According to a recent Los Angeles Times Article, about 10 percent of all California State University students are homeless and more than 20 percent are food insecure. To help students who suffer from food insecurity at California State University, Northridge, the Matador Involvement Center (MIC) as well as the Women’s Research and Resource Center have opened food pantries on campus this fall semester.

“It’s important to support our students in any way that we can to get into that goal line of graduation,” said Maria Elizondo, the coordinator of the CSUN Food Pantry at the MIC, which will be temporarily located behind the CSUN Campus Store Aneex, where the Tseng College used to be located. The entrance to the pantry will be on Lindley Ave.

Volunteers of the Matador Day of Service, including CSUN President Dianne F. Harrison, have recently renovated and painted the pantry, which will be fully operational by the end of September. After fall semester, Elizondo said the pantry will move to its permanent location in Laurel Hall.

Elizondo also coordinates CSUN’s Unified We Serve and will rely on volunteers of the program as well as a student assistant to manage the food pantry. Students won’t be required to show a proof of need in order to access the food, but a proof of campus affiliation, such as student ID.

“This is a campus-supported effort, open to all students, faculty and staff. However, our primary clients will be students,” Elizondo said. “They will have the opportunity to come to our pantry and acquire emergency food, so this is definitely a place where they can come when they are in need.”

Operation hours and days are still being determined, but will be updated on http://www.csun.edu/mic.

Shira Brown, director of the Women’s Center and Orion Block ’14 (Gender and Women’s Studies), who is also a graduate student in CSUN’s social work program, organized the Women’s Center’s food pantry. Brown explained that the pantry will support students who might not have enough to eat each day.

“We know we can’t feed everybody because we’re not going to be able to store that amount of food,” Brown said. “But we can reach some students who just need a little extra to help them get to the end of the month — whether it’s because food stamps ran out, money ran out or whatever it is.”

Brown and Block had the initial idea of providing a food pantry to CSUN students about a year ago. After months of brainstorming about the possible implementation, they decided to clean out one of the center’s spaces to store food.

“We’ve always had snacks here at the Women’s Center,” Brown said. “So I see hungry students come in here and just grab something small. But we want to take it to the next level so it’s not just a granola bar. We want to make it so that [students] can walk in and actually get a week’s worth of food.”

“If we get to the point where we have a lot of students, we’re going to have to set limits on how much they can take,” Block added. “But at first it’s going to be, ‘Hey, come and take what you need, but please be conscientious of other people needing things, too.’”

Brown and Block reached out to CSUN housing and local grocery stores at the beginning of summer to ask for contributions and support. The San Fernando Valley Rescue Mission pledged to be a main donor and partner in fighting to end food insecurity for CSUN students. However, the pair also hopes that faculty and staff also will choose to support the food pantry through donations and outreach.

“It also makes sense for us to partner up with faculty, because faculty are often the front line to know what’s going on in students’ lives — so they can refer their students,” Brown said.

Block also hopes for support from fraternities and sororities that are regularly involved in philanthropic projects and have the potential to volunteer or coordinate food drives.

The food pantry won’t be able to hold perishable foods such as fresh produce, but options like frozen vegetables would be a good way to accommodate healthier or more specific diets, Brown said. The organizers said they also hope to provide a variety of food that works with students’ living situations.

“If you’re a student living in your car, which isn’t uncommon, then we hopefully will have the kind of food that [can be prepared] in a car,” Brown said. “But we also have an electric hot water kettle here and a microwave, so students [can prepare food here].”

Brown and Block hope to maintain the anonymity of students who pick up food at the pantry, but do have to track certain information to assess needs and plan for future evaluations.

“We don’t want to be invasive and know everybody’s business,” Block said. “We don’t want to put anybody on the spot and make them feel uncomfortable.”

Even though the food pantry is hosted by the Women’s Research and Resource Center, which is sponsored by the Department of Gender and Women’s Studies, the food pantry is open to all CSUN students in need – not only the female population.

“People can’t be successful if they’re hungry, whether they’re a student or a professional,” Brown said. “It’s hard to think clearly when your stomach is growling.”

For more information on how to donate or volunteer at the Women’s Center’s food pantry, contact Shira Brown at shira.brown@csun.edu.

White Keds, neon glow sticks, Nirvana T-shirts and fanny packs were all the rage Sept. 16 as the University Student Union (USU) took California State University, Northridge students on a trip back in time to the 1990s for its bi-annual Matador Nights.

“With a theme like the ’90s, it’s so real and a lot of people relate to it, which brings everyone together,” said Nod’Keya’ Grace, a freshman theatre major and first-time Matador Nights attendee. “People love the ’90s.”

The USU was packed with students ready to have fun and take a break from upcoming paper deadlines and tests, even if only from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. Students got “jiggy with it” on the dance floor at the center of the USU, indulged in free hot dogs, pizza, orange soda and candy, and got photo-ready for the selfie booth — all free when they presented their CSUN identification card.

The Max Diner, as seen on the cult classic TV series Saved By The Bell, made a rare appearance at Matador Nights. Students took a break from dancing, grabbed some food and relaxed in the booths from the hit show.

The line for vintage roller skates was long, but that didn’t deter students from hitting the roller rink in the Northridge Center, which included a disco ball and two large projectors showing music videos from popular 1990s artists such as the Backstreet Boys, NSYNC and Nirvana.

For something a little more low-key after burning calories at the roller rink, students waited in line to get glitter tattoos and have their names drawn by calligraphy artists.

Matty the Matador was spotted in the arcade shooting hoops with students, while others opted for classic games of Tetris, Pac-Man, Dance Dance Revolution and Skeeball. The miniature golf course set up near the Student Recreation Center also encouraged competition.

Giggles and screams could be heard from outside as students whisked down the giant slide or took a ride on the Ferris wheel, where the whole campus could be viewed from the top.

DJ Mix Master Mike of The Beastie Boys spun a mixture of the hottest tunes from the 1990s through present day until it was time to say “Bye Bye Bye” and return to 2016 at 1 a.m.

“The themes just get better and better, and the interactions that students have [at Matador Nights] build more of a connection with the campus,” said senior kinesiology major and four-time Matador Nights volunteer Guillermo Perez. “They’re super pumped and excited.”

California State University, Northridge’s David Nazarian College of Business and Economics doubled down on the big announcements at the college’s 50^th anniversary gala celebration Thursday, Sept. 22.

The evening’s program concluded with the announcement of a $5 million gift from CSUN alumni Harvey ’70 (Business Administration) and Harriet Bookstein. CSUN President Dianne F. Harrison revealed that this gift and those from other supporters of the college put the college’s $25 million fundraising campaign over its goal, which launched two years ago with a lead gift of $10 million from CSUN alumnus David Nazarian.

“One of the true pleasures of being president of a university with the impact of CSUN is those moments when we see our great university make an even greater leap forward. This is one of those moments,” Harrison said. “Future generations of students will benefit from the investments made in the college.”

Pending California State University Board of Trustees’ approval, CSUN will rename Juniper Hall, which houses the Nazarian College, in honor of the Booksteins. Money from the Booksteins’ gift will be used to create the Bookstein Voluntary Income Tax Assistance (VITA) Endowment to expand the activities of CSUN’s acclaimed VITA Clinic, which offers free tax-preparation assistance to low-income families and individuals; the Bookstein Leadership Endowment to support the college’s priorities, and the Bookstein Distinguished Chair in Real Estate Endowment in the real estate program of the Department of Business Law.

The fundraising campaign for CSUN’s business college launched in March 2014 when entrepreneur and philanthropist David Nazarian ’82 (Business Administration), founder and CEO of Nimes Capital, donated $10 million of his own money and pledged to help raise an additional $15 million for the college. The Booksteins’ $5 million gift helped the university reach the fundraising goal in only two years.

“CSUN’s College of Business and Economics, which I am honored to have named after me, is a tremendous training ground for the thousands of future business leaders that walk through its doors,” Nazarian said. “But it can be so much more. With new capital investments, we are looking forward to attracting the best professors and faculty members, and to strengthening the culture of personal excellence in all of its programs.”

Thanks to the evening’s sponsors, more than 85 students attended the event and witnessed firsthand the possibilities a CSUN business education can deliver in the form of the successful alumni in attendance.

“Being surrounded by the students at the Nazarian College definitely helped me through my own studies and business aspirations,” said recent Nazarian College graduate and entrepreneur Alan Campos ’16 (Business Law). “My classmates were motivated — you could feel the energy of their motivation. They wanted to do something after graduating, whether getting more education, starting their own business or trying to change the world.”

Throughout the evening, speakers highlighted how the Nazarian College has changed and is changing the face of business in Los Angeles and beyond.

“When I came to CSUN about three and a half years ago, I knew I was coming to an institution that was creating opportunity for an amazingly diverse and highly deserving student population,” said Dean of the Nazarian College Kenneth Lord. “What I did not fully appreciate then was that it was on the cusp of a thrilling potential to achieve recognition as one of the world’s great business schools.”

As part of the 50th anniversary gala, the college recognized its Fabulous 50 Business Alumni, an impressive list of Southern California, national and global business leaders. To learn more about the honorees, visit www.csun.edu/business50. CSUN Foundation Board Chariman Earl Enzer ’82 (Finance), an alumnus and financial services executive, spoke on behalf of the Fabulous 50 alumni.

