A reception for California State University, Dominguez Hills alumni was held at the home of Dr. Kathy Tibone (Class of ’75, M.S., behavioral science) on Oct. 11. Approximately 100 alumni, most of whom reside in the South Bay beach cities of Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach, and Manhattan Beach enjoyed a fall evening at Tibone’s home on the Strand.
“I wanted to renew my connection with the university and this seemed to be something that would really help a lot of people,” said Tibone, who worked as a genetic engineer and taught at CSU Dominguez Hills in the late 1980s. “I’m happy I can do this… [It] just seemed like a really fun way to meet people and connect.”
Tibone, who serves on the advisory board of the College of Natural and Behavioral Sciences, earned her undergraduate degree in mathematics at Duke University and her doctorate in anatomy and physiology at UCLA. She says that she hopes to help establish more STEM internships and scholarships for students.
“My son just graduated from USC and I saw what the Trojan family does,” said Tibone. “I would like to have a family like that [at CSU Dominguez Hills], where more people help the kids coming out of school to get jobs and more training.”
Diane Archer (Class of ’81, IDS/political science/communications) is an administrative assistant in the recycle/recovery department at Chevron. She said that the best thing she ever did was graduate from college and urged students today to continue their education.
“It really impressed people that I had a college degree,” she said. “I think it’s more important to be educated than ever before. If [students] want to support themselves, they need a good education.”
President Mildred García welcomed the assembled guests and discussed recent “points of pride” at CSU Dominguez Hills, including another robust enrollment of 14,000 FTE for the 2011 fall semester despite budget cuts to the CSU. She underscored the impact of the South Bay community, and the beach cities in particular, upon the economics of the Los Angeles region and the state of California.
“Over 65 percent of our 80,000 alumni live within 25 miles of the campus,” said García. “Our graduates are the customers, the employees, the business owners, the taxpayers, and those who are community leaders within our community…ensuring that they have a big economic impact on our region, which is over $330,000,000. That’s very impressive in this tough fiscal time we are going through.”
García invited alumni to come back and visit their alma mater, in view of the new facilities that have been built since many of them had been on campus, such as the renovated Loker Student Union and the new south wing of the University Library. She also highlighted the more widespread diversity that continues to evolve at CSU Dominguez Hills.
“We want you to come back to campus,” said García. “It is an amazing place. Our most important part – our students – [are] the most diverse student population at a public university, west of the Mississippi. We are preparing students to learn how to live, work, and be democratic citizens in this world. And this is at Dominguez Hills, your alma mater.”
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All photos by B&G Productions
