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.

CSUN geology professor Jennifer Cotton depicts the different areas in North America affected by vegetation change. Photo by Ruth Saravia.

What do old bison hair, teeth and bones have to do with judging the future of Earth’s climate change? They may be the key to understanding how the North American climate has changed in the last 20,000 years, according to California State University, Northridge geology professor Jennifer Cotton.

Since bison eat only grasses, Cotton was able to see what they ate in various periods of time and space by testing the carbon isotopes in the more than 600 samples of bison hair, teeth and bone she acquired. Her study, which was published in the April edition of Science Advances, is the first to create a comprehensive understanding of the spread of various grasses in the North American grasslands, which leads to a better grasp of why certain grasses spread and others did not.

“There are two types of photosynthesis,” Cotton said. “The one you learned in biology, which is used by pretty much everything you see outside today, is what C3 grasses use. The second type is C4, which is used primarily by tropical grasses, corn and sugar cane.

“Between three and eight million years ago, some event took place that caused C4 plants to spread rapidly and take over about 20 percent of terrestrial productivity in a really short amount of time,” she continued. “One of the ideas of the study was to understand what caused that change and try to see if we can use this information to interpret what might happen [to Earth’s vegetation] in the future.”

CSUN geology professor Jennifer Cotton holds a sample of bison hair that was used in her research of grassland changes in North America. More than 600 samples of bison hair, teeth and bone dating back to 20,000 years ago were used in her study. Photo by Ruth Saravia.

“My work showed that precipitation — and specifically the timing of precipitation — is important,” she said. “C4 grasses really like wet conditions during hot times. This has a number of implications. We can now look back in the geologic record and look for more evidence [of] summer precipitation, and see if there are increases in C4 grasses.”

Because C4 grasses are a main staple of the human diet, looking at their spread and what may happen to their spread in the future is important, Cotton said.

“If you think about the future, we are increasing both atmospheric carbon dioxide and temperatures,” she said. “It is not clear what plants are going to do. [C3] likes high levels of carbon dioxide and [C4] likes low carbon dioxide. [C3] likes low temperatures, [C4] likes high temperatures. It is important to humans and food security [and to] economies around the world. They are important to biodiversity. Understanding how they changed in the past can help us with future conservation efforts.”

Five California State University, Northridge students who conducted research on topics ranging from spider morphology to 18th century women’s literature, were selected to receive the 2016 Association of Retired Faculty Memorial Award, which recognizes and provides financial support to graduate students for excellent scholarship and creative activity.

“I am always impressed with the professional level of the presentations and that was really true this year,” said ARF president Alyce Akers. “The research projects and presentations underscore that the future of the university is in good hands.”

The five recipients presented their projects at the annual ARF luncheon on May 14. ARF presents the awards in memory of members of the faculty who have died in that year – the awards honor both the student and the deceased. Award criteria included a description of their project, two faculty letters of recommendation and willingness to provide a brief presentation. Each project receives a $2,000 award.

This year’s recipients are:

Nickie Cammisa, biology major — Her project, “Examining the Role of Bacteria in Facilitating Invasions by Exotic Plants During an Ecological Disturbance,” aims to discover more about the complex role of bacteria in the success of plants facing drought, specifically if these bacteria help exotic plants become invasive in novel ecosystems. Cammisa graduated with a Bachelors of Science in environmental science at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pa. before coming to CSUN as a graduate student in 2014.  Her goal is to earn her doctorate degree and pursue a career as a scientific analysis at an environmental nonprofit organization.

Andrea Haberkern, biology major — Her project, “Spider Morphology as a Predictor of Spider Ecology,” helps to reveal which forces contribute to the evolutionary success of spiders. For her thesis, Haberkern studied the ecomorphology (the relationship between the ecological role of an individual and its morphological adaptations) of spiders, so she could understand how spiders evolved to succeed in a variety of different environments.

Nicholas Hager and Sean Robison, geography majors — Their project, “Frontiers of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Mapping,” explores the use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV’s) in high-resolution mapping as a rapidly developing application in environmental science. Using a field site on the western slope of the White Mountains in California, 24 ground control and thousands of elevation points were deployed and processed using dedicated software and a generated 3D map.

Before coming to CSUN to earn his undergraduate degree in geography, Hager spent a year as a marine science major at the University of San Diego. His goal after earning his graduate degree is to work for an agency that focuses on technical ingenuity and allows for creativity.

Robison earned his undergraduate degree from CSUN in geography. His goal is to earn his doctorate degree.

Nazanin Keynejad, English major — Her project, “Etymological Analysis of the Eighteenth-Century Novel,” focused on novels written by women in the 18th century. By using various digital analysis tools, she attempted to analyze and offer a brief study of word usage and positioning, while examining them within their historical context. The purpose of Keynejad’s project was to determine thematic relationships and find out whether or not these connections can help trace the emergence of the “strong female character” in the era’s literary output. After graduating with her bachelor’s in English literature from CSUN in 1995, Keynejad recently returned to earn her master’s degree.

Gang Lu (Physics & Astronomy) has received $133,333 from the Brown University in continuing support of a project entitled “Stress-Controlled Catalysis via Engineered Nanostructures.”

Richard Heermance (Geological Sciences) has received $45,244 from the National Science Foundation in continuing support of a project entitled “RUI/Collaborative Research: Plio-Quaternary history of basin evolution, climate change, and fold growth in the Qaidam Basin-investigating wind-enhanced climate-tectonic feedback relationships.”