“A brilliant example of CSUN fulfilling its mission and transforming lives is the fabulous five decades that the Nazarian College fulfilled the ambitions of the many thousands of alumni that the 50 of us are here tonight to represent,” Enzer said.

CNBC anchor and CSUN alumnus Bill Griffeth ’80 (Journalism) served as master of ceremonies for the evening. Thousands of alumni from around the world have viewed the live stream of the gift announcement on Facebook, and more than 100,000 engaged with the event through social media.

Sponsors for the gala include Y&S Nazarian Foundation, Ducera Partners, KPMG, The Sterling Group, Aristotle Capital Management, Bank of Hope, Ernst and Young, HCVT, OneSource by PCS, sbe, Stefan R. Bothe, Agora, CIM, Delta Dental, EastWest Bank, Epson, Farmers Insurance, PCS Energy, PennyMac, PerkinsCoie, UBS, The Bookstein Family Foundation, Maryam Maddahi, Jeff and Joni Marine, Sabrina Kay, Ronnie Haft, Jack Corwin, Bryan Ezralow, Tony and Jeanne Pritzker, The Ronald W. Burkle Foundation, Asset Campus Housing, B&B Premier Insurance Solutions, BB&T Insurance Services of California, Crescent Hotels and Resorts, Deloitte, Laramar, The Lincoln Motor Company Executive Business Program, Merck, MidFirst Bank, MGA Entertainment, MidFirst Bank, Moss-Adams LLP, Ninjio, Northern Trust, Oaktree, Premier Business Centers, PWC, Space Needle, Chihuly Garden and Glass, teamCFO, Venable LLP, Wells Fargo, Heather J. Briggs, Chuck and Kathy Friedlander, David Friedman, Sharon Nazarian, Shulamit Nazarian, Alan M. Schnaid, Lily and Allan Schweitzer, Natasha and Shawn Sedaghat, the Shahery Family Foundation, Allied Orion Group, Earl and Karen Enzer, Jack Suzar and Linda May, and Alex and Arda Yemenidjian.

S.K. Ramesh, dean of CSUN’s College of Engineering and Computer Science. Photo by Lee Choo.

A collaborative effort by California State University, Northridge and local community colleges to increase the number of underrepresented students who study computer science and engineering has received the support of the U.S. Department of Education, awarding the program nearly $6 million over five years to expand its reach.

The project, AIMS² — Attract, Inspire, Mentor and Support Students — has faculty at CSUN and the community colleges working together to ensure students, and now including incoming freshmen, have the support they need to graduate in a timely fashion.

“The program, which we started five years ago, was such a success that we now have a new grant to help us build on what we’ve done and expand our reach and the students we serve,” said S.K. Ramesh, dean of CSUN’s College of Engineering and Computer Science, who is leading the project as principal investigator of the grant.

The new grant is funded through a competitive program under the auspices of the HSI-STEM (Hispanic-Serving Institutions division) initiative of the U.S. Department of Education. CSUN will receive nearly $1.2 million in the first year, starting this year.

AIMS² debuted in 2011 with the help of a similar grant from the department. At that time, it targeted Hispanic and low-income transfer students. The participating community colleges were Glendale Community College and College of the Canyons.

The goal was to increase the number of Hispanic and low-income students who graduated with degrees in computer science or engineering. Project leaders hoped to develop a model that could be replicated elsewhere. In its initial five years, about 240 students successfully completed the program and are now working in their chosen fields or pursuing graduate degrees.

“This new grant will enable us to double that number,” Ramesh said, noting that three additional community colleges joined the project — Los Angeles Pierce College, Moorpark College and Los Angeles Mission College — and that participation in AIMS² has been extended to incoming freshmen.

Ramesh said a total of 12 campuses in the California State University system received similar grants. The campuses have agreed to share the best practices of their projects with colleagues in all campuses throughout the CSU system.

“We purposely designed AIMS² so that it can be replicated,” Ramesh said. “If something works, it’s in all our best interests to share the model.”

The AIMS2 Logic Model

AIMS² takes an interdisciplinary approach to ensure student success. Faculty and administrators from the participating community colleges and from CSUN’s College of Engineering and Computer Science, College of Mathematics and Science, and Michael D. Eisner College of Education are on the project team that meets monthly and monitors the needs of the students and how the project is responding to those needs. CSUN and community college faculty work together to ensure that students’ transition to the Northridge campus is as seamless as possible, including implementing summer bridge programs.

Students must apply to the program. The application process includes an essay about what they aspire to be, the challenges they face and how they see themselves succeeding.

Ramesh noted that in the past, nearly every applicant was accepted, “and even those who were not selected, we made sure that some of the services, such as tutoring, were available to them.”

Once accepted, students are placed in a cohort based on their discipline. Each cohort includes proactive academic advising and tracking, organized tutoring, peer and faculty mentoring, hands-on research opportunities and project-based learning, career advising, and support with the transition to the workforce or advanced studies.

The program was singled out in 2015 by the White House Initiative on Excellence for Hispanics in its “Bright Spot in Hispanic Education National Online Catalog.” In 2014, it received an honorable mention from Excelencia in Education as an example of excellence in the baccalaureate category.

“AIMS² has the potential to significantly improve graduation rates and close the achievement gaps for Hispanic and low-income students, expand undergraduate research projects to mentor students, and enhance faculty collaboration between two-year and four-year institutions to improve student success,” Ramesh said. “We are humbled and thrilled to be selected, and look forward to serving larger numbers of students with the new grant award.”

Maria del Rocio Gomez-Uñiga returned to the United States from her native Mexico two months ago with aspirations for her three sons. She wants them to grow up and become educated so that they can someday realize dreams of their own.

Yet, like many parents in the Latino community, she found that she did not have a road map to college success. With English being her second language, she found it challenging to know what questions to ask or how to guide her children on a path to higher education.

It is for families like Gomez-Uñiga’s that Feria de Educación was created. A partnership between Univision and the California State University system that began in 2008, Feria de Educación came to the campus of California State University, Northridge for the first time on Oct. 15 to help Latino families learn more about education, so that young people can see a college education as something that is attainable.

The event kicked off on the steps of Oviatt Library, with CSUN President Dianne F. Harrison and officials from Univision, the CSU Chancellor’s Office and Cónsul de México welcoming attendees, who then went to information and activity stations and workshops that were located throughout the campus.

Families were encouraged to tour the campus to get a feel for what could lie ahead for their children. The workshops included how to prepare college applications, the various financial aid options available, as well as information on primary education so that young people are more prepared for college. The Matadome floor was broken out into sections where young people could get books, receive information about college and even dress up and take pictures as a police officer, doctor or whatever career they might aspire to be. The goal was to educate these families so their children are more prepared and not intimidated by college.

“More than anything, my kids were born here, and they need to be educated here,” Gomez-Uñiga said. “We’re learning about all the programs and the careers that are available to them. This gives us confidence that an education is possible, and also to visit and learn about the campus and everything that goes with it.”

Having CSUN host this event for the first time was important to the university and its mission to serve the community, especially the East San Fernando Valley, which has a high concentration of Latino families. Also, the campus’ size and resources made it a great home for the thousands who attended the event. CSUN’s location also made it easier to access for families that came from the Antelope Valley, Los Angeles and some even further areas.

“CSUN has always been very community oriented, and we consider ourselves stewards of place,” Harrison said. “So this is really a perfect partnership between Univision and the CSU, and having the Feria de Educación at CSUN – in the San Fernando Valley, which is one of the largest and most diverse communities in all of Los Angeles – really opens up these amazing opportunities to everyone in this Valley and beyond.”

The CSUN-hosted Feria is the second in a series of three events taking place on CSU campuses across the state.

“For many parents, we have experienced that it’s their first time visiting a university campus. It’s here in their neighborhood. It’s right in their backyard,” said Maryann Reyes Jackmon, senior director, external relations for the office of the chancellor in the California State University System. “This event is maybe the beginning for some, and maybe part of the journey for others. But it really begins at home, and what we do here is try to enhance what they’re doing at home already, having that college-going culture at home.”

Luis Patiño, vice president and general manager for Univision, talked about the original goal of Feria de Educación as providing young people the information and resources to reach for a college education.

“With this ideal in mind, this event was created to help and motivate, so that more Latinos graduate from high school and they continue on to get a university education, which forges their road to success,” Patiño said. “There is great potential in our young people. It’s our responsibility to give them access to the tools and resources that they need to feel empowered. Education is incredibly important to our community, and our alliance with the institutions of the California State University system allows us to continue to pursue the objective to empower Latino families and students.”

The Consul de México made a donation of 30,000 books that were distributed to the families who were in attendance at the event. Encouraging these families to read, in English and in Spanish, was the goal, with the hope that these young people continue to thirst for learning.

Gilberto Luna Moisés, the cónsul adscrito for the Cónsul de México of Los Angeles, stressed the importance of education for the 55 million Latinos living in the U.S. He pointed out that one in five college-age people in this country are Latino, yet only one out of 10 college students nationally are Latino. Feria de Educación is working to change that, and it has become a model for the other nine Cónsuls de México throughout California.

“There exists the belief, though it’s wrong, that Latino families don’t value higher education,” Luna Moisés said. “Parents of Mexican families are incredibly conscious of the need that their children progress to a college education so that they can have a better life. There are many disadvantages and barriers for Mexican families. Many of the young Latinos are the first people in their families to explore higher education. There does not exist the experience for the practical steps to enter a university. That’s why this event is so important.”

