The retired engineer had kept all his receipts, documenting the charitable contributions that in 2013 had eaten a chunk of his fixed income. So Thomas Buehler was surprised in July 2016 when he received a letter from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

He’d been audited.

The IRS was not allowing several of the deductions he’d claimed on his 2014 tax return. Including interest, he owed about $8,000.

Fortunately, the IRS provided a list of companies and organizations that help low-income individuals and families resolve tax disputes. Buehler, a Sylmar resident, was drawn to one in particular: the Bookstein Low Income Taxpayer Clinic at California State University, Northridge.

“First of all, it’s close to where I live. I am 85 years old — I don’t like to drive too much,” said Buehler (CSUN Today is using a pseudonym; citing privacy concerns, he requested his real name not be used). “I knew where CSUN is — my kids graduated from there. So I have faith in CSUN.”

His case demonstrates the skill and tenacity of the CSUN student clinicians and faculty members who staff the clinic, which helps people who can’t afford to hire accountants or attorneys to represent them in disputes with the IRS.

And the results were exceptional: CSUN convinced the IRS to drop Buehler’s case.

Total amount owed: $0.

“You can’t get better than a full concession,” said Steven L. Jager, a certified public accountant (CPA) and faculty member in the Master of Taxation program, who represented Buehler in meetings with the IRS. “It doesn’t get better than this. I’m exceedingly proud of that, but it’s not that unusual for our clinic.”

As part of the Bookstein Institute for Higher Education in Taxation, the Bookstein Low Income Taxpayer Clinic was established in 2008 in CSUN’s David Nazarian College of Business and Economics to give accounting and graduate tax students real-world experience in representing clients in tax disputes with the IRS.

Clinicians can help reduce amounts owed, negotiate repayment plans and give clients the best chance at navigating the country’s complex tax system. The clinic operates year-round and serves about 200 taxpayers per year, said Rafi Efrat, Bookstein Chair in Taxation and director of the clinic.

All clients must meet income eligibility requirements. The threshold is 250 percent of the federal poverty guidelines (for example, an income ceiling of $40,600 for a family of two in California). People needing tax assistance can make an appointment to determine if they are eligible.

LITC student clinicians interview clients to determine the nature of the dispute and goals of the case, then come up with a strategy for resolution. The students receive special permission from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Professional Responsibility to represent taxpayers in discussions with the IRS, tasks normally handled only by attorneys and CPAs.

The students, who participate in the clinic as part of the Introduction to Federal Tax Procedure course, work with three faculty advisors: Jager, accountancy lecturer John Balian and assistant professor Sharyn Fisk of the Master of Taxation program.

Jager passed a special bar exam to become one of just 300 CPAs and enrolled agents (EAs) in the country who can represent taxpayers in courtrooms (clients in tax cases usually hire a lawyer to represent them, or they can represent themselves).

Buehler had tried to resolve his case through the mail, working with a reputable CPA firm to send in additional receipts to verify the charitable donations in question. Deciding he wanted new representation, Buehler visited the clinic office and worked with two students, including Eileen Gonzalez, the case manager who ensured that all his supporting documents were in order, and Samantha Saldivar ’17 (Accountancy), who assisted on the case in her final semester.

“I knew that he had a fighting chance,” Gonzalez said.

Buehler’s case never made it to trial. Jager was able to settle it in a pre-trial teleconference with the IRS known as a Branerton conference, where the IRS and the taxpayer settle on a set of facts and try to come to a mutually acceptable resolution.

Jager argued that Buehler’s record keeping was better than the government was giving him credit for. Further, a judge would not be happy to hear a case that essentially boiled down to a few missing receipts for charitable donations, Jager said.

“If he has 90 of the 100 receipts, the IRS doesn’t want to bother the court with 10 receipts that are missing — unless the organizations he donated to are doubtful,” Jager said. “These organizations were well known. He either donated or didn’t.”

The government conceded.

Buehler said he would turn to the taxpayer clinic again if he ever finds himself in another IRS dispute.

“I have nothing but good to say about them,” he said.

The case was a great learning experience, Gonzalez said.

“To be able to have success with a person that needs your help, you can’t put a price on that,” Gonzalez said. “This is better than any internship out there. We have the full support of CSUN’s faculty and professors.

“When I have my own practice and a case comes in, I can say, ‘I got this.’”

Prospective clients of the Bookstein Low Income Taxpayer Clinic who are in disputes with the IRS may submit the online Tax Clinic Screening Form or call (818) 677-3600.

For assistance in filing your taxes, please contact the CSUN VITA Clinic.

Dorothy Barresi

The poems in “What We Did While We Made More Guns” by California State University, Northridge English professor Dorothy Barresi are a brutally honest excoriation of what happened to America’s soul during the last economic downturn.

The book of poetry, released this month by University of Pittsburgh Press, and featured recently in an article on PBS “NewsHour” online, reflects on how America’s more recent economic failures inspired a sense of anxiousness and moral uncertainty in many of its citizens.

“One of the themes in my book is economic failure and its relationship to gun violence in America,” Barresi said. “There’s a thread of death running through the book and a thread of scorned indignation about the expectations for a kind of American security, a financial security, that undercuts our very purpose and identity, and how that can lead to a violent individualism.”

Many of the poems seem prescient, as if Barresi wrote them in the past few months, inspired by the political turmoil and outrage currently affecting much of the country. She insists she started putting words to paper eight years ago, as America’s citizens grappled with the fallout of the Great Recession.

“I grew up in Akron, Ohio, when that city was dying in the 1970s as the rubber tire industry moved its factories overseas or to non-union cities down South,” said Barresi. “Stores were closing and the downtown was boarded up, and thousands of people were left bereft. The stump-speech idea, in 2016, that manufacturing and mining jobs were coming back just hurt my heart. Those jobs are not coming back, and those folks in Middle America rightly feel that they are being overlooked.”

The poems in “What We Did While We Made More Guns” reflect the frustration and anger many Americans felt as they saw their way of life disappear and found themselves looking for someone or something to blame.

“Everyone, not just ‘blue-collar’ workers, got a huge wake-up call with the Great Recession,” Barresi said. “Retirement savings and pensions and job security were lost, and nothing was offered to take their place.  America was, and still is, in a kind of spiritual free fall. We’re living post-American dream. My poems explore that free fall, the indignation and the extreme beliefs that rush in to fill the void: permission to believe anything as long as you believe it passionately. The facts don’t matter.”

“As for my having a finger on the pulse of what is happening right this moment in America,” she said, “the high school shooting in Parkland and the NRA’s response to the student-led campaign for stricter gun laws, or the neo-Nazi rally in Virginia, for that matter, or the ongoing war on immigrants — that wouldn’t have to be a very long finger, sadly.”

Time passes, Barresi said, but the concerns and frustrations of Americans remain. She pointed out that she also wrote about gun violence and extreme beliefs in earlier poetry collections, particularly in “American Fanatics,” published in 2010, as well as in “Rouge Pulp,” “The Post-Rapture Dinner,” winner of an American Book Award, and “All of the Above,” winner of the Barnard College New Women Poets Prize.

In the wake of the spate of mass shootings over the past few months, the poem “What We Did While We Made More Guns” seems particularly timely, though it was written several years ago. Another poem, “L.A.P.D.,” was inspired by incidents of police-involved shootings.

Barresi said she keeps a journal in which she writes down the titles — drawn from news articles she’s seen or snippets of conversations she’s overheard — for future poems she doesn’t even know the words for yet. Her poem “National Public Radio,” was inspired by a report on torture she heard on the network’s news program.

“I just read the paper every day and try to be as informed as possible,” she said. “The hardest thing is to try to step outside one’s self a little bit and try to connect with what is happening with others. That’s my goal.”

In addition to Americans’ frustrations, her poems reflect on the country’s loss of moral certainty; the contradictions of American expectations; the poignancy, fragility and inconsistency of our lives; and how all those things are interconnected.

“I like to reflect outward,” Barresi said. “I think the public and private are absolutely entwined.”

The list of California State University, Northridge’s Distinguished Alumni Awards recipients is diverse and dynamic. In keeping with that theme, the university is adding three highly accomplished honorees from three different walks of life to the list in April.

Entertainment entrepreneur Richard Foos, banking industry executive Janet Garufis and Superior Court Judge Hon. D. Zeke Zeidler will receive CSUN’s Distinguished Alumni Awards on Saturday, April 21, at the Four Seasons Hotel in Westlake Village.