The president and founder of the National Urban Alliance (NUA), Eric Cooper, joined California State University, Northridge faculty and staff to highlight the work the university is doing to close achievement gaps, at the Academic Innovation Showcase on May 13 in the University Student Union’s Grand Salon.

Cooper, a renowned educator and advocate, delivered a keynote address that shared details of his own story and outlined some practices faculty and staff may use to help promote student success. He also praised the faculty members at CSUN and all the hard work they do to help students succeed.

“I came up with this title, ‘CSUN: A Beacon for Diversity and Success,’ and I fervently believe that,” Cooper said of his keynote title.

Though Cooper holds a doctorate from Columbia University, he once was told by his high school guidance counselor that he was “not college material.” He used his story to emphasize that many children are not given the support necessary to succeed, and that it is important for educators to allow children the chance to realize their gifts. “Only God knows the potential of a child,” he said.

To highlight this point, Cooper told the crowd about Oshae Rodgers, a CSUN student who was sitting in the audience. Rogers was once homeless, but after encouragement from a family member, he is now a freshman at CSUN with an excellent grade point average and plans to continue on to become a teacher.

“Our work is anchored in the belief that every child has a capacity and a hidden talent that needs to be acknowledged,” Cooper said. “And I honor all those who have been part of this effort and part of this mission.”

After the keynote address, faculty, staff and students presented research and strategies in culturally relevant teaching and high-impact practices, with each group allowed only two minutes to state the primary theme of their topic. More than 15 posters expanding on the presentations lined the perimeter of the room, giving attendees easy access to additional information and acting as a meeting place to discuss strategies and collaboration.

The Academic Innovation Showcase is one result of a partnership between the NUA and CSUN, which began in summer 2015 when CSUN was awarded a $100,000 grant from the National Collegiate Athletic Association to support the collaboration. The program uses the NUA Pedagogy of Confidence as a model to encourage and support first- and second-year student-athletes in achieving their full potential. In the past year, the NUA has provided workshops for CSUN faculty and advisors. The organization also has participated in the university’s Faculty Learning Committee and Staff Learning Committee, whose work throughout the year culminated at the showcase.

Martin Pousson

If you read the forward of Martin Pousson’s new book, “Black Sheep Boy,” closely, you’ll get a hint of what lies ahead in his chronicle of a young gay man in Louisiana’s Cajun bayou, whose actions seem to leave everything “out in the open for anyone to see” and lead him to who knows where.

Pousson, a professor of English at California State University, Northridge, called his book “a novel in stories”: stories that tap into the Cajon bayou of his youth — with its unique mix of races, languages and cultures — and incorporate the mythologies, Christian and others, that permeate the region.

“I wanted to tell the story of the protagonist, but not only his story,” Pousson said. “I wanted to tell the story of the people and culture of the region, of a history that is largely unknown. In many ways, it’s a lost history, but it remains in mythology. When I came of age, there was a realization that this culture was dying because the language was disappearing. I wanted to find a way to preserve that history, that culture, that mythology.”

The book’s protagonist is a misfit, an outcast and a loner, but not a victim. He is the son of a mixed-race Holy Ghost mother and a Cajun French phantom father. In a series of stories, he encounters gender outlaws, drag queen renegades and a rogues’ gallery of sex-starved priests, perverted teachers and murderous bar owners. To escape his past, he must create a new story for himself.

Aimee Bender, author of “The Color Master” and “The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake,” called “Black Sheep Boy” “beautifully impressionistic, and also raw, open and vulnerable.”

“Pousson’s bayou is such a frightening and vibrant place, generous and punishing, and the narrator’s perspective pulls us in and brings the reader closer,” Bender said.

Pousson was awarded a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts in 2014 for a collection of interlocking short stories that chronicled the sexual coming of age of a young, mixed-race man in the bayous of Louisiana. The fellowship helped Pousson turn that collection into what is now “Black Sheep Boy.”

“I went from story to story, sometimes completely re-writing them, to create the book,”
he said.

Pousson said the book was inspired by a short story he wrote about a young gay man escorting a girl to their high school prom.

“I wrote the story solely from the perspective of the boy and his vulnerability at that time,” he said. “For him, it was traumatic to be brought into a romantic experience he was not seeking. It was something inflicted upon him by the normative expectations of high school for boys in the early 1980s.

“I remember sharing the story with close friends,” Pousson said. “One of them turned to me with a question: ‘What about the girl?’ It was a great question to raise. It was absolutely right. My field of vision was so limited, it troubled me. I had to find a way to write stories about a boy coming out in that era and against all that adversity, and yet not be squarely and solely about him.”

Pousson said he hopes his book, which falls into the “fabulism” school of writing, not only captures the boy’s experience, but also “the experience of the place and everyone who occupies it.

“It’s not just about a queer boy, but also a queer place — an outsider boy living in an outsider culture,” he said. “The magic in the book arises not just out of a place, but also out of growing sexually as an other, a gender outlaw, and all the horrible, traumatic elements of that. I think that for those who are growing up gay, lesbian, bisexual, transsexual or intersex, there is a duality to how you live, to how you dream and yet tether yourself to reality.”

Pousson and “Black Sheep Boy” were featured at last month’s Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. Skylight Books is hosting a launch of the book at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 26. The bookstore is located at 1818 N. Vermont Ave. in Los Feliz.