Many elementary school-age children were in attendance with their families, which helps to plant the seed early for aspiring to college. A reading room in the Matadome saw many adults reading to young people, encouraging them to expand their knowledge and horizons. CSUN Vice President of Student Affairs and Dean of Students William Watkins sat with a group of children and read to them. Watkins said these types of events could have a long-lasting impact on these young people.

“It’s such a tremendous credit to these parents for being forward thinking,” Watkins said. “There have been times, as populations grow, where parents are a little bit uncertain about whether or not to advance their children to the next rung. We’ve seen for some time now, the Latino community really does understand that education is the way to advance their sons and daughters to that next rung, and to create pathways for success for their community. And to participate more fully in all the opportunities that comprise our community. Getting it started with these kids, it just fills my heart.”

Gomez-Uñiga is one of these forward-thinking parents. She sees a day when her children attend and graduate college. It was through Feria de Educación that she saw that path to college open up.

“It’s important for us as parents to know that they’re going to be fine, then we’ll be fine as well,” Gomez-Uñiga said. “We need to take advantage of these opportunities for us as parents and them as our children. We need to take advantage of these events.”

The simple act of opening an email can leave businesses and private individuals vulnerable to cyber attacks — from hackers who hold data for ransom to thieves who compromise legitimate business email accounts to steal thousands of dollars through unauthorized wire transfers.

California State University, Northridge faculty and students teamed with federal law enforcement officials to create a series of public service announcements (PSAs) to educate the community about trending cyber crimes, as well as remind people about the consequences of online piracy.

“Cyber crimes are increasingly becoming more and more detrimental to all of us,” said CSUN cinema and television arts professor Nate Thomas, who oversaw the university’s involvement in the project. “We worked on a similar campaign on intellectual property theft with the federal Department of Justice and FBI three years ago that got some attention. I guess they liked what we did and asked us to work with them again.”

Nate Thomas, in the plaid shirt, and Tim Russ, lower left corner, on the set with a team of CSUN students and industry professionals. Photo courtesy of Nate Thomas.

Thomas, who has his own production company that has created PSAs for a variety of organizations over the years, said he saw an opportunity to teach his students about their responsibility to use their craft for more than just making entertainment.

“I call it doing social work using film and other media,” said Thomas, who won a regional Emmy Award two years ago for his work on the intellectual property theft campaign. “When the FBI approached me again, I knew it was a wonderful opportunity to involve our students in something for which they will get paid and get a nice credit under their belt, but also the chance to learn that they can do good work while helping people at the same time.”

Led by Thomas and his business partner, actor/director Tim Russ, the CSUN team created three 30-second spots. They tackled several issues: ransomware — when special software is used to encrypt files and documents until a ransom is paid — and business email compromise — when thieves target legitimate business email accounts to conduct unauthorized wire transfers of money. A third spot features an interview with someone facing several years in prison for stealing intellectual property.

All three spots debuted in October as part of National Cyber Security Awareness Month. They will be telecast regionally first, and then released nationally. The spots can be viewed on the FBI’s webpage or its YouTube channel.

“All of us must practice cyber security when it comes to our computers at work or at home, on our cell phones or any other Internet-connected device,” said Deidre Fike, the assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office.

CSUN film senior Amanda Derzy served as the second assistant director on the PSA project. Derzy, who was one of about a dozen CSUN students who worked on the project, developed the call sheets and maps in the days before filming started earlier this year. Once everyone was on set, she helped make sure that the actors were where they needed to be at the right time.

“It was a wonderful experience,” she said. “First off, you think of FBI agents as being dower and strict, [but] the women who were with us that day were professional and approachable. It was so much fun to see everything come together. I had a great time learning about what happens on a professional set. Plus, I now have a professional gig under my belt before even graduating, and for that I have to thank professor Thomas. He’s always looking out for ways to give his students professional experience.”

She said the experience was “life-changing.”

On paper, a statement like that would seem like hyperbole. But when Jocelyn Gonzalez, a senior psychology major at California State University, Northridge, went on the CSUN Alumni Association’s Corporate Job Shadow Program on Oct. 27, that’s exactly how she described it. As part of the pilot Job Shadow program, CSUN alumni in high-ranking jobs from various, unique industries hosted students and took them on a tour of their workplaces.

Gonzalez, whose aspiration is to use her psychology degree in the marketing field, went with other students and recent CSUN alumni to the Hall of Justice in downtown Los Angeles where they were hosted by CSUN alumnus Marc Beaart ’89 (Political Science),  the assistant head deputy district attorney for the DA office’s Cyber Crime Division. The Cyber Crime Division investigates and prosecutes crimes such as identity theft, account takeover, business email compromise and child exploitation among others.

Though law enforcement and cyber crime are considerably distant from her desired career path, Beaart’s enthusiastic presentation and the knowledge that a fellow Matador has risen to such a height inspired her to say the tour was life-changing.

“It made me want to pursue more education,” Gonzalez said. “I feel encouraged and empowered that we can go out there and not be judged in comparison to other [high-profile] schools. People underestimate us. I feel like we as a school are very open to ideas. We come from diversity and are also open to new environments.”

And it was a diverse group of alumni and professionals that Matadors visited on this pilot program. Between Oct. 25 and 27, students were bused around the Los Angeles area to Marvin Engineering, La Kretz Innovation Center, R6S digital marketing, CNN, Wells Fargo corporate, Innovate MR market research and the L.A. County District Attorney’s Office Cyber Crime Division. Each company had at least one CSUN alum on its leadership team — including two CEOs, two vice presidents and a CFO. They welcomed their fellow Matadors and gave them a tour, speaking to them about their career paths.

Beaart, for example, greeted his group at the steps of the Hall of Justice and then took them into Cyber Crime Unit Command Center and its Forensic Computer Lab. At each stop, he had experts from those areas speak to students — an added bonus that happened at other tours as well.

After treating his group to lunch, Beaart showed them a presentation of the extent of crime the district attorney’s office encounters and had another guest speaker talk to the Matadors about credit card fraud. He then explained how he rose to his current job.

After CSUN, Beaart continued his studies at Whittier Law School. He interned for the Los Angeles County Public Defender’s Office in Inglewood, which nurtured his passion for the courtroom. He became a criminal defense attorney and later transferred to the district attorney’s office as a prosecutor. Beaart credited CSUN for his ability to become a successful prosecutor, saying that because the university was so diverse he was able to identify with people with different backgrounds and challenges.

“Besides a great education at a good price, I was able to meet all kinds of people,” Beaart said. “And then I became a prosecutor, and I had to talk to people in a jury box, and they’re from all walks of life.”

Beaart reached out to the Alumni Association after hearing about the Corporate Job Shadow Program in the CSUN Weekly e-newsletter and volunteered to host students.

“When you’re in college, there are a lot of opportunities out there, and you don’t know they exist,” Beaart said. “So you kind of go in one direction when maybe you think [later], ‘If I would have known about this I would have done it.’ I thought this [opportunity to host] is something really unique. The Cyber Crime Division is so cool, and it touches so many aspects of the private sector. So I thought, ‘Hey, it would be cool if I could show some young people what’s out there.’”

And it resonated. Political Science student Spencer Frankel works in IT off campus. He eagerly asked questions during the tour. He also came into it with a strong knowledge of the work the cyber crime investigators do.

“I definitely got a lot out of this,” Frankel said. “Even if nothing comes out of it job opportunity-wise, it’s a great connection to have. As the assistant head deputy district attorney for all of LA County, even if you don’t work with him, he knows thousands of other people.”

CSUN alumni who led other tours gave out their cell phone numbers and discussed internship opportunities with students; on one tour a CEO unwound with Matadors at the end of his event by playing video games with them.

Thanks to the program’s initial success, the plan is to continue it in the spring, said Mimi Edwards, the Corporate Job Shadow organizer and career and professional programs associate for CSUN Alumni Relations. “If I had to sum it up,” she added, “I think it was flawless in content and the overall experience. In terms of student and young alumni, the feedback was that they were thrilled. It was a huge motivator that drove more questions about their career path and opportunities available to them.”

If you are a CSUN alumni interested hosting a Corporate Job Shadow Program event in the fall, contact Edwards at mirta.edwards@csun.edu or call (818) 677-CSUN.

In a rare scheduling convergence that promises a fast-moving, fun evening for Matador hoops fans, the CSUN Men’s and Women’s Basketball teams play a doubleheader on Saturday, Dec. 3 at The Matadome.

Leading off are the Matador men, who take on Idaho State at 4 p.m. Despite its 2-5 start, CSUN has been burning the nets, as the team has scored at least 80 points in five of its seven games. Leading the way for the Matadors are senior guard Aaron Parks with 14.7 points per game, followed by junior guard Kendall Smith, averaging 14.6 points.

Closing out the evening is the CSUN women’s team, which is 3-3 and takes on Eastern Washington at approximately 6:30 p.m. The Matadors hosted the Radisson Thanksgiving Classic over the holiday weekend, and held a second-half lead in the championship game before No. 19 Michigan State made a late comeback for a 63-59 victory on Nov. 25. Sophomore center Channon Fluker has been a force for the Matadors, averaging 15.8 points and 10.8 rebounds, both team highs. She was just named Big West Conference Player of the Week, locking down the honor with a 23-point, 14-rebound performance against the nationally ranked Spartans.

For more information about the CSUN basketball teams, please visit Gomatadors.com.