Foos ’71 (Sociology) is a visionary entrepreneur who founded Rhino Records and Shout! Factory. Foos started Rhino as a record store and was integral in growing it to the iconic label that was sold to Time Warner in 1998. In 2003, Foos co-founded Shout! Factory, one of the leading independent companies in entertainment, giving its fans definitive home media releases of classic and cult-favorite films and television shows, as well as theatrical releases and original productions.

“CSUN gave me a good, well-rounded education that allowed me a lot of freedom,” Foos said. “I met a lot of diverse people I would have never met [had I gone somewhere else].”

Foos began selling used records at a friend’s father’s electronics shop in Santa Monica. He opened his own record store in Westwood, Rhino Records, where he sold used and non-mainstream albums.

In the back room of the store, Foos and his business partner, Harold Bronson started the Rhino Records music label and began releasing novelty songs on vinyl. Foos and Bronson began acquiring licensing rights for songs that had been out of print, and in the 1980s, Rhino capitalized on the compact disc revolution — creating a reissue boom in the United States by reintroducing classic hits to the mainstream marketplace. The company partnered with Atlantic Records, a subsidiary of Warner Bros., in the early 1990s, reissuing the back catalog of legendary artists such as Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles and Otis Redding. Foos and Bronson sold Rhino to media giant Time Warner in 1998.

Foos, along with business partners, launched his next venture, Shout! Factory. He once again revived classic media, this time releasing cult films and timeless television series on DVD and Blu-Ray. The company launched its own streaming service, Shout! Factory TV, in 2015 and a distribution and production arm, Shout! Studios, in 2017. Foos is currently chairman of the company.

Garufis ’77, M.A. ’02 (English) is the chairman and CEO of Montecito Bank & Trust, and an inspiring figure as one of the top women in banking in the state of California. She has more than 45 years of experience in the banking industry and was formerly a senior vice president with Bank of America.

At Montecito Bank & Trust, Garufis oversees more than $1.4 billion in assets, and the company’s 11 branches cover Santa Barbara and Ventura counties. Garufis originally went to CSUN hoping to pursue a career in education. She earned her bachelor’s degree in English, and then her career in banking took off.

Her first job was as a teller at Security Pacific Bank. She rose through the ranks and successfully led retail banking, commercial banking and private banking organizations. She pioneered significant changes in the bank’s work separation practices. Garufis made her mark as an extraordinary leader and visionary by establishing the business lending division of Security Pacific and later Bank of America.

After returning to CSUN to earn her master’s degree, Garufis went back to banking at Montecito Bank & Trust in 2004. In two years, she became the company’s president and CEO.

“CSUN made me figure out what I was made of and what mattered,” Garufis said. “What I needed to figure out was, what was I going to do, how was I going to contribute to the world and how could I best do that. … CSUN gave me a space to do that. It was a great place to learn about being and becoming a grown-up.”

Zeidler ’87 (English Literature) is an esteemed Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge and LGBT trailblazer. He has presided over thousands of child welfare cases since 1998, and he was named Outstanding Judicial Officer in 2002 by the Juvenile Courts Bar Association.

Zeidler was a champion of human rights while a student at CSUN. He served as Associated Students president from 1984-85, becoming a pioneer as one of the first openly gay student body presidents of a major U.S. university. In 1995, he was elected to the Redondo Beach School Board — only the ninth openly gay/lesbian school board member in the country.

After graduating from Loyola Law School in 1991, Zeidler began his legal career representing parents and children in child abuse and neglect cases. In 1998, he became a juvenile court referee for Los Angeles County’s Superior Court system.

In 2004, he was elected to the first of what have been three terms as a Superior Court Judge, where he presides over cases at the Edelman Children’s Court in Los Angeles.

Zeidler often makes presentations at CSUN, provides guidance to students and invites students to shadow him for a day in court. Judge Zeidler and his husband, attorney Jay Kohorn, who serves as assistant director of the California Appellate Project, are ardent supporters of CSUN’s Resilient Scholars Program, which empowers former foster youth through opportunities in higher education. The couple has also established a scholarship for former foster youth at CSUN.

“My experience at CSUN gave me a lot of confidence about being able to be who you are and being able to make a difference. [CSUN} laid a lot of foundation — whether it was political [or] social — in so many ways,” Zeidler said.

To purchase tickets or tables, attend or sponsor the 2018 Distinguished Alumni Awards, visit csun.edu/daa2018.

Anthropology professor Hélène Rougier examine remains found in Goyet, a cave in Belgium. Her work is helping to shed light on the history of Neandertals living in Eurasia 39,000 to 47,000 years ago. Photo courtesy of Hélène Rougher.

More than 100 years after archaeologists discovered the remains of Neandertals in caves in Belgium, California State University, Northridge associate anthropology professor Hélène Rougier re-examined the debris from those remains, and her findings are helping to shed light on the history of Neandertals living in Eurasia 39,000 to 47,000 years ago.

Rougier is part of an international, interdisciplinary team of researchers who have been able to sequence the genomes of five Neandertals. That information — when studied alongside the genome sequences generated since 2010 from the remains of four other Neandertals found in Croatia, Siberia and the Russian Caucasus — is helping the researchers begin to reconstruct Neandertal history.

“We got DNA from five individuals from five different places that cover a large territory,” Rougier said. “One of the interesting results we found, when you look closely at the genetic material, is the relationship between the remains. My geneticist colleagues were able to demonstrate the genetic connection between remains found hundreds of miles apart in different regions of the continent.”

That discovery, Rougier said, has researchers pondering Neandertal populations’ movement and interaction, including how one population of Neandertals replaced another.

“We don’t have all the dots yet,” she said, “but what we are finding is providing us with insight into the history of Neandertal populations, and how they interacted. It’s really a work in progress. We’re just adding more and more data that will someday offer more detailed insight into these populations.”

The results of their research, “Reconstructing the genetic history of late Neandertals,” have been published in Nature. Rougier was one of 31 researchers from around the world working on the project. Their disciplines crossed the spectrum, from anthropology and archaeology to biology and genetics.

Rougier said the interdisciplinary approach to the research provided an opportunity to bring new perspectives and raised questions that individuals in a particular specialty may not have considered.

As part of the project, Rougier painstakingly searched through artifacts recovered from two caves in Belgium, one, Spy, where, more than 100 years ago, archaeologists found Neandertal remains. The other, Goyet, where human remains were discovered in 1868 by a geologist, but were not identified as Neandertals until Rougier worked on the collection.

The first time the caves were excavated was the end of the 19^th century, Rougier said.

“At that time, they didn’t use the methods we use today, and they were less careful than we are now,” she said. “They discovered the remains of two Neandertals. When they were discovered, they were the first Neandertals to be discovered in place.”

Prior to that, Rougier said, workers discovered the remains of a Neandertal in Germany, brought the bones to scientists, but were unable to say specifically where they made their find.

In this particular Belgium cave, Rougier said, two 19^th century researchers intentionally dug deep in the cave’s floor looking for artifacts, and found the remains of two Neandertals.

“The idea was to make an archaeological discovery, and they did,” she said. “So, we knew where the bones came from. That was a big deal at the time.”

Over the years, the site was excavated several times. In the later 1940s and early 1950s, a researcher used a sieve to collect and preserve a wider range of materials. His finds were stored in a museum relatively untouched until Rougier and a colleague started to sort through countless drawers of bits and pieces of what was believed to be animal bones, ivory and other materials.

After days and days of careful sorting, they found not only pieces of bone belonging to the two Neandertals initially found in the Spy cave, but also bone fragments belong to a third Neandertal. These new remains had not been treated, allowing the researchers to directly date these individuals and show that they were all late Neandertals from near the end of the Neandertals’ existence.

Inspired, Rougier organized a team to re-assess items collected from the Goyet cave not far from the one where the 19^th century archaeologists made their find. Using an interdisciplinary approach, they sorted through the collection to identify new human remains and then made biogeochemical analyses, they again found bone fragments. Similar methods were used by researchers with remains in France, Croatia and the Caucasus. The researchers selected the remains of five individual Neandertals for future genetic analysis.

Geneticists were able to sequence the genomes from the five Neandertal remains — the two Rougier identified from the caves in Belgium and three from sites in France, Croatia and the Caucasus — doubling the number of Neandertal remains for which genome sequences are available.

“When you talk to geneticists today, they are even surprised at what they can do,” Rougier said. “Ten years ago, they didn’t think they would be able to retrieve DNA like this.”

Having genomes from multiple Neandertals provided the researchers a foundation from which to begin reconstructing Neandertal population history. They were able to see genetic similarity between the Neandertals that correlated with their geographic location.

They also were able to compare the genomes of the late Neandertal remains to the genomes of an older Neandertal from the Caucasus that seem to indicate that Neandertal populations moved and replaced each other toward the end of their time on Earth.

