What We Do
To serve as holistic and thriving academic, career, and life possibility models for and with local youth.
Connecting youth to university resources at Cal State LA, Women’s, Gender, Sexuality Studies (WGSS), and more majors and minors.
ID: WGSS Club students smiling in front of flowers.
Diversity, inclusion, belonging, transformation, & liberation in solidarity with local youth and our interwoven communities.
ID: WGSS Club members laughing in front of flowers.
Our Leaders
Assistant Professor, Women’s Gender Sexuality Studies (WGSS) est. 2022
Dr. Pau was born and raised in San Gabriel Valley and Inland Empire. During high school, they played clarinet and oboe, were drum major of their marching band, sang in choir and musicals, and enjoyed playing tennis. They received their B.A. from UCSB, Masters from CSUN, and doctorate from WSU. They social justice organize our communities est. 2006 and teach est. 2013.
Writes and draws about healing through loving gardening, video games, and anime.
ID: Dr. Pau wearing yellow with short black hair, dark brown eyes, smiling at camera, wearing yellow, with green and yellow flower bushes in the background.
Assistant Professor, Co-Coordinator of Rehabilitation Services Program est. 2022
Dr. Natalie was born in Oklahoma City, and has bachelor’s degree in Psychology, a master’s degree in Rehabilitation Counseling, and a doctorate in Counselor Education and Supervision. She teaches at Cal State LA, and at two other universities (online). She has worked with children and enjoys supporting college students by helping them reach their goals!
Loves yoga, swimming, and açai bowls!!!
ID: Dr. Natalie wearing a black shirt and tan jacket, with a gold necklace. She is smiling and her hair is is a curly bun at the top of her head.
B.S. Rehabilitation Services, Graduated May 2024
Masters in Rehabilitation Services Masters Student
Christine is a mother and graduate student studying Rehabilitation Counseling at Cal State LA. Since founding the Neurodivergent Collective (NDC) in 2022, Christine has served as its president. The NDC is an identity-based student group aimed at cultivating community among disabled students and campus community members. Christine hopes to continue this work and one day, contribute to efforts to open a Disability Cultural Center at Cal State LA.
Christine loves spending time with their son, partner, and two cats, Pee Wee and Dottie. They love animation, drawing, writing and reading poetry, and bird watching. They also love to dance and sing along to their favorite music.
ID: Christine has light beige skin and short, curly dark brown hair. They are wearing a black cap and gown with a striped sash. They are holding up a black folder that says “California State University Los Angeles” in gold writing.
B.S. in Computer Science, Graduated May 2024
Zainab is a recent Computer Science graduate from Cal State LA. She loves being creative and expressing herself through art by drawing, painting, and recently through pottery making. She loves reading manga and watching anime.
Enjoys drawing and reading!
ID: Woman in yellow shirt smiling in front of grass wall.
Workshops & Panels with Youth
Topics:
• College Q&A Panel
• Decolonizing & Indigenizing through Creative Expression
• Disability Justice History & Activism
• Imagining and Enacting Transformative Futures
• Music as Medicine
• Neurodivergence Umbrella
• Our Lives as Scholarship
• Parent Scholar-Activist Educator-Guardian Journeys
• Trans, Queer, Crip, & Feminist BIPOC Ancestors, Past, Present, Future
• Diversity in Youth Pop Culture
• Worldmaking in Video Games, Anime, & Animated Storytelling
• Collective Healing and Wellness
• Zine Making for Liberation
Our Partners
To Be Announced!
GET IN TOUCH!
Want to work with WGSS Youth Outreach?
Send us an email and get in touch with the leaders of our program.
Dr. Pau Abustan, [email protected]