much to so many through a powerful, influential instrument: her voice.

For Your Information shares announcements of events, public meetings, notices, classes and deadlines relevant to CSUN faculty and staff. The submission deadline is noon on Monday, one week before the next post.

We strive to include all items submitted by deadline occurring until the next post. You can submit future items by emailing pubinfo@csun.edu, sending them to mail drop 8242 or faxing them to (818) 677-4909. Email is the preferred method of submission.

Events

May 3

Authors of the Impossible: How to Talk About the Paranormal Without Embarrassment

In this lecture, which begins at 11 a.m. in the USU, Grand Salon, Jeffrey Kripal will revisit his “Authors of the Impossible” thesis which was my first fascination/encounter with his work on the once vibrant but now neglected topic of the paranormal among academics.

May 4

Men’s Circle 

This workshop, which is from 4 to 5:30 p.m. in Jacaranda Hall 1552, will revolve around a wide range of issues men face on a daily basis. Men will explore the source of their rage, including betrayals, shame and abandonment, and the transcendent paths to healing and becoming multi-dimensional and solid in a world where men are expected to be emotionally shut down and fractured.

May 7

Student Fashion Show: A Designer’s Cut

Please join us in celebrating our 37th annual TRENDS fashion show at CSUN. Each year, the CSUN Fashion Show Production class and the corresponding student organization TRENDS collaborate to host a fashion show, which highlights the talent of the university’s Senior Apparel Design and Merchandising students. The theme for our 2016 show is A Designer’s Cut. Tickets for students with ID is $15. General Admission is $20. The show will be from 6 to 7:30 p.m. in the Northridge Center, USU.

Classes

May 4

Managing During Critical Incidents on Campus: Leadership Issues for “Routine Emergencies” and Actual Crisis Events

In this session, MPPs and supervisors will better understand the structure and organization of the university framework (who does what and when) in response to routine and critical incident emergencies on campus. The class will be held in the Department of Police Services, 2nd Floor Training Room from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m.

For steps to register, visit http://www.csun.edu/development/training/events/managing-during-critical-incidents-campus-leadership-issues-“routine

May 5

Summer 2016 Student Assistant Hiring & Processing Workshop

These workshops are intended for administrative personnel responsible for hiring and processing Student Assistants for employment during Summer 2016. These sessions will not address hiring and processing of Academic Personnel. The class is from 10 to 11:30 a.m. in the HR Training Room, Oviatt 16. For steps to register, visit http://www.csun.edu/development/events/summer-2016-student-assistant-hiring-processing-workshop.

May 10

What’s Trending in Nutrition for 2016?

Gluten free, Paleo, Coconut oil, Cleanses… Confused about what to eat to stay healthy? Join the crowd! This class is from 2:05 to 3:35 in the Human Resources Training Room, Oviatt Library 16. For steps to register, visit http://www.csun.edu/development/training/events/whats-trending-nutrition-2016

Notices

Honored Faculty Reception

Monday, May 23, 2016

 The annual Honored Faculty Reception will begin at 1:30 p.m. in the Grand Salon, University Student Union.  Faculty awards will be presented for Outstanding Faculty; Distinguished Teaching, Counseling, or Librarianship; Scholarly Publication; Creative Accomplishment; Extraordinary Service; and Visionary Community Service-Learning.   Emeritus professors and faculty completing milestone years of service will be honored.  Refreshments will be served.   Click here to RSVP by May 13.

For more information, visit http://www.csun.edu/faculty-senate/honored-faculty-reception-rsvp

Winners of this year’s Faculty Awards:

Outstanding Faculty Awards:
Wendy Murawski, Special Education
Jill Razani, Psychology

Distinguished Teaching, Counseling, or Librarianship Awards:
Soheil Boroushaki, Geography
John Paul Nuño, History
Mark Otten, Psychology

Preeminent Scholarly Publication Award:
Takashi Yagisawa, Philosophy

Exceptional Creative Accomplishments Award:
Alexis Krasilovsky, Cinema and Television Arts

Extraordinary Service Award:
Charles Hanson, Educational Psychology and Counseling
Visionary Community Service-Learning Award:
Jongeun Kim, Family and Consumer Sciences

Meetings

May 4

2 to 4 p.m., UN 211

Educational Policies Committee 

California State University, Northridge hosted students and faculty from seven other California State Universities for the PUMP Research Symposium on April 23 in Live Oak Hall. Preparing Undergraduates through Mentoring toward Ph.D.s (PUMP) is an initiative founded by the National Science Foundation and hosted by CSUN’s Department of Mathematics to motivate mathematics students to enter Ph.D. programs.

The initiative has expanded to other California State Universities and high schools throughout Southern California, and it was recently honored with an award for an exemplary program or achievement in a mathematics department by the American Mathematical Society.