California State University, Northridge’s VEX Robotics club scored fifth place at the VEX Robotics World Championship recently in Louisville, Ky.

From more than 200 VEX Robotics teams worldwide, only 60 teams qualify each year to participate in the world championships, which took place April 20-23 this year. With competitors separated into two divisions of 30 teams each, CSUN’s fifth-place score put the team in the top 10 of VEX Robotics teams across the globe.

“Fifth place in this year’s competition is their best showing yet,” said Robert Conner, professor of manufacturing systems engineering and management. “Their performance improves with each competition, and next year, if they don’t win, they will be close. Their confidence level is soaring.”

After winning all rounds of the qualifying tournament at the University of Southern California, CSUN’s VEX Robotics team worked around the clock to optimize the design of their robots.

“We rose to the occasion and pushed ourselves further than we ever had before,” said team member Steven Paqueo, a junior in mechanical engineering. “Going into next year, we know what’s expected of us and what it takes to win.”

In addition to a vision-tracking feature, the team designed and built its own sensors and 3-D printed parts to use on their robots.

“They have developed confidence in themselves that will help see them through any challenges they face,” Conner said. “That they did this so successfully speaks volumes to both their engineering skills and their maturity.”

Keith Goldstein, a professor in California State University, Northridge’s Department of Journalism and a guiding force for the news broadcast on the university’s radio station, KCSN-FM 88.5, passed away following complications from influenza May 18 in Woodland Hills. He was 61.

A native of Philadelphia, Goldstein graduated from Temple University and earned his master’s degree at Penn State University, before launching a radio news career that spanned more than three decades. In 1987, while mulling over offers from a university on the East Coast and CSUN, Goldstein chose the San Fernando Valley. At CSUN, he built a legacy through teaching a large number of journalism students who would go on to successful careers in radio and television.

“Keith often referred to himself as an ‘old-school journalist,’ and he devoted his life to teaching our students the all-important foundational skills needed in the workplace,” said Linda Bowen, chair of the journalism department. “Many of his former students can be heard on local and regional broadcast outlets and include those who also teach or have taught in our program.”

CSUN journalism students taught by Goldstein have garnered more than 450 awards that have ranged from local to national distinction. Included in those honors are 50 Golden Mike Awards and 34 Edward R. Murrow Awards from the Radio Television Digital News Association. In April, Goldstein’s students took the top three spots in the Radio Sports Reporting category at the Society of Professional Journalists’ Region 11 Mark of Excellence Awards. The overall winner, Carlos Gonzalez’s report on Narbonne High School football, will be considered for a national award. At the same competition, the KCSN Evening Update was a finalist for the Best All-Around Radio Newscast. During Goldstein’s tenure, his students have received 12 Mark of Excellence Awards.

“Those awards didn’t happen by themselves,” said Rick Marks, a CSUN journalism faculty member. “They happened because of one person, and that’s Keith. It’s a reflection not of him, but his students. But he should be remembered as it being a reflection of him and his teaching.”

Those students who launched broadcast and TV careers after taking Goldstein’s classes have felt the dramatic loss.

“He taught me more about the profession than anyone in school, in terms of how to write, report and produce for broadcast journalism,” said Mike Saeger ’90 (Journalism), the broadcaster for the San Antonio Missions, the San Diego Padres’ Double-A team and an early student of Goldstein’s. “I was clueless going in. I still use stuff today that I learned from him when it comes to writing and producing radio copy and reporting. Most of the same principles apply in play-by-play. I know for certain that he had a profound impact on countless students. Many of those who were part of my class have had successful careers in the field, and Keith was instrumental in that. His legacy will carry on in the body of work of those he shaped.”

In 2015, Goldstein was honored by the Greater Los Angeles Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ-LA) with its Distinguished Journalist Award. This was as much for his career as a radio news journalist as for his work shaping the careers of future radio and TV journalists.

“He was low key,” Marks said. “I never saw him raise his voice. I never saw him get angry. I never saw him get emotional. He was just a real steady individual. He was also a giving person. As a teacher, he was all about his students, and was about his profession. Not just the journalism profession, but the teaching profession. He was the ultimate professor, because he never wavered from what the ultimate mission was.”

“Keith cared about news,” said Jim Hill, a retired journalism faculty member. “He was a professional journalist. He cared about standards. He cared about journalistic values. Most of all, he cared about his students. He truly wanted to give them the best that he could. He was utterly dedicated to that. … We’re going to miss him in many ways at different levels.”

In preparing students for radio news, he also gave them skills that would translate into TV work, said Lincoln Harrison, a CSUN staff member who works in the TV lab and had worked alongside Goldstein since 2003. Teaching broadcast, one becomes a guru for the younger generation, Harrison said, and Goldstein filled that role for 29 years at CSUN. He praised the professor’s “gentleness and his persistence, sensitivity and humanity.”

Goldstein is survived by his daughter, Katy. The university is planning a memorial service to honor the professor, and details are pending. Since his passing, many tributes have filled social media from Goldstein’s colleagues and former students.

CSUN journalism faculty member Sally Turner described Goldstein as a selfless person who made a dramatic impact on the lives of so many he taught.

“He was a shy person. He was very reserved, very formal,” Turner said. “The reason he meant so much to students was he was able to help them with their own nerves, their own fears and help them find their voices. When students are learning, they need someone who understands why it’s difficult. That’s something that was so great about him.

