For Elvira (Vera) Teller, lecturer of information systems and operations management at California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH), being an educator means helping students make connections and challenging them to reach their full potential. Teller, who has been teaching at CSUDH for 10 years, was honored this year with the Catherine H. Jacobs Outstanding Faculty Lecturer Award. The award recognizes faculty who demonstrate excellence in teaching effectiveness, and acknowledges the role non-tenure track lecturers play in student success and the campus community as a whole. Before moving into teaching, Teller spent over 25 years as director of systems and programming for ... Read More
Business
Orie Berezan Honored with Faculty Award for Excellence in Research, Scholarship and Creative Activity
“Traveling is an addiction” for Orie Berezan, assistant professor of management and marketing at California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH). In fact, his extensive use of frequent traveler perks led him to make customer loyalty and satisfaction programs his first focus of research as a Ph.D. student. In his work, Berezan explores the background and success of industry loyalty programs and seeks answers to why people invest their time in amassing the benefits, and what motivates customers to keep coming back. His work has evolved to explore the drivers of social media behavior and the relationships between social media use and customer satisfaction and loyalty, perceived virtual ... Read More
Thrown off course by the Vietnam War, Huntington Beach veteran finishes college at 71
For most, a freshly minted college diploma signifies the first step on an exciting career path. But, rather than job interviews, Joe Taylor’s calendar is marked with a retirement date: July 11, less than two months after completing his bachelor’s degree. Nearly half a century after abandoning his college dream, the Huntington Beach resident has graduated at age 71 from Cal State Dominguez Hills. First, his college pursuit was interrupted by the Vietnam War, and then by post-traumatic stress disorder. After graduating from Venice High in 1966, Taylor played football for a while at Los Angeles Harbor College. At 20, with draft notices on the rise, he joined the U.S Navy. “I ... Read More
Grit and Experience Drive Graduate Joe Taylor’s Success
Joe Taylor has an unusual plan for the next phase of his life, which starts this summer after he graduates with a bachelor’s degree in business administration from California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH). He plans to retire. Students Taylor’s age—he is 71 years old—typically have unique reasons for putting in the time and dealing with the inherent challenges of earning a college degree later in life, but career advancement isn’t often one of them. For Taylor, he had something to prove to himself, and a promise to fulfill to his twin 19-year-old granddaughters. “My granddaughters were applying at universities. One night when we were sitting at the table talking about their ... Read More
Alumni Return to Campus to Help Celebrate the Investiture of President Parham
The inauguration of Thomas A. Parham as California State University, Dominguez Hills’ (CSUDH) 11th president provided the perfect opportunity to welcome alumni back to campus to celebrate a new era for the university. In a series of Inauguration Week activities that took place Feb. 5-9 and culminated in a formal ceremony installing Parham as president, the CSUDH Alumni Association invited five alumni to serve as featured speakers and share their experiences as students, impart the knowledge they have gained in their professions, and express their enthusiasm for CSUDH’s future. Raymund Diaz (’02, B.A., political science/English literature), deputy district attorney of Orange County, ... Read More