One of PUMP’s key elements is the undergraduate research project, in which teams of two math students research complex mathematical topics and present them at the PUMP symposium. Each team is supervised by an advisor who helps mentor the team through the process.

“It was fun and a very beneficial experience,” said Diana Contreras, a junior and participant on one of the CSUN teams.

“We appreciate the opportunity to do it,” added her team partner, senior Kevin Manley.

Contreras and Manley researched and examined predictors for student success in college and presented a statistical approach that investigated the achievement gap between students from different socioeconomic backgrounds.

“Our supervisor, Dr. [Bruce E.] Shapiro, was already looking into it and when we approached him about the topic, he mentioned it,” Contreras said. “It was fun to figure out what the GPA cutoffs were in order to predict [graduation likelihood].”

The second CSUN team researched the Collatz problem, a prominent mathematical conjecture that investigates iterations of integers. Melida Paz and Miriam Ramirez, both math seniors, were advised by CSUN mathematics professor Werner Horn.

“I loved the open-endedness of it and that there is always more to find,” Paz said. “There is never an end to anything. You can spend as much time as you like and just immerse in mathematics.”

Paz and Ramirez discovered the Collatz problem in a book while researching their topic for the project. One year later, they resolved the conjecture for one specific case, which is a groundbreaking achievement for the two undergraduate students.

“We’re hoping to publish in a journal and get our results out there,” Ramirez said. “Knowing that your name might be out there somewhere and getting [credit] for what you have done is really rewarding.”

All 24 participating CSU students balanced their classes and research for an entire academic year, which many said was one of the program’s main challenges.

“It felt like I was a juggler,” Paz said. “I took five classes and did the research. It was pretty intense, but I enjoyed it a lot.”

CSUN’s M.A.U. team won four awards at the annual Model African Union Conference in Washington, D.C.

California State University, Northridge’s Model African Union (MAU) team received four big awards this spring at the annual Model African Union conference, held at Howard University in Washington, D.C.

CSUN — which won the fourth-most awards of the 42 schools competing — won the Committee Leadership Award for the Committee on Democracy, Governance and Human Rights; the Outstanding Delegation Award for the Committee on Democracy, Governance and Human Rights; the Outstanding Delegation Award for the Technical Committee on Economic Matters and the Outstanding Committee Leadership Award for the Executive Council.

“The current and future world will face issues that cannot be settled by simply bombing our way out — diplomatic engagement, mediation and talking things out will be the order of the day , and the Model African Union Council activity offers students an excellent, high-level training and preparation for such decision-making,” said faculty adviser David Horne, a professor in the Department of Africana Studies. “CSUN students have taken to this opportunity like a fish to water and will continue to win awards and distinctions in the intercollegiate competition.”

CSUN’s MAU team, which is sponsored by the Department of Africana Studies and consists of seven Matador student delegates and Horne, has had great success together in the past — at the 2015 conference, the team took home five awards.

“Not only is CSUN the only West Coast school that has a Model African Union team, but we also have a legacy to uphold,” said CSUN MAU President Kalkidan Temesgen. “We’ve won national awards year after year, and it’s important that we keep representing ourselves and the school. Our team loves the continent of Africa, and we’ve taken it upon ourselves to advocate for them in the best way we know how.”

The MAU provides students training in leadership, diplomacy, debate and negotiation, Horne said. The conference also gives students a unique opportunity to study the role, structure and activities of the African Union, as well as the economic, social and political-security issues facing African countries.

All 42 participating schools were designated an African country — CSUN was given the Republic of Mali — to represent during the three-day February conference. Teams were asked to research their designated countries and prepare to compete and engage in diplomacy, debate and negotiation of resolutions regarding African problems.

“For months, we practiced and studied [the Republic of Mali’s] political and social stance in order to give the best representation possible,” Temesgen said. “The organizers of the conference chose the country for us — we like it this way because it gave us more of a challenge.”

Delegates of CSUN’s Model African Union team include: James Herron, Melissa Elswick, Kalkidan Temesgen, Glenna Dixon, Malcolm McIntosh, Cheryl Hatcher, Ameer Wafer and faculty advisor David L. Horne.

Liberal studies junior Bryan Gomez received the Newman Civic Fellows Award for outstanding engagement in leadership positions. Photo by Luis Garcia.

As the oldest sibling and cousin, Bryan Gomez strives to set an example in his family. He is, after all, the first in his family to attend college. The California State University, Northridge junior was recently awarded the Newman Civic Fellows Award by Campus Compact, a national coalition of more than 1,000 higher education institutions supporting civic engagement on campus.

The Newman Civic Fellows Award honors students who commit themselves to leadership positions to achieve positive social change and inspire others to engage in social action.

“It is a great honor,” said Gomez, a liberal studies major. “Even if I hadn’t won, it was a great honor to be considered. I never expected to win an award like that.”