The team also compared the Neandertal genomes to the genomes of people living today, and they found that all of the late Neandertals were more similar to the Neandertals that contributed DNA to present-day people living outside Africa than an older Neandertal from Siberia. Even though four of the Neandertals lived at a time when modern humans already had  arrived in Europe, they do not carry detectable amounts of modern human DNA.

“It’s really interesting to be an anthropologist right now,” Rougier said. “We’re getting sources of information that we didn’t have before. We’re starting to have information at a more intimate scale that we never had before. And it’s giving us greater insight into who the Neandertal were and what they did.”

English professor Martin Pousson. Photo by Lee Choo

“Black Sheep Boy,” the chronicle of a young gay man in Louisiana’s Cajun bayou, by California State University, Northridge English professor Martin Pousson, is one of five national finalists for the 2018 Simpson Family Literary Prize.

The award, established in 2016, recognizes mid-career authors in fiction with a prize of $50,000. The prize is administered by the Simpson Family Literary Project — a collaboration of the Lafayette Library and Learning Center Foundation, and the University of California, Berkeley, English department. The five finalists were selected by an anonymous jury from authors confidentially nominated by distinguished critics, authors, professors, booksellers and book reviewers around the country.

“Our distinguished Simpson Prize finalists embody the inspiring richness and vitality of storytelling in our country,” said Joseph Di Prisco, chair of the Simpson Family Literary Project. “The Simpson Literary Project, with our investment in writing across a great social and generational spectrum, speaks to the highest ideals of both the Lafayette Library and Learning Center and the UC Berkeley English department. We celebrate stories and their makers, we affirm the best of our diverse culture and underscore our shared humanity.”

Pousson was born and raised in Acadiana, the Cajun bayou land of Louisiana. “Black Sheep Boy,” his novel-in-stories, won the PEN Center USA Fiction Award and a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, and it was featured on NPR’s “The Reading Life” as a Los Angeles Times Literary Pick and as a Book Riot Must-Read Indie Press Book.

“The book is very much about defending a queer identity that is both personally and socially queer,” Pousson said. “It’s about a teenager who pushes against assimilation and conformity and remains an individual, which is also a fight for the Cajun culture and all people who are outsiders.”

The prize winner is expected to be named early this month. The recipient will give readings in the Bay Area in October 2018 and participate in a two-week residence in Lafayette and Berkeley, during the spring semester 2019.

The Simpson Family Literary Project is an innovative private and public partnership between the University of California, the Lafayette Library and Learning Center Foundation, and the Contra Costa County Library. The project fosters new literature, supports authors and enhances the lives of readers, writers, educators and students in diverse communities in California and the nation. The project serves high school-age writers and supports a writer-in-residence program at the Lafayette Library and Learning Center Foundation.

One of Beatriz Cortez’s pieces, “Memory Insertion Capsule.” Photos by Nikolay Maslov, photos and text courtesy of UCR ARTSblock.

California State University, Northridge Central American Studies professor Beatriz Cortez’s large sculptures tell stories about the immigrant experience and are increasingly drawing positive attention.

CSUN Central American Studies professor Beatriz Cortez.

She recently received the Los Angeles Rema Hort Mann Foundation Emerging Artists Grant and was selected to participate in the Hammer Museum’s 2018 “Made in L.A. Biennial” exhibition.

The Rema Hort Mann Foundation — an organization that advocates for emerging artists and supports individuals suffering from cancer — awarded Cortez a $10,000 grant in February. She plans to use the funds to support her future artwork.

“I’m excited because it will allow me to make new work,” Cortez said.

Cortez and her assistants create her large metal pieces in the Los Angeles-based welding shop Molten Metal Works. She plans to use the grant money to create pieces that display the metaphorical relationship between space, time and immigration, Cortez said.

“I’m originally from El Salvador,” she said. “As an immigrant, you’re constantly trying to be in two places at once. My art is like the metaphor of having different realities cross in front of you like déjà vu.”

“In my newer pieces, I’m interested in the broken communication that exists in different realities for families divided by borders,” Cortez continued. “I’m also interested in the hopeful types of communication that we experience through social media.”

Hammer Museum curators Anne Ellegood and Erin Christovale selected Cortez as one of 32 participants in the “Made in L.A. Biennial” — an exhibition that highlights the practices of artists working throughout Los Angeles and the surrounding areas.

The exhibition will feature Cortez’s new sculpture “Tzolk’in,” a piece made out of steel that is based on the Mayan agricultural calendar and is shaped in a hypocycloid motion — a curve at the point on the circumference of a circle that rolls internally.

“[My piece is] a motion that exists within the body, in machines and in the cosmos,” said Cortez. “The motion evokes simultaneity since it is at once circular and linear.”

The project will be divided between the Hammer Museum and The Bowtie Project – a partnership between Clockshop and California State Parks to activate an 18-acre post-industrial lot along the L.A. River. Clockshop — a multidisciplinary arts organization in Los Angeles that creates new conversations about art, politics, and urban space — has commissioned her work at the banks of the L.A. River.

“Both sculptures will have a similar shape and mechanical process, but each will be installed in a different context, with different sets of protections, risks, and opportunities,” said Cortez. “Given the different realities within our city, as well as globally, [the piece will be] evoking the experiences of families and communities divided by borders.”

Cortez’s work at the Hammer Museum is funded by her grant and the museum.

“Made in L.A.” is organized by Ellegood and Christovale and is the fourth iteration of the museum’s biennial exhibition. The Hammer Museum and all of its exhibitions are free to the public. The exhibition will run from June 3-Sept. 2.

The Rema Hort Mann Foundation was created to celebrate Rema Hort’s life and sustain her spirit. “It’s beautiful to see what her family is doing in her memory,” Cortez said.

Through the efforts of friends and supporters, the foundation is able to carry out its goals. The organization offers unrestricted and community-based grants, by nomination only, to promising emerging artists who demonstrate an ability and commitment to making substantial contributions in the arts.

Kerry Nickols, assistant professor in the Department of Biology, is part of a research team that evaluated strategies to tackle ocean acidification. Photo courtesy of Kerry Nickols.

For Kerry Nickols, assistant professor in the Department of Biology at California State University, Northridge, it is important to conduct research that can have an impact on policy.

With that goal in mind, Nickols is participating in a working group of 10 researchers convened by the California Ocean Protection Council and the California Ocean Science Trust, to evaluate strategies to tackle ocean acidification, a serious threat to California waters.

“About 30 percent of the carbon dioxide emitted by humans is absorbed by the ocean,” said Nickols, who joined the team in 2017. “That’s really important, because the climate would change even faster if that didn’t happen. But it’s also changing the chemistry of the ocean.”

The advisory team gathered current scientific research about the roles kelp and sea grass play in combatting ocean acidification and created a report that provides environmental policymakers guidance on future actions. It also identifies knowledge gaps.

“It’s a really exciting time in California right now, because legislators want to know about climate change and want to do something about it,” Nickols said.

The California Ocean Protection Council and the Ocean Science Trust published the study at the end of January. In February, their findings were presented at a legislative hearing of the state Assembly Select Committee on Coastal Protection and Access to Natural Resources.

A key finding of the study is that sea grass and kelp have the potential to help reduce ocean acidification. The sea plants use photosynthesis to remove carbon dioxide from water, thereby increasing pH and lowering acidity.

“It’s roughly the same idea as people planting trees to reduce their carbon footprint,” Nickols said.

However, the researchers found that additional factors, such as the time of year and local conditions, can impair the effect. In areas with a strong current, the water is not sitting long enough at the same spot for the sea grass and kelp to change its chemistry, Nickols said.

“In addition, sea grass and kelp only grow in areas that are close to the shore,” she said. “The water has to be shallow enough for them to get sufficient sunlight to do photosynthesis. It’s a pretty narrow range of areas where these habitats are even found.”

According to the study, investing in the protection and restoration of submerged aquatic vegetation is a “no-regrets” strategy, because in addition to potentially keeping the pH level of water high— which translates to low acidification — seagrass beds and kelp forests are important habitats for various fish species and marine life, such as oysters and abalone. The 2018 Northern California recreational abalone fishing season was cancelled by the California Fish and Game Commission, due to adverse effects the abalone suffered from current environmental conditions, such as warm water.

Increased ocean acidification causes several problems for marine life, Nickols said.

“The ocean water can become so acidic that it dissolves the shells of marine organisms or keeps them from developing properly,” Nickols said.

The consequences of acidification would be especially measurable in aquacultures, such as oyster farms, Nickols noted.

