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Cal State L.A.’s Commencement June 15-16
Teen grad, legally-blind doctorate student, award-winning researcher,
Los Angeles, CA – A two-day festivity filled with renowned keynote
speakers, pride and celebration, California State University, Los
Angeles will confer more than 5,000 bachelor’s and master’s degrees
at this year’s Commencement exercises June 15 and 16.
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 Children’s Hospital Los
Angeles CEO/President Richard D. Cordova.
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 U.S. Assistant
Secretary for Postsecondary Education Eduardo M. Ochoa.
The following are among the thousands of stories of pride and
persistence amid the Class of 2012:
Twenty-one undergraduates in the Early Entrance
Program (EEP)—ages 16-20—will receive baccalaureate degrees this
weekend, including 18-year-old business administration major
Daniel Pyon (Montebello resident), who was selected for the
University’s Phi Kappa Phi Fellowship. After marching at the
Saturday Commencement, Pyon will pursue a Juris Doctor degree at
Harvard Law School starting next fall.
Robert David Black
(Baldwin Park resident), whose eyesight failed while he was
considering graduate school, was undaunted, learned Braille and
proceeded with his academic goals. For his courage, high academic
standing and his perseverance and commitment to his education, he
was honored with CSU Trustee’s $10,000 Ali C. Razi Scholarship in
2010. Coincidentally, Black is also a member of the first cohort of
graduates enrolled in the University’s new doctoral program in
educational leadership. The independent Ed.D. program was launched
at CSULA in fall 2009. Black and 10 other CSULA students will be
conferred their doctoral degrees at the Friday Commencement.
First in her family to attend college, Desiree
Chagolla (Monterey Park resident) will dedicate her bachelor’s
degree in sociology and a minor in social gerontology to her
grandmother who raised her. Juggling between work and school,
Chagolla also recently adopted her six-year-old brother, who was
placed in the foster system due to child neglect. She will march at
the Saturday Commencement.
A triple force in the literal sense, Emerzon
Antonio Cruz Guandique (South Los Angeles resident) will
be achieving three degrees this spring—an M.S. and B.S. in
mechanical engineering and a B.S. in engineering with a special
option in manufacturing engineering. He is currently an intern for
the American Technical Service Inc. at the Naval Surface Warfare
Center, Corona Division. Making a difference on campus, he was
involved with the University’s Rehabilitation Engineering Lab,
working with a team to create an orthotic hand for a staff member at
the University and a separate team to create a bath transfer system
for a child of another campus employee. A Dean’s List student, he
will march at the Friday Commencement.
An award-winning research student, Angela Guerrero
(Downey resident), at 18, will attend Stanford Medical School
after marching at the Saturday Commencement. Guerrera, who received
accolades for her study about “Photooxidation of the antioxidant
trans-resveratrol,” is one of 20 Minority Opportunities in Research
(MORE) students beginning doctorate programs this fall. They will
study in prestigious programs at such colleges as Caltech, Claremont
Graduate University, Cornell University, Harvard University, UCLA,
and UC Irvine.
Both 2012 Commencement ceremonies will be streamed live. The web streams
will be broadcast through Cal State L.A.’s Eagles Live Cast at
http://www.calstatela.edu/eagleslive/.
triple-degree honor student among CSULA’s Class of 2012
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 220,000 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 the Honors College for high-achieving students. Programs that provide exciting enrichment opportunities to students and community include an NEH-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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