For her athletic achievements, contributions to the sport of track and field, and her dedication to her community, Olympic Gold medalist and California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH) alumna Carmelita Jeter was bestowed a California State University Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters during CSUDH's Commencement on May 17 and 18. This year, the Class of 2019 enjoyed a more intimate graduation experience in the Dignity Health Sports Park’s Tennis Stadium with stands full of family and friends cheering on the graduates. The more than 3,600 graduates listened to words of well wishes, personal reflections, and insightful advice from six CSUDH alumni keynote speakers during six ... Read More
Commencement
Graduate Illen Barrios Draws Strength from Unimaginable Loss
Illen Barrios may not hear her mother among the thousands of family and friends cheering on graduates at California State University, Dominguez Hills’ (CSUDH) 2019 Commencement Ceremony on May 18, but knowing her mother will be there, and that she is proud of her, is all Barrios really wants. Strength is a dominant trait among the women in Barrios’ family. For her mother, her children’s education was always a high priority, and one of the reasons she left her home and family in the Philippines for a job as a nanny in Saudi Arabia when Barrios was just 2 years old—to earn money for her children’s schooling. Tragically, the job was a lie, and Barrio’s mother was forced into domestic ... Read More
CSUDH to Bestow Honorary Doctorate on Olympic Gold Medalist Carmelita Jeter
(Carson, CA) – California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH) and the California State University Board of Trustees will bestow an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree on 2012 Olympic gold medalist and CSUDH alumna Carmelita Jeter on May 17, at 6:30 p.m., during CSUDH’s 2019 Commencement Ceremony. Jeter, who earned a bachelor’s degree in physical education from CSUDH in 2006, will be recognized for her athletic achievements and continued contributions to the sport of track and field, her dedication to her community, and her success as a speaker and businesswoman. She will receive the honorary degree and give the keynote address at the College of Health, Human Services and ... Read More
Suzette Mitchell Provides Validation for African-Native American Students
When alumna Suzette Mitchell visited her tribe’s reservation as a child, the children weren’t allowed to play with her. “Some even called me the n-word,” she said. Her grandmother was Goshute—a western branch of the Shoshone nation—and was ostracized after being the first in the tribe to marry an African American, a similar fate her mother shared after being stereotyped as a half-breed. Mitchell’s family experienced what many African-Native American individuals who stand on the border between two worlds do; they are often not readily accepted as Native American, and misunderstood as bi-racial persons with dual social identities. “It was very unpopular to marry a Black man back then. ... Read More
Graduate Tiffany Hall Finds an Angel in Uniform
There was a time when Tiffany Hall did all she could to avoid Long Beach Police Officer Jim Foster, even frantically knocking on the door of a stranger’s home pleading “Help me, the police are coming. Can I go out your back door?” She got away, that time. Run-ins with Foster were the norm for Hall in the early 2000s when she was on the streets and addicted to crack cocaine and PCP, but the usual outcome placed her in handcuffs cursing and pleading to be released from the back of his cruiser on the way to the police station. Clean for nine years, Hall was greeted by Lieutenant Foster on May 18 not with cuffs, but with a hug. After shaking the hand of California State University, ... Read More