“We really need to be creative and proactive about how we are going to adapt to climate change and mitigate the outcomes of it,” Nickols said.

The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce unveiled a star on Hollywood Boulevard to honor actress, activist, producer and director Eva Longoria ’13 (M.A. Chicana/o Studies).

The California State University, Northridge alumna received the 2,634th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Monday, April 16. The star was dedicated in the category of Television and may be visited at 6906 Hollywood Boulevard.

“Well, it’s done! I’m officially available to be walked all over!” Longoria joked on Twitter. “What an honor! Thank you Hollywood Chamber of Commerce and everyone who helped make this happen.”

Longoria is a Golden Globe-nominated, Screen Actors Guild and American Latino Arts (ALMA) Award-winning actress, producer, director, entrepreneur, philanthropist and Desperate Housewives alum.

The proud Matador will also be Anna Faris’ and Eugenio Derbez’s co-star in the adaptation of the romantic comedy film Overboard set for wide theatrical release on May 4.

Of her experiences at CSUN with fellow Matadors, Longoria said, “I felt like I was in the presence of little geniuses. Going back to school at an older age, I was so far from my bachelor’s degree, so to walk into a classroom with 22-year-olds talking about … this theory and that theory.

“I was like, ‘I don’t remember this.’ I had to double back and freshen up on my own knowledge prior to walking in step with these wonderful, smart classmates.”

Richard Cross. Photo courtesy of Tom & Ethel Bradley Center.

The California State University, Northridge Tom and Ethel Bradley Center has received a grant for $315,000 from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) for the creation of a digital database of the Richard Cross 1950-1980 Photographic Collection.

The Tom and Ethel Bradley Center holds a photographic collection of more than 1 million negatives, slides and prints produced primarily by American photojournalists. The core of the center’s archive is a large collection of photographs produced by African-American photojournalists.

“We are extremely honored that the NEH found our proposal worth funding,” said Bradley Center Director José Luis Benavides. “In partnership with the Oviatt Library, we intend to make accessible to the public this unique collection by an American photojournalist who had a significant career in journalism and visual anthropology, before he was killed by a land mine at the border of Honduras and Nicaragua, along with Los Angeles Times reporter Dial Torgerson.

“The Richard Cross collection at the Tom and Ethel Bradley Center resides at the intersection of photojournalism, visual anthropology and art, with a clear focus on documenting history and culture,” he added. “Cross’ work moves away from the dramatic to practice in-depth, contextual photojournalism that focuses on patterns and seeks to identify the causes of conflict.”

The Bradley Center aims to add and improve access to the world’s repository of images of black life in Los Angeles, and digital images of black communities in Latin America and Africa. In this regard, Benavides added, digitizing Cross’ photographs of Palenque de San Basilio will increase access to the imagery of contemporary black life in communities founded by runaway slaves across the Americas.

“Digitizing this unique photographic collection will address the longstanding absence of visual representation of everyday life in black communities in the Americas,” he said, “as well as the need to explore the history of free-slave communities throughout the continent.”

The comparisons that emerge in this visual dialogue of black communities in the United States and Colombia, Benavides hopes, will foster dialogue between Latino and African-American communities, including communities of scholars in the humanities.

“It will also create new, publicly accessible visual records of the conflicts in Central America from a viewpoint that is closer to its main actors — the people of Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala — and the need to cast light on the struggles of diasporic Central American communities in the United States,” he said.

At a young age, California State University, Northridge Central American studies professor and Los Angeles-based artist Beatriz Cortez was exposed to the tragedy of the Salvadoran civil war. The hazardous conditions forced her to leave the place where she grew up.

Today, Cortez channels those experiences into art that explores the memory and loss of the war and its aftermath, and the struggles of immigrants like herself.

Cortez has exhibited her work in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Texas, New York, Minneapolis, Miami and Washington, D.C., and internationally in El Salvador, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Ecuador and China. Her most recent exhibit, The Cosmos, was displayed March 28 at the Tongva Park in Santa Monica.

Cortez developed an early love for the arts. During her childhood, she took art classes, such as painting, dancing and music classes, and completely fell in love with art. In the late 1980s, Cortez pursued art at Universidad Dr. Jose Matias Delgado in El Salvador. However, it was during the middle of the civil war, which made the conditions so perilous that she was forced to stop her studies and flee the country. On Nov. 20, 1989, she immigrated to Arizona on her own and resumed studying art in the U.S.

“It was difficult,” Cortez said. “Immigration was the most important experience I’ve had in my life. I learned a lot of things. However, I lost my friends, my home, and my family got separated. I lost a lot of things that were a part of my world.

“My art is about my experience of immigration, my growing up in the war, but it is also about people who inspire me, such as philosophers and musicians,” she said.

For her exhibit, the name The Cosmos was inspired by the third chapter of Rosi Braidotti’s book, The Posthuman. The chapter focuses on how death is the ultimate way to become cosmic dust.

“I wanted to think about how death that I had seen in the war in El Salvador was not final, I wanted to imagine it as something else, to think about it as a way to become part of the cosmos, imagining ourselves [as] fragments,” Cortez said. “So everything revolved around that theme: broken lights, broken mirror, broken images and so on.”

The Cosmos includes four pieces: The Cosmos (Spaceship), The Untimely Conversation Box, Kaleidoscope and The Fortune Teller (Nomad Edition). Together, they evoke colonial narratives, technological advances and visions of modernity that were displayed at world fairs and international exhibitions in Europe and the United States during the early 20th century.

“The Cosmos (Spaceship) is made of mirrors,” Cortez said. “It looks new and shiny and sleek, but when you look at it from up close, you can see the structure. The whole thing is held together with zip ties. It’s intended to look new and old — superimposing vintage and contemporary technologies, to speak of existence simultaneously lived between new and crumbled versions of modernity, temporality and colonialism.”

While on display at Tongva Park in Santa Monica, The Cosmos (Spaceship) also paid respects to indigenous people, the original inhabitants of California before the arrival of the Spanish conquerors and before the gold rush. A man known as Ishi was the last surviving member of the Yahi tribe, and the only person left to speak his language. To honor him and his people, Cortez had a sound installation of Ishi singing inside The Cosmos (Spaceship). His chants were recorded in front of a phonograph weeks after he came down Mount Lassen, in northern California, over a century ago.

The second piece, The Fortune Teller, is an interactive sculpture that contains the desires of immigrants and border crossers who Cortez interviewed.

“The piece evokes a fortune teller machine that prints fortune messages in English and in Spanish,” said Cortez. “I wanted it to be based on the idea that words have power, and that one can will the future into being. In order to do so, the desires that people shared with me were programmed into the fortune teller machine.”

When exhibition visitors press the machine’s button, the sculpture prints out a small message that lists one of those desires. For example, one reads, “When the future comes, we will have met our relatives in person.”

The third art piece, The Untimely Conversation Box, breaks the time and space barrier in order to allow its spectators to engage in conversation with people who are not in the same place or time. Visitors press a button, which reveals another “fortune” from Cortez’s favorite quotes by philosophers, writers and thinkers. The quotes include thoughts on death and becoming, by writers and thinkers such as Karen Barad, Rosi Braidotti, Bob Marley and Roberto Bolaño.

“This ‘box’ also invites the viewer to have a conversation through the border between life and death, or communications with the dead,” Cortez said. “It [serves as a reminder] that the deceased are never forgotten.”

Cortez’s The Cosmos serves as a remembrance for the people killed in the civil war in El Salvador.

California State University, Northridge’s 2018 Distinguished Alumni Award recipients have reached the pinnacle of three diverse industries — entertainment, banking and law. Though their careers are varied, they share an innate leadership ability and extraordinary commitment to serving others.

Richard Foos ’71 (Sociology) — the co-founder of the iconic Rhino Records and Shout! Factory, Janet Garufis ’77, M.A. ’02 (English) — the groundbreaking chairman and CEO of Montecito Bank & Trust, and The Hon. D. Zeke Zeidler ’87 (English-Literature) — the Los Angeles Superior Court Judge and LGBT trailblazer made up a dynamic Distinguished Alumni class that were honored Saturday, April 21.

“Our honorees tonight have led courageous lives and all possess uncommon intelligence, persistence and brilliance. But it is their giving spirit that moves me and inspires me,” said CSUN President Dianne F. Harrison.

In his acceptance speech, Foos shared that he was disillusioned with his educational environment before he arrived at CSUN.

“I decided to transfer to a school of the people,” he said, referring to CSUN, which was met with thunderous applause from the packed room of CSUN alumni and friends and family of the honorees.

Foos spoke of how CSUN gave him a freedom to explore and of the acceptance and encouragement he received from CSUN faculty.

