If there's a committee, task force, or project at California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH), or within her academic department or professional community, professor of kinesiology and recreation Carole Casten has more than likely been on it, maybe more than once. That happens with 42 years in your profession–35 at CSUDH– but it's also just Casten's way. “I required myself to do it,” Casten said. “I'm self-driven and I really enjoy being involved.” In other words, Casten likes to be active, which is perfect for someone who started out as a physical education and dance teacher and now is an expert in the pedagogy of physical education who has written five textbooks on the ... Read More
Marie Palladini: 2014 Lyle E. Gibson Dominguez Hills Distinguished Teacher
For 30 years, Marie Palladini was a federal law enforcement officer with the U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife Service, working undercover to catch smugglers of endangered species and investigating all kinds of criminal cases involving wildlife, both in the field and as a manager. It was her dream job and she could have easily retired content with having led a successful career. Instead, she found herself starting a whole new career, one she said she equally loves–as associate professor of public administration, and currently acting associate dean of the College of Business Administration and Public Policy at California State University, Dominguez Hills. “I said I'm going to ... Read More
Richard Malamud: 2014 Outstanding Professor
In Hebrew, the surname Malamud translates to English as “teacher,” which makes Richard Malamud, professor of accounting, aptly named. A certified public accountant and tax lawyer, Malamud first got interested in teaching while working for the national accounting firm, Laventhol & Horwath. “I taught about six courses as part of their continuing education and loved every minute of teaching. I also wrote one or two of [the courses],” Malamud recalls. “That is where I got the bug to teach.” When a faculty position in the Department of Accounting and Finance at California State University, Dominguez Hills opened up in 1990, Malamud crunched the numbers, so to speak, and took the ... Read More
Tara Victor: 2014 Excellence in Research, Scholarship & Creative Activity
Associate professor of psychology Tara Victor's interest in the brain was first piqued after taking a neuropsychology course as an undergraduate psychology major at Hanover College. “I began to understand that my interest in basic brain research could turn into an applied clinical specialty. I knew immediately it was the right career path for me to pursue,” said Victor, who graduated from University of Kentucky with her bachelor's in psychology, and went on to get her master's and doctorate in clinical psychology from Michigan State University. While her doctoral emphasis was in the neuropsychology of aging, it would be a research area she first worked on as an undergrad–neurocognitive ... Read More
Thomas Norman: 2014 Outstanding Professor
An example of Thomas Norman's dedication to California State University, Dominguez Hills and its students is where he chose to live–across the street from the campus. Little did Norman know in 2007 that this university would have such an impact on him. All but dissertation (ABD) in his doctoral program in human resources from the University of Minnesota, he had interviewed for a position in the College of Business Administration and Public Policy (CBAPP) on a whim after receiving a call in his hotel room from then-department chair, Roger Berry, at the Academy of Management Conference. His post-Ph.D. plan had been to stay in Minnesota or move back to Silicon Valley, where he had worked for ... Read More
