2010s

Do you have news or an accomplishment you’d like to share? Let us know about it.

2010s

  • Bogdan Bagdasarov (’11) is an affiliate manager for T3Leads, a Los Angeles-based Affiliate Marketing firm.
  • Alla Goldman ('10) launched SauceBox, an e-Commerce cosmetics business.

2000s

  • Headshot of Daphne GabrielDaphne Gabriel ('09) performed in an off-Broadway production, Innocent Flesh, as a member of The Actors' Gang and has been offered a spot at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.
  • Book cover of Reflections in Recovery.Edward Houston (’01) has recently published an autobiography, Reflections in Recovery: The Attributes of Being Average with iUniverse.
  • Linda Hulsey-Magness (’06) has been appointed the director of Financial Aid at University of Redlands.
  • Michael A. Knish ('00 M.A.) was appointed to a judgeship with the San Bernardino County Superior Court by Gov. Jerry Brown.
  • Miguel Montalva ('07, '11 M.A.), of the Long Beach Immigrant Rights Coalition, was a guest speaker for the "undocuqueer" movement event at the Long Beach Gay and Lesbian Center.
  • Miryam Mora-Barajas ('06 M.A.) led Matthew Lin's general election campaign for the newly-created 49th state Assembly District.
  • John Paramo ('01) is the principal at John Burroughs High School in Burbank Unified School District.
  • Isabel Rojas-Williams ('07, '09 M.A.) is executive director of the Mural Conservancy of Los Angeles.
  • Priscilla Ruiz (’07) teaches auto shop at Bonita High School in La Verne.
  • Nazario Sauceda (’06) is the director of the Los Angeles Bureau of Street Services.
  • Leana Wen (’01) is a third-year resident in emergency medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.
  • Volleyball magazine cover with Tanya White.Tanya White (’08 M.B.A.) appeared on the cover of May issue of Volleyball Magazine.
  • top

1990s

  • James Bell (’97), the 2005 Distinguished Alumnus for the College of Business and Economics, retired as chief financial officer of Boeing.
  • Tom Desmond (’96) has been promoted to Manhattan Beach fire captain.
  • Jennifer Gage ('96 M.A.) is the principal of Garvanza Elementary School in the Los Angeles Unified School District.
  • Christopher Greco ('95) received a 2011 ASCAPlus Award in concert music from the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers.
  • Headshot of Jim Smith.Jim Smith (’99), a 28-year-veteran of the Monterey Park Police Department, was appointed as the city's new police chief.
  • Carlos Urquidi (’92) was granted tenure as a professor in the Air Conditioning and Refrigeration program at Cypress College.
  • Headshot fo William WongWilliam Wong (’99 M.S.W.) was awarded the Congressional Angels in Adoption Award for his work as a placement and recruitment coordinator for the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services Adoption and Permanency Resources Division. He was nominated by Sen. Diane Feinstein.
  • top

1980s

  • Arthur Amador (’86) is one of the mission directors for the Mars Rover Curiosity for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
  • John Capoccia (’82) was elected to the Sierra Madre City Council.
  • Book cover for A Sack Half Full.Jerry Duprez (’81 M.A., ’82 M.A.) has written a non-fiction book, A Sack Half Full, a humorous memoir about his experiences with testicular cancer.
  • Gerald Freeny (’83), an employee of the State Department of Corrections and longtime Tournament of Roses board member,  was inducted into the John Muir High School Hall of Fame.
  • Hiroshi Eto (’84 M.S.) retired as program director at the Great Lakes & Ohio River Division of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
  • Donald Haring (’80 M.A.) is vice president of human resources at Cubic Defense Applications.
  • Fundi Legohn (’82) is the director of the Oxnard High School music program and marching band.
  • Mark Matsui (’82 M.S.) is the new director of the Disabled Students Programs and Services at Rio Hondo College.
  • Braulio Montesino ('80) is general counsel for the California Department of Managed Health Care.
  • Laurie Narro ('86 M.A.) is principal of Monterey Hills Elementary in the South Pasadena Unified School District.
  • Kevin Nikkhoo ('86 M.A.) is CEO of CloudAccess, a cloud-based information security startup.
  • Luis Rojas (’89) is president and CEO of Evergreen Energy Solutions, LLC., a solar development company.
  • Elena Stephens (’89) is a registered environmental health specialist for the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health Division of Environmental Health.
  • Photo of Ed SugarEdward Sugar (’88), vice president at OLC Global, Inc., received the Meritorious Service to Marketing Research Award from the Marketing Research Association.
  • Tamara Stevens (’82), co-owner of the Pasadena Ballroom Dance Association, has co-authored a book, Swing Dancing, from the American Dance Floor series.
  • top