Foos was already on a road to making special things happen. He started the Free Store in South Central Los Angeles before arriving on campus ­— a place where he collected used clothing and household items to give to people in need. CSUN elevated his social consciousness and personal drive to do more.

“I can’t tell you how much it allowed me and taught me at Cal State Northridge that you could do what you want and be who you want,” Foos said. “Thank you. You set me on my way, and I’m so grateful.”

Foos started Rhino Records in Westwood, and he developed it, with his business partner Harold Bronson, into a record label that created a reissue boom in the music industry. After selling the label to Time Warner in 1998, his next act was reviving cult films and timeless television series at Shout! Factory.

Garufis also started from humble beginnings and created a new paradigm, doing so in the banking industry.

Beginning her career as a teller for Security Pacific Bank, she climbed the ladder at industry giant Bank of America and created new small business lending practices that are commonplace today. Her pioneering efforts have made her one of the most influential female banking executives in California.

It was initially her goal to become an English professor, and she took steps toward becoming one when she returned to CSUN to earn a master’s degree. But her path led her back to banking as chairman and CEO of Montecito Bank & Trust, where she currently oversees more than $1.4 billion in assets across the company’s 11 branches in Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties.

“I have to say I’m very grateful for the opportunity to be up here and to share with you how important it is to me that I got to come to CSUN and reinvent myself twice —first as an undergraduate and then as a graduate student,” Garufis said. “It’s meant the world to me. It’s changed everything.”

Garufis reflected on how the success of her fellow CSUN Distinguished Alumni and other Matadors can positively influence and motivate CSUN’s nearly 40,000 students.

“I think it’s really important to visit with students, and share with them, and tell them about a failure we had or a setback we had so they understand that you don’t get here overnight,” she said. “It takes a lot of hard work, but we’re all here to help each other.”

Garufis’ fellow CSUN College of Humanities graduate was the final honoree to take the stage.

Zeidler is a former CSUN Associated Students president (1984-85) and held the position with conviction and bravery as one of the first openly gay presidents on a U.S. university campus. Zeidler fought for the rights of gays and lesbians, as well as for the social and political rights of others while on campus.

His time at CSUN helped launch him into a career where he defended the rights of children and families — first as an attorney, then as a juvenile court referee and now as a three-term Superior Court Judge.

During Zeidler’s speech, he spoke about his time as a student and the people and events that shaped him. He spoke of how the Lesbian Gay Alliance group used to meet in a back room at the University Student Union.

“Now, on this campus, who could ever imagine in the middle of the Student Union would be the incredible Pride Center,” Zeidler said.

Zeidler spoke of his commitment to former foster youth through CSUN’s Resilient Scholars Program, to which he and his husband Jay Kohorn give both financial and personal support.

“Former foster youth overcome incredible barriers, and they are defying horrifying statistics just by being on a university campus,” Zeidler said.

Zeidler had a large and enthusiastic group of guests for the evening. He closed his speech by explaining why.

“When it comes to my accomplishments, they are not mine alone,” Zeidler said. “Very early on I learned about the power of electoral politics and the importance of coalition building. I’ve seen the power of coalition work achieved by many activists and elected officials. … Everything I’m able to do is because of the support I’ve received from so many people.”

Each spring, CSUN honors its distinguished alumni, drawn from a base that numbers more than 350,000.

A key question in the college careers of many first-generation Latina/o students is this: How do I incorporate cultural and family expectations with the life I have chosen?

Vasti Torres, a nationally recognized professor of Latina/o studies at the University of Michigan, has spent much of her career researching that question, talking to Latina/o students about the factors that aid and hinder their success in higher education. She found that nearly all families of first-generation students want them to succeed and create new opportunities for themselves, but students often struggled to communicate the demands of a successful college career.

“People would talk about what their parents wanted versus what they wanted,” said Torres, who shared research and strategies for enhancing Latina/o students’ success at California State University, Northridge’s seventh annual Terry Piper Lecture on April 2. “[Many students would say], ‘My parents don’t understand that I can’t work on Saturdays because I need to spend this Saturday in the library doing a paper. Or, my parents don’t understand that I can’t work 40 hours per week.’

“They felt if they let their parents down, they were being untrue to their culture,” Torres continued. “Students on their own think, ‘I either let them down or I please them.’ We have to help [students] learn how to manage that and how to engage in a conversation with their parents.”

In her CSUN lecture, Torres said universities must create a campus environment that accounts for Latina/o students’ identities to help them flourish. She offered insights and suggestions to enhance the success of Latina/o students, which make up 46 percent of CSUN’s student population.

Torres is a professor in the Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education and an associate faculty member in Latina/o studies at Michigan. Her research includes a multi-year grant investigating the choice to stay in college for Latina/o students, as well as a multi-year grant looking at the experiences of working college students. These areas are especially relevant to CSUN in light of its Matadors Rising student success initiative, which aims to boost graduation and retention rates.

CSUN ranks 16th in the country in awarding bachelor’s degrees to underrepresented minority students and fifth nationally in awarding master’s degrees to Latina/o students.

“Really take heart that you are doing good work — you’re nationally recognized for doing good work in this area,” Torres said. “But it’s a never-ending battle. I want you to continue, because you are serving the next generation of students.”

In her speech, Torres frequently referred to data she collected at Indiana University, when her graduate research assistant was CSUN alumna Ebelia Hernandez ’05 (M.S., Counseling), who is now an associate professor in the College Student Affairs program at Rutgers University.

The more a student interacts with an adviser, the more likely that student is to succeed, Torres noted. But students who are most at risk of dropping out are also least likely to meet with or trust an adviser. Latina/o students are even less likely to implicitly trust campus authority figures, Torres said — partly because a student might ask two different advisers variations on the same question, and get two different answers. To combat this, Torres said, advisers need to understand that students do not always ask the right question, and advisers must work to help students understand everything they need to know about a situation.

Advisers should work to eliminate many of the factors that cause students to doubt they can succeed, Torres said. For example, if a student wants to drop a class, the professor and adviser should assume there is an underlying cause and investigate by engaging the student, to determine whether the concern can be mitigated.

“Proactive advising is most effective with underserved students, and holistic advising,” Torres said. “Holistic advising is this notion that you’re not just talking about information — ‘these are the courses that you need to take, this is why you need to take them’ — but [you’re also asking], ‘how are you doing, what is it you want to do, how is your family, how is your work situation influencing your course-taking activity?’ This is holistic advising. It’s this notion of an entire person, a whole person.”

Torres also offered constructive criticism on ways CSUN could reinforce its standing as a place where Latina/o and other minority students can succeed, including taking more steps to publicize its designations as a Hispanic-Serving Institution and an Asian-American- and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institution.

The annual lecture is named in honor of Terry Piper, who served as vice president for student affairs at CSUN for nearly 10 years. He is credited with reshaping CSUN’s Division of Student Affairs to align with the most current practices supporting student learning and success. Piper passed away in May 2010. He was remembered at the lecture as an inspirational and even disruptive force who challenged his colleagues to think about every choice in terms of making a positive difference for student success.

“The university exists to place students at the center of what it is that we’re all about,” said Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students William Watkins. “We really should be thinking about the choices and decisions that we make in terms of how we contribute to getting students to achieve their goals.”

Watkins and Provost Yi Li each spoke about the importance of fostering a sense of belonging among students, which positively impacts performance and the desire to finish a degree. Each interaction on campus — with faculty, staff or fellow students — is an opportunity to reinforce that a student belongs.

“We are here to help provide a transformative experience,” Li said.

CSUN’s efforts to retain first-time freshmen are already paying off. Li noted that retention of first-time freshmen has reached a record 81 percent.

“We’re going to continue to push forward,” Li said. “We welcome students from all walks of life, from all different circumstances and from all learning backgrounds. We also want CSUN to be known nationally, to be the place where students come and graduate and move on to have a successful career, a life and to be a great civic leader.”

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“Kairos” Band Members from Left to Right: Sean Harrison, Luke Reeder, Myles Martin, Keelan Walters and Ian Houts. Photo Credit: Email from Ronald M.Borczo

A quintet of California State University, Northridge jazz-studies students placed second in the college-combo division at this year’s annual Next Generation Monterey Jazz Festival (NGMJF) in Monterey, Calif.

The band, named “Kairos,” was formed by sophomore saxophonist Sean Harrison. Other band members include sophomore bassist Ian Houts, sophomore drummer Myles Martin, junior guitarist Keelan Walters and senior saxophonist Luke Reeder. The event took place over a three-day weekend, from March 9-11.

