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CSUDH News

The primary source of news and information about California State University, Dominguez Hills, its students, faculty, and staff.

Graduation

Commencement 2023 Highlights Perseverance

June 1, 2023 By Philip Bader

Graduates celebrate at Commencement 2023 as confetti falls on the crowd.
CSUDH graduates celebrate the end of one journey and the start of another at Commencement 2023 on May 19.

More than 3,300 proud Toros walked the stage at Commencement 2023 in Dignity Sports Park Tennis Stadium, supported by the joyous cheers of family, friends, and fellow students. Six ceremonies held on May 19-20 honored the commitment and persistence displayed by the Class of 2023, which ended one journey with a flip of the tassel and now begins another.

In his opening remarks, President Thomas A. Parham celebrated the individual achievements of this year’s graduates and reminded them that their journey was only just beginning. “Every year, as we bear witness to the hard work, perseverance, and achievements of our students, we are reminded why education is the great societal equalizer and continues to be the civil rights issue of our day, helping to transform the lives of students and their families,” Parham said.

President Parham poses with a graduate.

“I am proud that even as so much of society seems bent on tearing things down, here at CSUDH, we are dedicated to creating—creating community, creating ideas, creating inventions, and creating the equitable and just society we strive toward.”

In his keynote address during the first commencement event, Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson acknowledged the role CSUDH played in his personal and professional development. “The seeds of leadership, representation, inclusion, and compassion were all planted here. They blossomed, and now manifest throughout my life.”

Richardson, whose wife also attended CSUDH, added: “That’s what makes Cal State Dominguez Hills so special. Its commitment to opportunity, social mobility, and justice are woven into the very fabric of the university.”

California Attorney General Rob Bonta addressed graduates on Saturday afternoon, reminding them not just of the significant challenges they faced on their academic journey, but also the accomplishments they made along the way.

“What each of you had to endure of the last few years was unprecedented—a global pandemic, a virtual world, and constant uncertainty. You also had a front-row seat to some of the greatest threats to our society—hate, xenophobia, and racism,” Bonta said.

“Your generation hasn’t let that hold you back. Instead, you’ve declared Black Lives Matter, marched for our lives, demanded real climate action. You’ve been impatient for change, and rightfully so. I urge you to keep being impatient for change. Keep being intolerant of injustice because you aren’t just the leaders of tomorrow. You’re the leaders of today.”

More photos from all six ceremonies are available. You can find them in this Commencement 2023 archive.

Cultural Grad Events Celebrate the Journey

May 17, 2023 By Philip Bader

A smiling student is congratulated during the Latine Graduation Celebration.

Malcolm X called education “our passport to the future” in his speech at the founding forum for the Organization of Afro-American Unity in 1964. He linked it to the struggle for human rights, the discovery and celebration of cultural identity, and the development of greater self-respect. In his view, education provided an essential conduit for progress, a roadmap for continuous travel and not just a destination.

It was in this spirit that CSUDH’s cultural and affinity organizations gathered this month ahead of formal Commencement on May 19 and 20 for a series of smaller, culturally focused graduation celebrations.

“It’s important to celebrate the accomplishments of our graduates in a way that is culturally responsive and affirming, said Rony E. Castellano, program director for La Casita, the university’s Latinx Cultural Resource Center. “Our hope is that in years to come, we can continue to (un)learn together and build spaces where our histories, identities, and experiences can be fully honored.”

Ana Miriam Barragan, program director for the Toro Dreamers Success Center, said commemorating the extraordinary achievements of the university’s undocumented students was part of a broader commitment to honor family and community. “It’s our way to let them know that we see them, that we’re always here for them, and that they didn’t get here on their own. They got here because of family, friends, and loved ones.”

All commencement events celebrate CSUDH’s deep commitment to diversity, inclusiveness, and a culture where students and faculty can thrive together, says Trimaine Davis, director of the Black Resource Center. “I think the mainstream commencement does a phenomenal job of highlighting that this is a completion, whereas cultural commencements highlight the journey and what it took for our students to achieve this incredible accomplishment.”

“One of the best parts of a more intimate celebration like the Lavender Graduation event is that graduating students have an opportunity to speak and to express their appreciation for those who’ve supported them and share their feelings about the milestone,” says Megan Tagle Adams, director of the Women’s & Multicultural Resource Centers. “Many of our graduates spoke about the importance of queer visibility, finding strength in community, and their commitment to creating change.”

