THE NEWS OF CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, LOS ANGELES SUMMER 1997

CAL STATE L.A.

Fifty Years

CALIFOR-CALIFORNIA

STATE UNIVERSITY,

LOS ANGELES

Fifty Yearsof Excellence

Cal State L.A.’s 50th Commencement exercises honored Billie Jean King and Michael Feinstein, (top, center), featured thelargest group of gifted youngsters in the history of the University’s Early Entrance Program (second row, center) and recalledthe first graduating class of 1948 (bottom, l.-r.): Donald G. Douglas, Donald C. Eugster, Richard J. Hoffman, Raynolds Johnson,Charles J. Maher, Maria L. Montoya and Ohma A. Taylor.

in this area was enhanced by his appren-ticeship to Ira Gershwin, whom Feinsteinassisted until his mentor’s death in 1983.

Feinstein’s published contributionsto the body of American musicology andmusic history are numerous and widelypraised, and include his autobiography,which has been called “a personal andrevealing look at the golden age of Ameri-can popular song and musical theater.”

Feinstein has been called “a re-markable performance talent” byLondon’s Punch and “a phenomenon!”by the New Yorker magazine. The LosAngeles Times calls him “brilliant,” hispiano and vocal performance “the stuffof legend.”

Michael Feinstein’s contribution toeducational institutions has been con-sistent over many years. His affiliationwith Cal State L.A.’s Friends of Musichas resulted both directly and indirectlyin the creation of numerous musicscholarships and programs, includingthe George and Ira Gershwin Scholar-ship, the Harry Warren Foundation, theMichael Feinstein Scholarship andCompetition, and others. A benefit con-cert he performed in 1990 resulted inmajor support for Cal State L.A. thatcontinues today, both in terms of fundsand friends for the University.

On June 14, the class of 1997 washonored with a moving and heartfeltsong from Michael Feinstein, just afterthe musician himself was honored.Feinstein received the Cal State L.A./CSU honorary degree of Doctor of FineArts in recognition of his extraordinaryachievements and dedication to the per-petuation of American music, and hissupport of and advocacy for CaliforniaState University, Los Angeles.

2

The News of California State University, Los Angeles

published three times a year foralumni and friends of the University

EditorCarol Selkin

Contributing EditorMary Kacmarcik Baker

Contributing WritersJacqueline Mejia

Margie Yu

Design/GraphicsDavid F. McNuttYuri Watanabe

PhotographyStan Carstensen

Editorial Board

Mary Kacmarcik BakerExecutive Director of Alumni Relations

Carol M. DunnDirector of

Intercollegiate Athletics

Carol SelkinDirector of Public Information/

Editorial Services

David F. McNutt , Executive Director,Publications/Public Affairs

Kyle C. Button , Vice Presidentfor Institutional Advancement

Published by:The Office of Publications/Public Affairs

Forward inquiries and submissions to:

Cal State L.A.Office of Publications/Public Affairs

5151 State University Drive,Los Angeles, CA 90032-8580

Voice: (213) 343-3050Fax: (213) 343-6405

E-mail: cselkin@cslanet.calstatela.edu

http://www.calstatela.edu/

special event of the University’s50th Commencement exercises

was the conferral of honorary doctor-ates by President James M. Rosserand CSU Trustee William Houck ontwo individuals who have made anextraordinary contribution to Ameri-can life, the CSU and Cal StateL.A.— pianist Michael Feinstein andalumna Billie Jean King. Only fourother honorary doctorates have beenawarded by Cal State L.A./CSU toCongressman Gus Hawkins, alumniJaime Escalante and Billy Barty, andCSU Trustee Claudia Hampton(posthumous).

Billie Jean King

The kickoff of the University’syear-long 50th anniversary celebrationbrought honored alumna Billie JeanKing back to campus. King received theCal State L.A./CSU honorary degree ofDoctor of Humane Letters in recogni-tion of her many achievements in theworld arena of athletics and for the dis-tinction those accomplishments havebrought to her alma mater.

King, who attended the Universityfrom 1961 to 1965, is widely recognizedas one of the top ten women in thehistory of athletics. In 1962, when shewas 18 years old, King upset the world’sleading women’s tennis player atWimbledon and went on to garner thathonor herself. King won the prestigiousWimbledon title 20 times and the U.S.crown 5 times. She was the number one-ranked women’s tennis player in theworld no fewer than five times between1966 and 1972, and was ranked in thetop ten in the world for a total of 17 years.

King’s pursuit of gender equity intennis, in athletics, in politics and insociety at large is legendary. A found-ing member of the Women’s Tennis As-sociation, the Women’s Sports Founda-tion, and both the professional and rec-reational leagues of World Teamtennis,her outspoken support for better treat-ment of women tennis players was in-strumental in increasing the popular-ity of women’s tennis around the world.Her advocacy for athletics forums inwhich men and women competeagainst each other “on a level playingfield,” led to the development of WorldTeamtennis, a model program that hasbeen used in other sports.

King became a charter member of theIntercollegiate Tennis Association’sWomen’s Collegiate Hall of Fame in 1995.In 1990, she was inducted into the Na-tional Women’s Hall of Fame and, thatyear, a special issue of Life Magazinenamed her one of the “100 Most Impor-tant Americans of the 20th Century.”

She serves on the Board of Directorsfor the National AIDS Fund, the EltonJohn AIDS Foundation, and as nationalambassador for A.I.M.—a charity forchildren with handicaps. She has beenactive in her support and fund-raising ac-tivities for numerous CSU campuses.

The late Arthur Ashe has describedBillie Jean King as “the most importanttennis player, male or female, of the lastfifty years,” and called her “rare in com-bining unquestionable brilliance andsuccess as a tennis player with the pas-sion of a crusader for justice.”

Michael Feinstein

A student and proponent of Ameri-can popular vocal music, pianist and vo-calist Michael Feinstein has devoted hislife to the study of the classic Ameri-can song. His dedication to the perpetu-ation of this aspect of American culturebegan early, and is no less remarkablebecause it is self-taught. His education

as an L.A. State student. “They wereinterested in enrolling eligible students,and I was definitely eligible, since I wastransferring with over 90 units.

“There were only about 100students enrolled then,” Mariarecollects, “and most of us wereeducation majors,” says Maria. At theend of the year, and proud of itsaccomplishments, L.A. State wanted toshow the world it was “official.” Itsought out its students who hadcompleted the required units forgraduation—“I had about 190 units. Atany rate, I knew I had completed 120units, which was all that was necessaryfor graduation then [on the semestersystem]. But I hadn’t actually declared amajor. Mrs. Martin spent hoursresearching what other colleges inthe area offered, then discovered Iwas eligible as a Liberal Studies

Campus News

Lost Alumna Finds Cal State L.A.

A

CAL STATE L.A.

Honorary Doctorates Awarded to Billie Jean King andMichael Feinstein

Class of 1948 “originals,” Ray Johnson and MariaMontoya Cook, at 1997 Commencement (top) andin their yearbook photos (bottom).

t the same time Cal State L.A.’sAlumni Relations and Public Af-

fairs offices were searching for “origi-nal” alumni, Maria Montoya Cook wascoming to the realization that it mustbe close to the 50th anniversary of hergraduating class—the class of ’48.

Even the best World Wide Websearch engines can’t help whensomeone’s name has changed. So the“sleuths” at Cal State L.A. were despair-ing of finding the only woman from ourfirst graduating class when Maria—whohasn’t been Maria Montoya since 1951,when she married Robert W. Cook—decided to call Cal State L.A., to the staffmembers’ great surprise and delight.

An extraordinarily young highschool graduate, Maria began her pathto higher education at Mount SaintMary’s College in Los Angeles at the ageof 16. She was pursuing a triple majorof Music, English and Social Studies in1946, when an illness forced her to puther education on hold for part of a year.Later that summer, she says, “I wasexcited to see an article in the old L.A.Herald that this new school—L.A.State—was being organized and wasoffering education classes. I thought—this is my chance to go back to school!”

The L.A. City College campus, onwhich the new four-year college wasstarting, was close to home. Maria wentto the campus to investigate and metMarie Martin, registrar of the new col-lege and the woman who became amentor and friend throughout her time

major, with concentrations in English,Music and Philosophy. I also had aSocial Studies minor.”

Maria stayed on at L.A. State to pur-sue a teaching credential. She com-pleted her student teaching during LosAngeles Unified School District’s sum-mer session and was teaching by the fallof 1949 at Glen Martin School in the En-terprise School District.

Maria began teaching bilingualkindergarten and first grade “beforethere were any bilingual programsoffered,” she laughs. After taking sometime out to raise two sons and a daugh-ter during the ’70s, Maria went back toschool at Cal State Fullerton for furthercertification in bilingual teaching. Itwas as a “bilingual, bicultural special-ist” that she retired last year fromthe Santa Ana school district after alifetime of teaching.

At Cal State L.A.’s 50th Com-mencement exercises on June 14, thecrowd roared with delight as AlumniAssociation President Bob McDermottintroduced Maria and classmateRaynolds “Ray” Johnson, calling theevent “their 50th class reunion.” Partof the official procession, Ray and Mariaparticipated in the day’s historic eventswearing the traditional cap and gown.They are both as spirited, outstandingand singular now as they were 50 yearsago, when they represented the firstgraduating class of what has nowbecome California State University,Los Angeles.

A

Michael Feinstein Billie Jean King

3

Largest Group of EarlyEntrants Part of 50th Graduat-ing Class

This year, at the event of our half-century mark, the University’s 50thCommencement features anothermilestone—the largest graduatingclass of students from Cal State L.A.’sEarly Entrance Program (EEP). On June14, more than a dozen “EEPsters” hadgraduated during the 1996-97 aca-demic year, out of a record 40 studentsin the current program.

The EEP—the only one of its kindin the nation—has grown steadilysince its introduction on campus in1983. Modeled after that of theUniversity of Washington, the CalState L.A. EEP admits extraordinarilygifted youngsters—some as young as11—directly into college and providesmonitored evaluation, regular counsel-ing sessions, and the opportunity tostudy with like-minded peers.