“When you think of the hundreds of students who’ve graduated from our program and are working in radio and television all over the country — and how much he meant to all of them, and how his work lives on through them — I just don’t know how the department will fill that hole,” she said. “He meant a great deal to a lot of people.”

Farin Bakhtiari ’14 (Psychology) graduated with a master’s degree in general experimental psychology with honors this year and received the 2016 CSUN Graduate Scholarship. Photo courtesy of Farin Bakhtiari.

In 2010, Farin Bakhtiari ’14 (Psychology) and her family emigrated from Iran to the United States. She knew enough English to get along in her new country, but adjusting to a new culture while becoming the first person in her family to attend college placed multiple obstacles in her life — but they never kept her from pursuing her academic and personal goals.

Bakhtiari was one of more than 11,000 graduates from California State University, Northridge this year, receiving a master’s degree in general experimental psychology with honors. During her undergraduate studies at CSUN, she volunteered for on-campus and off-campus community services. As a graduate student, Bakhtiari served as teaching assistant and participated in department research projects. To honor her persistence and diligence, the university awarded Bakhtiari the CSUN Graduate Scholarship for 2016.

“Someone [is] out there that has invested in me and my education,” Bakhtiari said. “When we worry about money, it’s harder to focus on our education. Even if we are good students, we may have to work two or three jobs to just keep going.”

Bakhtiari said she appreciates the financial support and wants to give back to CSUN.

“Many students come from low-income families,” she said. “I can give back by supporting a scholarship later. Right now, I don’t have the financial resources, but I can mentor other students or volunteer — because now I don’t have to worry about the money aspect of my education.”

While attending Pierce Community College from 2010-12, Bakhtiari took several courses in sociology and psychology. After consulting with her advisor, Bakhtiari decided to become a psychology major when she transferred to CSUN.

“At CSUN, I have been involved in many activities to immerse myself in the psychology field,” she said. “[I explored] the various options available to psychology majors, [which helped] me decide on my future educational and career goals.”

In her first year at CSUN, Bakhtiari became a peer educator for CSUN’s Blues Project, an initiative for depression and suicide prevention. She completed 120 hours of training, gave presentations and educated college and university students about depression.

“This experience opened my eyes to the importance of providing fact-based information about mental health, and how much difference these workshops can provide to individuals in need,” she said.

Beyond her campus involvement, Bakhtiari contributed to local community services. She volunteered for the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), gaining firsthand experience with families affected by mental illness.

“[It] made me more sensitive, understanding and realistic about mental illnesses,” she said.

While volunteering at NAMI, Bakhtiari helped Iranian families who had recently immigrated to the United States to identify resources, using her bilingual skills in English and Farsi

“Helping recent immigrants assimilate to the United States’ culture while still celebrating their native culture has sparked my interest in understanding how family dynamics influence positive mental health in immigrant families, as they experience the acculturation process,” she said. “I am very interested in how immigrant families cope with acculturative stress.”

As an undergraduate student at CSUN, Bakhtiari became a teaching assistant for a junior-level research methods class. As a graduate student, she taught the statistics lab PSY320L, which sparked her passion for teaching.

She also worked part-time as a student assistant in CSUN’s Department of Psychology and in the department’s psychology research office, working closely with students.

For the past three years, Bakhtiari has worked on the department’s Adolescent and Adult Adjustment research project. She examined how neighborhood, family, peer and school climates related to adolescents’ and young adults’ academics and mental health. Bakhtiari was quickly promoted to assistant lab supervisor and then to lab supervisor.

“Joining this lab was the most influential experience in my educational path, because it allowed me to discover my passion for conducting research,” she said.

This fall, Bakhtiari will move on to the University of Texas at Austin to pursue a Ph.D. in human development and family sciences, aiming for a research-based teaching career.

“Having firsthand experience with marginalization as well as immigration, I am ready to commit my academic life to those who need it most,” Bakhtiari said. “It is my deepest desire to secure a position in a diverse university where I can teach and mentor students, and continue my research on marginalized and underrepresented individuals and families.”

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.”

Deborah Chen (Special Education) has received $7,160 from UC Davis in support of a project entitled, “Adapting an Evidence-Based Practice for Children At-Risk for Autism for Diverse Early Intervention Systems.”

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.

The California State University, Northridge community celebrated the service and accomplishments of more than 100 of its exemplary faculty May 23 at the annual Honored Faculty Reception at the University Student Union Grand Salon.

CSUN President Dianne F. Harrison, Yi Li, provost and vice president of academic affairs, and Adam Swenson, faculty president, were among the campus leaders who welcomed those in attendance.

“It is always an exhilarating time of the year, and I enjoy spending time with faculty who have devoted their lives to educating and mentoring the students we serve, especially those who are graduating this week,” said Harrison during her opening remarks. “I appreciate you setting high expectations for our students, and for providing support and encouragement so that they can succeed and persist. You are the true heart of the campus and the reason CSUN is respected locally, nationally and globally.”

Faculty members recognized for their exemplary achievements include:

Outstanding Faculty Awards:

Wendy Murawski (Special Education) and Jill Razani (Psychology) were both honored with the Outstanding Faculty Award.

Throughout Murawski’s 18-year tenure in the Michael D. Eisner College of Education, her contributions as researcher, educator and leader in the field of mild to moderate disabilities and special education make her worthy of this award.