California State University, Northridge will participate in Giving Tuesday on Nov. 29, encouraging alumni, faculty, staff, students and community members to give back to the university.

Giving Tuesday is a global day of giving fueled by the power of social media and collaboration, which takes place the Tuesday after Thanksgiving — and kicks off the holiday charitable giving season. It follows Black Friday and Cyber Monday, two of the most popular shopping days in the calendar year.

There are many ways that people can give back to CSUN, including money, food and time.

To give monetary donations that directly will benefit CSUN and its students, visit givenow.csun.edu. These donations can be directed toward student scholarships or specific departments at CSUN, benefiting the university however the donor wishes.

“Giving Tuesday is a wonderful time when Matadors can take a moment to make a difference,” said Vice President for University Advancement and President of the CSUN Foundation Robert Gunsalus. “Every day there are thousands of CSUN students who are changing their lives for the better through education, many accessing this opportunity because of the generosity of alumni and friends of the university who have funded scholarships. Donations on Giving Tuesday can make a difference for these Matadors and their future.”

People can also donate food to CSUN food pantries to help students coping with food insecurity. There are two food pantries on campus: the Women’s Center Food Pantry and the CSUN Food Pantry, located in the Matador Bookstore complex.

The Women’s Center Food Pantry is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and from 8 a.m. to noon on Fridays, and its staff can be reached at (818) 677-2780. The CSUN Food Pantry is open from 3 to 7 p.m. on Wednesdays and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Thursdays, and its staff can be reached at (818) 677-5111.

“For CSUN, it’s very important that we are part of the process of helping our students succeed,” said Maria Elizondo, coordinator of the CSUN Food Pantry at the Matador Involvement Center. “This is one more resource that is campus supported, and we want to make sure that we are able to provide this to our students.”

To give time, visit Unified We Serve  and Strength United.

Unified We Serve is a campus volunteering organization that helps students further their education by serving the community, and it’s a great place to begin the process of exploring the community and wide array of volunteer opportunities.

Strength United is a CSUN organization that’s based out of the Michael D. Eisner College of Education that provides an interdisciplinary approach to ending abuse and violence through the collaboration of mental health professionals, educators, researchers, students and volunteers.

These are just some of the many ways Matadors can give back and participate in Giving Tuesday.

Waves crashed on a San Diego beach as a woman advised her niece on how to stay safe as a young woman at college. Minutes later, the scene shifted to the year 1848, where a pregnant, runaway slave had just started feeling labor pains while fleeing her captors.

These dissimilar scenarios opened short stories written by authors Dana Johnson and Natashia Deón. Johnson and Deón visited California State University, Northridge to read from their most recent books, in the Whitsett Room.

The event, hosted by the Northridge Creative Writers Circle, began with Johnson reading the first five pages of She Deserves Everything She Gets, a short story featured in her 2016 anthology In the Not Quite Dark: Stories. Deón followed with the introduction to her novel, Grace, also published in 2016. Both stories dealt with themes of race and inequity, written from a black female’s perspective.

She Deserves Everything She Gets served as a meditation on the concerns, struggles and expectations imposed on women — while the narrator contrasted her pink-collar college experience in the ’80s with her young niece’s coddled lifestyle and relative naiveté. Johnson, a Los Angeles native who won the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction for her book Break Any Woman Down, elaborated on how her personal experiences influence her writing.

“These are just stories that I want to tell because I’m interested in the subject matter, and I guess because I come from where I come from and know the people that I know, they end up being these stories about these kinds of folks,” Johnson said. “But I’m not trying to write for people. I’m just writing what I’m interested in.”

Grace paints a markedly different portrait, set in the pre-Civil War Deep South. Its opening line, “I am dead,” exudes a curtain of sorrow that hangs over the tale of injustices during the American slavery era.

A practicing attorney and law professor featured as one of Los Angeles’ “most fascinating people” by LA Weekly in 2013, Deón said the theme of justice is as prevalent in her writing as it is in her law career.

“I’m always asking myself the question, ‘What is justice?’ and trying to solve it,” she said. “I don’t think that I do necessarily, but one thing I decided with the novel is that when someone dies, there’s no such thing as justice. Everything you do after that, because you can never get that person back who you lost, is just a form of revenge. Even though it seems acceptable, it’s still the same.”

The two works shared connections to real-world narratives about marginalized communities and individuals. Ilana Masad, a writer who reviewed In the Not Quite Dark for the Los Angeles Times and hosts The Other Stories Podcast, attended the reading and noted a possible link between the stories.

“Unfortunately, I think there are still a lot of parallels,” Masad said. “It’s still so true that people of color are the entertainment or the underserved, the ones who aren’t spoken about so much, and it’s not fair. Dana’s character might have to deal with some of the same stuff the character in Grace has to deal with because times, they have changed — but times, they have not changed enough.”

CSUN creative writing senior and Northridge Creative Writers Circle President Sunny Williams said she was moved by both writers’ abilities to bridge the racial divide with their storytelling.

“Both of them have a huge feminist aspect,” Williams said. “Women are marginalized — not necessarily a minority, but black women are a minority. The fact that they can cross the borders of ethnicities and cultures and speak to women, and hopefully men as well, that’s what both of them have as strengths with their writing.”

Grace and In the Not Quite Dark were available for purchase at the event, and both writers stayed to sign copies for attendees. Following the readings, the authors also fielded questions from an audience that included CSUN students, professors and community members.

Queries ranged from each author’s inspirations to advice on conquering writer’s block.

“I have less block and more writer’s laziness,” Johnson said. “I don’t really believe in block. To me, writing is like going to the gym. You might not go on the treadmill for an hour, but you can do, like, 10 minutes. You really can. There’s no block.”

Johnson and Deón said they appreciated the receptive group of current and aspiring creative writers.

“I love being in a room with really engaged people who are super interested in writing, and the questions they asked were serious and were brought up because they really want to write,” Johnson said. “My main piece of advice would be to own your identity and understand the importance of your identity, and the importance of writing for that identity.”

“Writing is about community. It’s about our most ancient way of connecting with each other, which is storytelling,” Deón added. “That’s what blows my mind, reading and having people here. It feels like we’re all sitting around a campfire and I get to talk.”

What:             Fifty California State University, Northridge business students will receive free laptops from the Y&S Nazarian Family Foundation, which was founded by Younes and Soraya Nazarian. Younes Nazarian is co-founder of Qualcomm and a pioneer of the global wireless revolution.

The Nazarians’ son, entrepreneur, philanthropist and CSUN alumnus David Nazarian, founder and CEO of Nimes Capital, will also attend the special luncheon and presentation of the laptops. Many of CSUN’s students cannot afford to purchase laptops and must rely on computer labs and other public computer resources to complete their school work. These laptops will make college life a little easier for deserving CSUN business students, who were selected based on need.

The Nazarian family recently helped CSUN’s David Nazarian College of Business and Economics successfully conclude a $25 million campaign after only two years. The campaign launched in March 2014 when Nazarian, who received a bachelor’s degree in business administration from CSUN in 1982, donated $10 million of his own money and pledged to help raise an additional $15 million for the college. The college was renamed in his honor.

The campaign’s goals included providing substantive support for the college’s programs. The gift of the laptops is intended to have an immediate impact on the success of current students. The laptop distribution is a pilot program, and officials hope to expand it in the future.

When:            Noon to 1 p.m., Monday, Dec. 5, 2106
12 p.m. – brief ceremony and distribution of laptops
12:30 p.m. –  luncheon

Where:          Room 4117 of Juniper Hall
(located on the west side of the CSUN campus, just south of Plummer Street)
California State University, Northridge
18111 Nordhoff St.
Northridge, CA 91330

Who:             
Younes and Soraya Navarian
David Nazarian
Kenneth Lord, dean of the Nazarian College of Business and Economics
Robert Gunsalus, vice president for University Advancement and President of the CSUN Foundation
CSUN business students

Media Contact: Carmen Ramos Chandler, CSUN Media Relations, (818) 677-2130 or carmen.chandler@csun.edu, or Jeff Noblitt, CSUN AVP for Marketing and Communications, at the event.

With more than 330,000 alumni, California State University, Northridge has always focused on student success. From the year 2000 first-time freshman cohort to the 2009 cohort, CSUN’s six-year graduation rate grew 10 percentage points to 50 percent. Across the California State University system, campuses are raising the bar on graduation rates for first-time freshmen and transfer students and working to eliminate the opportunity gap for underrepresented minority students and students receiving Pell Grants.

“All of the CSU campuses and, indeed, universities all over the U.S. are being asked to graduate students in a timely manner and demonstrate that students have specific competencies when they graduate,” CSUN President Dianne F. Harrison said. “We are assessing our best and most promising strategies and scaling those evidence-based programs that will increase retention and completion rates.”

California State University’s Graduation Initiative 2025 intends to raise retention and graduation rates system-wide. By the year 2025, the CSU aims to raise the overall six-year graduation rate for first-time freshmen (based on the freshman cohort of 2009) from its current 57 percent to 70 percent. System leaders also aim to boost the four-year graduation rate from 18 percent to 40 percent, as well as raising community college transfer students’ two-year graduation rate to 45 percent and four-year rate to 85 percent.

The initiative looks to increase equitable outcomes by eliminating the opportunity gap between traditionally underserved students — African-Americans, Latinas and Latinos, and American Indians — and their white and Asian-American counterparts, and between low-income and higher-income students.