“I’m elated that our group of undergraduate students placed second for the college combo division at the prestigious Monterey Next Generation festival,” said CSUN jazz studies professor Matthew Harris. “These students worked hard and reflect the mission and values of CSUN regarding excellence.”

Along with the groups second-place finish, two of the CSUN jazz musicians — Keelan Walters and Luke Reeder — received outstanding soloist awards. Both Walters and Reeder are honored by their recognition. The festival itself, said Walters, was an “amazing time.”

“It is an incredible environment where jazz musicians from all over the country can come together and network and hear each other,” Walters said. “I feel very honored and grateful to have my combo place 2nd as well as receive an outstanding soloist award.”

Reeder, like Walters, also enjoyed his time at the event, referring to the festival as a “blast!”

“We were truly privileged to meet students from around the country and share music with each other,” Reeder said. “It was an honor to be picked as an outstanding soloist among so many incredibly talented musicians.”

The quintet competed against six other colleges, including the Berklee Global Jazz Institute Amber Ensemble; Sacramento State University Jazz Combo; the New School Improv Ensemble; University of Miami; Frost School of Music New Music Ensemble; and University of Las Vegas Honor Trio.

This year makes two years in a row that CSUN students have placed second at the festival. For more information on NGMJF and to view a full list of results, visit: http://www.montereyjazzfestival.org/NGJF/2018-next-generation-jazz-festival-results.

Ryan Gosling is playing the teacher and Halle Berry is the principal.

The opening scene of the movie is Gosling, with hurried and excited voice, telling Berry: “We have to do something for the school!”

Beyond that, the story, the casting and pretty much everything else for the movie is up for discussion.

This is how CSUN alumnus Bradley Upshaw ’88 (Credential) envisions the movie about his life.

Is it far-fetched to believe he’d be the subject of a feature film?

Not entirely.

After all, the last teacher like Upshaw was Jaime Escalante and the 1988 film Stand and Deliver was about him.

In March, Upshaw, a third-grade teacher with 33 years of service at Vanalden Avenue Elementary School in Tarzana, was surprised at a school assembly where it was announced that he had been selected for the National Teachers Hall of Fame. Bradley is one of two teachers from the Los Angeles Unified School District to be chosen for induction — the other being Escalante, a legendary math teacher who taught at Garfield High School.

The National Teachers Hall of Fame is located in Emporia, Kansas, and was founded in 1989 by Emporia State University and other university and city groups as a tribute to what the Hall calls “our nation’s most important profession.”

Teachers are nominated through the Hall of Fame’s website. Only five teachers nationwide are chosen for induction annually and are selected by a national selection committee.

Vanalden Principal Yoshim Yang nominated Upshaw for the honor.

“There is a different level of commitment with him,” Yang said. “You have to see him in action. He’s very present, and he’s more than just about academics. He really cares about students’ well-being.”

On the nomination form, Yang wrote about how Upshaw visited with the family of a student who had bone cancer. Due to the illness, the family wanted to withdraw him from Vanalden Avenue Elementary and home-school him. Upshaw convinced the family that their child would not only receive passionate education from him, but that he would also receive comfort. The family ultimately decided to keep their son at Vanalden.

“He has this natural ability to connect with people,” Yang said. “They trust him very quickly.”

Originally from Anaheim, Upshaw often moved around as a youth. It was his intent to become an actor that led to his return to Southern California at San Diego State for undergraduate studies. He earned a bachelor’s degree in Theatre Arts, and continued his pursuit of acting as a career into his mid-20s. He made his way north to Los Angeles to break into showbiz, but couldn’t catch the break. A friend of his told him of a company that serviced children with special needs. Upshaw took a job with the company and realized the work he was doing was gratifying. It was suggested to him that since he already had a bachelor’s degree, he could get hired as a substitute teacher in LAUSD and still go on auditions.

Teaching spoke to him more and more, though. In teaching, he could satisfy his inner passions. His mother Doris instilled compassion in him, he said. His father, Douglas, instilled a work ethic in him. Upshaw loved to perform. By teaching, he could be compassionate, work hard and perform every day.

He enrolled at CSUN to pursue a teaching credential.

“CSUN gave me all this pedagogy and I had to learn,” Upshaw said. “I was interested in the way the professors were teaching and presenting in the class. I’d be in a class sometimes thinking, ‘This is a pretty good course.’ Then there were times I’d be thinking, ‘This is a pretty good teacher.’”

After earning his credential, Upshaw took root at Vanalden. And from the very beginning, his teaching style was effervescent. And it was also tender-hearted.

Upshaw said he had terrible problems with math and reading as a child. He recalled one school year where his issues in and out of the classroom caused him to miss 60 days. Because of his own experiences, he has much empathy for students and their everyday challenges.

He sees his role not only as a teacher, but also as a friend.

He tries to have his students sit around in a circle once a week and share their concerns, feelings and successes. He has found it as a way for him to get to know his students, but also for the kids to identify with and find empathy for their fellow classmates. For nearly three decades, he has had a class mascot — a plush-toy mouse named Gretchen — that he has used as a communication tool for children.

“I introduce her during the first week of school and tell the kids, ‘I have a very good friend of mine. She’s going to arrive.’ I keep looking out the door for her to arrive,” Upshaw said.

When he finally introduces Gretchen, some of the kids are disappointed because it’s not a human. But he goes back to his theater days and asks the children to suspend their disbelief. Upshaw said most of his students warm up to Gretchen and treat her like a human.

He has a program called Gretchen’s Notebook where students can leave a note about whatever’s on their mind to the mascot. Upshaw reads the notes privately and responds in a note as Gretchen, usually leaving the response in their desk.

“These little notes are profound,” Upshaw said. “Even though they are little 8- and 9-year-old brains, their ability to reflect and explain how they’re feeling is amazing to me.”

The notes can be happy, sometimes tragic. They always give Upshaw a better perspective of the individual. In turn, he puts more passion and compassion in his teaching.

Yang said as much as the students affect Upshaw, the new Hall of Famer is affecting his fellow teachers and staff.

“The best thing for our school is he inspires other teachers and the entire staff,” Yang said. “Teachers to elevate their own instructional message and care for students and staff to be more conscious of how they respond to kids at our school.”

The National Teacher’s Hall of Fame ceremony will be June 22. Upshaw will have his own exhibit at Emporia State University for a year.

It’s also the site where Upshaw envisions the last scene of his movie would be. He’d be in the audience watching as one of his former students is inducted into the Hall of Fame.

The working title for this film, as of now, is Dragonfly Days.

“That is my description of living a whole life in one day,” Upshaw said of the title. “Some dragonflies only live 24 hours. Some days in elementary are filled from beginning to end with amazing activities and lessons. They are exhausting days, but so filled with purpose and joy.”

The 52nd annual CSUN Staff Service and Recognition of Excellence Awards ceremony connected the success of California State University, Northridge students to the work of dedicated university employees. It also was a chance for CSUN leaders to recognize their teams and the collective impact of CSUN staff.

“Today is a celebration of you and your service — and shows that CSUN values you, our Matadors, for your hard work and dedication to our students, each other and CSUN as a vibrant university community,” said CSUN President Dianne F. Harrison. “Thanks to your contributions, we are able to continually raise the bar of service and support we provide to our students to help them achieve academic success. It is because of what you do, and what you are capable of doing in the future, that CSUN will continue to prosper and rise to new heights.”

This year’s event, which took place May 2 at the University Student Union Northridge Center, honored 322 staff, managers and auxiliary employees for service in five-year increments, from five years up to 45 years. The 45-year honorees were Judith Friedman of the Department of Psychology and William Krohmer of the Department of Biology.

The event also included seven awards for outstanding contributions by staff and administrators:

President’s Award

Harrison presented the prestigious President’s Award to Susan Dickman ’04 (Marketing), the program and marketing manager of The University Corporation (TUC). The President’s Award goes to a staff member who sustains consistent, outstanding performance and demonstrates the values of the university.

Dickman was honored for helping to grow TUC’s program and marketing department, and helping to create greater synergies between CSUN Athletics, Associated Students, Housing and TUC. She earned recognition for a long list of projects, including the CSUN Campus Store remodel; the Matador Shirt initiative, where all incoming students receive a T-shirt to connect them to CSUN; coordinating efforts for CSUN-branded Pepsi trucks in Los Angeles County; and serving on multiple cross-divisional committees that coordinate campuswide events such as the CSUN Summer and Winter Celebrations, 2017 CSUN Founders’ Day and Homecoming event, and Athletics Fan Fairs.

“Susan is an excellent project manager and team leader with an extremely positive and upbeat attitude that lends itself to her role in executing initiatives,” Harrison said. “She has the insight on how to personalize a marketing campaign so it will speak to the intended audience. Susan continually operates at the highest level of performance, and has earned our admiration and respect.”