“Nearly all of our students go onto do graduate work—many at thiscountry’s most prestigious schools,”says program director Richard Maddox(Psychology).

The students all say that theyrelish the challenge that comes withcourse work appropriate to theirabilities and feel comfortable witholder college students, with whomthey can discuss mutual interests.And they definitely enjoy eachother’s company. We’ll introduce youto a few of the students in the EarlyEntrance graduating class of ‘97:

Ajay GoudAge at entry: 15 (1993)Current age: 19

Calling himself a latecomer tothe program, Ajay was a 15-year-oldstudent at Edison High School inHuntington Beach when he decided tojoin Cal State L.A.’s EEP. He had heardabout the program from friend andparticipant, Nipa Ved, who alsograduated from Cal State L.A. thisyear. “I felt I was intellectually readyfor college,” says Ajay. “I was alwaysstriving to go a little farther. He arranged

he “milestone” Class of ’97 comprised nearly 4,000 under-graduates—a few more than the original seven who walked in

procession on the Los Angeles City College campus at the one-year-old Los Angeles State College’s first graduation. It reflected awider diversity of students of every age, culture, and field of inter-est than anyone ever imagined a half-century ago. It comprised morethan 1,000 graduate students (L.A. State had to wait until 1952 tohonor its first master’s degree recipients) and a record number of

to meet some of the “EEPsters.” “Iwas a little worried that I’d be losingthe most memorable time of my life,”he recalls. He came away reassured.“I saw that the students there weren’tgiving up their ‘childhood’—they stillwent to the movies and did otherthings kids do.”

Although he chose a tough pre-med path, Ajay did in fact find time forthe things he liked. A guitar player, hemet with other students—not allEEPsters—regularly to jam (“nothingprofessional,” he insists). More seriouswas his involvement with the Univer-sity Times, the student newspaper forwhich he began as a reporter and gradu-ated to editor of Arts and Entertain-ment. “I’ve always had an interest inEnglish, and creative writing espe-cially. This was a good opportunity forme to combine my talent in writingand my love of music,” he says.

In February of this year, Ajay wasselected as the male recipient of theUniversity’s prestigious Eagles’ PrideHomecoming Award. The new tradi-tion that replaces the Homecomingking and queen awards is based on dem-onstrated academic excellence andcommunity service and carries a $1,000prize. The selection process involvesan essay and interviews, and Ajay re-ceived his award from President Rosserat a special Homecoming ceremony.

In the immediate future, Ajay hopesto go to medical school or enter apostbaccalaureate or master’s programgeared to medical students, and eithercoast will do. “Location doesn’t matter,”he says, “as long as I can reach my goal.”

Paul GowderAge at entry: 14 (1993)Current age: 17

“I knew way back that I was in-terested in politics and law,” says Paul,one of the more outgoing EEPsters. Oncampus at 14, Paul began working hisway toward law school with a packedschedule of classes during every one ofthe University’s four quarters—with no

summer breaks. “Paul’s one of thoserare students in this day and age whohas made it through college in less thanfour years,” enthuses Richard Maddox,Early Entrance Program director, whoadds, “He’s a real achiever—he scored175 out of 180 on the LSAT!”

Commuting from his home in SanPedro, Paul laughed when asked whathe did in his leisure time—“I have freetime?” he asked, rhetorically. This fall,he will be attending Harvard law schoolat an age when most of his contempo-raries are starting their college careers.Is he worried about making the adjust-ment to living so far from home, in an-other—and much colder—climate?“Quite the opposite!,” says Paul with atinge of British around the edges of hisspeech picked up from his mother, a na-tive of England. “I’ve lived in lots ofplaces,” says the Arizona-born teen.

This summer, Paul will take sometime to visit relatives in England. Then,after three grueling years at Harvard,does he intend to enter the law profes-sion? “I’m hoping for a clerkship some-where,” he says. “And I intend to be alawyer and a politician,” he good-naturedly reminds the interviewer.

Jennifer JungAge at entry: 13 (1990)Current age: 19

Jenny is making the EEP programat Cal State L.A. a family tradition. Herolder brother, Tim—an EEPster whograduated in 1994—was one of theUniversity’s rare triple majors (physics-math-computer science). Like herbrother, Jenny has a wide variety of in-terests, but unlike him, her interestsextend from the sciences to the arts.

A biology major with an originalfocus on medical school, Jenny is adedicated writer of poetry (she waspresident of the Creative Writing Clubfor three years). She has been on theeditorial board of the EnglishDepartment’s literary magazine, State-

ment, and her workhas been published inthat venerable journalas well as in nationalpoetry magazines.

“Science was al-ways pretty importantto me, but lately I’vebeen rethinking medschool,” says Jenny,who is still set on a ca-reer in the sciences,“possibly something inthe area of physio-psy-chology,” she says.She’s taking some timeout to think about it,though. This summershe hopes to travel inthe western U.S. “I

think it will help me focus on what Ireally want to do,” she explains.

Nandan “Dan” LadAge at entry: 13 (1993)Current age: 17

Dan was in the 10th grade at SanMarino High when he heard about theEarly Entrance Program. Was it diffi-cult to switch from high school to col-lege? “Coming to Cal State L.A. wasthe best decision I ever made!” saysDan firmly. It’s clear that Dan had notrouble getting involved in campuslife—he joined the Circle K communityservice club in his freshman year, wasthat organization’s vice president, andhas also served as vice president of theUniversity’s General Education Hon-ors Program for two years.

Interested in research, Dan wasable to study closely with, and com-plete projects under, biology professorsHoward Rosen (genetic studies ofchlamydomonas, an algae) and Marga-ret Jefferson (plant protein analysis). Inhis spare time, he played tennis andbasketball and continued to practicethe flute—something he’s been doingfor the past seven years. Last August,Dan took the MCAT exam and appliedto a number of medical schools. He re-ports that he has already been inter-viewed by USC and Dartmouth.

Ryan MontgomeryAge at entry: 14 (1992)Current age: 19

At High Desert Junior High Schoolin Acton, Ryan was an excellent stu-dent and captain of the math team.“We really didn’t have a budget for hon-ors classes. There was math honors—Iwas in that—but no English honors.”After taking the Washington Pre-Col-lege Exam (the test that qualifies stu-dents for the EEP) the next step for

T

Commencement 1997exceptional undergrads who are so young that they might under-standably be mistaken for high school seniors.

On June 14, our 50th Commencement presented educated indi-viduals who have enjoyed the benefits of a 50-year history of excel-lence and achievement coupled with the University’s vision for thefuture. Armed with this legacy and vision, we are certain that theClass of ’97 is to meet the challenges and reap the wonders of thenext millennium.

Front row (l.-r.): Ryan Mongomery, Nipa Ved, Irene Oh,Kim Engie, Julia Rodriguez, Jenny Jung, ChristopherPersaud. Back row (l-r): Paul Gowder, Nandan Lad,Mahmoud Traina, Ajay Goud, and Jacob Lister.back row (l.-r.)

Campus News

—continued next page

4

Charter School of Education “Class of ’97" Feted

Ryan was to enroll at Cal State L.A.Ryan’s main problem was a longcommute; his solution was to livepart of the week with his grandpar-ents in Sierra Madre.

Given his talent for math, Ryanhad originally thought of studyingengineering but found the humanitiesmore to his liking. He graduated as anEnglish major, with an interest in writ-ing. Now Ryan plans to “take a yearoff to write a novel.” Recently intro-duced to the possibilities of a career inpublic relations, he is also consideringan internship in the company of a fam-ily friend, which would give himhands-on experience in that field.

Julia RodriguezAge at entry: 14 (1992)Current age: 18

About the time Julia was set tograduate as class valedictorian atEpiphany Catholic Junior High Schoolin South El Monte, she heard about CalState L.A.’s Early Entrance Program. Shereceived a scholarship to San GabrielMission High and chose to start there inthe fall of 1992, also attending Cal StateL.A. part time through EEP. After threemonths in high school, she switchedpermanently to Cal State L.A. “I neverreally did fit in [in high school]—evenin junior high, I was always a bit toosmart—a bit too grown up.”

Always a lover of books, Juliachose to major in English. A linguis-tics class with professor RosemaryHake sparked her interest in that area.

She still talks about studying lin-guistics, although she’s decided to putoff graduate school “for a while.” Aphotography class with associateprofessor Jack Butler led to an abidinginterest in photography and a studentassistantship in the Art department’sphotography lab.

The youngest of three sisters, Juliais very proud of her own and her sib-lings’ achievements. “My oldest sisterwas the first person in my father’s fam-ily to graduate from college,” says Julia.“My parents were born in Mexico andhave the equivalent of a sixth-gradeeducation, but they’ve always stressedthe importance of education for mysisters and me.” Fully bilingual, Juliawas interviewed by the Fontana SchoolDistrict at Cal State L.A.’s EducationExpo last April.

On June 14, Julia took the CBEST(statewide test for prospective teachers)and missed her own graduation. She wasjust notified that she passed with flyingcolors. This fall, Julia will just possiblybe the youngest teacher in California!

Mahmoud TrainaAge at entry: 13 (1993)Current age: 17

A dedicated fan of professionalsports, Mahmoud is also an active par-ticipant in many sports himself, chiefamong them basketball and soccerwhich he manages to play “aboutthree to four times a week.” With hisEEP friends Dan, Nipa and Ajay, he hasbeen involved in much community

E

Early Entrance Graduates — continued from page 3

(front row, l-r) Ivelisse Topete, JenniferMurillo, Karen Sands, Rona Robinson,Leslie A. Jones, Sandra Halajian, LornaMartin, (back row, l-r) Gary A. Best, as-sociate dean of Student Services, Char-ter School of Education, CarynBontems, Michael Donovan, VernaDauterive, member, California Com-mission on Teacher Credentialing andprincipal, Franklin Avenue ElementarySchool, Mary del Palacio, D. PamelaRichard, Andrea Maxie, professor ofEducation, and director, Cal State L.A.Teacher Diversity Partnership Grant.

service through the Circle K serviceclub on campus. But most importantto Mahmoud is medicine; he’s fol-lowed a pre-med path at Cal State L.A.