She mentors students long after they graduate, evidenced by her inclusion in publications and presentations in peer-reviewed journals and conferences. This practice reflects her dedication to researching and promoting co-teaching teams. She co-authored the seminal meta-analysis paper on co-teaching and co-founded the Co-teaching Solutions System, an online software program to support data collection and analysis. She is the sole author of two books, first author of two co-authored books and first editor on two co-edited texts. Three of these books are bestsellers with Corwin Press. Her courses in CSUN’s clear administrative services credential and master’s degree programs in special education are model examples of how to address student differentiation.

She is a highly respected presenter with almost 400 presentations; keynote speeches at state, national and international conferences; and she has served on multiple speaker bureaus, including the prestigious Bureau of Education and Research. She is an international professional development trainer and served as president of the National Teacher Education Division and Council for Exceptional Children. As the Eisner Endowed Chair and executive director for the Center for Teaching and Learning at CSUN, Murawski has changed the culture of education at CSUN.

For the past 15 years, Razani, faculty member chair for the Department of Psychology, has demonstrated excellence in teaching, scholarship and service.

She is a powerful mentor guiding students from disadvantaged and underprivileged groups through programs such as Minority Access to Research Careers, BUILD PODER, Research Infrastructure in Minority Institutions, Career Opportunities for Research, and Minority Biomedical Research Support Research Initiative. She has helped underprivileged students pursue doctoral programs, sponsored 67 student research presentations and co-authored journal articles with more than 20 students. She has received more than $1.7 million in National Institutes of Health grants and is a prolific researcher in the field of clinical neuropsychology.

Razani has published more than 25 peer-reviewed articles, 86 conference presentations, one reference text and four book chapters. She is co-author of the seminal reference text, Handbook of Normative Data for Neuropsychological Assessment, 2nd Edition. This textbook helps researchers and clinicians identify normative data for patient populations, and underrepresented populations from racial/ethnic minority backgrounds.

As an educator, she supervises clinical Master of Arts students, providing evidence-based treatments for anxiety and mood disorders at the on-campus Mood and Anxiety Disorders Clinic. Beyond chairing the largest department on the CSUN campus, Razani continues to teach courses in statistical methods in psychological research, serves as a principal investigator in neuropsychology and mentors junior faculty in her department.

The Distinguished Teaching, Counseling or Librarianship Award went to: Soheil Boroushaki (Geography), John Paul Nuño (History) and Mark Otten (Psychology).

Boroushaki has served in the Department of Geography at CSUN since 2011. He has expertise in Geographic Information Systems, which enables us to more easily see, analyze and understand patterns, relationships and trends. He also has expertise in urban and regional planning and spatial statistical analysis. Boroushaki has an impressive publication record and actively involves students in his research. From 2013-15, he led a very timely and important National Science Foundation project at CSUN: Coping with Change: Water Availability and Arid Land Management.

Boroushaki’s goal has been to establish a “fearless classroom,” in the sense that students can and do engage, as evidenced by his many glowing student and colleague letters of support. Students describe him as a professor with very high standards who is challenging, yet welcoming, inspirational — “a diamond.” They also describe him as energizing, dynamic and motivational. One colleague wrote that Boroushaki is a “supernova presence” in the classroom and the lab.

Nuño received his doctorate from the University of Texas at El Paso, where he began focusing his research on the development of race and identity in Florida borderlands during the turn of the 19th century. He has served in the Department of History at CSUN since 2011, and he has expanded his research to include the Mexican borderlands. His scholarship and promise as an emerging scholar have been acknowledged nationally. He received the prestigious National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Seminar Research Fellowship with the American Indian Center at UNC Chapel Hill. Nuño’s participation in the 2015 CSU Chancellor’s Office Course Redesign Initiative indicates his commitment to teaching.

Students praise Nuño for creating “an inclusive classroom environment.” At CSUN, he teaches a wide variety of undergraduate and graduate courses. Even in the large classes, students and colleagues applaud him for outstanding teaching and great mentorship, and they cite his excellent communication and organizational skills.

Nuño has served as GE Paths Student Association faculty adviser, Social Justice Path coordinator, and as part of a learning community to improve Hispanic and Latina/o student success. This important service and active research agenda have established Nuño as a dynamic resource for effective student development.

Otten has worked in the Department of Psychology at CSUN since 2004. He first came to the department as a lecturer, and after earning his doctorate in psychology from UCLA, became a tenure-track faculty member in 2007. He has an impressive record of research and publications, and he actively involves his students in both.

Otten is described as a true “teacher-scholar” and an exceptional educator. His department chair said Otten has a wonderful way of making complex statistical material “so tangible for students who fear math.” He teaches with high standards, humor and caring. Staff and colleagues call Otten a “true gem,” and students praise him for his commitment to student success.

Otten’s research examines a wide breadth of topics, including sports psychology, diversity and women’s issues, and parenting. While at CSUN, he has co-chaired the general experimental psychology master’s degree program, and he is actively involved in the mentoring program for master’s degree students.

This year’s award for Extraordinary Service, for Scholarly Publications and for Creative Accomplishments was presented to Charles Hanson (Educational Psychology and Counseling).

Hanson was chosen for this award because of his outstanding contributions to the university, its students and the community at large. Embodying core CSUN values, Hanson has led efforts to merge the academic and professional preparation of students with unparalleled community service.

