Emeriti Fellowships awarded at Fall 2005 Luncheon
Left to right: Emeriti Association president Dr. Louis Negrete; Fellowship recipients Michelle Carillo, Tim Ng, Maria Talavera, Kylene Rodriguez, Kathleen Toomey, Jessica Magallanes and Fellowship Fund chair Dr. Janet Fisher-Hoult
Left to right, back row: Kathleen Toomey, Jessica Magallanes, Dr. Janet Fisher-Hoult, Tim Ng, Maria Talavera; Front row: Michelle Carillo, Fellowship donor Dr. Carol Smallenburg, Kylene Rodriguez
The Emeriti Fellowship Fund Committee recommended awarding fellowships to seven students: six graduate and one undergraduate. Four Emeriti Fellowships were awarded. Awards were made for the William E. Lloyd Memorial Fellowship, the Jane Matson Memorial Fellowship in Counseling and the David Cameron Fisher Memorial Fellowship for an undergraduate in Biology. There were no candidates who met the criteria for the John L. Houk Memorial Fellowship. Funds available are not as great as in years past due to the lower interest rate on the endowment. However, the Committee decided to award as much as possible to the students, although the individual awards will not quite cover tuition, even with an augmentation from the Emeriti Association budget. With more than 50 well-qualified candidates, the Fellowship Fund Committee had a difficult task making decisions.
Recipients of Emeriti Fellowships are Jessica Magallanes (English), Kylene Rodriguez (Nutritional Science), Maria Talavera (TESOL) and Kathleen Toomey (TESOL). The recipient of the Jane Matson Memorial Fellowship award is Michelle Carillo (Counseling). The William E. Lloyd Memorial Fellowship (History/Political Science) was awarded to Lucila Chavez. Timothy Ng (Biology undergraduate) is the recipient of the undergraduate emeriti fellowship, established in the memory of David Cameron Fisher, son of Janet Fisher-Hoult.
Jessica Magallanes is majoring in English. The first in her family to complete college and enter graduate school, she is planning to enter a Ph.D. program to pursue her area of interest English Composition. As a Teaching Associate for the CSULA English Department and a writing consultant for the CSULA Writing Center , Jessica discovered that, in addition to teaching composition to developing writers in the classroom, she would eventually like to become the director of a college writing center. She is especially passionate about working with at-risk students; those who have been economically underserved or traditionally excluded from the academy. Jessica has taken a leadership role in the English Graduate Students Association and has already won recognition for her writing and presentations.
Kylene Rodriguez, a student in Nutritional Science, is planning to become a registered dietician. Kylene would like to work in a hospital where she will be able to counsel patients and plan diets suitable for their specific needs. Her main goal is to work with Hispanics or minorities in the Los Angeles area because these populations are at risk for developing chronic diseases and, with her background, she will be able to be sensitive to their cultural or economic disparities. Her family has been supportive of her educational goals although they did not obtain college degrees and were unable to assist her financially. She wanted to prove that someone's upbringing should not hinder the potential for a prosperous future and has worked and taken loans to reach her goal.
The recipient of many awards and scholarships, including the Americorps National Service Certificate, the Mary Ann Alia Award, the California Retired Teachers Association Scholarship and the Hispanic Scholarship, Maria Talavera, now a student in the TESOL program, recently completed her multiple subject credential. Her BA in Urban Planning has given her the opportunity to learn how to make a difference in a multicultural, multilingual society. As a teacher, she hopes to be able to assure her students that they can achieve their dreams and to encourage them to strive for excellence.
Kathleen Toomey, completing her MATESOL, is currently an ESL teacher for the Santa Monica-Adult Education Center. An innovative teacher who has established a "conversation Café" for her students who needed more access to fluent English speakers in order to practice, she also teaches unique classes such as "ESL for Deaf Adults", where most of the students are non-lingual, and an "ESL/Parenting" class funded by Even Start. She enjoys working with her students and introducing them to the beauty and power of education. Kathleen also volunteers at "Dogs for the Deaf" and for the "ASL Story-Time Deaf West Theater" literacy outreach for deaf/hard-of-hearing kids.
The recipient of the Jane Matson Memorial Fellowship in Counseling, Michelle Carillo, is pursuing a Master's degree in School Counseling with an emphasis on School Psychology. From her parents, immigrants who worked two jobs, she learned the value of hard work and dedication and, as a result, she is the first person in her family to be pursuing a Master's degree. Michelle was awarded a Marine Corps College scholarship which took her to the Virginia Military Institute where she earned her BA in Psychology. She is continuing her studies in counseling and school psychology because she would like to work for the military by providing school psychology services to the children of military families as they face many stresses in life such as parental deployment overseas and other stresses experienced by their civilian counterparts.
Lucila Chavez, the William E. Lloyd Memorial Fellowship recipient, is pursuing a MA in History in addition to completing an MA in Chicana/o Studies. Her interests are to merge the theoretical perspectives of history, literature, feminisms, Queer Studies, popular culture, and the intersections of race, class, gender, and sexuality in her reconstruction of Mexicana/Chicana history and approach her community college teaching with knowledge in multiple disciplines and theoretical perspectives. Her goal of becoming a community college professor was fueled by her desire to improve the education of diverse students and to provide academic and emotional support for those students.
Timothy Ng, the recipient of the David Cameron Fisher Memorial Fellowship Award (Undergraduate Biology), is the son of Chinese-Malaysian immigrants. He has been focused on becoming an MD and his goal is to work as a clinician and researcher. Timothy has been a student intern at the City of Hope , CalTech and the LA County Hospital. It is in these places that he learned first hand the demands of the medical profession as well as the rewards. An Early Entrance Program student, Timothy entered CSULA at the age of 14 and has been on the Dean's List since every year since 1999. He has received many honors, but they pale before his motivation and desire to pursue a career in clinical research.