Mahmoud graduated fromMulholland Junior High in Van Nuys,finished ninth grade as an honor studentat Birmingham High School, then

Campus News

The University thanks the steadfast sponsors of theSolar Eagle III — this is your victory too!Major corporate sponsors of the Solar Eagle III Project are:

• Automobile Club of Southern California

• Hughes Electronics

• Los Angeles Department of Water and Power

• Lockheed-Martin Corporation

• NASA Langley Research Center

• Southern California Edison

• South Coast Air Quality Management District

• Cal State L.A. University Auxiliary Services

• Cal State L.A. Alumni Association

switched to the EEP at Cal State L.A. “Ithought it was a good opportunity, and Iliked the challenge,” he says. Mahmoudhas already been accepted to medicalschools at UC Davis, USC and UCLA.

It’s not that often California State

University, Los Angeles is mentioned

in the same breath as the intellectually

elite schools of the nation.

But a group of Cal State L.A.

students are proving this week that on

a level playing field they can do quite

well, thank you.

The proof is rolling proudly down

the highways of America on the wheels

of the Solar Eagle III. The sun-powered

car, designed and built

by Cal State L.A.’s

engineering students,

is the school’s entry in

the Sunrayce, an

Indianapolis-to-

Colorado Springs run

sponsored by the

Department of Energy

and General Motors.

At this writing the Solar Eagle

was in first place, having taken the

lead Tuesday from MIT’s Manta GT.

Chasing Cal State L.A. were 38

other entrants including some the

nation’s most prestigious universities:

Yale, Stanford, West Point, Penn State,

Purdue, George Washington, UC

Berkeley.In our competitive and brand-

conscious culture, it is often assumed

that the best and the brightest students

go to the big-name schools. And with

their non-competitive admissions

policies a matter of law, Cal State

schools are often considered the

educational alternative for the

intellectual second string.

But it’s not necessarily so.

A lot of factors influence a young

person’s choice of college. Many

otherwise qualified students don’t

have parents who can afford to send

them to top-rank universities and they

don’t want to start their careers with

an adult-sized mountain of debt.

Others have family responsibilities that

require them to live

at home while they

pursue their higher

education.The members

of the Solar Eagle

team look like our

region. They are

from Pasadena and

Arcadia, Alhambra and Rosemead,

South Gate and Montebello, the

Philippines and El Salvador.

They are smart and they are

proud and they work well together as

a team.We hope the gods of auto racing

smile on them and that they are the

first to see the checkered flag. But it

doesn’t really matter all that much.

They’ve proved that on the front edge

of alternative energy technology and

aerodynamics, they can go axle to axle

with anybody.

They have already won.

EDITORIALEquality in action

Published during Sunrayce 97 and reprinted by permission of the Pasadena Star-News

The members of Cal State L.A.’s

team of ‘Sunraycers’ should take

a bow — and may take the

checkered flag — for competing

against supposedly superior

universities and proving to be

their engineering equals.

Wearing Solar Eagle III t-shirts for the duration of the 10-day race, the staff members in Division of Procurement,Contracts and Support Services show they know what support really means as they cheer our team on to victory!

Support From All Quarters Powers Solar Eagle III

very year, the Charter School ofEducation holds a spring reception

in honor of its “graduates” — studentswho have completed Cal State L.A. cre-dential programs in elementary, sec-ondary and special education. At thesame time, it recognizes those whohave demonstrated exceptional perfor-mance as student teachers. The event ismade possible through the Cal StateL.A. Teacher Diversity PartnershipGrant and the Friends of the CharterSchool of Education support group.

The 1997 Outstanding StudentTeacher awardees pictured here are

Fifty Years

of Excellence

CALIFORNIA

STATE UNIVERSITY,

LOS ANGELES

THE GOLDEN YEARCREATING A LEARNING COMMUNITY FOR THE 21ST CENTURY

50 Notable Alumni

William Anton (’52, ’54 M.A.Education) is former superin-tendent of the Los AngelesUnified School District.

Michael Antonovich ( ’63Social Science, ’67 M.A.Health Science) is a Los Ange-les county supervisor.

William Bamattre (’86 M.S.Public Administration) is chiefengineer and general managerof the Los Angeles City FireDepartment.

David Barclay (’61 PhysicalEducation) is vice president ofworkforce diversity, HughesElectronics Corporation.

Gerald Barnes (’67 PoliticalScience-Public Administra-tion) was recently namedbishop of the Riverside/SanBernardino county diocese byPope John Paul II.

Nancy Bitting (’83 M.S. HealthCare Management) is CEO forRiverside Community Hospital.

Sherman Block (’68 CriminalJustice) is sherif f of LosAngeles County.

Warren Braverman ( ’62Business Administration—Accounting) is chief financialofficer for Cinergy PicturesEntertainment, Inc.

Garland Burrell, Jr. (’72 So-ciology), a U.S. District Judge,is presiding over the trial ofunabomber suspect TedKaczynski.

Victoria Castro (’73 MexicanAmerican Studies) is a LosAngles Unified School Districtboard member.

Andrew Chao (’62 Chemistry)is vice president of engineeringat Philips Lighting ElectronicsCompany.

Daniel Chamberlain (’57 M.A.Education) is president ofHoughton College in NewYork.

George Cotliar (’61 Journalism)recently retired as senior vicepresident and executive editorof the Los Angeles Times.

Fermin Cuza (’71 BusinessAdministration) is vice presi-dent of International Tradeand Government Affairs forMattel Toys.

Tim Dong (’64 Psychology)is president of Mira CostaCollege in San Diego County.

Samuel Durrance (’72, ’74M.S., Physics) is a NASA astro-naut and research scientist atJohns Hopkins University; hehas been payload specialist onthe space shuttles Columbiaand Endeavour.

Mervyn Dymally (’54 Educa-tion) is former lieutenantgovernor of the State ofCalifornia.

Sue Kunitomi Embrey (’69 En-glish) is co-founder and chair ofthe Manzanar Committee, andspearheaded the efforts to haveManzanar recognized as aNational Historic Site.

Mark Kroeker (’70 CriminalJustice) is deputy chief ofthe Los Angeles Police De-partment.

Florence LaRue (’66 Education)is a noted vocalist and a mem-ber of the Grammy Award-win-ning singing group, Fifth Di-mension.

Michael Lucki, (’78 BusinessAdministration—Accounting)is an Ernst & Young nationalpartner.

Thomas V. McKernan, Jr. (’81Business Administration/Information Systems, ’85M.S., Business Administra-tion–Finance) is president andCEO of the Automobile Clubof Southern California.

Manuel Mollinedo (’70 Recre-ation, ’72 Anthropology, ’76M.S. Recreation) is director ofthe Los Angeles Zoo.

Sharon Morris (’76 HomeEconomics) is deputy mayorof the City of Los Angeles.

James Newton (’81 Music),is a noted jazz and classicalflutist, composer and re-cording artist.

Adriana C. Ocampo (’83 Geol-ogy) has worked on JPL Viking,Voyager, Galileo, Mars Ob-server and Hermes projects.She was the first scientist torecognize that Yucatan sink-holes are related to a buriedcrater whose impact may haveled to the extinction of thedinosaurs. A student pilot, shehas applied to become a SpaceShuttle mission specialist.

6

Jaime Escalante (’73, ’77 M.A.,Education) is a noted math edu-cator whose success on behalfof his Los Angeles students wasrecognized in the movie, Standand Deliver.

James Galbraith (’60 Journal-ism), former senior vicepresident of Corporate Affairsfor Hilton Hotels Corporation,is a member of the ConradN. Hilton Foundation board.

Barry Gordon (’86 PoliticalScience) is an actor andformer president of theScreen Actor’s Guild.

Michael S. Harper (’61, ’63M.A., English), elected to theAmerican Academy of Arts andSciences in 1995, is UniversityProfessor at Brown Universityand was the first poet laureateof Rhode Island (1988-1993).

James D. Hornbuckle (’64Physics), former regional vicepresident, Southern CaliforniaEdison, is interim dean, Schoolof Hotel and RestaurantManagement, Cal Poly Pomona.

John Huerta (’65 Political Sci-ence) is chief legal counsel forthe Smithsonian Institution.

Lillian Kawasaki (’72, ’80 M.S.,Biology) is director of the depart-ment of environmental affairsfor the City of Los Angeles.

Billie Jean King (att. ’61-’65),with 20 Wimbledon titles toher credit, is one of the all-timetennis greats. Her support ofwomen tennis players in-creased the popularity ofwomen’s tennis worldwide.

William Anton Michael Antonovich Sherman Block Fermin Cuza Tim Dong

Samuel Durrance Jaime Escalante James Galbraith Barry Gordon Michael S. Harper

Lillian Kawasaki Billie Jean King Mark Kroeker Florence LaRue

50 Notable Alumni

Editor’s Note: Cal State L.A.’s strong aca-demic reputation is reflectedby the quality of the alumni ithas produced over the past 50years. With more than 120,000alumni worldwide, the Univer-sity can proudly point to itsshare of “notable alumni.” Tolist all alumni who have madean impact in their respectivefields would be a daunting task,and we are further constrainedby limited space. Therefore, we have made anattempt to list 50 alumni whoreflect the diverse fields inwhich they have gained promi-nence. We have also taken theopportunity, further on in thispublication, to highlight 50recent alumni whose careersare no less notable for being intheir early stages. Neither listis definitive by any means.Nevertheless, these alumni allrepresent the positive effect aCal State L.A. education canhave on one’s life. We apologize to all of theexceptional alumni whosenames we were not able tolist at this time, and welcomeadditional suggestions to ourlist for publication in a futureissue of Cal State L.A. Today.

6

— Continued after center spread

Ron Okum ( ’63 PhysicalEducation, ’70 M.A. Healthand Safety) will be presidentof the Tournament of RosesAssociation in the year 2002.

Jeffrey Otten (’73 Psychology)i s C E O o f B r i g h a m a n dWomen’s Hospital in Boston.