For Nathan Nguyen, program director for the Asian & Pacific Cultural Center, the intimacy of the cultural and affinity events helps illustrate that graduates are not alone on their academic journeys. “In these smaller events, we are all reminded of the importance of community cultural wealth that helped carry our graduates to the finish line. During our API Graduation Celebration, graduates honored their families and supporters by having a loved one bestow the API sash on them.”

The Toro Guardian Scholars (TGS) program at CSUDH connects students transitioning from or currently in the foster care system with critical services and resources to help guide them throughout their educational journey. Those resources include a network of dedicated community partners, says Program Director Ludivina Vasquez Snow.

“The cultural and affinity graduation events are a beautiful way of showcasing what can happen if all campus partners work together to support students who are most in need,” says Snow. “It is important that we continue hosting these events so that students can have a place where they feel comfortable and safe enough to talk about what they’ve had to overcome and celebrate with their community.”

This year’s event included a special gift from TGS partner organization The Change Reaction, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit that connects donors with individuals and communities in need of financial support to overcome barriers and take advantage of opportunities for success. The Change Reaction generously provided each TGS graduate with a check for $500 to help them on the next stage of their journey.

CSUDH is proud to have celebrated our diverse Toro community at the following cultural and affinity graduation celebrations this year:

  • The Queer Cultural Resource Center held its annual Lavender Graduation Celebration on May 4 in the LSU Ballroom to honor the university’s LGBTQIA+ community.
  • The Latinx Cultural Resource Center held its newly named Latine Graduation Celebration on May 5 in the Torodome Gym to honor the achievements of the university’s Latina/o/x/e student community.
  • The Asian Pacific Cultural Resource Center held its annual API Graduation Celebration on May 5 in the LSU Ballroom to honor the achievements of the university’s Asian and Pacific Islander as well as Southwest Asian North African student communities.
  • The Black Resource Center commemorated its 28th annual Frederick Douglass and Mary McLeod Bethune Africana Graduation Celebration on May 6 in the Torodome Gym to honor the achievements of the university’s African and African American student communities.
  • The Toro Dreamers Success Center held its annual UndocuGrad celebration on May 7 in the LSU Ballroom to honor the achievements of the university’s undocumented student community.
  • The Toro Guardian Scholars program held its annual graduation celebration on May 12 in the I&I building to honor students that have transitioned from the foster care system.
  • The Educational Opportunity Program held its annual graduation celebration on May 18 in the LSU Ballroom to honor the achievements of the university’s low-income, historically educationally disadvantaged, and first-generation student communities.
  • The Veterans Resource Center held its annual Student Veteran Graduation Celebration on May 18 in the LSU Ballroom to honor the achievements of the University’s student veteran community.

From Skid Row to College Graduate

May 17, 2023 By Kandis Newman

From Skid Row to College Graduate

Kevin Jones never expected to graduate from college. In fact, after graduating from high school in 1988, he made the conscious decision not to pursue higher education – even though his three sisters had all gone on to university studies.

“School and I were not friends,” recalls Jones. “All the way through elementary school, then in high school, I just wasn’t the typical kid. I was the nerdy type that wasn’t accepted. So by the time 1988 came around, I had made up my mind. I was done with school.”

Jones went so far as to hold a mock funeral in the backyard of his mother’s house, digging a hole and burying his textbooks in it. He had decided that the blue collar lifestyle suited him best, and spent the next three decades drifting from one job to the next. “Truck driver, security guard, nurse’s aide – I did anything you can think of that’s underpaid and undereducated.”

It wasn’t until 2014, when the Los Angeles native found himself unable to pay rent and ended up homeless on the streets of Atlanta, Georgia, that Jones decided to turn his life around.

“It was March 14, 2014,” he says. “I’ll never forget the date. That’s when I had the revelation that life was getting serious. All of a sudden, the light bulb came on. I asked myself, ‘What are you doing with your life? What happened?’ From then until now, I was on a path to change things. I didn’t know that the path would include about four and a half years of homelessness…”

That path has now led him all the way to the Commencement stage at Dignity Health Sports Park, where he will receive his bachelor’s degree in Africana Studies from CSUDH on Friday, May 19.

“I thought I would be stuck in that lifestyle forever,” he says. “And now I’m considering options for graduate school. It’s amazing.”

Upon losing his home in Atlanta, Jones drifted along, sleeping in his car or abandoned warehouses before adapting himself to living in local homeless shelters.