Gomez serves as a committee leader for Unified We Serve (UWS) — the California State University’s largest volunteer program — where he volunteers to address community needs through the program’s service projects. He also assists Coaching Corps, a nonprofit organization that helps connect volunteer coaches with children in low-income communities.

“I recruit students to volunteer for coaching at places that don’t have the money to coach kids,” he said. “I like to give back to the community and to motivate other students to give back.”

Gomez said he has a passion for helping children become educated and independent individuals. After graduating from CSUN, he said, he wants to work on a master’s degree in education and become a teacher and mentor to the next generation.

“I want to be an elementary school teacher,” he said. “Kids are the future and the ones who are going to live after us. I want to shape the leadership for the future.”

If Gomez has free time to spare, he volunteers at the Everybody Reads program at Noble Elementary School in North Hills, which provides children with learning and reading experiences through donated books.

“Bryan’s volunteer work shows his dedication and commitment, but most importantly speaks to his passion for addressing the needs of his community, including education,” said Maria Elizondo, UWS coordinator. “He is passionate, focused and the kind of person who seeks accomplishments through hard work and dedication.”

Elizondo has worked closely with Gomez on multiple UWS projects, which is why she nominated him for the Newman Civic Fellows Award.

“Bryan aims to position himself to contribute significantly to our society by teaching our next generation of leaders the way to success through education,” she said. “He is truly in tune with his passion, personal interests and values. He is a great role model who exudes confidence through an unwavering positive attitude.”

Marketers and communicators spend most of their professional energy shining the spotlight on, writing about and promoting their organizations and clients. This spring, however, marketing and communications teams at California State University, Northridge enjoyed a few moments in the spotlight themselves, as a number of higher education associations and other groups recognized their good work.

Early this month, the Academy of Interactive & Visual Arts awarded CSUN’s Department of Marketing and Communications five Awards of Distinction at its 2016 Communicator Awards. The international group, made up of more than 600 member organizations and individuals from all 50 states and 15 countries, is dedicated to recognizing “the rapidly evolving nature of traditional and interactive media,” according to its mission statement. The academy works to promote standards of excellence for evaluating media design, production and distribution.

The group awarded Silver Communicator Awards to CSUN in five categories: integrated campaign, for the CSUN Reputation and Visibility Campaign; print advertising, for a Chronicle of Higher Education ad featuring the cancer research of Dr. Jonathan Kelber; online video, for the 2015 CSUN Commencement video; employee publication, for the CSUN Weekly e-newsletter; and brochure, for the Oviatt Library brochure.

In March, the Higher Education Marketing Report honored CSUN with three golds, two silvers and three merit awards in its Educational Advertising Awards competition. The publication also honored CSUN’s Tseng College with three additional awards — one bronze and two merit awards — in the 30th annual competition.

The publication honored CSUN with gold awards in three advertising categories: newspaper single, for its Advancing Cancer Research ad; newspaper series, for the CSUN Reputation and Visibility newspaper ad campaign; and direct mail, for the CSUN Alumni Homegrown direct mail advertising. CSUN earned silver awards in two categories: logo, for the CSUN Logo/Letterhead design; and outdoor, for the CSUN Outdoor Campaign. CSUN’s Tseng College marketing team received a bronze award for the newspaper ad series “Find the business style that fits you.”

The publication also honored CSUN with merit awards in five categories: direct mail, for the Tseng College Fall 2015 Open University mailer; brochure, for the Tseng College Semester at CSUN brochure; special video, for the 2015 CSUN Commencement video; magazine single ad; and magazine ad series.

Last but not least, in February, the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) recognized CSUN Weekly with a gold award for publications at its CASE District VII Awards of Excellence 2016. One of the world’s largest nonprofit educational associations in terms of institutional membership, CASE serves educational institutions and the advancement professionals who work on their behalf in alumni relations, communications, development, marketing and related areas.

In the regional Awards of Excellence, CASE also honored CSUN with a silver award in the fundraising publications category, for the Changing the Face of Business in Los Angeles and Beyond prospectus for the David Nazarian College of Business and Economics — as well as a bronze award in the branding programs category, for the CSUN Reputation and Visibility Campaign.

“I am so proud of the work that the entire marketing and communications team is doing to highlight our faculty, staff, students and alumni,” said Jeff Noblitt, associate vice president for marketing and communications. “Through the leadership of CSUN President Dianne F. Harrison and Vice President for University Advancement Robert Gunsalus, CSUN’s increasing reputation and visibility is adding value to the degrees of our more than 300,000 alumni and raising awareness of the excellence happening in and out of the classroom.”

For their part, Tseng College officials were thrilled with the Higher Education Marketing Report’s recognition of their marketing and communications team at the Educational Advertising Awards.

“It is wonderful to showcase at a national level the variety of CSUN’s campus-based and online educational programs for traditional students, midcareer professionals and international students,” said Jessie Revlin, director of marketing and communications for Tseng College. “We are honored to have our design work be recognized.”