Alice Petrossian (’69 SpeechCommunication, ’80 M.A.Education–School Admin-istration) is the director ofIntercultural Education forthe Glendale Unified SchoolDistrict and recently waselected president of the Cali-fornia Community Collegeboard of governors.

Philip J. Quigley (’67 BusinessAdministration–Marketing) ischairman of the board, presi-dent and CEO of PacificTelesis Group.

Edward Riegler (’63 SocialScience, ’65 M.A. History) washonored as 1994 CaliforniaTeacher of the Year.

Lucille Roybal-Allard (’65Speech Communication) is amember of the U.S. House ofRepresentatives.

Wesley Ru (’78 Business Ad-ministration–Marketing) ispresident and CEO of WesternBadge and Trophy Company.

Donald Sterling (’56 History) isthe owner of the Los AngelesClippers.

• Cal State L.A. is in the top 20 of the nation’s “master’s colleges and universities” in thenumber of baccalaureate graduates who go on to receive doctoral degrees in science andengineering, according to a 1997 National Science Foundation report.

• Cal State L.A.’s faculty boasts 12 recipients of the California State University system’sprestigious Trustees’ Outstanding Professor Award — more than any other CSU campus.

• Cal State L.A. was the first CSU campus to enter the field of nuclear physics.

• Cal State L.A. established the first Chicano Studies Department in the nation in 1969.

• Cal State L.A. established the first university retailing center on the West Coast in 1980.

• Cal State L.A. was first in the CSU system to establish a child care center on campus; the AnnaBing Arnold Child Care Center now serves 90 children per quarter, from 2 to 8 years old.

• Cal State L.A.’s Charter School of Education is the first and only such school of highereducation in the country. It is one of the largest producers of teachers in California andis the state’s largest preparer of bilingual teachers.

• The Department of Nursing’s Acute Care Pediatric Nurse Practitioner option in themaster’s program, established in 1997, is the first in the CSU system.

• Cal State L.A’s Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Information Systems, offered bythe School of Business and Economics, was the first of its kind in Los Angeles (1988).

• Cal State L.A.’s Master of Music in Commercial Music was the first such degree in thenation approved for listing by the National Association of Schools of Music (1990).

• Cal State L.A.’s first solar-powered car, the Solar Eagle, placed first among Californiaentrants—and fourth nationwide—in the 1990 GM Sunrayce USA, beating solar carsfrom such prestigious universities as Stanford and MIT. It was the only solar car onexhibition at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles from the museum’sopening in 1994 through April 1997.

• Solar Eagle II, the University’s solar car that placed third in the national Sunrayce 93competition, will be on permanent exhibition at the newly-redesigned California Mu-seum of Science and Industry.

• Business Forum, established by the School of Business and Economics in 1975, is theCSU’s only national quarterly refereed business journal.

Michael Lucki Thomas V. McKernan, Jr. Sharon Morris Ron Okum Jeffrey Otten

Alice Petrossian Philip J. Quigley Edward Riegler Lucille Roybal-Allard

Wesley Ru Kent Twitchell Diane Watson Julia Wu

George Strang (’65 MechanicalEngineering) is vice presidentof transmission and storageoperations for the SouthernCalifornia Gas Company.

Richard Thomas (’67 Voca-tional Education) is executivevice president of the AcuraDivision for American HondaMotor Company.

Kent Twitchell (’72, ’77 M.A.,Art) is widely known for hisgiant murals which can be seenalong the freeways and streetsof Los Angeles.

Joseph Wambaugh (’60, ’68M.A., English ) is a prominentnovelist and author of 15books, including The NewCenturions, The Choirboys,The Onion Field and Floaters.

Diane Watson ( ’67 M.S.Counseling) is a Californiastate senator.

Julia Wu (’75 M.A. Education)i s a member o f the LosAngeles Community CollegeDistrict board of trustees.

Eric Yeldell (’74 CriminalJustice) is executive vicepresident of legal affairs forFox Broadcasting Company.

Ruben Zacarias (’73 M.A.Education), former deputysuperintendent, is the newsuperintendent of the L.A.Unified School District.

The First—The Most—The Only—The Top!

7

17

June 1952

First master’s degrees awarded.

May 1955

Groundbreaking for new campus. (7a,b)

1957

First L.A. State time capsule sealed incornerstone of Administration building(now Student Affairs).

Fall 1958

Ten buildings completed at new site;first classes offered at new campus. (8)

Fall 1959

First freshmen enter.

First L.A. State telecourse—20thCentury American Novel—offered overKCOP Channel 13.

1961-2

Distinguished Visiting Professor ofEnglish: Christopher Isherwood, notedauthor (his Berlin Stories was the basisfor the Broadway musical and filmCabaret).

June 1962

Albert Graves becomes president. (9)

Sept. 1962

North Hall opens.

1962-3

Distinguished Visiting Professor ofEngl ish: Dorothy Parker, wr i ter,member of the Algonquin Round Table.

June 1963

First Commencement at new site.

Sept. 1963

Franklyn A. Johnson assumespresidency. (10)

Jan. 1964

L.A. State College officially renamedCalifornia State College at LosAngeles (CSCLA) and becomes partof the California State College (CSC)system.

1964

Solomon Diamond, professor ofpsychology, selected as one of the firsttwo recipients of the systemwide(1963-64) Outstanding ProfessorAward given by the California StateCollege Board of Trustees. (11)

1965

Football team ranked # 1 nationally. (12)

College Times named best newspaperby California Intercollegiate Press.

1966

Hudson Roysher, professor of art,named 1965-66 CSC Trus tees ’Outstanding Professor. (13)

May 1966

John A. Greenlee named president. (14)

1967

California State College, Los Angelesconverts to quarter system.

Sept. 1968

South Tower and South Hall arecompleted.

First child care center in the CSC systemopens on the Cal State L.A. campus.

Sept. 1969

North Hall renamed King Hall inmemory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Nov. 1969

John F. Kennedy Library completed anddedicated.

1969

N a t i o n ’s f i r s t C h i c a n o S t u d i e sdepartment established at Cal State L.A.

1970

Alumni Associat ion donates theAlumni Carillon.

Joseph Casanova, Jr., professor ofchemistry, named 1969-70 CSCTrustees’ Outstanding Professor. (15)

1971

Gilbert Geis, professor of sociology,n a m e d 1 9 7 0 - 7 1 C S C Tr u s t e e s ’Outstanding Professor. (16)

1972

State College system becomes TheCali fornia State Universi ty andColleges (CSUC). California StateCollege Los Angeles achievesuniversity status and henceforth isknown officially as California StateUniversity, Los Angeles.

1973

Alumni Association donates the JohnA. Greenlee Fountain and Grove.

Author Joseph Wambaugh receivesfirst Outstanding Alumnus award.

A short history of California StateUniversity, Los Angeles...

1770

Franciscan missionaries settle on thegreen hillside that is now the home ofCal State L.A. (1)

1850s

Basque rancher Juan Bautista Batzacquires the area through a Spanishland grant (2a) and names it RanchoRosa Castilla for the wild rose growingnear the ranch house. (2b)

Sept. 1947

Los Angeles State Collegefounded by an Act of the Californialegislature and opens for classes onthe campus of Los Angeles CityCollege (3); P. Victor Peterson,LACC president, assumes presidencyof new college as well. (4)

Jack Bradley becomes first studentgovernment president.

1948

First student newspaper, The CollegeTimes, is published.

June 17, 1948

First graduating class. (5)

Sept. 1949

Los Angeles State College becomesLos Angeles State College ofApplied Arts and Sciences, with2,187 students: Howard S. McDonaldis named president. (6)

1975

Business Forum, the CSUC’s onlynational quarterly refereed businessjournal, established by the School ofBusiness and Economics.

May 1975

Cal State L.A.’s current University-Student Union opens. (17)

July 1976

CSUC Board of Trustees approves therenaming of South Tower to SimpsonTower in memory of Floyd R. Simpson,first School of Business and Econom-ics dean; South Hall renamed SalazarHall in honor of slain L.A. Timesjournalist Ruben Salazar. (18)

1977

Jane Sanford Lewis, home economicsprofessor, named 1976-77 CSUCTrustees’ Outstanding Professor. (19)

1978

Harold Goldwhite, professor of chemistry,named 1977-78 CSUC TrusteesOutstanding Professor. (20)

Cal State L.A. track team wins NCAAChampionship, Division II.

Cal State L.A. drops intercollegiatefootball.

Feb., 1978

Cal State L.A. Emeriti Associationfounded.

Sept. 1979

James M. Rosser becomes theUniversity’s sixth president. (21)

2a

1

3

4

6

8

5

12

13

15

11

20

24

7a

M I L E S T O N EM I L E S T O N E

7b

2b

19

16

9

M E M O R I E SM E M O R I E S

8

27

23

1987

Hendrik Keyzer, professor of chemistryand biochemistry, named 1989-90 CSUTrustees’ Outstanding Professor. (26)

Feb. 1987

Bronze statue of Confucius, gift of Republicof China on Taiwan, dedicated. (27)

Sept. 1987

Residential Life Complex Phase II opens. (28)

Oct. 1, 1987

E a r t h q u a k e d a m a g e s c a m p u sstructures; one student fatality.

Nov. 1987

Governor Edmund G. “Pat” BrownInstitute affiliates with, and moves to,Cal State L.A. campus.

1988

Biological Sciences conference roomrenamed for earthquake victim LupeElias-Exposito.

1990

Olga Termini, professor of music, named1989-90 CSU Trustees’ OutstandingProfessor. (29)

June 1990

CSU/CSLA honorary doctorate awardedto educator Jaime Escalante (’73, ’77, ’82)at 43rd Commencement. (30)

Cal State L.A.’s Solar Eagle, the solar-powered electric car designed and builtby Engineering and Technology students,places fourth in the nation and is firstamong Cal i fornia competitors intranscontinental GM Sunrayce USA. (31)

1994

Thomas Onak, professor of chemistry,named 1993-94 CSU Trus t ees ’Outstanding Professor. (34)

Oct. 1994

Cal State L.A.’s Metrolink Station, firstand only commuter rail station on acollege campus, opens.