1970s

  • Donald Bakeer (’73, ’75 M.A.), author of Crips: The Story of the L.A. Street Gang from 1971-1985, has recently written his memoir, I, Too, Can Create Light.
  • J. Jon Bruno (’74), Episcopal bishop of the Los Angeles diocese, is undergoing aggressive treatment to fight leukemia.
  • Headshot of Yasmin Delahoussaye.Yasmin Delahoussaye ('75) has been named vice chancellor of Educational Programs and Institutional Effectiveness of the Los Angeles Community College District.
  • Marilyn Diaz (’72) has retired as police chief of the Sierra Madre Police Department, ending a 37-year career in law enforcement that included 32 years at the Pasadena Police Department.
  • Headshot of Pamela DuffyPamela Duffy (’70), a partner at Coblentz, Patch, Duffy & Bass LLP, has been named one of the Top 100 Attorneys in California for 2011 by the Daily Journal.
  • Headshot of Lizabeth HerreraLizabeth Herrera (’79), executive director of El Nido Family Centers, received a Lifetime Champion Award from the organization.
  • Paul La Riviere (’76), retired arts therapist for the corrections system, had an exhibit of 3-D multimedia artworks shown at the GALA Center in San Luis Obispo.
  • Michael Lucki (’78) is the chief financial officer of CH2M Hill, a global engineering firm.
  • Ralph Martin (’73) is interim police chief for the city of Santa Maria.
  • Gary Milliman (’70), city manager of Brookings, Ore., received the Award for Career Excellence in Honor of Mark E. Keane by the International City/County Management Association.
  • Stasys Pinkus (’71), a scenic artist, showed his artwork at the Onion Gallery in North Hills.
  • Photo of Don RunyanDon Runyan (’70), drafting instructor at Cleveland High School in Reseda, was named National Advisor of the Year by SkillsUSA.
  • Anthony Shay (’71) was promoted to associate professor of dance at Pomona College.
  • top

1960s

  • Raul Cardoza (’67) has retired as dean of Enrollment Management at Los Angeles Trade-Tech College.
  • Dan Downs (’66) wrote a novel, Not My Son, released in March by Infinity Publishing, about a special ops mission gone wrong.
  • Jerry Gaines (’64) was elected chairman of the Los Angeles County Workforce Investment Board.
  • Burt Golden (’60) wrote an e-book, Madness of March, about crime and deception in sports.
  • Harry Irving (’62, ’72 M.A.) wrote a book, A Children's Picture-Word and Simple Sentence Book: English Version Primary Grades & ESOL Students, published by Trafford Publishing.
  • Donald Lucove (’66), a certified public accountant, was bestowed the Bill Van Gieson Spirit of Calabasas Award from the Calabasas Chamber of Commerce.
  • Bernard Luskin (’61) was selected president-elect for the Media Psychology Division of the American Psychological Association.
  • Gerald Petievich (’66) is a former U.S. Secret Service agent and novelist. Three of his novels, To Live and Die in L.A., Boiling Point and The Sentinel, were produced into major motion pictures.
  • Tetsu Tanimoto (’65), a financial planner for Merrill Lynch in the Tanimoto, Tanabe and McMahon Group, was recognized on “America’s Top 1,000 Advisors: State-by-State” list in Barron’s magazine.
  • Gary Townsend (’69) has become a partner at Englander Knabe & Allen, the largest independent public relations agency in Los Angeles.
  • Mia Yamamoto (’66), a defense attorney and civil/human rights activist, received the 2011 John Anson Ford Human Relations Award from the Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations. Yamamoto, who was born Michael Yamamoto in an Arizona internment camp in 1943, accepted the award on behalf of the transgender community.
  • top

1950s

  • Richard Whitney (’58) received the 2011 Chapter Leadership Award from the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame.

