Centers, Institutes and Bureaus

Applied Gerontology Institute

The institute's purpose is to improve the quality of care and delivery of services to older persons through the interdisciplinary education and training of professionals, paraprofessionals, family members, community agency personnel, and volunteers. Of special interest is the development and promotion of programs to serve culturally diverse groups. The institute emphasizes the development of partnerships between the University and the community that promote the well being of older persons and improve service delivery. An additional goal is to seek financial support in the form of scholarships for students planning to enter health and human service careers with a specialization in aging.

The Institute coordinates a multidisciplinary program to earn a certificate in Applied Gerontology designed to assist individuals interested in increasing their knowledge, understanding, skills, and effectiveness with older populations, especially the multiethnic and multiracial elderly. The program is designed not only for individuals interested in careers in gerontology but also those who are seeking a career change and those already in the field seeking to enhance their opportunities for advancement. Educational opportunities in developing expertise in community-based health and welfare programs as they relate to policy development have also been implemented.

Director: Valentine M. Villa

Office Location: SH C120
Telephone: (323) 343-4724

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Asian and Asian-American Institute

The purpose of the Institute is to identify issues and coordinate activities leading to the understanding and betterment of Asians and Asian Americans at Cal State L.A. While functioning primarily as a campus resource and as a bridge between the University and its surrounding communities, the Institute promotes and supports programs that encourage Asian and Asian American research. It works closely with the Asian and Asian American Studies programs and other ethnic studies programs on and off campus.

Director: Lena Chao
Office Location: MU 248
Telephone: (323) 343-4264

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Asian Pacific Business Institute

Housed in the School of Business and Economics at California State University, Los Angeles, the Asian Pacific Business Institute aims to support and foster cooperative relationships between the School of Business and Economics and local business organizations. The growing importance of Asian economies has been one of the most significant global economic developments since the early 1980s. Increased economic interdependence between Asian countries and the U.S. leads to a variety of problems and issues concerning international business, but it also creates many opportunities. The Asian Pacific Business Institute seeks to provide support for both the business community and the University to identify, exploit, and benefit from those opportunities.

The Institute serves a wide range of audiences by developing, organizing, and promoting activities that can benefit students, faculty, and the business community. Through its activities, the Institute can help advance the University's educational and public service missions, as well as contribute to economic development in Los Angeles. In addition, its activities can promote understanding and interactions among people from different parts of the world. The Institute provides a wide range of expertise, services and information that can benefit students, faculty, and the business community. Examples include executive training programs, business seminars, research, and exchange and internship programs.

Director: Kern Kwong
Office Location: ST 805
Telephone: (323) 343-2899

Asian Pacific Business Institute Website |

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Bureau of Business and Economic Research

The College of Business and Economics maintains a research bureau to encourage, facilitate, and communicate faculty and student research. The Bureau's primary objective is to relay information about research opportunities and ongoing research efforts to faculty members and students. In addition, it assists in the preparation of research proposals, coordinates research efforts, and provides research advising services for M.S. and M.B.A. degree candidates.

Director: Vacant
Office Location: ST 905
Telephone: (323) 343-2930

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California Forensic Science Institute

The California Forensic Science Institute, housed in the College of Health and Human Services, serves as the academic, research and development arm of the planned Regional Crime Laboratory, which will be a joint effort of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, the Los Angeles Police Department, and the California Department of Justice.  The CFSI research program will bridge the gap between scientific advances and crime laboratory utilization, and in addition, the Institute will offer in-service training courses for current criminal justice system professionals.

Director: Rose Ochi
Office Location: Fine Arts 230
Telephone: (323) 343-4879

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Center for Innovation and Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CIETL)

The Center for Innovation and Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CIETL) was created to help fulfill the commitment of California State University, Los Angeles to assist and to promote excellence in teaching which leads to successful and meaningful learning. Through the development of an optimal learning environment, the University affords students an equal opportunity to succeed regardless of gender, age, ethnicity, disability, or culture. By pursuing research, development, and dissemination of new teaching modes and instructional technology, the center contributes to the retention and success of students.

