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Bishop Charles E. Blake to be awarded Honorary Doctorate by the CSU Board of Trustees at Cal State L.A.’s 2010 Commencement
Los Angeles, CA – West Angeles Church pastor Charles E. Blake will receive an honorary doctorate from the California State University (CSU) Board of Trustees at Cal State L.A.’s Commencement ceremony Saturday, June 12.
“I am pleased that the Board of Trustees has selected Bishop Blake for this special honor,” said Dr. Herbert L. Carter, chair of the CSU Board of Trustees. “Bishop Blake locally, nationally and internationally demonstrates a noteworthy example of a pattern of leadership which seeks to build a more compassionate and caring society.”
In addition to serving as the pastor of the West Angeles Church, Blake serves as the presiding bishop of the Church of God in Christ, one of the nation’s largest denominations. He is also the founder and CEO of Save Africa’s Children, a program that serves more than 100,000 children in more than 20 nations in Africa.
In 2005, in an effort to increase the number of African American students eligible to attend college, the CSU partnered with African American churches in the Los Angeles basin to create the Super Sunday program. Blake’s work has been vital to the CSU’s efforts to reach out into the community and inform students and their families about the opportunities that a college education provides.
For more about Blake, go to http://www.westa.org/about_bishop.html.
The CSU Super Sunday takes place on three consecutive Sundays each February, during which CSU leaders including the chancellor, trustees, campus presidents and others speak at various churches across the state. They share with students, parents and community mentors information about preparing for college, applying to the CSU’s 23 campuses, and obtaining financial aid. The program is part of a broader CSU African American initiative that includes summer algebra institutes, mentoring workshops and other ongoing educational efforts.
During a two-day festivity filled with pride and celebrations, Cal State L.A. 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. The Saturday 8 a.m. ceremony will honor the graduates in the College of Arts and Letters; College of Business and Economics; and College of Natural and Social Sciences.
For details, see: /sites/default/files/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