Dickman, who was born and raised in Northridge, was visibly emotional as she accepted the award. Her mother, Marsha Collier, who attended the ceremony, pointed out that Dickman had been voted CSUN Homecoming Queen in 2002 and even attended CSUN football games as a child.

“As a Matador and graduate and someone who loves the university, I’m humbled, and it still doesn’t feel real,” Dickman said. “I couldn’t be happier to come to work every day.”

Leadership Award

Deborah Wallace, associate vice president for Financial Services, received the Leadership Award, which is awarded to an administrator who consistently exhibits CSUN’s leadership principles and demonstrates a commitment to connecting work with the campus’ planning priorities. Wallace was honored for her commitment to using team members’ individual strengths and helping them achieve their goals. She also collaborated on a recent outreach program to assist graduating seniors who would have been disenrolled for financial reasons, removing barriers to their success.

Excellence in Diversity & Inclusion Award

The Excellence in Diversity & Inclusion Award was awarded to Nancy Alonzo, senior community director of Student Housing and Conference Services. Alonzo was honored for planning and facilitating CSUN’s annual Oppression Reduction Training, which includes sessions for student leaders on racism, microaggressions and classism. She also created the Latinas Rising support group and works with the DREAM Center and University Student Union’s Cross Cultural Committee.

Merit Awards

The CSUN Merit Awards are presented to employees who exemplify exceptional performance and demonstrate integrity and service to the university community.

Recipients included:

• Sarah Johnson, coordinator of the CSUN Institute for Sustainability, who has led awareness events to solve composting issues and other activities that help save time and waste hauling fees, and help meet university greenhouse gas emission goals.
• Claire Davis, associate director of administrative services for Student Housing and Conference Services, who currently serves as co-interim administrator in charge of Student Housing and Conference Services. Among other successes, Davis was praised for the smooth annual student check-in process and for helping to transition Student Housing to paperless records, starting with a fully online application.
• Betsy Corrigan, director of Food Services, who has worked to provide a robust menu and to provide all students with access to nutritious options, as well as implementing the use of compostable and recyclable single-use containers.
• Noe Aguirre and Vanessa Ochoa, coordinators of the Veterans Affairs unit of Administration and Records, who were honored for their efforts to support the 511 veterans, reservists, National Guard members and active-duty soldiers on campus. This included creation of an online certification process.

Alumni Relations Award

The Alumni Relations Award, which goes to a person whose efforts bring alumni closer to CSUN, was awarded to Lawrence Becker, a political science professor and director of the CSUN in D.C. Internship Program. Becker has built relationships with various influential individuals and institutions in Washington, D.C., including members of Congress, the State Department, Department of Veterans Affairs and many others. He also has assisted in engaging alumni on a variety of policy initiatives, providing alumni and university friends with an in-depth look at the CSUN in D.C. program and the profound impact it has on students.

Student Assistant of the Year

For the first time, the event also implemented a Student Assistant of the Year award, given to a student employee who demonstrates exceptional contributions to their department by their outstanding skill set, professionalism, and quality of work and service to the university community.

The inaugural award went to Jodie Rink of University Marketing and Communications, who coordinates all estimates and invoices related to more than a dozen external advertisement vendors and ensures that the creative work is submitted on time. Her work assists the university’s external advertising campaign. These contracts, invoices and estimates require laser precision in terms of follow through and scheduling.

Jolene Koester Team Award

Jill Mejia, assistant director of Undergraduate Degree Services for Admissions and Records, and Julia Riddle, associate director of Systems and Operations for Admissions and Records, accepted the Jolene Koester Team Award on behalf of the Online Graduation Application Team comprised of employees from Admissions & Records, Information Technology and Cash Services. The Jolene Koester Team Award is presented annually to a team of university employees who collaborate on a project, process or other significant initiative that brings about radical, positive change that improves performance or productivity — and/or reduces costs or enhances the image of the university. Riddle’s Online Graduation Application team reduced hours of manual input, improved workflow and reduced the amount of paper needed for graduation applications.

CSUN Shine from Within

The 14 individuals who participated in the annual CSUN Shine from Within Program were also recognized. The cross-divisional development cohort program helps selected staff develop core competencies, develop a sense of connection and community with other units across campus, and broaden understanding and knowledge about the university and other divisions, investing participants more deeply in the mission of the university and its planning priorities.

A complete listing of employees honored for their years of services may be viewed on the Human Resources website at: https://www.csun.edu/enrichment/staff-service-awards.

Academic scholarship applications are a rigorous test for students to compile their achievements and capabilities into a story that catches the eye of the benefactor making the selection. When applying to Stanford for your doctorate, this task is heightened tenfold.

Luckily for Brenda Velasco and Caroline Arellano-Garcia, they didn’t have to travel blind into this potential minefield.

California State University, Northridge’s Maximizing Access to Research Careers (MARC – undergraduates) and Research Initiative for Scientific Enhancement (RISE – undergrads and post-graduates) programs help increase the number and capabilities of underrepresented scientists engaged in basic biomedical research. These grants’ goals are to strengthen science curricula and research opportunities at CSUN while also strengthening the biomedical research capabilities of minority-serving institutions.

“As a first-generation college student, I didn’t know how to begin a path forward to my Ph.D.,” said Brenda Velasco ’17 (Biochemistry). “They gave me mentors and advisors throughout my time at CSUN. Without them, it would not have been possible.” Velasco is now currently working toward her doctorate at Stanford.

Velasco recently won the National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship, which has given her the opportunity for a full ride to Stanford. The scholarship requires the applicant to provide letters of recommendation, a personal statement and a research proposal describing the specific aims of the applicant’s research project for the next three years.

“I worked on my application, research proposal and personal statement for four months,” said Velasco. “I met with my advisor every week to prepare my statement and proposal and even carried out experiments to collect preliminary data.”

When Velasco won, she was given $34,000 to carry out her research proposal that also includes $12,000 to cover tuition cost.

Velasco hopes to one day be a professor at a state university, where she can conduct research in her own lab.

The MARC/RISE programs help ensure that underrepresented communities have the opportunity to access educational options to the same degree as other communities. Caroline Arellano-Garcia is a sound example of these programs’ benefits.

“My experiences have shown me the immense value of mentorship,” said Arellano-Garcia ’15 (Biotechnology). “I would not be in this position if it had not been for the mentors that have paved the way.”

Arellano-Garcia won both the NSF and the Ford Foundation Pre-Doctoral Fellowship, which seeks to increase diversity in higher education with students of superior academic skill. She is currently pursuing her doctorate at Stanford, for biology with an emphasis on molecular and organismal cell biology.

The NSF and Ford Foundation have funded Arellano-Garcia for her entire doctorate degree at Stanford. To help her prepare, the MARC/RISE programs offered her thesis and research assistance.

“Preparation for these fellowships has been a process that has taken many years,” said Arellano-Garcia. “This included being a teaching assistant at CSUN and mentoring my peers.”

Arellano-Garcia said she wasn’t expecting to get the scholarship because she was up against many talented applicants, but was excited that they picked her.

“Three fellow MARC/RISE Matadors were admitted to Stanford last year and it was great reconnecting,” said Arellano-Garcia. “At CSUN, we were all involved in one way or another with the MARC/RISE program. I encourage my fellow Matadors to continue doing the best they can and take the shots needed to achieve your goals.”

California State University, Northridge’s Friends of the Oviatt Library will present identical twins Erin K. Schonauer and Jamie C. Schonauer with the San Fernando Valley Award for Nonfiction for their book, “Early Burbank,” which explores the city’s historic journey with the entertainment industry, media and aerospace.

Co-Authors of “Early Burbank,” Erin and Jamie Schonauer. Photo Credit: CSUN Friends of the Oviatt Website.

The twin sisters will be honored from 4 to 6 p.m. on Thursday, June 7, at the Orange Grove Bistro on the southeast side of campus, located at 18111 Nordhoff St.

The sisters started their book with the intention of chronicling Burbank’s media roots, but were soon drawn to the city’s innovative nature and its creative and artistic environment and decided to expand their writing to cover the city’s full history. The pictorial history in “Early Burbank” spans almost 200 years of history — from the late 1800s to the 1970s — featuring the city’s aviation roots, early pioneers, media industries and Rose Parade floats.

“Historical research is an important way to open up the past to current and future generations,” said Delmar T. Oviatt Library Dean Mark Stover. “With their book, Erin and Jamie Schonauer have created a vivid journey into Burbank’s intriguing past through striking, unique photographs and graceful prose.”