In Memoriam

  • Wayne Paul Alley, emeritus professor of biology, taught courses in statistics, freshwater biology and general biology.
  • Charles Britton (’58) was a longtime newspaper writer and editor for many Southern California newspapers, including the Daily Breeze. He also served as a political strategist within Los Angeles.
  • Harry C. Coffin was emeritus professor of geography and meteorology.
  • Headshot of Mervyn M. DymallyMervyn M. Dymally ('54) was a former teacher and longtime legislator. Dymally's political career included a stint as California's only black lieutenant governor and he served in both houses of the Legislature and Congress.
  • Willis Edwards ('74) was a civil rights advocate and driving force behind the Image Awards as leader of the Beverly Hills-Hollywood branch of the NAACP.
  • Headshot of Lloyd Ferguson.Lloyd Noel Ferguson, a professor emeritus of chemistry, was a celebrated author and pioneer in helping eliminate racial barriers for African Americans in the field of chemistry. The quad between La Kretz Hall and Wing B of the Wallis Annenberg Integrated Sciences Complex at CSULA was dedicated in his honor as the Ferguson Courtyard in 2011.
  • Norman Fruman, emeritus professor of Language Arts. His controversial biography of poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Coleridge, the Damaged Archangel, made waves in the literary community.
  • Lawrence “Larry” Haun (’69) spent a lifetime building houses and writing articles and books that taught others how to make them. His recently published memoir, A Carpenter’s Life as Told by Houses, discusses his life as a carpenter and philosopher.
  • Jackie Lou Hoyt ('60 M.A.), emerita professor of physical education, was an outdoor education specialist and developed the University's women's and co-ed intercollegiate athletics program.
  • Teresa Hughes, a former professor of education, enjoyed a long and varied career in the public sector as a social worker, teacher and school administrator. She served as a Democratic state senator and assemblywoman in the Los Angeles area.
  • George Elmer Jakway, associate professor emeritus of biology, taught courses in general zoology and biology.
  • Hendrik Keyzer, emeritus professor of chemistry, was a pioneer in the fields of bioelectrochemistry and organic semiconductors. He received an Outstanding Professor Award in 1984 and was named a Trustees’ Outstanding Professor in 1987.
  • Ronald S. Lemos, emeritus professor of information systems, was the former dean of the College of Business and Economics.
  • Malcolm McMclain, emeritus professor of art, taught courses in ceramics and painting and served as chair of the Art Department, associate dean and the acting dean of the College of Arts and Letters.
  • Fernando B. Morinigo, emeritus professor of physics, taught for 28 years at CSULA before working in the private sector as an engineer for Hughes Aircraft Company and then as chief corporate scientist at Aura Systems, Inc.
  • Anthony Joseph Moye, emeritus professor of chemistry, taught courses in organic chemistry and served as dean of graduate studies and dean of academic planning. He eventually became vice chancellor for academic affairs at CSU.
  • Diana Munatones (’70,’71 M.A.) had a distinguished career in media, working her way up in English and Spanish network television to become the Director of Community Broadcast Relations at KNXT and Director of Special Projects for CBS Inc.
  • Lisa O’Connor (’73 ’75 M.A.) worked as a licensed speech pathologist in Los Angeles and the Bay Area. She also was an associate professor and director of the Speech-Language Clinic at CSULA.
  • Headshot of Harry PachonHarry Pachon (’67, ’68 M.A.), longtime president of the Tomas Rivera Policy Institute at University of Southern California and former CSULA professor, was a scholar, educator and activist for the Latino community. He was the first director of National Association of Latino Elected Officials and was chief of staff to Latino congressman Edward Roybal.
  • Ignacia Ramirez ('86) worked for more than 30 years for the Department of Justice, retiring from the Los Angeles office in 1972.
  • William Henry Reid, III, (’60, ’67 M.S.) had a long career with the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department before retiring from the Administrative Division in 1984.
  • Charlene Sankey, administrative support coordinator for the Department of Marketing, worked in various departments at Cal State L.A. for more than 40 years.
  • Etta Sheldrick ('71) taught English for nearly 20 years in the Los Angeles Unified School District at Wilson, Roosevelt and Belmont high schools, where she founded a computer lab.
  • Yutaka Shimizu ('55) was a well-regarded high school basketball coach in Los Angeles. While head coach at Hamilton High School, he trained future UCLA All-American Sidney Wicks.
  • Susan Gilmore Steiner, former director of research and sponsored programs, established the Susan G. Steiner Graduate Student Scholarship.
  • Dorothy Townsend (’60) broke barriers in a lengthy career as a reporter for the Los Angeles Times. Townsend fought to be re-assigned from the “women’s pages” to the city room and served on the team that won a Pulitzer Prize in 1966 for the Times’ coverage of the Watts riots.
  • Antonio Velasquez (’00 M.A.) worked for 24 years as a civil engineer for the California Department of Transportation and the Parsons Corporation in Pasadena.
  • Edward Vincent ('66) was mayor of Inglewood for 12 years before serving in the state Legislature as a senator and assemblyman. He briefly played for the Los Angeles Rams in the late 1950s until a knee injury ended his football career.
  • Robert “Bob” Wasserman (’63), former Fremont police chief, served on the City Council for nearly 20 years and as mayor since 2004.
  • top