Nov. 1994

Official opening of Harriet and CharlesLuckman Fine Arts Complex–an 1,100-seat theatre, fine arts gallery and Streetof the Arts–forming the imposing newnorthern gateway to the campus. (35)

1995

Thomas Onak, professor of chemistry,named California Professor of the Yearby the Carnegie Foundation for theAdvancement of Teaching and theCouncil for the Advancement andSupport of Education.

June 1995

CSU/CSLA honorary doctorates awardedto actor alumnus Billy Barty, and(posthumously), CSU Trustee ClaudiaHampton at 48th Commencement.

Wi l l i am A. Cohen, pro fessor o fmarketing, named 1994-95 CSUTrustees’ Outstanding Professor. (36)

Mar. 1995

Alumnus Samuel T. Durrance, (B.S. 72,M.S. 74), physicist and NASA astronaut,participates in the longest shuttle flightto date aboard the Endeavour, carryingwith him the official Cal State L.A.President’s Medallion.

1996

Cal State L.A. becomes first CSUcampus to have a guest quartet inresidence as Anderson Quartet (firstAfrican-American chamber musicensemble to win an in te rna t iona lm u s i c competi t ion) begins i tsassociation with the University.

July 1996

CSU Board of Trustees designates1996 as “Year of the Alumni” andselects Cal State L.A. grad LarryAdamson (‘74) as first “Alumnus of theYear.” (37)

Sept. 1996

Chemistry professor Carlos G. Gutierrezis among the first honorees named byPresident Clinton to receive the newly-established annual Presidential Awardsfor Excellence in Science, Mathematicsand Engineering Mentoring, at a WhiteHouse ceremony. (38)

Dona ld Pau l son , p ro f esso r o fchemistry, named 1994-95 CSUTrustees’ Outstanding Professor. (39)

May 1997

Chemistry professor Donald Paulsonreceives the University’s first President’sDistinguished Professor Award.

June 14, 1997

50th graduating class; CSU/CSLAhonorary doctorates awarded to tennisgreat Billie Jean King (alumna) andpianist/vocalist Michael Feinstein;year-long celebration of 50th anniversary ofthe University’s founding begins.

1991

Phoebe Dea, professor of chemistry, named1990-91 CSU Trustees’ OutstandingProfessor. (32)

Mar. 1992

Salazar Hall reopens after seismic repair.

Rosemarie Marshall, professor ofmicrobiology, named 1992-93 CSUTrustees’ Outstanding Professor. (33)

1992

Phoebe Dea, professor of chemistry,named California Professor of the Yearby the Carnegie Foundation for theAdvancement of Teaching and theCouncil for the Advancement andSupport of Education.

1993

CSU Chancellor and Trustees approvedevelopment of Cal State L.A.’s CharterSchool of Education, creating the first suchschool of higher education in the nation.

June 1993

Solar Eagle II solar car places third, inSunrayce 93.

Sept. 1993

Newly-designed Edward R. RoybalInstitute for Applied Gerontology inSalazar Hall dedicated.

Dedication of Kennedy Library Palmerwing, formerly Library South in memoryof John A. Palmer, vice president foracademic affairs, 1975-80.

1981

Lloyd N. Ferguson, professor ofchemistry, named 1980-81 CSUCTrustees’ Outstanding Professor. (22)

Jan. 1981

Mascot changes f rom Diablo toGolden Eagle; team names changeaccordingly.

1982

CSUC system is officially renamedThe California State University(CSU); each of the (then) nineteen CSUcampuses now carries the designationof “University.”

June 1984

First Residential Life Complex Phase I,on-campus housing, opens.

July 1984

M.F.A. program in Art launched.

University gymnasium site of XXXIII(33rd) Olympiad judo events: Olympicmural, “Olympic Fantasy,” mosaic tilework by William Granizo, unveiled onP.E. building outside west wall. (23)

Sept. 1984

The new Anna Bing Arnold Child CareCenter facility opens.

Oct. 1985

Los Angeles County High School forthe Arts opens on campus. (24)

June 1986

Cal State L.A. kicks off “Festival 40”to commemorate the University’s 40thAnniversary. (25)

25

28

31

22

10

26

33

2934

3537

18

39

30

14

32

36

21

38

9

50 Alumni To Watch

Jose Alvarino (’91 M.A. Edu-cation), a teacher at Feinberg-Fisher Elementary School inMiami Beach, Florida, wasrecently awarded a NationalEndowment for the Humani-ties fellowship.

Olivia Bermudez-Viera (’86Business Administration–Accounting) is supervisor of fi-nancial and energy accountingfor Southern California Edison.

Gonzalo Centeno (’95 French)is a disabilities specialist inCSLA’s Office of Studentswith Disabilities at CaliforniaState University, Los Angeles.

Joseph Carona (’92 M.B.A.) is asecurities settlement accoun-tant for Transamerica Occiden-tal Life Insurance Company.

Valerie Davidson (’94 M.S.Health Care Management) isadministrative director of theSouthern California Psycho-analytic Institute.

Kim Dingle (’89 Art), a risingstar on the California artscene, had a recent exhibitionreviewed in Elle magazine.

Ricardo Espinosa (’94 Mechani-cal Engineering) is a vehicledesign engineer for SolectriaCorporation in Boston.

Luis Franco (’93 Theatre Arts)is an actor and playwright.

David Galaviz (’93 PoliticalScience) is a graduate re-search assistant at UCLAand is working on a master’sdegree at USC.

Chris Greco (’93, ’95 M.A.Music), a jazz saxophonist, hasan album in production.

Ray Grose (’94 Economics) isan economist for the U.S.Department of Labor, Bureauof Labor Statistics.

Duane Grant (’91 BusinessAdministration–Accounting)is senior treasury analyst forPacific Enterprises, the parentcompany of Southern Califor-nia Gas Co.

Der r i ck Hami l ton ( ’ 91Mechanical Engineering) is aregional manager for net-work operations at Pacific Bell.

Katherine Harris (’94 English)is a graduate student at NewYork University and a parale-gal for Hall, Dickler, Kent andFriendman.

Richard Harris (’94 BusinessAdministration) is presidentand CEO of the Caltech Em-ployees Federal Credit Union.

Peter Hong ( ’90 M.B.A.Business Administration) isa personal financial advisorfor American Express Finan-cial Advisors, Inc.

Denean Howard (’87 BusinessAdministration) is an Olympicathlete in track and field whowon a gold medal in 1984 andsilver medals at the 1988 and1992 Olympic games.

Meillian Hwang (’89, ’90 M.A.’91 M.F.A., Art) is a noted art-ist who has exhibited widely.

Michele Jacobs ( ’93 M.A.Special Education) is as anitinerant outreach visionteacher for the State of NorthDakota, an orientation andmobility specialist for the stateschool for the blind and a vio-linist in the greater GrandForks Symphony Orchestra.

Aurora Johnson (’88 SpeechCommunication) owns herown public relations firm.

Debra Johnson (’90 M.A.TESOL) is an English teachingfellow with the U.S. Informa-tion Service at Friedrich SchillerUniversity in Germany.

Erica Johnson (’96 PoliticalScience) attends UCLA lawschool and volunteers as acourt-appointed special advo-cate (CASA) to champion therights and wishes of minorscaught up in the Los AngelesCounty foster care system.

Joel Johnson (’90 Business Ad-ministration–Accounting) isan audit manager for Deloitte& Touche in Salt Lake City.

Maudelyn Johnson (’89 M.A.Latin American Studies)teaches for the Pasadena Uni-fied School District and is thenewest member of the AlumniAssociation board of directors.

Nancy Lee Klueter ( ’ 87Business Administration–Marketing) is vice presidentof exhibitor relations forBuena Vista Pictures Distri-bution.

Paul Lee (’95 English) is a poetand is the editor and publisherof Modern Poetry, an EastwindPress international anthology.

Claudia Lewis (’89 M.S., Ge-ology) received her Ph.D. fromHarvard in 1994 and is aFulbright Fellow at the Uni-versity of Barcelona in Spain.

Daniel C. Loo (’94 ElectricalEngineering) is vice president,Technology, for Powergy inProvidence, Rhode Island.

Cynthia Martel (’90 Biology/Biochemistry) received herPh.D. and M.D. at age 21 fromUSC Medical School; and isnow in residency at USC.

Altaire Maine (’96 Geology)who graduated at 16, is agraduate student at Cal-tech working with JosephKirschvink on the Martianmeteorite ALH84001. He is co-author of a recent article onthat work published in Science.

Dulce Cordero Medina (’87Electrical Engineering) is atechnical consultant for trans-mission and protection withPacific Bell in Los Angeles.

Jessica Muldoon (’92 LiberalStudies) is a senior importspecialist for the U.S. Cus-toms Office.

Mike Neitzke (’92 BusinessAdministration) is vice presi-dent at First Interstate CapitalManagement.

Edna Olivarez-Nguyen (’90Business Administration–Accounting), a tennis star atCal State L.A., is controllerfor Family Services of L.A.

Gina Orozco-Mejia ( ’91Electrical Engineering) is ameasurement technologiesconsultant with SouthernCalifornia Gas Company.

Mary Porterfield (’93 M.A.Education) is a district mentorand department chair of foreignlanguages in the Lynwood Uni-fied School District.

Francis Gary Powers, Jr. (’91Philosophy) is executive direc-tor of the Downtown FairfaxCoalition in Virginia andfounder of the Cold WarMuseum in Washington, D.C.

Lupe Quintana-Whiteman (’90Biology), a top women’s bas-ketball star at Cal State L.A.,is a cytotechnologist at City ofHope Medical Center, Duarte.

Anthony Reese (’91 IndustrialTechnology), who completeda joint M.B.A. and M.S. in En-gineering at MIT’s SloanSchool of Management (Lead-ers in Management program)works in management atHarley Davidson, Milwaukee,Wisconsin.

Jean Sebastian Rioux (’92Political Science) is a graduateteaching assistant at FloridaState University.

Daniel Ross (’86 History, ’92M.A. Special Education) is amentor teacher for the FontanaUnified School District.