“I had to learn the system, because every shelter has one,” he says. “For example, you have to be in line for bed every day at the same time. You really have to figure out your life based on that system.” Jones moved from shelters in Atlanta to those in San Jose, Calif., before ending up on Los Angeles’ Skid Row.

It was while on Skid Row that Jones dedicated himself to self-improvement. “I told myself I had two options,” he remembers. “I can stay here at rock bottom or I can go in the opposite direction. I started working on a plan of growing up.”

While staying at the Union Rescue Mission in downtown Los Angeles, Jones enrolled in a program there aimed at helping get clients off the streets. “They have a program for anybody that’s serious about not being homeless,” says Jones. “It’s a one-year program. If you go through the program, by the end of it, they guarantee you an apartment and a job. They don’t just kick you out and say, ‘You’re on your own.’”

He started working at the shelter while still living there. Within a few months of starting the program, Jones was able to move into his own apartment. Again, it’s a date he’ll always remember.

“I moved out of the Union Rescue Mission on June 18th, 2018,” he says. “I jumped in a taxi over to the apartment that they had for me in Compton. I’ve been off the street ever since!”

Jones’ return to school happened almost by accident. He was walking through Lueders Park in Compton while a career fair was going on. As he walked past the Compton College booth, the woman working there asked him if he wanted to enroll in school.

“I looked at her, and strangely, I considered it,” says Jones. “I walked over to the booth and I thought, ‘You ain’t got nothing to lose, right? I signed up, and the next thing you know, it’s Fall 2019 and I’m enrolled in junior college. Then I started seeing some good grades—grades that I wasn’t even getting in elementary school.”

“All of a sudden, my brain turned on and I could do the work. As I kept seeing those A’s and B’s coming in, I thought, ‘I can do this, and I’m going to keep working and see how far I can go.’”

Jones graduated from Compton College in May 2021, and transferred to CSUDH for the Fall 2021 semester. There, the good grades kept coming, and Jones’ abilities were noticed by his professors.

“I was impressed with his excitement for learning,” says Donna Nicol, chair of the Africana Studies department, who became a mentor during his stint on campus. â€œI could tell that he really appreciated the opportunity to learn about his own history and culture. This type of perspective helped him make sense of the world he had experienced prior to pursuing higher education. He asked a lot of questions and wanted to study everything. In fact, getting him to focus on a single area of study within Africana Studies would be a challenge we faced as he progressed through his classes!”

Jones first encountered Nicol while taking her Black Movements of the Sixties course. “She blew my mind,” he recalls. “She was talking about this stuff I never knew existed. It’s kind of like when Keanu Reeves got unplugged from the Matrix and couldn’t believe what he saw. That’s what was happening to me in her class. She was removing my rose-colored glasses. I thought, ‘Kevin, you’ve been in the clouds all these years. This is what the world really looks like.’

“I was sitting in her class thinking about what I’d done and what I was going to do. After I got past the emotional aspect, then the inspiration to catch up and begin making a difference started to overtake me. I realized I couldn’t continue to kick myself for what I hadn’t been doing.

“As Dr. Nicol says, ‘Find a fight and get in it.’  So these last few semesters, that’s what I’ve been doing!”

Jones says that when he first went back to school, seeing the young faces of his classmates brought out a case of Imposter Syndrome. “It wasn’t about feeling like a fake as far as what I was studying and what I was planning on doing. It was feeling too old for the class.”

“I had an attitude of, ‘You really missed your time, man. Look at these young people. You can’t even be in the class with these guys. You should step aside and let the younger people take it.’ I struggled with that for a while. Then I started fighting through it, with the help of Dr. Nicol and a few other professors.”

They convinced Jones that his feelings were normal, and to learn to accept himself and move forward. “Dr. Nicol gives you that in your face/kick in the pants type of inspiration. If she sees somebody that she feels is serious about the work that they’re doing, she stays on them, to make sure that they get to where they’re supposed to go. Even though I had a burning passion inside, the fear dominated me for a long time. Now, I’m not so concerned about what other people think. I learned to stop derailing my own train.”

“Kevin is an inspiration for the older, returning student,” adds Nicol. “He not only came back to get his degree, but he also availed himself of the programs and services on campus. I nominated him to the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Program through the College of Arts and Humanities.  This gave him the opportunity to present his research in public and interact with students all over the country. I am delighted to have been Kevin’s instructor and mentor. I expect great things from him!”

