We are proud of our Communication Studies alumni and their many accomplishments. Our Alumni Speaker Series features lively discussions by our graduates in which they share their professional experiences and personal adventures beyond CSULA.
Upcoming Alumni Speakers
TBA
Past Alumni Speakers
Sara Parker
Sara Parker started life in eastern Oklahoma, grew up in southern California, dropped out of college, got married, had a life, got divorced, and returned to school in her mid-thirties, completing her BA (magna cum laud) and earning her MA degree, picking up the Communication Studies Outstanding Teaching Associate of the Year award along the way. In 1999 she relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area and obtained gainful employment in Silicon Valley. For nearly 10 years she worked in software, hardware, and Internet application development before relocating to a 270-year-old family farm in rural New England. In early 2012, she published a memoir, Our Year at The Fahm or, Blessed are The Cracked for They Shall Let in The Light documenting her first year on the farm, which received a prestigious Kirkus editorial recommendation. Sara currently lives and writes in rural Central Massachusetts.
Dustin Lee Abraham
M.A. Communication, California State University, Los Angeles, 1996
Born in Las Vegas, Nevada, Dustin is an American actor, producer and screenwriter. He penned the 2001 cult movie How High for Method Man and Redman, and he currently produces and writes for CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. Before his work in film and television, Dustin won the distinguished title of American Forensic Association Dramatic Interpretation National Speech Champion.
Javon Johnson
B.A. Communication, California State University, Los Angeles, 2003
M.A. Communication, California State University, Los Angeles, 2005
Ph.D. Communication, Northwestern University, 2010
Javon is currently the Visions & Voices Provost's Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Southern California, where he teaches in the Department of American Studies & Ethnicity. He earned his Ph.D. in Performance Studies, with a cognate in African American Studies and a certificate in Gender Studies, from Northwestern University. He is a back-to-back national poetry slam champion (2003 & 2004), has appeared on HBO’s Def Poetry Jam, BET’s Lyric Café, and co-wrote a documentary titled Crossover, which aired on Showtime, in collaboration with the NBA and Nike. He has written for Our Weekly, Text & Performance Quarterly, and is currently working on his book, tentatively titled, Owning Blackness: Poetry Slams and the Making of Spoken Word Communities.
Claudia Zepeda Anguiano
B.A. Communication, California State University, Los Angeles, 2004
M.A. Communication, California State University, Los Angeles, 2006
Ph.D. Communication, University of New Mexico, 2011
Beginning Fall 2011, Claudia started a position as Lecturer in Speech for the Institute for Writing & Rhetoric at Dartmouth College. This full-time, three year teaching appointment with possibility of tenure track renewal after the initial term will allow her to expand the Speech curriculum by developing courses in rhetoric and intercultural communication. Her responsibilities also include an active role in Dartmouth professional activities to include leading workshops for the Dartmouth Center for the Advancement of Learning.