While CSUN has seen significant gains in graduation and retention rates, the university is pursuing even greater success measures for all students.

“It is certainly true that CSUN’s students come from diverse backgrounds with a diverse set of responsibilities, challenges and life experiences,” CSUN Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Yi Li said. “However, all of our students share one thing in common — the pursuit of a higher education to better their life and the lives of their families and communities. That is why we are committed to providing new opportunities and resources to help students complete their degrees.”

At a student success Town Hall meeting on Oct. 28, the discussion revolved around how to best support CSUN students — who constitute one of the most diverse university student bodies in the nation — given the myriad challenges they face in completing their college degrees. According to the CSUN Office of Institutional Research, more than half of CSUN’s undergraduate students are from traditionally underserved communities. The first-time freshman cohort of 4,499 enrolled this fall at CSUN holds an even higher ratio of historically underserved students, at just over 67 percent.

Tens of thousands of CSUN students are also first-generation college students, making up about two-thirds of the undergraduate population. More than half are Pell Grant recipients, which means they come from families whose annual income is at or near the federal poverty line of $20,000 for a family of four.

“While current Graduation Initiative 2025 efforts are anchored primarily in instruction and academic support, the reality is that it will take the efforts all areas of university, working together, to help remove barriers to student success and provide the support needed so that each student can complete his/her degree objective,” Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students William Watkins said.“The saying, ‘It takes a village,’ truly describes the effort that will be required of us all, if we are to succeed in achieving something special!”

CSUN’s campus-specific goals include increasing four- and six-year freshman graduation rates by at least 16 points and the four- and six-year transfer graduation rates by at least 10 points, as well as eliminating the opportunity gap.

CSUN Associate Vice President for Student Success Elizabeth Adams said these efforts seek to remedy the variety of academic and non-academic factors that present barriers to students’ graduation, including financial insecurity, shortfalls in institutional and cultural support for first-generation college students, and disparities in minority representation within higher education.

“The message we want everyone to understand is that the CSU and this campus is committed to doing everything we can so students who can and want to finish more quickly, finish more quickly,” Adams said.

Starting in January 2017, CSUN will begin implementing short-term and long-term goals and strategies, funded by a $3.35-million, one-year grant from the CSU. The plan includes improvements in enrollment management and academic advisement, scholarships for students nearing completion to take summer classes, and faculty training using innovative data technology.

Enrollment Management and Scholarships for Summer Classes

A little more than $1 million will go toward funding for summer courses for students who are set to graduate in fall 2017, and who came in as freshmen in fall 2013 or transferred in fall 2015 — so they can graduate in the summer. Summer scholarships also will be available to freshmen, sophomores and juniors in good academic standing who are six units or fewer away from advancing to their next year in school. (To qualify, students must have a FAFSA on file.)

According to Adams, about one-quarter of the fall 2015 freshman class ended the year with between 24 and 30 credits, putting them on track to graduate in six years. Taking just two summer classes would put them on track to graduate in four years.

“We aren’t asking them to do something that they are not capable of, because they finished the semester in good standing, having earned that many [credits]. They are good students, let’s help them get to their degree faster,” Adams said.

In the spring, CSUN will offer more sections of high-demand courses such as general education (GE) and “senior capstone” project classes, to ease students’ path to graduation.

Advising and Faculty Development

CSUN also plans to hire nine new advisors for all the colleges, who will focus on increasing freshmen retention and undergraduate graduation rates. Faculty and staff across the university — including advisors, department chairs and the deans in each college — will work to be even more in tune with the needs of students, Adams said.

CSUN also will hire one more counselor at University Counseling Services, to meet the increasing demands for therapy, Adams said.

Selected faculty are participating in a “Data Champions” program, where they will learn to research the students in their own colleges and use the data to create population-specific strategies for reaching out to those students — to help identify students who may be falling behind in the pursuit of their degree, or not taking enough courses.

Closing the Opportunity Gap  

Closing the opportunity, or achievement, gap between traditionally underserved students and their counterparts and between lower-income and higher-income students is part of the CSU’s 2025 initiative. At CSUN, this gap is referred to as the “opportunity gap,” said Kristy Michaud, director of CSUN’s Office of Student Success Innovations and an associate professor of political science.

“[The choice in language] makes it clear the gaps in outcomes are related to the differential opportunities students have had, often before they set foot on our campus, and are not due to deficits in students’ efforts,” Michaud said.

Support from the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AACU) will fund a faculty training program called the “Inclusive Innovations Series,” open to faculty from every college who teach classes that reach large numbers of students, such as GE courses that have high rates of non-passing grades. Faculty will learn specific strategies that have been shown to increase success rates and to close gaps between underserved and better-served students.

“[The training] empowers the faculty by teaching them to use the CSU Student Success Dashboard to identify the rates of non-passing grades and opportunity gaps in their own classes,” Michaud said. “A lot of people are simply not aware these kinds of gaps exist, so we are raising awareness about them and helping faculty learn strategies that can be used to close them. We want to help people talk about this problem, we want them to take ownership of solving this problem; this is a problem that can only be solved collectively and collaboratively.”

At the Town Hall meeting on Dec. 9 moderated by Harrison, participants and a panel of CSUN students and staff discussed students’ experiences and campus resources for student success. Attendees shared their personal experiences with being first-generation college students and using resources like the Learning Resource Center, the Office of Disability Resource and Educational Services, and University Counseling Services. The Town Hall also gave an opportunity for faculty, staff and students to exchange perspectives and strategies on how to spur better engagement and more transparent dialogue.

The Town Hall series was launched to create a campus-wide dialogue on the challenges faced by — as well as the successes and strengths of — CSUN students.

The next Town Hall, “What You Call It Matters — Opportunity Gaps at CSUN,” is taking place on Feb. 10. More information will be released in early 2017.

When California State University, Northridge announced the opening of two food pantries on campus for students struggling to pay for food and essential home supplies, a number of CSUN alumni, faculty and staff reached out to help in any way they could.

The Matador Involvement Center at the University Student Union runs one pantry, which is located behind the Campus Bookstore (adjacent to Lindley Avenue/East Campus Drive). The other pantry is located at the Women’s Center on Halsted Street and run by the Women’s Research and Resource Center.

CSUN alumnus Tim Belfield ’05 (Geography) said he felt the need to donate to the pantry as a way to pay back what the campus gave him as a student.

“I had a great experience at CSUN. I was the Associated Students president and was very involved on campus,” Belfield said. “When the opportunity arose for me to give back, I wanted to take advantage of it.”

Belfield said it’s important for students in need to feel that they can reach out to the pantries for their meals.

“Students should feel comfortable about going to the pantry, but they shouldn’t [feel that they] stand out as someone who can’t pay for their lunch,” Belfield said.

For fellow CSUN graduates and food pantry donors Jason ’98 (Speech), M.A. ’03 (Educational Administration) and Daphne Roberts ’07 (Marketing), helping Matadors meet basic needs dovetailed perfectly with their own day jobs.

The two work for Better 4 You Meals, a food vendor service that provides breakfast and lunch to about 250 schools across California.

“Giving back to the food pantry goes hand-in-hand with what we do at our business,” Daphne said. “When we heard that [food insecurity] continues when students are in college, we thought donating would be a good idea. With students concentrating on buying books and paying for tuition and rent, food can be at the bottom of the list.”

In June, a Los Angeles Times article stated that about 10 percent of students in the California State University system are homeless and more than 20 percent are food insecure.

“I don’t know how students can succeed in school when they don’t know where their next meal will come from,” said Jane Anderson, assistant to the dean of the Mike Curb College of Arts, Media, and Communication.

Anderson donated funds to the pantry. She said she didn’t realize how big of an issue food insecurity was on campus and the national level until recently.

“We need to help students with this problem so they can focus more on their studies,” Anderson said.

Both CSUN food pantries aim to provide students with nutritious food such as oatmeal, pasta and rice, as well as personal-care items such as toothpaste, shampoo and deodorant.

For more information about the Matador Involvement Center food pantry, which will re-open on Jan. 25, 2017, and how to donate or volunteer, visit here or call (818) 677-5111. For more information on how to donate or volunteer at the Women’s Research and Resource Center food pantry, which re-opens on Jan. 3, contact Shira Brown at shira.brown@csun.edu or call (818) 677-2780.

Oshae Rodgers wins the 2016 CSU Trustee Award for Outstanding Achievement. Photo credit: www2.calstate.edu/

In the culture of the Akan people of Ghana, the concept of “sankofa” — symbolized by a mythical bird that flies forward while its head is looking back, holding an egg in its mouth — literally translates to “it is not taboo to fetch what is at risk of being left behind.” It represents the importance of connecting to one’s past while marching forward on the journey to one’s future.

For California State University, Northridge sophomore Oshae Rodgers, the sankofa is a symbol of personal importance because of his unforgettable past. Though today he is a successful student, double-majoring in history and Africana Studies while on the teaching credential track, Rodgers persevered through many tough obstacles life threw at him in his adolescence.

During high school, he was displaced from his Albuquerque, New Mexico, home and worked 30 hours a week while attending school full time. He then moved to North Hollywood, Calif., where he had to take night classes in order to graduate high school on time.

His circumstances couldn’t have been much more discouraging, yet Rodgers refused to accept them as his destiny. He graduated high school with a 3.7 grade point average and immediately started his college career at CSUN.