The Center for Innovation and Excellence in Teaching and Learning, as a campus-wide resource, provides a variety of services to assist California State University, Los Angeles faculty members to maximize their teaching effectiveness in a multicultural, multilingual environment. Such services include: networking with and acknowledging effective teachers, aiding faculty members in initiating and integrating educational research in their classrooms, and classroom, and mentoring of new faculty members. The Center for Innovation and Excellence in Teaching and Learning provides services, support, resources, and reference materials to help faculty members (including part-time faculty and teaching assistants) improve the effectiveness of their teaching.

Faculty Development and Pedagogical Support (FDPS)

Faculty Development and Pedagogical Support (FDPS) is responsible for training and supporting faculty in the application of technology, especially computer-based technology, as a tool of instruction at a distance and within the classroom.

The Center for Innovation and Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CIETL) houses an up-to-date faculty computer lab, complete with high-performance workstations arranged for individual and collaborative activities. Staffed by a director, lab manager and knowledgeable student technology assistants, CIETL supports faculty at all levels of technical proficiency. CIETL maintains state-of-the-art equipment available for faculty use in designing and developing digital media projects that enhance technology-mediated instruction. CIETL staff is available in person, online, and by telephone, to guide and assist faculty through this process of designing, developing, and teaching with technology.

Director: Rama Krishnan
Office Location: FA 138
Telephone: (323) 343-5444

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Center for Excellence in Early Intervention

Housed in the Division of Special Education, the Center was founded to create a model program for training early intervention professionals. Its objectives include developing, demonstrating, and evaluating the best practices in early intervention service delivery to young children with special needs and their families; providing early intervention training to professionals, paraprofessionals, and parents; developing and evaluating early intervention training and service delivery materials for dissemination to special educators, child development specialists, speech clinicians, allied health professionals, social workers, psychologists, physicians, and parents; and developing and operating a media and material library about early intervention.

Director: Diane Klein
Office Location: KH C1064
Telephone: (323) 343-4400

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Center for Japanese Studies

The Center serves Cal State L.A. and the community as a source to aid faculty, students, and the general public in broadening and deepening their knowledge of Japan, its people, and culture. The Center promotes Japanese research and academic studies and supports educational and cultural programs, seminars, guest lectures, and conferences. The Center's office maintains a collection of basic bibliographies and essential reference materials.

Director: Sachiko Matsunaga
Office Location: KH D1054
Telephone: (323) 343-4230

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The Center is a depository of historical and cultural materials about Korea and Korean-Americans. Major objectives of the Center are to promote, coordinate, and conduct research activities about various aspects of Korean culture and tradition, including oral histories; to compile, document, and produce curriculum materials about Korean folklore, art, music, and social activities; to develop continuing education programs about the Korean community's activities and programs for students, teachers, and the general public; to develop and produce curriculum materials and courses about Korean-American and Korean culture, tradition, and life; and to sponsor seminars, symposia, and exhibits about Korean culture and tradition.

Director: Timothy Lim
Office Location: E&T A513
Telephone: (323) 343-2242

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The Center's specific goals and objectives are to provide in-service training for faculty and staff, and pre-service training to students about issues related to cultural pluralism, diversity, and multicultural education. The Center can also provide assistance to faculty seeking a greater degree of infusion of multiculturalism into their curriculum. The Center provides technical assistance to school districts, and offers a Saturday morning field experience for Cal State L.A. students who tutor students from the community who are at educational risk.

Director: Andrea Zetlin
Office Location: KH C1072
Telephone: (323) 343-4410

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The Center's objective is to provide information and consulting to help the transition of Newly Independent States toward individual market enterprise and a market economy. It has two components: Electronic Distance Education, and Business Information Services.

