To reconnect with alumni who live in Orange County, California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH) hosted its Fall Alumni Reception on Nov. 4 at the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana.
Joining CSUDH President Willie J. Hagan and university staff members, approximately 50 alumni reminisced about college, enjoyed good food and drink, and toured the museum during a docent-guided tour of three exhibits: “The Red that Colored the World,” “Spirits and Headhunters: Art of the Pacific Islands,” and “Ancient Arts of China: A 5000 Year Legacy.”
A college degree is like a fine wine. It will either age or spoil as time goes by. -President Hagan
“A college degree is like a fine wine. It will either age or spoil as time goes by. Your degree, as time passes, has continued to grow in strength and vigor because all kinds of wonderful things are being done on and off campus by faculty, staff and our outstanding students,” Hagan told the alumni in his remarks in which he shared many of CSUDH’s recent successes and programs and talked about why alumni are important to the university. ”You, alumni, are the proof in the pudding. When we talk to our alumni—like we are tonight—we want to know if they’re happy with the degrees that they received, were they happy with the faculty and the way the university treated them while on campus [as students], and are they prospering and being successful in the way we want our alumni to be.”
Attending the reception, which was the first one held in Orange County, was Yvonne Wiley-Webb (’77, B.A., Public Administration; ’79, M.S., Public Administration), a Tustin resident who was already working for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) when she enrolled at CSUDH to help her progress in her career.
“My degree helped me get up to the next level. There were many jobs that required a degree where I worked, and there were people competing for some of the jobs I wanted. I always thought they had higher education than I did,” said Wiley-Webb, who eventually became an IRS division chief. “Come to find out, some of them didn’t have college degrees because back then the right experience could get you into a pretty high position. So I knew I would need to compete. Another reason for getting my degree was because it wasn’t too easy back then being a female in the work place.”
Mary Hudspith (’88, B.A., Business Administration), who lives in Chino but grew up in Carson, was involved in the Accounting Society while a student. She worked for the Unocal Corporation for 18 years after graduating from CSUDH.
“I remember my favorite professor, Dr. Donald Crane. He was my accounting teacher. He really knew his stuff, even though I don’t think he had much business experience,” said Hudspith. “I attended all his classes. He was like a jigsaw puzzle, as he showed us how to fill in the spots. It’s was kind of like accounting, when you put together a picture of your finances, you find where the spots are.”
Susan Bergman (’85, B.S., Business Administration; Dance minor) was an intern in CSUDH’s Accounting Department while in college before she took an accounting position at Rockwell International in Anaheim in 1985. The company was bought out by Boeing in Huntington Beach, which is where Bergman works today.
“I had a lot of fun in the Dance program. I started with no dance experience, but by the time I graduated I was president of the Dance Club,” said Bergman. “Dance was also helpful in the business world. It gave me an offset, a release valve. Even learning good posture proved helpful in business, particularly when sitting at a desk, and now as we all shrink as we get older.”
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