As founder and executive administrator of Strength United, Hanson’s dedication to social justice extends beyond CSUN. Strength United serves as an off-campus training site for more than 300 trainees in the marriage and family therapy program and for more than 100 Master of Social Work students. Under his leadership, 5,000 victims of sexual and domestic violence and 400 families of children at risk for maltreatment have received counseling, crisis intervention, case management and support. He has secured more than $27 million to fund these services.

He has been the coordinator of the school counseling program in his department since 1981. In this role, he has significantly increased the diversity of candidates and transformed the curriculum. He was instrumental in the writing of new state standards for pupil personnel services. These standards, which guide preparation programs statewide, reflect his commitment to educational equity for students of color and low-income.

He is a creative, resourceful and compassionate individual who places service as his highest priority. His department chair, Shari Tarver Behring, said, “I can think of no one more deserving of the CSUN Extraordinary Service Award than Dr. Charles Hanson.”

The recipient of this year’s Preeminent Scholarly Publications Award was Takashi Yagisawa (Philosophy).

Yagisawa has taught at CSUN since 1987. He is a prolific scholar of metaphysics, the philosophy of language and the philosophy of the mind. He has published extensively in these areas, including a groundbreaking book, Worlds and Individuals, Possible and Otherwise with Oxford University Press, which is by far the best academic press for philosophy.

He also has published many papers in his area of expertise in some of the most prestigious journals of philosophy.

Yagisawa’s body of work on the metaphysics of necessity, possibility and actuality can be seen as a defense of modal realism, according to which non-actual possible worlds and individuals are as real as the actual world and individuals. A colleague from his department said, “Dr. Yagisawa’s version of modal realism is contrasted with a competing and more popular version, according to which both the actual and non-actual worlds exist.

“Dr. Yagisawa argues … that modal realism should be a position that affirms the most fundamental status of the non-actual in metaphysics, and that fundamental status is reality rather than existence,” his colleague said.

Yagisawa has presented his work in diverse venues in the United States, South Korea, Slovakia, Mexico, Japan and China, and to at least 17 different audiences. He also has published in Japanese.

The Exceptional Creative Accomplishments Award was given to Alexis Krasilovsky (Cinema and Television Arts) for her extraordinary work in the field of documentary filmmaking. For this particular award, Krasilovsky submitted for the committee’s consideration a documentary film that she wrote, directed and co-produced titled, Let Them Eat Cake. The film explores the contrast between pastry making and consumption in 12 different countries, juxtaposing the lavish traditions of pastry making with the reality that those who farm the ingredients for pastries can’t afford to buy them.

The film began receiving international critical acclaim shortly after its release. It has been screened at a number of film festivals around the world and has won multiple awards, including the best documentary feature award at the Paris Independent Film Festival and special mention for best editing at the Sole Luna Festival in Italy.

One of her colleagues said, “Let Them Eat Cake is a prime example of what filmmakers and their films are responsible to do … and that is to create with social responsibility.” The film stood out to the selection committee both for what it teaches us about food inequality and for its creative elements. The film draws the viewer in with its grand visuals, interviews, music, editing and poetry.

The Visionary Community Service-Learning Award went to Jongeun Kim (Family and Consumer Sciences).

Kim was selected because of her leadership in community service learning at CSUN through her many service learning courses, engaged curriculum development, and dissemination of her scholarship about service learning. She has provided engaged learning projects to students in several different family and consumer sciences courses. She also has developed and taught interdisciplinary service learning courses by partnering with the Institute for Sustainability minor program.

Kim’s projects have involved a wide variety of organizations addressing different community needs, ranging from preschool children to high school students to the elderly. She and her students have worked with students at Monroe, Northridge Academy and Sylmar high schools to develop fashion products and assess viable target markets. One of her students noted that through her courses and service learning projects, she has “challenged us to think of the ways that the apparel business can benefit and change the lives of individuals living in under-resourced communities.”

Another student said, “College students aren’t only teaching the high school students, they are also learning from them, because it gives a different perspective … it also encourages high school students to enroll [in] higher education.”

Finally, she has disseminated her scholarship in community service learning in the apparel and family consumer science fields through her publications and presentations.

The university also recognized faculty who reached milestones of 25, 30, 35, 45 and 55 years of service — as well as those granted emeritus status.

Those granted emeritus status:

Jack Alanen                 Computer ScienceRobert Barker             Accounting and Information Systems

Robert Barker             Accounting and Information Systems

Julio Blanco                Physics and Astronomy

Donald Bleich*           Finance, Financial Planning and Insurance

Pam Bourgeois            English

Brian Connett             Marketing

Amy Denissen*          Sociology

Cynthia Desrochers    Elementary Education

Bonnie Ericson            Secondary Education

Craig Finney               Recreation and Tourism Management

Ronald Fischbach        Health Sciences

Shane Frehlich*           Kinesiology

Adam Gifford             Economics

Charles Hanson           Educational Psychology and Counseling

Martha Highfield        Nursing

Doris Jones-Nicol       Educational Psychology and Counseling

Magnhild Lien             Mathematics

Jennifer Matos            Biology

Joyce Munsch            Child and Adolescent Development

Steven Oppenheimer  Biology

Sabrina Peck                Linguistics/TESL

Ken Portnoy               Cinema and Television Arts

Jennifer Romack*       Kinesiology

Luis Rubalcava            Educational Psychology and Counseling

Jerome Seliger             Health Sciences

Bruce Shapiro             University Counseling Services

Jon Sloan                     Geological Sciences

George Uba                 English

Earl Weiss                   Accounting and Information Systems

*posthumous

For more information visit the Honored Faculty Awards website.