Director: Ludwig Slusky
Office Location: ST F618
Telephone: (323) 343-2922

Center for Newly Independent States Studies Website 

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The mission of the Center for Contemporary Poetry and Poetics is to provide a forum for parties interested in poetry and poetics. The Center sponsors activities and events which promote the presentation of the full diversity of poetic voices from the whole range of cultural backgrounds and in all poetic genres. The Center promotes the appreciation and understanding of contemporary poetry and poetics in all of its forms and it encourages research in poetry and poetics. By creating a forum for dialogue, research, celebration, production, and presentation of poetry and poetics, the Center serves as the vehicle to bring together scholars, students, poets, the community, and other interested parties for the study, creation, preservation, and promotion of poetry.

Director: Lauri Ramey
Office Location: KHD 4050B
Telephone: (323) 343-4165

http://www.calstatela.edu/centers/ccpp

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The Center for Spatial Analysis and Remote Sensing (CSARS) was established with partial funding from NASA to function as a test-bed for public access to Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and remote sensing information. The Center conducts educational, research and outreach activities focusing on Southern California. In addition to its regular University activities, the Center conducts short courses on GIS and other computer applications for novice and intermediate users alike. As a part of its funding, CSARS provides training to Cal State L.A. faculty and teachers from various K-12 institutions.

Director: Ali Modarres
Office Location: KH D4046
Telephone: (323) 343-2220

http://csars.calstatela.edu

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The Center for the Study of Genders and Sexualities is a University-wide, interdisciplinary center housed in the College of Arts and Letters.  It is dedicated to providing support for scholars, teachers, and students who investigate gender and sexuality, particularly as they are exemplified in the diverse communities represented at Cal State L.A. and its surrounding area. Among the Center’s goals are to provide an institutional base of support for feminist, gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender scholarship, to support the revitalization of the Women’s and Gender Studies curriculum, to offer campus networking events that support interdisciplinary investigation, to sponsor events and conferences including visiting scholars, artists, and public figures, and to support the provision of mentoring for students.

Director: Dionne Espinoza
Location:  KH D 4051
Phone:  323.343.6549
http://www.calstatela.edu/centers/csgs

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Operated by the Department of Technology, School of Engineering and Technology, the Center provides support and assistance for students, faculty, teachers, public agencies, business, and industry, including professional support and consulting, in-service activities, conferences and workshops, and disseminates professional information through an electronic bulletin communications network. Professional services offered in technology education and technical training include course, curriculum, and program development in advanced technologies such as robotics, computer-aided design (CAD), computer-aided manufacturing (CAM), desktop publishing, and fluid power. Assistance in problem-solving for teachers of students with special needs also is provided.

Director: Don Maurizio
Office Location:  E&T A335
Telephone: (323) 343-2480

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The Institute's purpose is to promote effective prevention of, and intervention in, child abuse and domestic violence by providing interdisciplinary educational training and policy development programs, and state-of-the-art resources for students, professionals, and the community. The Institute promotes interdisciplinary cooperation between the University and community agencies by identifying the University as a focal point and resource within the community, county and state, and internationally to provide professional education and research in child abuse and domestic violence. A broad scope of interdisciplinary educational training, research, and field placement opportunities and programs is available to prepare individuals to provide effective multidisciplinary health and human services to maltreated children and their families.

Director: Colleen Friend
Office Location: KHB109B
Telephone: (323) 343-4696

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The Center endeavors to promote understanding of, and interest in, China by sponsoring conferences seminars, guest lectures, exhibits, concerts, and other Chinese cultural activities. It maintains a small library of basic reference materials about China. These materials are available to faculty, staff, and students. The Center also serves the Chinese communities in Los Angeles and assists Cal State L.A. students of Chinese descent, and helps promote research and teaching in Chinese studies.