“I’m the type of person that even if bad things are going on around me, I know I have a job to do in life,” Rodgers said. “I always felt like I had a higher purpose. A lot of people I knew just accepted the cards life gave them. But for me, if life deals me cards I don’t like, I’m going to hand them back and make my own deal.”

The determined and self-driven young man impressed officials of the California State University system. They awarded Rodgers with a 2016 CSU Trustee Award for Outstanding Achievement, along with a $6,000 scholarship, for demonstrating superior academic performance, personal accomplishments, community service and financial need.

Rodgers said receiving the award and scholarship was an encouraging, affirming experience.

“I just feel grateful and blessed, and I’m glad I’ve even gotten this far,” Rodgers said. “Scholarships let you know that, hey, the struggle pays off and it gets better. It makes me hungry for more.”

Rodgers said he felt a sense of intimacy and comfort when he toured CSUN’s campus that he didn’t find anywhere else. CSUN was the only college he applied to. Though he was excited his freshman year, it didn’t mean the transition was carefree — being one of tens of thousands of students in a new environment sometimes felt overwhelming. He said he had a laser-focus on succeeding and spent the entire year studying in the library, sacrificing a social life.

“I had to hunker down,” Rodgers said. “I worked so hard just to get to my new campus and wanted to stay on the right track. I didn’t even want to put myself into a position that would make it an option to fall off that track.”

Though he did not get very involved in student activities his first year at CSUN, he made sure to participate in class and show his professors that he came here to learn. His favorite classes are in Africana Studies and his recent speech course in communications, where he learned he has a knack for public speaking and inspiring others. This year, Rodgers found community and friendship while working on campus in the Chicana/o Studies writing lab, helping students improve their writing while seeing progress in his own.

“I started getting more social,” Rodgers said. “Now that I’m a little more stable and have a foundation, I can build in that way. They are all so inspiring — they inspire me and I inspire them, so there’s growth all around.”

The budding scholar said to maintain his success and be a positive force in other people’s lives, he makes sure to manage his stress while balancing school, work and his personal life. He writes music, sings and plays the piano in his free time, his creativity having always been the “little rock” that got him through the toughest of times. Though he is voraciously passionate about his academic success, he refuses to be boxed in. He hopes to get into the entertainment industry.

Rodgers has a bright outlook on his future and wants to make the best of the opportunities in the present. But like the sankofa teaches, the past — no matter how harrowing it was — is never something Rodgers seeks to forget. His roots are an inspiration and anchor for his sense of self.

“It’s very important to be aware of where you’re at, but it’s even more important to remember how you got there, how you got to know who you are, in order to figure out who you want to become,” Rodgers said. “As long as you stay yourself and stay persistent each and every day, you will get what you want in this life.”

Kenya Lopez was just a couple weeks into her academic journey at California State University, Northridge when she sat in the audience during the 2014 Freshman Convocation on the Delmar T. Oviatt Library lawn.

Like so many students at the outset of their college careers, Kenya was filled with ambition and anticipation for the challenge ahead of her. She was living the American Dream.

Kenya looked up at the stage as Thelmari Raubenheimer accepted the Dianne F. Harrison Leadership Award, given annually to a CSUN student who has completed her or his freshman year and demonstrated leadership qualities in student government, a campus club or organization. Kenya perked up, inspired.

“I sat up at the front and thought, ‘That could be me next year. This is a fresh start. I can do absolutely everything right and apply for this scholarship,’” she said. “I remember telling myself, ‘If I can even meet the qualifications to apply for the scholarship, I’ve already had a successful freshman year.’”

Kenya was prescient. She did receive the Dianne F. Harrison Leadership Award the following year, in 2015, after surpassing all the benchmarks for consideration. For all intents and purposes, Kenya is living the American dream, with one twist in her story: Kenya Lopez has been living in the United States as an undocumented immigrant.

The junior majoring in criminal justice and minoring in business law is one of an estimated 1,400 students attending CSUN with this status. Called the “Dreamers,” many of these young people came to the U.S. as children, with parents or other relatives who dreamed of starting a new life, a better life, in the United States. Most did not consider how their immigration status might affect them in the future.

CSUN has a long history of supporting undocumented students through entities like the student organization, Dreams To Be Heard; the faculty and staff network of allies, Dreams Alliance; and the EOP DREAM Initiative that has established trained advisors in each of the colleges to assist Dreamers.

On the CSUN campus, the Dreamers have the opportunity to pursue the typical college experience. But in the weeks following the most recent presidential election, during which immigration became a hot-button issue, many have stepped forward to share their stories about the positive work they are doing today and the hopes for success in their adopted homeland.

Flying Under the Radar

Kenya came to the U.S. at age 11 with her mother from Guanajuato, Mexico, after Kenya’s aunt settled in Oxnard a year earlier. Kenya’s mother enrolled her in the fifth grade in a local public school, where Kenya initially struggled with the language barrier. It took just a year for her to achieve fluency in English, she said. That’s when her academic career took off.

By the time she hit Rio Mesa High School, Kenya was a top student (she graduated in the top 10 percent of her senior class in 2014), and she participated in track, cheerleading and dance.

Kenya had heard about the California Dream Act — which passed in October 2011 and now allows certain high school graduates with undocumented status to apply for state financial aid and scholarships from California universities and colleges. Kenya learned that CSUN had a Dreamers Scholarship for students like her, and she said that was a primary reason she applied. Two months into the first semester of her freshman year, she had earned her scholarship.

“I wanted to save it forever,” Kenya said. “No more stress on my mom’s side. I knew I was coming back for the second year.”

 These scholarships are important because undocumented students are not eligible for many federal financial aid options, such as Pell Grants. Some have received Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) designation. DACA was enacted in June 2012 to give young people arriving in the United States before their 16th birthday, who have not committed a major crime and are currently enrolled in school, a renewable two-year period of deferred action from deportation. These students can apply for a Social Security number, work permit and driver’s license. Undocumented individuals without DACA protection live without these rights and protections, yet many continue to pursue higher education. Most Dreamers are first-generation college students from working-class families, so in many cases, scholarships are what make college possible. Yet many do not know where to look for this aid.

“We’re proud of how CSUN serves our Dreamers, empowering them to pursue their goal of higher education,” said CSUN President Dianne F. Harrison. “CSUN is committed to assuring an environment where all students are supported. With the help of resources like the Dreamers Scholarship and other scholarships funded by alumni, the Dreamers are prepared to realize a brighter future for themselves, their families and their communities.”

Undocumented students also have found scholarships and support at CSUN like the Education Opportunities Program (EOP), the DREAM (Dreamers, Resources, Empowerment, Advocacy and Mentorship) Project to help them succeed in college. Due to the high need, the project grew to what is now the EOP DREAM Center, where these students can obtain nuanced guidance, resources and support.

“Students who are Dreamers face challenges that students who are U.S. citizens don’t have to worry about,” said Dario Fernandez, the EOP DREAM Center coordinator.  “All they want is the opportunity to attend college and work to have better lives for themselves and their families in the country that has become home for them.”

Mario (a pseudonym to protect his anonymity) came to California at age 12 from the Philippines with his mother and brother in 2007. His father already had emigrated to and settled in the San Fernando Valley in 1999. His mother told Mario that they were going on a family trip to see his father and visit Disneyland. It was only after arriving that he found out that the U.S. would be his new home.

It was Mario’s father’s employer who recommended that the children be enrolled in school, and he personally took Mario and his brother to register them for public school. Initially, Mario was placed in English as a Second Language (ESL) classes, but within a year, he had qualified for honors classes before finishing middle school.

It was at Reseda High School that Mario discovered Navy Junior ROTC. He was also in science magnet classes, and Mario had his future planned out. He planned to enlist in the military after graduating from high school. “This is where I belong,” he recalled thinking to himself. “This is my country. This is home for me. I want to serve in the military.”

When he turned 18, Mario went to enlist with a military recruiter and was asked for his Social Security number. He said that he didn’t have one and was denied entry.

“At the time, it was a shock,” Mario said. “This is messed up, because I want to serve my country. That was a shock to me that I don’t belong here. It was a reminder that I’m undocumented, of my status.”

Mario had applied to CSUN and quickly found out about the resources available to undocumented students, especially scholarships and the EOP DREAM Center. “I thought I was alone,” he said. “I didn’t know there was an organization that helped undocumented students.”

He met Fernandez and his fellow students who were coping with the same status, and they helped him get adjusted to college life. When he found it hard to get work to pay for college, Mario received some good advice regarding scholarships from Fernandez, who told him, “Treat your schoolwork as if it’s a job.”

 A Dreamers Scholarship was followed by other aid to make staying in college and earning his degree a real possibility.

“The anxiety of worrying about the money is gone. I can just pull out the money from my scholarship to pay for my books,” Mario said. “I can focus on my education.”

Mario is majoring in public health with a minor in Asian American studies. After graduation, he’d like to help his community — in particular the undocumented community — access better health services. He also counsels undocumented students coming to the EOP DREAM Center about scholarship opportunities.

“I sit with students and tell them the importance of getting a scholarship, having that money for them to eat every day — those scholarships help,” Mario said. “A scholarship not only motivates a student, but also gives the assurance that they will be able to go on with their education.”

