June 9, 2010

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Media Advisory

Cal State L.A.’s Commencement June 11-12

L.A. bishop, 17-year-old grad, visually-impaired honors student, 66-year-old senior, single-mother educator, scholars, joint doctorates among Cal State L.A.’s Class of 2010

Los Angeles, CA – A two-day festivity filled with pride and celebrations, California State University, Los Angeles will confer more than 5,500 bachelor’s and master’s degrees at this year’s Commencement exercises June 11 and 12.

The Friday 5 p.m. ceremony will honor graduates in the Charter College of Education; College of Engineering, Computer Science, and Technology; and College of Health and Human Services. Its keynote speaker will be Jorge Ramirez, president/CEO of Heateflex Corporation and president of the CSULA Alumni Association.

The Saturday 8 a.m. ceremony will honor graduates in the College of Arts and Letters; College of Business and Economics; and College of Natural and Social Sciences. Its speaker will be Dr. Richard Merkin, president, CEO and founder of Heritage Provider Network.

The following are among the thousands of stories of pride and persistence amid the Class of 2010:

• West Angeles Church pastor Charles E. Blake will be conferred an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters by the CSU Board of Trustees at Cal State L.A.’s Saturday Commencement. He is also the presiding bishop of the Church of God in Christ, one of the nation’s largest denominations, and founder/CEO of Save Africa’s Children, a program that serves over 100,000 children in more than 20 nations in Africa.
  

• Twenty-four graduates in the Early Entrance Program (EEP)—ages 17-20—will receive baccalaureate degrees this weekend, including 17-year-old biology major Alexandria Huynh (Torrance), the youngest graduating senior this year. Huynh, who will be marching at the Saturday Commencement, has been accepted into the Harvard University Ph.D. immunology program with full funding and an additional stipend. Becoming a family tradition, 2010 EEP graduates include twins Anita and Sonya Dhanvanthari (Agoura Hills) and siblings Aditya and Sudipta Mohanty (Rancho Cucamonga).

 

• Among Cal State L.A.’s most “senior” students is 66-year-old David Crittendon (Los Angeles), who will receive an interdisciplinary M.A. in creative writing, music and education at the Saturday Commencement. He was involved in the Mississippi Freedom Summer in 1964, worked for the Congress of Racial Equality in New York, and taught elementary school in Echo Park for 17 years.

 

• Mario Zamora (South Central L.A.)—who became blind when he was a teen—moved from Mexico to Los Angeles to learn Braille and English. A Dean’s List and G.E. Honors student, Zamora will be conferred a bachelor’s degree in rehabilitation services with a minor in English. With his guide dog by his side, Zamora will proudly march at the Friday Commencement.

 

• Born in Haiti and raised in Central Africa and Europe, Marie Alcindor (Northridge) moved to the U.S. in 1991 to further her education and achieve a college degree. A single mother, she had to juggle family, work and school. At the Friday Commencement, she will be conferred a master’s degree in educational administration. She has already earned her teaching credential and B.A. in French from Cal State L.A.

 

• President’s Scholar Oseloka Valentine Ewudo (East Los Angeles) will be one of only seven students to graduate as a President’s Scholar in the Class of 2010. He will receive his bachelor’s degree in nursing at the Friday Commencement. Cal State L.A.’s President’s Scholars were awarded full scholarships for four-year study at Cal State L.A.

 

• Five CSULA grads—Silke M. Bradford, Vince Carbino, Arnett Carl Duncan/A. Mpigani Kweli, Frank Olmos and Freda Elena Rossi—will be conferred their joint doctorates in educational administration and leadership. The doctoral hooding ceremony will take place on Friday.

 

• Latin American Studies M.A. student Alex Villalpando (South Los Angeles) has been accepted with full funding into the doctoral program in ethnic studies at UC Riverside. Villalpando is one of 14 graduates selected for the 2009-10 Sally Casanova Pre-Doctoral Scholar awards, which covers travel expenses to doctoral-granting institutions and to attend professional conferences as well as fees for college applications and graduate exams. He will march at the Saturday Commencement.

 

Both 2010 Commencement ceremonies will be streamed live. The web streams will be broadcast through Cal State L.A.’s Eagles Live Cast at www.calstatela.edu/eagleslive/.

What:              The Commencement of Cal State L.A.’s 63d graduating class will be a festive celebration.

When:             Fri., June 11, 2010,  5 p.m.

Conferring degrees to graduates in the Charter College of Education, College of Engineering, Computer Science, and Technology, and College of Health and Human Services

Speaker: Jorge Ramirez, president/CEO of Heateflex Corporation and president of the CSULA Alumni Association.

Sat., June 12, 2010,  8 a.m.

Conferring degrees to graduates in the College of Arts and Letters, College of Business and Economics, and College of Natural and Social Sciences

Speaker: Dr. Richard Merkin, president, CEO and founder of Heritage Provider Network

Where:           Cal State L.A.’s University Athletic Stadium, at the southeast corner of the campus.  The University is located at the Eastern Avenue exit, San Bernardino (I-10) freeway, at the interchange of the 10 and 710 freeways.

Info:               For more information, go to www.calstatela.edu/commencement.

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Working for California since 1947: The 175-acre hilltop campus of California State University, Los Angeles is at the heart of a major metropolitan city, just five miles from Los Angeles’ civic and cultural center. More than 20,000 students and 210,000 alumni—with a wide variety of interests, ages and backgrounds—reflect the city’s dynamic mix of populations. Six Colleges offer nationally recognized science, arts, business, criminal justice, engineering, nursing, education and humanities programs, among others, led by an award-winning faculty. Cal State L.A. is home to the critically-acclaimed Luckman Jazz Orchestra and to a unique university center for gifted students as young as 12. Programs that provide exciting enrichment opportunities to students and community include an NEH- and Rockefeller-supported humanities center; a NASA-funded center for space research; and a growing forensic science program, housed in the Hertzberg-Davis Forensic Science Center. www.calstatela.edu

 

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