Director: Qingyun Wu
Office Location: KH A3030
Telephone: (323) 343-4242

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The Edmund G. "Pat" Brown Institute of Public affairs, named after former California Governor "Pat" Brown (1959-1967), is a nonpartisan center for applied public policy research, community education, student internship opportunity, and youth violence abatement. Located on the California State University, Los Angeles campus since 1987, the "Pat" Brown Institute (PBI) has developed a series of distinguished programs to carry out the urban mission of the University and create more inclusive and empowered urban communities in Southern California. They include the Applied Public Policy Research & Urban Scholars Program; Community/University Conference and Forum Program; PBI Publications Program (featuring the prestigious Journal of California Politics and Policy); Youth Violence Abatement Program; Public Service Internships and Fellows Program and Distinguished Speaker Program. The Institute also holds an Annual Public Service Awards Dinner. In these efforts, the Institute works in collaboration with and on behalf of various community partners and constituencies including underserved communities and community organizations, K-12 schools, colleges and universities, state/local elected officials, public agencies, corporations, organized labor, and foundations.

Director: Jaime Regalado

Office Location: GE 222
Telephone: (323) 343-3770

Edmund G. "Pat" Brown Institute of Public Affairs Website

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The mission of this Center is to provide leadership and diversity training and development to students and the business community through innovative learning methods and affiliation with industry and business leaders. 

The objectives of the Center are to provide training to enhance organizational leadership skills and diversity awareness, build alliances with the business community and its leaders, and promote and enhance dissemination of information needed by leaders facing challenges and opportunities of today and our future.

Director: Kevin Groves
Office Location: Library North 1014A
Telephone: (323) 343-5270

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The Entrepreneurship Institute, in the College of Business and Economics, serves as the locus of information about entrepreneurship, research on entrepreneurs and new venture management, and development of entrepreneurial talent among students and external stakeholders of the University. The Entrepreneurship Institute is concerned with generating knowledge, sharing information, assisting entrepreneurs to assess opportunities, fostering organizational entrepreneurship in corporations and nonprofits, and developing skills among aspiring entrepreneurs. The following projects are ongoing:

• ASSISTANCE TO ENTREPRENEURS. One-on-one assistance to aspiring entrepreneurs to test ideas and concepts, prepare business plans, present business ideas and plans to faculty and student audiences for feedback/ advice, and pitch to potential investors.
• ASSESSMENT OF ENTREPRENEURIAL ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE. Preparation of customized culture assessment reports for for-profit and non-profit organizations, free of charge. The database on Entrepreneurial Organizational Culture, housed in the Institute, now contains culture profiles of about 1,000 organizations.
• CASE STUDIES OF L.A. ENTREPRENEURS. Preparation of case studies by faculty and student researchers on entrepreneurs and new ventures.
• OTHER ENTREPRENEURSHIP RESEARCH.

For assistance and research reports, contact:
Director: Steve McGuire
smcguir@exchange.calstatela.edu
Office Location: Simpson Tower 709
Tel. (323) 343 2887

The purpose of the Institute for Executive Leadership, operated through the College of Natural and Social Sciences, is to assist administrators in Southern California and Pacific Rim nations, such as China, in meeting the needs of society for high-quality leadership in public service and to promote efficient and ethical governments. Specifically, the focus of the Institute is to provide opportunities for further training and education in the areas of management technologies, communication, administrative ethics, and other areas of interest to public administrators.

Director: Stephen Ma
Office Location: E&T A533
Telephone: (323) 343-2234

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The Institute's primary purpose is to provide a vehicle for closer collaboration between the University and community agencies that provide health care. The Institute emphasizes development of joint ventures and/or partnerships that lead to cost-benefit modes of health care delivery to a culturally diverse society.

The Institute's primary goals are to improve the quality of nursing education, to develop effective strategies for recruitment and retention of nursing students, to help meet the staffing needs of nursing services, to improve the quality of nursing practice, and to facilitate collaboration in the areas of research, teaching, and grant writing.