Katherine Harris Richard HarrisDerrick Hamilton

Ricardo Espinosa Luis J. Franco Chris Greco Ray Grose

Joseph Corona Valerie DavidsonGonzalo Centerno Olivia Bermudez Viera

10

Hassan Saffouri (’87 M.B.A.) re-cently joined the Minneapolislaw firm of Lindquist & Vennumas an associate in corporate andcommercial litigation.

Juan Salguero (’94 ComputerInformation Systems) is acomputer network engineerfor NASA/JPL.

Shoghig Shahinian (’94 Nurs-ing) is a partnership nurse at theQueen of Angels-HollywoodPresbyterian Medical Center.

Renee Sousa (’93, ’97 M.A.,Music) has recently performedmajor roles in the Opera Pa-cific production of Regina andthe Santa Barbara Grand Op-era production of DonGiovanni.

Olivia Viera (’87 Business Ad-ministration–Accounting) is asupervisor of financial and en-ergy accounting for SouthernCalifornia Edison.

Lynne Whaley (’87 M.S. Nurs-ing ) is senior vice president ofpatient care for Long BeachMemorial Hospital.

Grace White (’84 Theatre Arts,’94 M.B.A. Business Adminis-tration ) is a project consultantfor Hill International, Inc.

Jae Hwa Yoo (’93 M.F.A. Art)is an artist who has exhibitedher work in New York, LosAngeles and Korea.

Sitamon Youssef (’87 English)teacher at Florida A&M andhas just signed a book contractwith the Africa World Press forMarcus Garvey’s FBI File.

• In 1997, Cal State L.A. received the only grant of its kind awarded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Servicesto develop a Model Hispanic Health Careers Opportunity (MHHCOP) program to increase the number of Hispanics in thehealth professions and associated health profession fields.

• Cal State L.A. offers the only Fire Protection Administration and Technology and Aviation Administration programs thatare approved by the State of California.

• Cal State L.A.’s Orientation and Mobility program–one of only four in the United States–makes it possible for thousandsof blind persons to become mobile.

• Cal State L.A.’s Forensic Squad placed among the top 20 of 100 college and university teams out of 100 in the nation in the1997 American Forensic Association National Championship Tournament and was the highest-ranked team from Californiafor the fourth consecutive year. The squad also earned the top award at the 1997 District 1 (California/Hawaii/Nevada)Tournament for the third year in a row.

• The University Times, Cal State L.A.’s student newspaper, received a national award for feature writing from the AssociatedCollege Press/Los Angeles Times in 1997. In the past two years, it has garnered 12 statewide awards from the CaliforniaIntercollegiate Press Association.

• Cal State L.A.’s 1997 challenge grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to establish a humanities centerfor the study of American community was one of only 10 awarded nationally and one of only 4 in California.

• The University’s Early Entrance program for gifted students as young as ten years old, is one of three known (according toG. Bachmann) in the nation that introduces its students directly into college life.

• Cal State L.A.’s Engineering Program (EEP), was ranked among the nation’s top 20 such programs at primarily undergraduateinstitutions, in the 1996 “America’s Best Colleges” issue of U.S. News & World Report.

• Cal State L.A. is #1 among California public universities in the proportion of baccalaureates in engineering awarded toAfrican-American and Hispanic students (Engineering Workforce Commission, American Association of EngineeringSocieties, Inc., 1995).

• Cal State L.A.’s automated manufacturing and robotics laboratory, established in 1986, gives students access to the onlyrapid prototyping machine on the West Coast. The University is one of only four campuses in the nation to acquire thishigh-tech piece of equipment, which can be used to build 3-D models.

• The $23 million Harriet and Charles Luckman Fine Arts Complex, a prime theatre and fine arts gallery venue, is the onlysuch complex in the CSU.

• Cal State L.A.’s Metrolink rail station, the first–and is still the only–one on a college campus, serves commuters from asfar as San Bernardino, Riverside, Oceanside, Camarillo and Lancaster.

The First—The Most—The Only—The Top! (Continued)

Lynne WhaleyAnthony ReeseLupe Quintana-Whiteman

Daniel C. Loo Dulce Cordero Medina Mary Porterfield Francis Gary Powers, Jr.

Aurora Johnson Paul LeePeter Hong Nancy Lee Klueter

11

Celebrating

Fifty Years

of Excellence

CALIFORNIA

STATE UNIVERSITY,

LOS ANGELES

Congratulations, California State University, Los Angeles!We salute your faculty, staff, students and alumni for their outstanding successes

and the contributions they have made in California and beyond.

California State University, Los AngelesOffice of Alumni Relations Office of Publications/Public Affairs Office of Development

(213) 343-4980 (213) 343-3050 (213) 343-3060

Visit us on the Web: http://www.calstatela.edu

Kawai America CorporationKmart Corporation

Mattel, Inc.McCarthy Brothers Company

The McNeal-SchwendlerCorporation

Nissan Motor CorporationNorthrop Grumman Corporation

Pacific EnterprisesPacific Federal

The Parsons CorporationThe Pep Boys

J.C. Penney Company, Inc.Radiographica Medica

Medical Group Inc.

American HondaAmgen

Apple ComputerARCO

Arthur Andersen & Co.AT&T

Automobile Club of SouthernCalifornia

Avon Products, Inc.Bank of America

Burt GentleCal Seismics, Inc.

ChevronChrysler Corporation

Donation Program

Cohen Brown ManagementGroup, Inc.

CPC International Inc.Deloitte & Touche

Dolcini Caffe EspressoErnst & Young

Farmers Insurance GroupGeorgia-Pacific Corporation

Hearlihy & CompanyHewlett-Packard CompanyHilton Hotels CorporationHughes Aircraft Company

Hughes ElectronicsInformation Access Company

Johnson & Johnson

Rockwell InternationalSan Gabriel Nursery & Florist

Sanwa Bank of CaliforniaSav-on Drugs

Schober’s Machine &Engineering

Smart & FinalSouthern California Edison

CompanySunAmerica, Inc.

TRW Space & ElectronicsGroup

Wells Fargo & CompanyWonderware Corporation

set the Cal State L.A. shot put recordwith a throw of 61 feet, 8 inches,which stands to this day.

Lister has been very active incommunity service since his days asa Golden Eagle. Each year, he sup-ports the Tiny “Zeus” Lister BenefitCelebrity Basketball Game at CalState L.A. which raises much-neededfunds for university athletics schol-arships and the Community Revital-ization Project of the West AngelesChurch of God in Christ.

Sue Kunitomi EmbreyDistinguished AlumnaSchool of Arts and Letters

Sue Kunitomi Embrey, ’69 B.A. English,is the founder and chair of the ManzanarCommittee, a Los Angeles-based non-profit educational organization startedin 1972. Embrey was born and raised inLos Angeles and was relocated toManzanar in 1942 by the U.S. govern-ment. She remained there for 16 monthsand 27 days. While there, she became areporter and then managing editor of theManzanar Free Press.

Embrey’s dedication and persis-tence eventually helped establishManzanar as a historic landmark. Hersuccess in this endeavor establishedManzanar as a National Historic Site;the bill was signed by President Bushon March 3, 1992.

Embrey received a master’s degreein Education at USC in 1972 and begana career in teaching. She was one of thefirst women appointed to the Los An-geles City Commission on the Statusof Women, and serves on the boards ofnumerous community organizations.

Gary MattinglyDistinguished AlumnusSchool of Business and Economics

Gary Mattingly, ’67 B.S. Business Ad-ministration, is general manager, Fireand Police Pensions, for the City ofLos Angeles. Since 1982, he has in-creased the pension fund from $600 mil-lion to an $8 billion portfolio ofstocks, bonds, options and real estate.He is in charge of 54 employees andadministers a $354 million annualbudget including $6 million in admin-istrative costs. Mattingly began his as-sociation with the City of L.A. in 1967 asa financial analyst.

He earned his B.S. in BusinessAdministration (Finance) at Cal StateL.A. degree in 1967, while working 48hours per week and attending school atnight. He continued his education atUCLA and received a certificate inFundamentals of Money Managementand Advanced Money Managementfrom the University of Pennsylvania’sWharton School. In addition to hisposition with the city, Mattingly serveson the boards of several finance- andpension-related organizations.

Beverly Anita SilversteinDistinguished AlumnaCharter School of Education

B e v e r l y A n i t a Silverstein, ’73 B.A.Physical Education, ’88 M.A. Educa-tional Administration, is the coordina-tor of the Crenshaw High School TeacherTraining Magnet. Silverstein is well-rec-ognized for her leadership in the L.A.Unified School District and the greaterLos Angeles community. Through theClose Up program, she introduces stu-dents to the federal government and en-hances their understanding of the re-sponsibilities of citizenship. In 1995,she incorporated a service-learningcomponent into her program, which hasbeen funded for the second year by theCalifornia Department of Education.

She was most recently recognizedfor her involvement with the Ministryof Education in Ghana, where she helpeddevelop a project that encouraged highschool students’ exploration of culturalhistory and provided textbooks toschools. This effort merited a 1996 front-page article in the Los Angeles Times andtelevision coverage. Silverstein has re-mained involved with her alma materand currently serves on the CommunityAdvisory Committee to the TeacherEducation Subcommittee.

Kamiran S. BadrkhanDistinguished AlumnusSchool of Engineering and Technology

Kamiran S. Badrkhan, ’72 B.A. IndustrialArts, ’73 B.A. Philosophy, ’75 M.A. Edu-cation (Secondary Teaching), is thepresident of College of the Sequoias inVisalia, California. He completed hisPh.D. in Educational Administration atthe Claremont Graduate School whileteaching electronics and education parttime at Cal State L.A., Long Beach CityCollege, Venice Adult School, and LosAngeles Trade Technical College, andfull-time at Irving Junior High School.

He moved on in 1979 to superviseelectronics programs and, later, regionaloccupation and industrial educationprograms for the LAUSD. In 1983,Badrkhan became assistant dean of elec-tronics and computer science at L.A.Trade Tech. He joined Long Beach CityCollege in 1986, and occupied severalpositions before being named vice presi-dent of academic affairs in 1993.

