Although she’s only been at CSUDH a relatively short time, Lily Arana is already sure she’s at the right place. She serves as a bilingual counselor and advocate at the on-campus Center for Advocacy, Prevention & Empowerment (CAPE), a space that provides confidential assistance, support, and education for those affected by sexual abuse, assault, intimate relationship abuse, and stalking. Arana says she wouldn’t trade jobs with anyone, and she “loves how intimate the CSUDH campus is, and how friendly everyone is.” A South Bay native, Arana got her BS in psychology from CSU Los Angeles, then attained a master’s in social work at CSU Long Beach. While pursuing her graduate studies, she ... Read More
Staff Spotlight
Staff Spotlight: Ricardo Magallanes
As the Chemical Hygiene Officer for the CSUDH Environmental Health and Safety Department, Ricardo Magallanes is responsible for making sure that students, faculty, and staff are safe while on campus and working with chemicals. This can mean everything from working with administrators to develop good hygiene policies to maintaining accurate inventories of the chemicals that are stored here. To that end, he says he spends most of his days “going through emails, conducting lab inspections, leading a variety of safety training events, reviewing CSUDH safety programs—and going to lots of meetings.” Magallanes has been at CSUDH for three years, and is proud of the work he’s done building up and ... Read More
Staff Spotlight: Nnamdi Okafor
Nnamdi Okafor, executive director of strategic engagement and resource acquisition for CSUDH’s Office of the President, wakes up each morning inspired by the joy he gets from his work. Although he’s only been at CSUDH about two years, Okafor has been working in various philanthropic endeavors since his days attending CSU Fullerton. He continues to get a charge out of helping others each and every day. In his position at CSUDH, Okafor is responsible for corresponding with external and internal stakeholders to create programs and relationships that support the overall agenda of the university. His outreach efforts have been paying off. Among the partnerships he has helped establish is one ... Read More
Staff Spotlight: Danny Le
Information Technology (IT) Consultant Danny Le has only been working at CSUDH for a year, but in a way, getting a job on campus was a kind of homecoming—Le is a Toro alum who graduated with a BA in computer technology in 2014. The Gardena native returned to CSUDH in 2021, and now spends his days “running around campus trying to assist everyone with their technical issues.” He says he’s proud to be able to “come back and use the skills I’ve learned here to give back to students, faculty, staff, and the community.” He doesn’t plan on stopping anytime soon, either. He recently had an opportunity to fill a vacant position in another department, but says that soon enough, “I realized I ... Read More
Staff Spotlight: Ellie Perry
CSUDH Sustainability Manager Ellie Perry thinks that she has the “best job ever” as the person in charge of the university’s environmental initiatives and sustainability efforts. “I like that every day there are new opportunities to make things better,” she says. “Even though our office has accomplished a lot in the five years that I've been here, we are still growing by leaps and bounds when it comes to our sustainability efforts as a campus.” Perry spends much of her time keeping the lines of communication open with a wide variety of people, units, and departments from both on- and off-campus who are vital to ensuring that CSUDH delivers on its sustainability ... Read More