Director: Patricia A. Chin
Office Location: ST 417
Telephone: (323) 343-4700

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Institute of Retail Management

The goals of this School of Business and Economics institute are to enhance the field of retailing as a profession and to improve the quality of managerial expertise within the retail industry in California. To achieve these objectives, the Institute participated in the development of the Retailing option in the B.S. degree in Business Administration and a credit certificate program in Retail Professional Development. The Institute serves as a vehicle for publication of research findings in the area of retailing and assists qualified students in retail job placement.

The Institute is an integral part of the Youth Opportunities Unlimited (YOU) Retail Management Apprenticeship Program of Los Angeles and works closely with its participating students. Founded in 1991 with one high school, this program has grown to encompass five inner-city Los Angeles high schools and has become a national model. Support from the retail industry enabled the institute to award scholarships to YOU participants as well as Cal State L.A. marketing and retailing students.

The Institute was also responsible for launching a joint program with the City of Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Unified School District, retail businesses, and the U.S. Department of Labor to train and place inner-city youth in jobs with major retailers. The focus of the program is to ensure employment for high school juniors and seniors and encourage them to enroll in two or four-year colleges. It is considered one of the nation's leading job-creating and training programs for inner-city youth.

The Institute works closely with the University's Career Planning and Placement Center to significantly increase the number of retail recruiters who conduct on-campus employment interviews.

Director: Vacant
Office Location: ST F508
Telephone: (323) 343-2970

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The purpose of the PCMC, which is administered by the School of Arts and Letters, is to encourage the performance and promote the awareness of contemporary musical compositions by composers of the Pacific Rim countries.

The Center sponsors contemporary music festivals and encourages other countries, universities, and organizations to join in sponsoring such festivals to present the members' compositions, encourages the mass media in participating countries to broadcast the members' music by providing copies of sound recordings; maintains a library of members' published and unpublished scores, sound recordings, performance documentation, and biographies; sends scores anywhere in the world for a period no longer than one month; publishes an annual catalog of the library holdings; sponsors and encourages contemporary seminars; and encourages research.

Director: John M. Kennedy
Office Location: MUS 236
Telephone: (323) 343-4084

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Pacific Rim Institute

A consortium created by Cal State L.A. and a group of Asian and U.S. firms to increase exchanges and improve communication and understanding between their corporate cultures, the Institute seeks to provide managers in both U.S. and Pacific Asian business communities the knowledge and skills needed for managing the challenge of cultural differences. It also endeavors to increase their effectiveness in working together in each other's environment. These goals are accomplished through the presentation of seminars, forums, and briefings.

Director: Gay Q. Yuen
Office Location: KH C2062
Telephone: (323) 343-4363

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The purpose of the College of Business and Economics' Productivity Center is to conduct and coordinate research activities that deal with various issues of productivity improvement and measurement; to act as an information center and catalyst for local governmental organizations and manufacturing and service firms, with an emphasis on helping those institutes become effective and efficient in producing products and providing services; and to promote the expansion of career opportunities for Cal State L.A. students in general, and those studying operations management in particular. The Center compiles business and economic data for forecasting economic conditions in various industries. In addition, the Center coordinates research activities that deal with issues of productivity improvement and measurement. It acts as an electronic information center for local governments, manufacturing enterprises, and service firms. The Center promotes expansion of career opportunities for students and alumni in the business community and has trained students who are now active in various Bulletin Board Systems.

Director: Vacant
Office Location: ST 709
Telephone: (323) 343-2897

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The Center was established to rekindle an interest in choral music and to reintegrate choirs into the world of entertainment. The Center provides a structure within which teachers, scholars, and performing artists can teach choral music; explore and encourage composition of new repertoire; foster research and scholarly publication of emerging topics pertinent to choral study; and establish a special collection of recordings, personal letters, publications, and photographs that span the career of its founder, the late Dr. Roger Wagner.

The center's activities include co-sponsorship of an international conference on Gregorian chant, presentation of a collection of scholarly articles, and choral composition content courses.

Director: William Belan
Office Location: MUS 131
Telephone: (323) 343-4067

Roger Wagner Center for Choral Studies Website  

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