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.

Over the span of two seasons in 1984 and 1985, the California State University, Northridge softball team won 77 percent of its games. Opponents didn’t score on the Matadors 58 percent of the time. In total, it was 85 times that a CSUN opponent didn’t score a run — including a still-standing National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division II record 45 shutouts in 1985. There were 14 times when teams didn’t even manage to get one hit. The Matadors won NCAA Division II championships both seasons.

In that two-year period, CSUN softball beat Cal Poly Pomona, Utah State, Nebraska, Cal State Fullerton and UCLA — five teams that played in the NCAA Division I College World Series. UCLA was the Division I champion in ’84 and ’85.

It’s undeniable: This group of players made up two of the greatest athletic teams in CSUN’s history. And now, they will take their rightful place in the Matador Hall of Fame as one unit, on July 24 as part of the 2016 induction class.

This group will be the fourth unit to enter the Matador Hall — the 1967 Matador football team, 1970 baseball team and 1983 softball team (which also won the Division II title) preceded these honorees.

“The biggest reason for the success [of the teams] is because we really clicked as a unit, and we really wanted to play well for each other,” said Kathy “Kat” Slaten-Ayala ’86 (Recreation, Physical Education), one of the most dominant pitchers in NCAA Division II history and a Matador Hall of Famer as an individual player.

Then known as Kathy Slaten, she set Division II records for single-season strikeouts and shutouts in 1984, and then broke those records in 1985. She still owns the Division II strikeouts record of 533 from ’85.

“Oh, she was incredible,” said former CSUN shortstop Kathy Toerner ’85 (Sociology). “Very few teams really had anybody who could hit her, and most of the teams that could were Division I teams. She was very dominant. … We had our games where none of us got any action [in the field]. She mowed them down, but there were other games where you knew you had to pay attention.”

As good as Slaten was, she also needed help.

“My teammates were tough,” she said. “I realized early that in order to be successful, I was going to have to have my teammates score the runs. It was more of a team unit.”

There were seven All-American selections from those two teams — Michey McAnany ’88 (Recreation) (twice), Slaten (twice), Matador Hall of Famer Barbara Jordan ’98 (Kinesiology/Physical Education), Toerner and Stacy Lim ’85. 

Beyond their play on the field, there were a lot of intangibles that everyone brought to the table, Slaten and Toerner agreed.

“This team was extremely confident and not to be denied,” Toerner said. “We collectively got along. There was pretty much no dissension among this team at all. … We were all there for the same reason — that’s to win.”

That confidence had carried over from the success of the ’83 team. But it was also instilled by head coach Gary Torgeson ’65, M.A. ’69 (Physical Education), who took over the program in 1982 and immediately helped build it into a national powerhouse.

Torgeson, CSUN’s head football coach from 1973-76, didn’t have much softball experience prior to taking over the program. He said his experience coaching the sport was teaching his daughter the game and coaching her as a youth. But his education helped him transfer his coaching skills from sport to sport.

“Getting an education at Northridge in the physical education department, we were taught you can coach and teach any sport,” Torgeson said. “That’s how we were brought up.”

“I tell you what: He definitely got us in shape,” Toerner recalled. “We had a regimen of workouts and running and lifting weights and things we did in the offseason. Though we really didn’t like it or understand it at the time, it played a role in allowing us to play three games in a day. [And] he really did his homework. He really went to a lot of other schools that put on clinics and did his homework in teaching us the correct way to do things. We were definitely fundamentally sound.”

Torgeson spreads the credit around. He said if it weren’t for the support of CSUN’s athletic administration at the time and its commitment to elevating women’s sports, Matadors softball wouldn’t have been equipped to be successful.

“[Athletic directors] Bob Hiegert and Judy Brame were committed to women’s sports,” Torgeson said. “They tried to get the teams at Northridge a fair shake so [we] could recruit. … We had a good program because we had great athletic directors.”

Torgeson also mentioned that he couldn’t have been a successful coach without a good assistant. Debbie Ching was his right hand, and she was able to connect with the players in a way he couldn’t and unify the team, he said.

Unity, confidence, pitching, coaching, defense and hitting — it was the formula that produced championships. One more Division II crown came in 1987. In 1991, CSUN softball became an NCAA Division I program and in 1994, finished as the Women’s College World Series runner-up.

More than 30 years after the 1984 and 1985 championship teams helped build a reputation for CSUN softball, the program is strong. The 2015 and 2016 teams combined to win 75 games — the most in a two-year span for the program since 1996-97.

Torgeson said he has heard there’s a motto that gets used in the program today: “Together we’re better.”

It’s the same motto the 1984 and 1985 teams used.

First came the national award from Brooks Running Company for being “Inspiring Coach of the Year” in June 2015. Next came the spread in People magazine this May. But California State University, Northridge alumnus Manny Castellanos ’09 (Art), M.A. ’12 (Secondary Education) still has a hard time accepting the praise and publicity.

“I don’t like to talk about myself,” said the 29-year-old PUC Lakeview Charter High School art teacher and cross-country coach. “If I could be completely honest, I give the students and staff credit for the award.

“I don’t want to [feel like a celebrity],” he said. “I want the award to be a reflection of the kids and what they’re doing. I, by no means, am the only person doing this kind of work. So many people are doing the same thing and are not being recognized every day.”