Badrkhan has coauthored numer-ous publications in the fields of tech-nology and electronics and has con-ducted research in the areas of educa-tion, marketing, sales, and labor rela-tions. He is a member of the Cal StateL.A. School of Engineering and Tech-nology advisory committee and hasserved on councils for the City of LongBeach, St. Paul’s First Lutheran Churchand other civic organizations.

Mary DonnellyDistinguished AlumnaSchool of Health and Human Services

Mary Donnelly-Crocker, ’81 B.A.Child Development, ’89 M.A. ChildDevelopment, is the executive directorof the award-winning Young &Healthy, a free health service forneedy children in Pasadena that isnow a nationally-recognized model.She coordinates the immense taskof organizing volunteer medical,dental and mental health staff acrossthe city to provide services.

In 1981, Donnelly-Crocker becameprogram coordinator of Child Life atHuntington Memorial Hospital, work-ing with hospitalized children to facili-tate normal development. For hermaster’s degree, which she completed in1989, Donnelly-Crocker designed an ex-tension of the hospital’s child life pro-gram to include the emergency room,recognizing the intense trauma producedfor children and families experience inthis stressful environment.

Donnelly-Crocker has remained intouch with her alma mater by teachingpart time at Cal State L.A. She was in-strumental in organizing Can TheseMen Cook!— a fund-raising event —andhas spent time mentoring students in-terested in Child Life and related healthfields. In addition, she is a volunteer fornumerous community groups.

Kuen Hung LeeDistinguished AlumnusSchool of Natural and Social Sciences

Kuen Hung Lee, ’71 B.S. Mathemat-ics, is a faculty member at Los AngelesTrade Technical College. With themotto, “Math is an art,” Lee hastouched the lives of many of his stu-dents at Trade Tech since 1984. As de-scribed in the Pasadena Star News, onestudent who entered Trade Tech, in-tending to be a plumber, and graduatedin engineering because of Lee’s influ-ence, called Lee, “the best teacher I’veever had in my educational career.”

In 1995, the Southern CaliforniaSection of the Mathematical Associationof America awarded Lee the Distin-guished Teaching Award—the highesthonor available—college math profes-sors in the region. Lee received numer-ous commendations, and was named oneof 2,000 notable American men by theAmerican Biographical Institute, 1994.

Lee completed a master’s degree atUSC in 1973 and a doctorate in Math-ematics Education at Nova University in1983. He has served as a mentor in vari-ous projects that identify potential mi-nority mathematics teachers. He has beenan adjunct math professor at Cal StateL.A. and USC, and has published his re-search findings and several textbooks.

Alumni News

Eight Outstanding Alumni Honored at the 24th Annual Awards Ceremony

T he Alumni Association wasproud to present the highest uni-

versity alumni honors to eight alumniat the 24th annual Alumni Awards Cer-emony at the Luckman Fine Arts Com-plex on March 25. More than 300 guestsenjoyed a strolling dinner and gala re-ception in the Luckman Gallery andthen proceeded to the Luckman The-ater for the awards program. Theevening concluded with a dessert recep-tion on the Luckman Theatre stage.

James D. Hornbuckle

The 1996 Outstanding Alumnus, JamesD. Hornbuckle, ’64 B.S. Physics, is in-terim dean of the School of Hotel andRestaurant Management at CaliforniaState Polytechnic University, Pomonaand a former regional vice presidentof Southern California Edison.Hornbuckle received a master’s degreein Nuclear Engineering at UCLA in1968, an M.B.A. at California LutheranUniversity in 1981, and is pursuing aPh.D. at Claremont Graduate School.He is also a registered mechanicalengineer and nuclear engineer. Heassumed his current role at Cal PolyPomona in January of this year after sixmonths as director of special projectsin the Office of the President.

As regional vice president for Pub-lic Affairs at Southern CaliforniaEdison, Hornbuckle was responsible foreconomic development and publicaffairs activities in the San GabrielValley. He is noted for his distinguishedvolunteer service leadership in highereducation and in various San GabrielValley and Ventura County organiza-tions. In addition, Hornbuckle hastaught at UCLA Extension and Cali-fornia Lutheran University, Cal StateFullerton, University of La Verne andCal Poly Pomona.

Tommy “Tiny” Lister, Jr.

The 1996 Alumni Award of Merit recipi-ent, Tommy “Tiny” Lister, Jr., wearsthe various hats of actor, film producerand professional wrestler. Whetherwrestling with Randy “Macho Man”Savage as the maniacal “Zeus” or ap-pearing on television and in films,Tommy Lister has continued to makea name for himself since his days as atrack and field standout at Cal StateL.A. in the early 1980s. An actor andfilm producer, Lister was a regular onHBO’s 1st & Ten series, has guest-starred on Webster, Matlock and TheFresh Prince of Bel Air, and made acameo appearance with Eddie Murphyin Michael Jackson’s Remember theTime video. In feature films, he starredin No Holds Barred, co-starred in Posse,and played an evil mercenary in Menat War. He also appears in the recently-released feature, The Fifth Element.

Lister, who still ranks among thegreatest throwers in Golden Eagletrack and field history, captured theNCAA Division II shot put nationalchampionship in 1982. That year, he

James D. Hornbuckle

Tommy “Tiny”Lister, Jr.

Sue Kunitomi EmbreyGary Mattingly Kamiran S. Badrkhan

Mary Donnelly

Kuen Hung Lee

NOTE: On March 3, 1998, the landmark 25th Anniversary Alumni Awards Ceremony willbe held as part of Cal State L.A.’s 50-Year Anniversary Celebration. Nomination forms forOutstanding and Distinguished Alumni and the Alumni Award of Merit are now available.Call the Alumni Relations Office at (213) 343-4980 to request a nomination packet.

5

Beverly AnitaSilverstein

F

Sports Update

MEN’S BASKETBALLThe men’s basketball team nar-

rowly missed going to the NCAA Tour-nament, ending its season with a 16-10overall record and 6-6 league standard.It came down to the final showdownagainst league nemesis No. 7 Cal StateBakersfield, to which the Golden Eagleslost a valiant battle, 69-58. VersusCSUB, senior Simaine Stewart endedhis career with a game-high 21 pointsand eight rebounds. Junior Makeul Wil-liams also scored in double digits (13points) and added seven boards.

Despite missing the NCAAs, threeGolden Eagles were named to the All-CCAA team, by the conference’s headcoaches. Stewart was chosen to the All-CCAA First Team after leading CalState L.A. in scoring (373, 14.3 ppg), as-sists (91) and steals (58). Furthermore,Stewart will graduate from Cal StateL.A. as the school’s all-time stealsleader with 133 take-aways. Freshmanguard Quincy Stinson had a splendidrookie campaign and earned All-CCAASecond Team accolades. Stinson fin-ished the season with 328 points (13.1ppg) and a team-high record of 42 three-pointers. He earned CCAA Player-of-the-Week honors after leading L.A. toan upset victory over then-no. 15-ranked Grand Canyon on the road onFebruary 13, with a game-high 25points. Junior center Curtis Ganespicked up All-CCAA Honorable Men-tion honors with his 12.8 points and6.4 rebounds per game averages.

6

Golf Tournament Raises More Than$56,500 for Scholarship Fund

BASEBALLThe Golden Eagles baseball team

(27-29, 21-11 in CCAA) won its firstconference championship title in 20years after defeating UC Riverside, 9-3, last May 9 at Cal State L.A.’s ReederField. It also marked the first CCAAtitle for L.A. since 1968, when the teamwent 15-5 in league and 37-18 overall.Not only did the Golden Eagles win theCCAA title outright over Riverside, theteam took three of four games from theHighlanders to close out the season.Pitcher Brad Guy also broke a 34-yearstanding record set by Ken Reuter, whoposted 115 strikeouts during the 1963season. (Guy struck out 129 batters thisseason.) L.A. hurler Jeff Verplanckealso broke the record, yet did notsurpass Guy, when he registered 125Ks this season.

Another milestone was achievedthis season when head coach JohnHerbold surpassed the 300-win total atCal State L.A. Herbold actually finishedthe year with 305 collegiate wins as aGolden Eagle and is now only 12 shy of800 career coaching wins. He attained483 wins as a high school coach beforebeginning his tenure with L.A.

TENNISFor the third year in a row, the

men’s tennis team advanced to theNCAA West Regional championshipsand, for the third straight year, lost toCCAA nemesis Cal Poly Pomona.However, in the national rankings,administered by the IntercollegiateTennis Association, the Eagles wereranked as high as 22nd in the nation.

Senior Arthur Tombakian wonboth of his matches in the regionalcompetition and was awarded the ITASenior Player of the Year award.Teammate Mattias Yrgard, a fresh-man from Stockholm, Sweden, wonthe Freshman Player-of-the-Yearaward, which is given to the nation’smost outstanding rookie.

On the women’s side, the GoldenEagles ended their regular season with

or the fourth year in a row, theMichelob/Pepsi Golden Eagle

Golf Tournament was sold out! Heldlast May at the Via Verde Country Club,the fundraiser earned $56,569 for theGolden Eagles’ Intercollegiate AthleticsScholarship Fund. In addition to titlesponsors Michelob and Pepsi, majorsponsors Cal State L.A. University Aux-iliary Services, the University-StudentUnion, and Eagles’ Print-n-Post joinedin to ensure the success of the event.

“I am extremely delighted bythe turnout and support for thisyear’s tournament,” said director ofAthletics Carol M. Dunn. “The gen-erosity displayed by the participantsand sponsors will enable manystudent athletes to achieve their goalof participating in collegiate athlet-ics and earning a degree.”

The tournament included 160golfers, 200 dinner guests and 46“hole” sponsors. The evening programincluded a live and silent auction, anawards presentation and a drawingfor an Acapulco vacation and a colortelevision.

Left to right: Art McClure, Bill Batch, Al Tomkins and Ralph Dawson.

Left to right: Sharron Erdhaus, John Erdhaus, Joyce Fung and Edmund Fung.