CSUN alumni have recognized the need to help these students achieve the American dream of graduating from college, working professionally and finding success. Omar Velasco ’00 (Journalism) and his wife Argelia form the morning-radio tandem on K-LOVE 107.5 FM, Omar y Argelia, the top-rated morning show in Los Angeles in the Nielsen ratings for the past three consecutive months. Velasco’s father had come to the United States as a part of the Bracero Program in the 1950s, which gave rights to farm workers in the country illegally. Velasco was born in Jalisco, Mexico, before coming to his new homeland as a teenager. He enrolled in San Fernando High School and came to CSUN after graduation. He’s a U.S. citizen now and can empathize with the plight of the Dreamers.

“Who really needs help?” Velasco asked. “I thought about Dreamers. I thought about their struggles. These are innocent victims of the situation. They were brought here very young. Some of them don’t even speak Spanish. America is everything they know. English is their primary language.”

Velasco set up a scholarship for Dreamers coming to CSUN from his high school to help them get out of limbo.

“It’s very important to give back to those who need it,” Velasco said. “I want Dreamers to know that no matter how hard it may seem, I want them to know that their dreams are important. And that we’re here to help.”

Julio Cesar Ortiz ’00 (Broadcast Journalism and Communications Studies Human Behavior) came to the United States sharing the same undocumented status as the Dreamers. He didn’t let the uncertainty of his future prospects deter him during his college career. About a year before graduation, he received a green card — later obtaining his U.S. citizenship — and since has launched a successful career as a TV news broadcaster for Univision, earning several Emmys and Golden Mike Awards. He’s also taught broadcast journalism at his alma mater for the past three years. Ortiz recalled a special work ethic he saw among the undocumented students.

“I could see that these students who were undocumented worked and committed themselves a little longer at the library,” Ortiz said. “They would be the last ones to leave the study group. They would be the ones who made sure that every minute was worth something because they knew that every dollar they were spending was really something that they struggled to obtain.”

Ortiz has also funded a scholarship for Dreamers, hoping to help make a difference for young people who might otherwise not realize their full potential.

“How can we not support talent that will strengthen our educational system, our community just because they lack a paper?” Ortiz asked. “I want to be that gasket that prevents a leak of talent from any university. I want to make sure that the next great member of our labor force or our community didn’t make it because they didn’t have money to buy books, or buy lunch or [find room and] boarding.

“It’s very motivational to see students without a specific landing zone, but who keep rowing. To me, it’s a special state of mind that it takes a human being more than himself to overcome. It’s something that you admire a lot.”

Filiberto Gonzalez ’97 (Chicana/o Studies), the founder of Social Impact Consulting, which works with non-profits and local government to secure new funding sources, recently started a scholarship for Dreamers in honor of his mother, Elia Torres, who was a farm worker in Salinas, Calif. He recalled the heated environment in California surrounding immigration during his college years in the 1990s, and wanted to do something to help today’s students. The former chair of Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan (MEChA) saw undocumented students stand together in demonstrations to continue their rights to attend college.

“I realized that it’s not a game when I saw young people holding up signs of themselves with a placard board that said ‘Undocumented and Unafraid,’’’ Gonzalez said. “I swelled with pride for them. These kids were standing up defiantly and courageously, and in many ways putting themselves out there in a very vulnerable position.”

CSUN Dreamers continue despite their own respective vulnerable positions. They move forward individually and collectively as a group to support and assure one another that they will be able to one day put their CSUN degrees to work.

Kenya is in student government as the Associated Students vice president. She has maintained top grades while working to represent nearly 40,000 CSUN students. One initiative she’s working on is close to home: a resolution to bring a legal clinic to campus that would focus on immigration.

“To see the difference I can make has actually made the difference in my following that path and not giving up,” Kenya said. “I know that if I can make a difference in one person’s life, then I can continue to do that for many other people. There’s no reason why I should give up when I’m doing something positive for so many other people.”

Her goal is to one day go to law school and work in immigration and civil rights law. Yet for now she has to move forward while hoping to one day earn U.S. citizenship herself. All the while she continues to be a source of motivation for other Dreamers.

“If I’m inspiring these people, there’s no way I can give up — because if I give up, they’ll feel comfortable with giving up as well, and that’s not OK,” Kenya said. “I feel a responsibility to utilize the resources that I have to inspire other people as well.”

Kenya said that she has the email informing her of her first scholarship posted over her desk as motivation to keep working when she might otherwise call it a night. Other scholarships have followed, helping her keep her college dream a reality. She’s steadfast in her belief that the United States is her home, and wants to continue on to greater things in her adopted homeland.

There are many stories similar to those of Kenya and Mario making their way through the EOP DREAM Center daily. Their struggle is real, and the help of the Dreamers Scholarship and the additional support from alumni like Velasco, Ortiz and Gonzalez lifts a financial burden and makes college a reality for these young people.

“The biggest gift you can give anyone is an education because that opens doors,” Kenya said. “It’s beyond making a donation to CSUN. It’s really making a donation to a student who probably wouldn’t have made it through college without the scholarship.

“Seeing how much alumni give back to this university motivates me big time to one day come back and do the same thing. If I can come back and pay it forward to a student who’s been in my situation or really doesn’t know what to do next, that’s going to be my dream come true. I can call it a life there.”

Anyone wishing to help fund scholarships for CSUN Dreamers can contact Jerry De Felice at (818) 677-3935 or can do an online donation at givenow.csun.edu.

Golden Globe winner Viola Davis headlined California State University, Northridge’s Black History Month 2017 with a sold-out Big Lecture presented by Associated Students on Feb. 8 at the Valley Performing Arts Center.

Approximately 1,600 students, faculty and staff filled the VPAC’s Great Hall, where Davis delivered a powerful and moving speech.

“I’d like to introduce my speech by saying, ‘My name is Viola Davis and I am a hero,'” said Davis, eliciting applause and whistles from the audience. “I’m not a hero with a cape, or a golden lasso or a boomerang. I’m just your ordinary girl, living an extraordinary life with an extraordinary calling.”

Davis is currently up for the Oscar for Best Actress for her work in Fences. She also made history as the first African-American woman to win the prime-time Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for her performance on How to Get Away with Murder. During the evening Davis spoke candidly about her career path, overcoming adversities in her life and the “call to adventure.”

She noted that the call to adventure in her life began at a young age and stayed with her on her journey to becoming an actress in Hollywood.

Davis was born in South Carolina. Shortly after her birth, her family moved to Central Falls, R.I., where, she recalled, most of her earliest memories were of being very poor.

She shared stories about her family’s home in Rhode Island and how their apartment was infested with rats and cockroaches, the plumbing hardly worked, plaster crumbled off the walls and the ceiling caved in.

Her mother and father grew up under the heavy boot of Jim Crow, never completing their high school diplomas.

“When you’re poor, there’s trickle-down effects,” said Davis. “So, I grew up with the violence, the alcoholism, and I grew up with the terror of coming home and thinking that my father has finally killed my mom. That was my existence.”

Davis recalled her school days in Rhode Island, among a predominantly white student body. She remembered the taunting, the racial slurs and how some of the boys would wait for her after school to throw things at her while they screamed profanities.

The actress said she was brought into an ordinary life where she just didn’t fit in.

Her “call to adventure” began at the age of 5, when Davis recalled how her older sister asked what she wanted to be when she grew up. Young Viola didn’t know how to answer her sister’s question — yet.

Davis recalled watching the autobiography of Jane Pittman, starring Cicely Tyson, and she was inspired to be like the women whom she saw on her television screen.

“All I saw was this woman who looked like me, who looked like my mother,” Davis said. “It was like looking at a magician pulling the rabbit out of its hat. It is the power of art and what we do that is transformational — it shifts us. And man, did it shift me.

“I said, ‘That’s what I want to do. That’s what’s going to get me out. That is what is going to make me do something bigger than myself. Oh my God, I’m going to be an actress.'”

Davis acted every chance she got at a young age, even on the school’s playground.

“Everything was about getting out, the ‘call to adventure’ and slaying dragons,” Davis said. “People don’t know that we aren’t just poor, black kids — we’re bigger than that.”

Davis attended The Juilliard School for four years and graduated at age 28, but she still believed and was insecure about all of the negative things people said about her as a young, black woman.

She thought that she had to be something other than herself in order to catapult her life into a higher sphere.

“There was nothing in my life that made me believe that I was anything else [other than what people said about me],” Davis said. “The big ‘aha!’ moment is that the call to adventure isn’t just the call to outward success.”

The narratives of African-American women in Hollywood have been so limited, she said. She described her feeling of confidence when she learned that her TV character of Analise Keating on How to Get Away with Murder was described as a sexy, dark-skinned woman, who was sociopathic, hard, strong and intelligent.

“The privilege of a lifetime is being who you really, truly are,” Davis said. “It is the power of owning your story — the failures, the successes, but also the joy and the beauty.

“Me living a life bigger than myself is me really wanting women of color, especially people of color, to be included in the narrative which is in Hollywood,” she said.

Members of the audience were attentive and the large hall fell quiet, with people hanging on Davis’ every word. As she concluded her remarks, the crowd rose and gave the award-winning actress a standing ovation

“I’m not a magical negro, I’m not a device, I’m not just someone who is a walking symbol of social change,” said Davis. “I am a woman, and I have a story.”

California State University, Northridge had the distinct pleasure of welcoming world-renowned autism spokesperson Temple Grandin on Feb. 6 as part of a series of lectures and workshops on modern-day education and accommodating all types of thinkers entitled Education on the Edge. The lecture was open to anyone in the community, and people far and wide, including educators in training and USC students, came to hear Grandin speak.