With a motto of “two pens writing together as one,” the sisters said the special bond they share brings double the power and punch to their material, making the writing experience twice as fun.

“Writing and researching this book was a very fulfilling experience,” said Erin Schonauer. “We loved reaching out to the community, interviewing longtime residents and gathering historical photographs and stories. This book is special to us as we lived in Burbank for nearly 10 years, so having the opportunity to document part of Burbank’s rich history was a great honor for us. At the time, we were living in Burbank and really loved it there. We were compelled to explore the history of this vibrant and creative city.”

The twins are freelance writers for children’s magazines, and members of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators and the Children’s Writing Guild. Their media work with Radio Disney earned the Schonauer twins a Star Award from the Bay Area Society for Television, Advertising and Radio. Both sisters earned a master’s degree in radio and television from San Francisco State University. Their work has appeared in award-winning publications.

At the June 7 event, the sisters will present insights and excerpts from their work and sign copies of their book, which will be available for purchase during the event. The award reception is free and open to the public.

Reservations can be made online at the Friends of the Oviatt Library website, or by calling (818) 677-2638.

Complimentary parking is available in the G1 parking lot, located at the corner of Nordhoff Street and Zelzah Avenue. Persons with disabilities needing assistance and deaf and hard-of-hearing persons needing interpreters, please call (818) 677-2638 in advance for arrangements.

The Oviatt Library is known as the heart of the CSUN campus. A complete listing of library events can be found at the library events website.

The species that live within a coral reef are as diverse as the plants and animals in a rain forest. Understanding humankind’s effects on marine life and the ecology of underwater ecosystems can help scientists better understand how to help coral reefs survive the coming century.

CSUN biology graduate alumnus Jessica Bergman, studying the corals in Okinawa, Japan. Photo Credit: Jessica Bergman

With the goal of contributing to coral reef research, California State University, Northridge biology alumna Jessica L. Bergman submitted her graduate thesis project, “Behavior of Brooded Coral Larvae in Response to Elevated pCO2,” to the National Science Foundation (NSF) East Asia Pacific Summer Institute (EAPSI). Her project focused on the behavior and physiology of coral larvae and how it is effected by ocean acidification.

“It’s particularly pleasing seeing CSUN graduate students achieving success by stepping onto a world where they are excelling,” said CSUN biology professor Peter Edmunds. “Jesse [Jessica] is a smart cookie who’s motivated and studied really hard. Jesse’s experience in Japan and through her [master of science] research can inspire other students to consider the same path.”

In 2016, she was awarded by NSF with an EAPSI summer fellowship and conducted her research with professor Saki Harii at Sesoko Research Station in Okinawa, Japan as part of the Tropical Biosphere Research Center, University of the Ryukyus.

“It was extremely enriching to link up with a lab across the world, not only because of the access to new resources, but because of the chance to experience a completely different culture by collaborating with Japanese students and researchers,” said Bergman. “Dr. Harii, as an expert in coral larval ecology, was also a great mentor that I continue to keep in touch with today.”

Ocean acidification is caused by the uptake of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and subsequently, its dissolution in seawater. According to Earth Eclipse, 30 to 40 percent of carbon dioxide from people dissolves into oceans, rivers and lakes.

“The human industry is producing carbon dioxide from power plants, cement manufacturers and driving cars and the carbon dioxide goes into the atmosphere and eventually dissolves into the seawater,” said Edmunds. “In seawater, carbon dioxide dissolves to create a weak acid, so in a future affected by ocean acidification, coral larvae probably will be living in slightly acidic water.”

The experimental setup in situ at Sesoko Station, with tubes marked for scoring larval movement. Photo Credit: Jessica Bergman

To conduct her study on how ocean acidification affected coral larvae, Bergman incubated coral larvae in three UV-transparent tubes on a shallow fringing reef, where they were monitored over a 24-hour period. She found that larvae were slightly more buoyant in acidic water.

According to Edmunds, the normal behavior of coral larvae involves the periodic movement of moving up and down in the seawater. When they move up to the surface, larvae encounter water moving at a different speed compared to greater depths. Bergman’s buoyancy results raise the question of whether these effects can influence the capacity of corals to replace themselves with baby corals.

“Coral larvae potentially can move from one reef to the next and repopulate a reef where large numbers of corals have been killed,” said Edmunds. “Larvae drift around with the currents, but eventually settle on the sea floor and glue themselves to rock where the conditions are favorable. Thereafter, they start growing and eventually and replace the adult corals. This is a slow process.”

According to National Ocean Service Education, the average growth rate of a coral reef is 0.3 to 2 centimeters per year. A hurricane can wipe out a coral reef overnight. If the rate of coral disappearance continues or rises, there are numerous potential negative outcomes, Edmunds said.

“In general, if coral larvae are exposed to the acid water, it makes the larvae go less far away from the reefs to produce them,” Edmunds continued. “Which might mean that they are less able to escape the conditions that are changing. The tricky part is that as conditions deteriorate everywhere, it’s possible that there won’t be anywhere to escape to.”

There are several reasons for why the disappearance of coral reefs is bad.

“Coral reefs prevent erosion of shorelines, and without coral reefs, you lose your costal protection,” said Edmunds. “For example, if you live in the Maldives, Marshall Islands or the Cayman, you live on an island that is maybe about 3 feet above sea level. If there’s no reef, you’re going to drown. The second reason for concern is that these [coral reefs] support a tourism industry worth hundreds of millions of dollars a year, and with no ref, much of this will go away.”

Without coral reefs, a source of fishery for the developing world is eliminated and scientists are not able research these species to find new antibiotics, cures and biomedical treasures said Edmunds.

The lowering of carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere can decrease the acidity in ocean water. Bergman’s research sheds new light on the implications for the capacity of corals to replace themselves through reproduction.

For more information on Bergman’s research, please visit Frontiers in Marine Science website.

Students, families, faculty and staff celebrated the achievements of California State University, Northridge’s international and exchange student graduates on May 11.

The International & Exchange Student Graduation Receptions were held at 4 p.m. at the Orange Grove Bistro. The event featured music, food and discussions to commemorate the graduates’ accomplishments. Here are photos from that celebration.

When thinking about leadership positions in government, people often picture a man before considering a woman. These career-based gender stereotypes often psychologically institutionalize men and women.

Dianne R. Bartlow

California State University, Northridge gender and women’s studies professor Dianne Bartlow’s film, “Making LA Happen,” was produced with the goal of turning gender stereotypes on their head and normalizing women in top-level government jobs. The film recently received the Radio, Television/Cable 2017 CINDY silver award — an international award that recognizes audio-visual for linear and online interactive multimedia, video, audio, mobile apps and more.

“We’re trying to provide an educational and informational program on truly outstanding women in the Los Angeles city government,” said Bartlow. “Before creating the film, I didn’t even know that the person who is head of all fire chiefs for the whole city was a woman or that there was a woman who led transportation for LAX.”

Although American women make up 52 percent of all professional jobs, there is a lack of representation in leadership positions. As co-executive producer of the film, Bartlow helped direct co-executive producer Robin Gee’s vision to showcase the diverse women leaders who help run Los Angeles.

“These are a diverse group of women who are the first, racially and ethnically, to do all these wonderful jobs so I thought it’d be a great idea to feature these women,” said Bartlow. “It’s important to show women in leadership positions so that other women can be inspired and show the public that women are capable of doing these jobs.”

The film features four women in leadership positions in government:

• Seleta Reynolds, general manager of the Department of Transportation for the City of Los Angeles, manages over 2,000 employees, 7,500 miles of streets, 37,000 parking meters and the most advanced signal systems in the world.
• Ana Guerrero, chief of staff to the Mayor of Los Angeles, immigrated from Mexico when she was two she currently helps make Los Angeles’ city and neighborhoods a better place.
• Kristen Crowley, interim fire marshal for Los Angeles Fire Department, manages more than 200 people within the fire prevention public safety bureau.
• Deborah Flint, chief executive officer of Los Angeles World Airports, helps manage 75 million passengers a year, the new $14 billion renovation and all the airlines at Los Angeles International Airport.

The film was produced in partnership with the Directors Guild of America Women’s Steering Committee, City of Los Angeles Information Technology Agency, LA Cityview Channel 35 and the City of Los Angeles Commission on the Status of Women. Executive producers include Dianne Bartlow, Mary Lou Belli, Robin Gee and Ted Lin. Directors and producers include Marty Elcan, Liz Hinlein, Matia Karrell and Paige Morrow Kimball. Martha Cotton served as Interstitial Producer.

For more information or to view the film please visit YouTube.