The son of Mexican immigrants, Castellanos grew up in a San Fernando Valley neighborhood overwhelmed by gang violence. He also was bullied as a youth for being overweight. He learned that by taking control of his life and relying on running and education as facilitators, he could succeed and show others how to take control of their own destinies. He has motivated a school and its students with his actions and words, and he inspires colleagues and students at two schools — the one where he teaches in Sylmar, and his alma mater.

“Getting to know him, there is this genuineness, this uniqueness that he truly does care,” said Lakeview Charter Principal Adam Almeida. “Like any educator, there’s that moment when you realize you’re really helping the students, you feel good. Helping students definitely is a rush any educator feels. He wants to promote that. He had people who molded the way he feels. … He wants to be that role model to students here, which we’re proud of — and we want to promote him in his growth as well.”

Castellanos said he cares because he was once where his students are today.

Manny’s Story

Castellanos grew up on the border of Pacoima and San Fernando. The soundtrack of his childhood included sirens and helicopter rotors spinning overhead. Gang violence created a steady stream of emergency responders in his neighborhood. Going outside wasn’t a safe option.

Making his childhood more difficult was the shame other kids made him feel.

“I was a heavy kid, a really heavy kid,” he recalled. “I was bullied. There’s a lack of control for a situation when you’re being picked on.”

He wanted to lose weight and knew running was a key to making that happen. But his mother wasn’t comfortable with him running in their neighborhood. He found he could avoid problems by getting out early in the morning. He quickly fell in love with the sport.

“When I was running, I felt like I was in control,” he said. “Having that sense of control helped me with my issues. It was my release and became more of my therapy.”

Castellanos found his calling while still a youngster — he wanted to make an impact on kids in the classroom and by teaching them the empowering effects of running.

His father, Juan Manuel — a yard foreman for a building supply company — and his mother, Yolanda Castellanos — a hairdresser — taught him the importance of education at an early age. They wanted their three children to have the best opportunities, so Castellanos was bused to Granada Hills Charter High School. His teachers there suggested he attend CSUN.

“CSUN had the best teacher-credential program,” he said. “I wanted to go to a school where I thought I’d get the best education for educators, and a lot of my [high school] educators recommended CSUN because it would prepare me more efficiently than [other schools].”

Inspiring Student-Athletes

Castellanos said if it weren’t for a mentor at CSUN, he wouldn’t have been placed at Lakeview Charter. He was first teaching at Van Nuys Middle School then made a change.

“I credit CSUN because it kept me close to my community, which kept me focused on helping schools within the community like Lakeview,” Castellanos said. “I was hesitant to first apply [to Lakeview Charter], but my mentor and then instruction supervisor/professor [at CSUN] Larry Oviatt really encouraged me to take the leap and move from middle school to high school.

He has been teaching art and coaching cross-country at the school since 2012.

Lakeview Charter is a college preparatory school made up of many kids who come from socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods, similar to Castellanos’ old neighborhood. He understands the kids’ challenges.

“As an educator, he’s motivated, very excited for his students and very driven to provide our students the best possible education he can give,” Almeida said. “[As a coach], he’s supportive and open to all students’ abilities to perform well. Everyone has their various abilities. As long as they work to the best of their ability, he’s supportive of them.”

Castellanos used running as a youth to test his will and realized that if he could succeed in the grueling sport, he could transfer the experience to education and his everyday life. He has tried to share what he learned with his student-athletes.

“Running is a very personal thing to me,” he said. “One of the things I’m adamant about is I want them to fall in love with it. I want them to discover the value of pushing yourself and saying, ‘Yes, I want to better myself.’”

The kids get it. As proof, Castellanos points to the number of his students who have gone to college.

He never expected a reward for his work, but his student-athletes felt he deserved one. In May 2015, a couple of his runners asked to speak to him. Castellanos assumed they wanted to discuss a summer running schedule, he said. Instead, they showed him a video they made with testimonials from other students — moving the coach to tears.

His students had sent the video to Brooks Running Company for its Inspiring Coach of the Year national competition. The company selected Castellanos as one of 14 finalists and flew him to Seattle for the June 2015 awards banquet.

All of the finalist coaches had inspiring stories, but Castellanos’ proved to be the one that resonated most with the voters.

“I was left sort of speechless,” he said. “To win the award was amazing. To bring that recognition to our school and our students [was special]. To get up there and say, my kids inspire me every day and that this award is for them, [was special].”

Almeida was not surprised Castellanos won the award. He also knew the coach was not motivated by accolades, nor did he want attention for his work. Almeida said Castellanos gives because he sees himself in his students, and he knows they can accomplish their goals, like he did.

Castellanos shares something else with the kids at Lakeview Charter — he’s also a student. He has returned to CSUN to get a second master’s degree in education administration. He said he would like to become a principal.

“I tell my kids, you always have to challenge yourself one way or another,” Castellanos said. “Right now, this master’s is the challenge for me. Looking at the bigger picture and putting myself through school is a challenge. I love it. I love feeling that I’m developing myself for something positive.”

Last month, Castellanos’ story appeared in People magazine. He said it made his parents very proud. They got extra copies and took them to work. He’s also made a lot of others proud — his students, his school, his community and CSUN.

“I’m glad I’m honoring CSUN,” he said. “I feel in debt to CSUN. I didn’t go there because it’s convenient. I got here because I’m proud to be a Matador. It’s a pathway to success.”

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.