Winter Sports Round-Up

WOMEN’S BASKETBALLSophomore center Lukieya Coach-

man led the women’s basketball teamto an 11-15 overall record and 3-7league clip. She finished the 1996-97season with 326 rebounds, a new singleseason Cal State L.A. record. Earlierthis season, she was chosen for four all-tournament teams, claiming MVP hon-ors in each. She also led the team inscoring with 471 points (18.1) and fieldgoal percentage (.528, 186-352). How-ever, her crowning achievement camewhen she was named to the Kodak All-American Honorable Mention Teamand All-CCAA First Team.

Freshman Jenny Tanaka endedher rookie season with a team-high83 assists and 57 steals to earnS e c o n d Te a m All-CCAA honors,while teammate B a b i t a S i n g hfinished with a team-high 42 three-pointers and a .743 free throw percent-age mark (75-101).

Spring Sports Round-Up

a 6-3 victory over UC Riverside.Individual wins went to EileenDeVera, the sole Golden Eagle whowas named selected to the All-CCAATeam, and Vanessa Ngakeng.

TRACK AND FIELDFive men and three women repre-

sented Cal State L.A. at the NCAAOutdoor Track and Field Champion-ships at Southern Illinois University atEdwardsville last May 22-24. On themen’s side, Thomas Farnbach placed6th in the 100m in a time of 10.84 toearn All-America honors. He alsoearned All-America honors in the200m, in which he finished 7th overallwith a time of 21.65. Rudy Davila quali-fied in the javelin competition and fin-ished 11th with a throw of 163’. All themembers of the 4x100 relay grabbed All-American kudos for finishing 7th in therelay race with a time of 41.06. Themembers included Farnbach, GarrickGoods, Kevin Maxie, and Tunji Bello.

On the women’s side, multiple na-tional champion Petra Juraskova, wonthe shotput event for the second year ina row with a toss of 51′1″ and finishedsecond in the discus with a throw of166′11″. Also earning All-American hon-ors was LaVera Clark, who finished 5thin the hammer competition with athrow of 174′0″. Finally, DorneshiaLewis finished 12th overall in the 400min a time of 57.20, narrowly missingthe final cut for the championship race.

The women fin-ished in 14th place

overallw i t h

22 points, whilethe men’s teamfinished tied for

32nd in thenation withseven points.

SAVE THE DATE

Wednesday, February 11, 1998

Athletics Hall of Fame InductionCeremonies and Hall of Fame

Reunion CelebrationTower Restaurant, Transamerica Bldg.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 1998

Golden Eagle Pep RallyUniversity-Student Union

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 1998

Women’s Basketball vs.Cal Poly Pomona

50th Anniversary Reception –Athletics Hall of Fame Room

Men’s Basketballvs. Cal State Bakersfield

On the course, the foursome of ArtMcClure, Bill Batch, Al Tomkins andRalph Dawson captured the men’s title,while Sharron Erdhaus, John Erdhaus,Joyce Fung, and Edmund Fung, won themixed division crown.

Junior Babita Singh National champion Petra JuraskovaFreshman Quincy Stinson

7

Address ChangePlease mail your completed form to:

Cal State L.A.Publications/Public AffairsCarol Selkin, Editor, Cal State L.A. TODAY5151 State University DriveLos Angeles, CA 90032-8580

Please Print

Name _____________________________________________

Year(s) of Graduation _______ Major(s) ____________

New Address ______________________________________

City ______________________________________________

State ____________ ZIP Code ________________________

Phone ( ) _____________________________________

News for Class Notes Cal State L.A. TODAY:

__________________________________________________

__________________________________________________

__________________________________________________

__________________________________________________

__________________________________________________

__________________________________________________

__________________________________________________

Charles E. BeckwithProfessor of English, 1957-1990

Charles E. Beckwith, distinguished for his scholar-ship, eloquence, humor, and patience, died of a stroke onDecember 22, 1996. He was 79. Beckwith earned B.A.and M.A. degrees at the University of California, Berke-ley. He was awarded a Ph.D. by Yale University in 1956,and that same year served as an instructor at CornellUniversity. His professional publications include twomajor editions: Twentieth Century Interpretations of ATale of Two Cities and John Gay: Poetry and Prose. Heheld visiting professor posts at Université de Clermont-Ferrand, France and Universität Hamburg, West Germany.

Beckwith was a leader in faculty governance andplayed an active and significant role in the developmentof the department and the University, chairing LanguageArts, the Department of English, and the Institute ofAmerican Studies. He was among the two or three mostinfluential faculty members in guiding and shaping de-partment programs.

Among his many interests, he was an informed loverof music and a member of the Pasadena Pro Music , a cho-ral group, for which he wrote program notes. He also wrotefeature articles for the Pasadena Symphony programs. Heis survived by his wife, Joanne Glossop Beckwith, threechildren born to a first marriage: Connie Beckwith Brown,James Beckwith, and Margaret Beckwith Harloe, and twograndchildren. Those who wish to honor his memorythrough a donation may contribute to the Charles E.Beckwith Memorial Fund for the Purchase of Books in theHumanities, care of the University Foundation.

In Memoriam

What’s New?Got any news you’d like to have appear in “Class Notes” ? Just fill out this form and mail it to: AlumniOffice, Cal State L.A. TODAY, 5154 State University Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90032-8602 or fax to(213) 343-6433. We’ll publish it as soon as possible.

Please print clearly:

Name_____________________________________________________________________

Address ___________________________________________________________________

City ________________________________ State _______ ZIP Code ________________

Telephone: ( ) __________________________________________________________

Name at time of graduation: ___________________________________________________

Years(s) _____ Degree(s) ____________ Major(s) ________________________________

Spouse’s name: ____________________________________________________________

Is your spouse a Cal State L.A. alumna/us? ______ Yes ______ No

Year(s) ______ Degree(s) ____________ Major(s) ________________________________

Spouse’s name at time of graduation: ____________________________________________

What’s New?(Please give complete information. List titles, work addresses, and dates where appropriate.)

At work: __________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

At home: __________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

Bottom Row (l-r): Frank Saito ’79, vice president, communications; Silvia Perez ’93; Linda Wah ’85, ’89, president-elect; Bob McDermott ’81, ’93, president; Larry Adamson ’74, past president; Ona Jones ’71, vice president,programs; Jim Hetherman ’67, vice president, finance. Second Row (l-r): Mary Kacmarcik Baker, executivedirector, Alumni Relations; Gloria Gamboa; Lisa Quinonez; Marilyn Plummer ’71, legislative liaison; Chris Gillett’61; Maudelyn Johnson ’89; Tora Brown ’93. Top Row (l-r)—Edward Riegler ’63, ’68; Kyle Button, vice president,Institutional Advancement; Don Rhodes ’90. Not pictured: Ray Grose ’94; Cynthia Joe ’79; Darryl Lloyd ’66,LaShon Peterman ’92; David Salgado ’94; Jeff Skolnick ’74; Walter Yoka ’77.

There are five positions open on for the 1997-1998 board. Please call Mary Baker, executive director, AlumniRelations, at (213) 343-4980, if you would like to nominate an alumnus/a for one of the open seats. Thank you.

The Cal State L.A. Alumni Association recognized more than 150 undergraduate and graduate students with the1997 Alumni Certificate of Honor at the University’s annual Honors Convocation on April 25. Award recipientswere selected by their academic departments. The Alumni Association hosted the students and their families ata special reception held at the Harriet and Charles Luckman Fine Arts Complex before the Convocation.

Alumni Certificate of Honor Award Reception

SAVE THE DATE

7th Annual Scholarship and Awards of Excellence DinnerThursday, October 30, 1997 — 6:00 p.m.

Sam Woo Restaurant - San GabrielFor more information, contact the Alumni Relations Office

at (213) 343-4980.

1997 Alumni Association Board of Directors

Alumni News

A group of 11 engineering and technology students made history on June 28,when the University’s flaming yellow solar car, Solar Eagle III, scorched 34

competitors to win first place in the national intercollegiate Sunrayce 97. CalState L.A. gave second-place winner MIT a run for its money as Solar Eagle III —the third chapter in Cal State L.A.’s exciting trilogy of solar-powered electric cars— came in 20 minutes ahead of MIT’s Manta GT, setting a new Sunrayce speedrecord.

“Why did we win?” asked lead driver Roman Vasquez. “Because this car isbeautifully engineered. We had the only car among the top contenders that didn’tbreak down once! We never even blew a tire.”

Racing for ten days, and 1,240 miles, from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway toColorado Springs, the Solar Eagle III bettered the record of its older, award-winningsiblings — the Solar Eagle and the So-lar Eagle II — which finished fourthand third, respectively, in previousSunrayce events.

Lighter, stronger, and more du-rable than its predecessors, Solar EagleIII secured the top nat ional honor

CAL STATE L.A.

in the Nation!#1

Solar Eagle IIIbrings home thegold for Cal StateL.A.’s golden year(back cover).

Solar Eagle III Brings Home the GoldFor Cal State L.A.’s Golden Year!after battling some front-running cars built by big-name schools: George Wash-ington University (#1 in the Eastern Qualifiers), Stanford University/UC Berke-ley, University of Minnesota, University of Waterloo, Yale University and TexasA&M University.

The team consisted of students Rick Aguilera, Dane Atol, Ivan Bejar, RolandCerna, Salvador Fallorino, Kathleen Hansen, Stanley Palmer, Ricardo Solares,Roman Vasquez III (lead driver), Mark Van Dalm and Dylan Wakasa (driver), andfaculty and staff members Mechanical Engineering Professor Richard Roberto(chief faculty adviser), Mechanical Engineering Professor Stephen F. Felszeghy,Dean Raymond B. Landis, Electrical Engineering Technician Mike Obermeyer,Mechanical Engineering Technician Dan Roberto, Technical Support ManagerBruce Fischer, and the School’s fiscal manager, Kathy Lex.

And the Eagle keeps on flying: theteam will pit the award-winningSolar Eagle III against cars built byuniversities and major privatecorporations when it races acrossAustralia in the fa l l of 1998, inthe World Solar Challenge.

Photos above and rightby Guy Fadollone