A well-known figure within the autistic community, Grandin was diagnosed with autism when she was four, and doctors recommended she should be institutionalized. Her parents refused to follow the advice, and helped Grandin to develop her speaking ability. As one of the first people to talk about their own experiences with autism and how it affects them, Grandin was able to develop many innovations to help those with autism, such as the hug box, a deep-pressure device designed to calm hypersensitive people. She was also the subject of the decorated HBO biopic, Temple Grandin, which details how she used her perspective with autism to rise to prominence in the field of animal science.

The lecture was preceded by an introduction from Special Education Professor Wendy Murawski, who was joined on stage by a number of people whose lives had been affected by autism. Among them was Matador alumnus Tom Island, who explained how Grandin’s work had inspired him to step away from his job in corporate America to become an advocate for those with autism.

“Dr. Grandin inspired me to find my voice and start giving speeches to audiences like you,” Island said. It was a huge leap, but it was here on this campus, in Redwood Hall, that I first told my fellow students, ‘You’re at this stage where life no longer comes to you. It’s up to you to come to life. Start making things happen!’”

The lecture focused primarily on the different types of thinkers that the world produces today, and society’s tendency to practice label-locked learning, whereby each student is sorted by what they cannot do, instead on how to build upon their strengths. Grandin spoke about how accommodating every individual through unique, case-by-case education could yield some of the greatest minds of this generation. She used many famous examples, such as Thomas Edison, Elon Musk and Steven Spielberg, all of whom exhibited traits of autism, and did not function well in the traditional education system, to demonstrate how these thinkers go on to achieve great success if they are given the right tools.

“Different kinds of minds can compliment each other,” Grandin said. “For example, Steve Jobs, the artist, made the interface on the iPhone. The mathematical engineers had to make the inside of that phone work. It’s different kinds of minds working together.”

Another key subject of the talk was the lack of focus on the process. Grandin explained many educators become frustrated that students cannot reach the goal set forth, when they should really focus on is a common goal for all students to work toward.

“Do not confuse process with the goal,” Grandin said. “I think sometimes in education we get so caught up with the process, we have forgotten about the goal. On my campus, they’re finishing up construction on a brand-new biology building. One part of it has a concrete frame, and the other has a steel frame. But it doesn’t matter what their foundations look like. They’re going to create a super nice building. That’s what really matters!”

Jennifer Keresztes, who joined Murawski on stage before the lecture to discuss her son’s journey with autism, left inspired by the talk and how it could help with her son’s development, and commended CSUN for hosting such an event.

“Dr. Grandin was amazing, and really inspiring to listen to,” Keresztes said. “Being the mother of an autistic child, I took a lot from her viewpoint and will take it back to my family and my son as he figures out his journey. Talks like this at CSUN make this kind of information more accessible to this community. She was able to not only speak to students, but also parents and educators, and hearing her experience firsthand was really impactful.”

When California State University, Northridge formalized research as one of the university’s seven priorities in 2012, even the most optimistic member of the campus community could hardly have imagined the impact. In 2016, the journal Nature named CSUN a Top 25 Rising Star for scientific research, along with Stanford, Carnegie Mellon and NASA. CSUN was the only public university in California on the list. On Feb. 7, CSUN took the first step toward even greater research success with the groundbreaking of the 10,000-square-foot Research Building 1.

Sited adjacent to Laurel Hall and slated to provide dedicated flexible and reconfigurable research space, Research 1 will enable and encourage multidisciplinary research teams of faculty and students to collaborate on a wide variety of projects. It will be the home for faculty from research clusters focused on materials science and health disparities.

“The new facility builds upon our research momentum,” CSUN President Dianne F. Harrison said. “I am confident that the new building environment will support and encourage even more research productivity at CSUN.”

Harrison and CSUN Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Yi Li emphasized the positive effects research have on students and the world.

“The research our faculty are conducting is critically important for our community and for social justice,” Li said. “Student success is our top priority, and the research that will take place in this building will add to the student experience, providing opportunities for engagement and hands-on learning.”

The typical research model has faculty grouped around a single discipline or specialty. Research 1 will facilitate a more collaborative and intentional interdisciplinary approach to research, including the BUILD PODER team that will call the building home. BUILD PODER is the result of a nearly $22 million National Institutes for Health grant to encourage the diversification of health sciences.

“The building is designed for clusters of multidisciplinary teams to solve complex socioeconomic and research challenges together,” Li said.

Associate Vice President for Research and Graduate Programs Crist Khachikian welcomed a crowd of more than 100 CSUN faculty, staff and students to the groundbreaking. The building is expected to open in fall 2017. Clerkin & Clerkin is the building architect, and 2H is the project contractor.

Alexis Heredia appears to have been born to be a Matador. And a physical therapist. Her parents met at California State University, Northridge, where her mother was finishing up her training to become a physical therapist.

Running cross country through high school and college, Heredia watched many teammates recover from injuries with the help of physical therapy — and it inspired her to pursue the discipline. This winter, she was one of 20 aspiring physical therapists helped toward their own academic finish line with the help of a special partnership.

The CSUN Department of Physical Therapy has a longstanding partnership with the Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation and the Roy and Roxie Campanella Foundation. The foundations have joined together for the past four years to provide Roy and Roxie Campanella Scholarship to CSUN physical therapy students in the renowned doctorate program, which started with five scholarships at its inception before growing to its present number of 20 for the 2016-17 academic year.

On Feb. 3, the current scholarship cohort gathered for a luncheon at CSUN, where they met members of the Dodgers Foundation and Joni Campanella-Roan, who represented her parents’ foundation.

Heredia, like her fellow scholars, expressed their gratitude, as well as shared their personal stories and what led them to pursue careers as physical therapists.

Campanella’s personal journey from Major League All-Star catcher for the Brooklyn Dodgers to life in a wheelchair following a tragic car accident in 1958 was top of mind for the CSUN students.

“Seeing Roy Campanella’s story many years ago, it’s just so inspiring to see how his life was turned upside down because of [the car accident], and the power that physical therapists have to impact somebody’s life,” Heredia said. “Not only through physical rehab, but the emotional aspect and making [clients] want to pursue their passions again. Those are the big reasons why I wanted to pursue this career. Receiving this scholarship is a tremendous honor.”

After Campanella was paralyze he started physical therapy, and his diligent work helped him return to the Dodgers as a spring training instructor, where he tutored catchers such as Steve Yeager, Mike Scioscia and Mike Piazza. He also dove into work with the organization’s community relations department, devoting himself to local causes until his death in 1993.

The strong partnership between the Campanella Foundation and the Dodgers, to benefit future physical therapists, inspires Campanella-Roan every year.

“To see so many outstanding physical therapy [students], right now being a part of this program and all through the help of the Dodgers Foundation, it makes me very proud and makes my whole family proud,” Campanella-Roan said. “I just wish my father and mother were here to see this day, because it’s really grown a lot.”

Campanella’s place in baseball history is indelible. After Jackie Robinson broke Major League Baseball’s color barrier in 1947, Campanella started his remarkable career a year later. Many Civil Rights activists pay homage to those first African-American baseball players for integrating the national pastime and paving the road for people of color. The CSUN scholarship advances the legacy of Campanella and his contemporaries. That this luncheon happened during Black History Month continued to shed a light on Campanella’s honored role in the Civil Rights movement.

“We support so many organizations,” said Dodgers Foundation Executive Director Nichol Whiteman. “But for this one to come together with Roy Campanella, the first black catcher in Major League Baseball history, the invitation to the Dodgers Foundation to be a part of this partnership that falls so far in line with our education focus and our health focus, it really is a home run.”

CSUN faculty members concurred.

“The Roy and Roxie Campanella Scholarship highlights a very important relationship between the CSUN Department of Physical Therapy, the Campanella Foundation and the Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation,” said Aimie Kachingwe, a physical therapy faculty member who has seen this association from the outset. “We are grateful that the Dodgers Foundation stepped forward four years ago to help fund and continue the Campanella scholarship. Given the exorbitant expenses associated with being in a doctorate program, the scholarship greatly assists these students to achieve their dreams of being physical therapists so that they can make a difference in the lives of their future patients.”

The Dodgers also have hosted a physical therapy intern during Arizona spring training since 2010. The ball club hired 2016 intern Johnathan Erb DPT ’16 (Physical Therapy), as a physical therapist for the team’s minor league players in its Glendale, Ariz., facility.

The passion for rehabilitation and healing was evident at the Feb. 3 luncheon as the scholars spoke about their lives.

“We’re taught this skill set, and the technical skills [for] the clinic,” Heredia said. “It goes beyond that in how we connect with our patients emotionally and build that trust with them. As physical therapy students and future physical therapists, we have this sense of empathy and compassion. And our patients feel that we truly care for them. It’s a very special career and bond that you share with your patient. They’ll remember us for the rest of their lives.”

Heredia’s class is the 60th to matriculate through CSUN’s physical therapy program. Her mother was in the 25th.

“I get this sense of family with the Dodgers Foundation and the Campanella Foundation that they’ve built with CSUN,” Heredia said. “We’re just truly grateful to have had this. I’m eager to see what’s going to happen in the future and how we can give back to future students as practitioners, give back to the community through volunteer work, philanthropic work, anything we can do to carry on his legacy and impact the lives of others.”