Text example
Jones and Dr. Nicol embrace at Jones’ graduation ceremony.

Currently, Jones is weighing his graduate school options, while also building a local catering business. Ultimately, he sees himself in some kind of educational position. “I can see myself overseas, teaching English in Africa. That would be awesome.”

Above all, Jones is determined to make the most of the time he’s been given and the second chance that he earned. “I may have 50 more years to live. What am I going to do with it? There are so many things that society says you’re too old to do. What does that mean for people who are 50 and older? Does that mean you have to spend the next 50 just sitting around moping, or are you going to do something with that next 50?”

“I’m not going to sit around and wait for the nursing home. I’m going to do something with the rest of my time.”

Jones’ advice to his fellow Toros stems from his own experiences. “Don’t fear the process at all,” he says. “Every human being has a particular process. One person’s process might be homelessness, or it might be success straight out of high school. One person might have everything made out for them at the beginning, while another person might have a whole lifetime full of struggle, and then see some success later on. Whatever your process is, go through it, learn life lessons from it, and build from there.”

He also cautions against second-guessing yourself or letting negative emotions cloud your focus. “Whether you’re young or old, you will discover in life that you can be your own worst enemy. You might be afraid to speak up or take that next step in your life. Don’t let that happen!”

Daily Breeze: Long Beach Mayor Richardson to Deliver Keynote Speech at CSUDH Commencement

May 17, 2023 By Lilly McKibbin

Graduation caps at Commencement

Source: Daily Breeze

Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson is set to return to his alma matter, Cal State Dominguez Hills, to deliver the one of the university’s 2023 commencement keynote speeches.

More than 3,000 graduates will receive their diplomas this year at the Dignity Sports Health Park Tennis Stadium in a series of six ceremonies slated for Friday and Saturday, May 19-20.

Richardson will deliver his address during the first set of graduations on Friday morning to the College or Arts and Humanities and the College of Education.

“It is a full circle moment to come home and be able to impart some words of wisdom to this new graduating class,” Richardson said in a Tuesday, May 16, interview. “It’s a place where I shaped my identity, where I understood the meaning of leadership and service and advocacy — and where I got involved with government.”

The mayor originally enrolled for classes at CSUDH as an 18-year-old in 2001. He was elected president of Associated Students, Inc. during his time there. But left the university a few years later, several credits shy of completing his degree, after he accepted a full-time job as a community organizer with a local labor union.

Years later — after rising up the city government ranks and winning a seat on the Long Beach City Council — Richardson returned to CSUDH and finished out his degree, earning a bachelor’s of art in philosophy in 2020.

Richardson represented Long Beach’s Ninth District for two years before getting elected as mayor in November. He also served two terms as vice mayor — a total of four years — under his mayoral predecessor, current U.S. Rep. Robert Garcia.

“My hope is to give them some inspiration and some encouragement as they go forth into the world,” Richardson said. “They’re prepared to go into the world and make an impact. They should feel confident that, like generations before, they’re gonna rise to the occasion and they’re gonna make an impact on the world.”

Additional notable figures set to speak at the university’s other ceremonies include California Attorney General Rob Bonta, Southern California Edison executive Vice President for operations Jill Anderson, and Sheniece Smith, NorthBay Healthcare System’s chief administrative officer and general counsel.

Aspiring Prosthetist Grads Specialize in Empathy

May 19, 2022 By Lilly McKibbin

Kroener and Bretado making Toro hand signal
Kroener (left) and Bretado (right).

For Martha Bretado and Rachel Kroener, the field of prosthetics is about much more than creating new artificial limbs for patients. As people who have physical disabilities themselves, the two students understand the importance of fostering community with their patients, building up their confidence, and showing them life’s full range of possibilities.

Bretado and Kroener became close friends during their graduate studies in CSUDH’s Orthotics and Prosthetics program, having bonded over their shared experiences and passion for the disability community. This semester, they graduate from CSUDH’s Orthotics and Prosthetics program with their master’s degrees in health sciences with the intention of becoming certified prosthetists.

Bretado, who was raised in the City of Industry, Calif., and currently lives in Huntington Beach, was born five months prematurely with Amniotic Band Syndrome, which resulted in the congenital loss of her left leg and several partial fingers. As a child, she was fascinated by castings during her prosthetic leg fittings, and wanted to learn more about the process. In retrospect, Bretado wishes that she had known other people with limb loss or disabilities—at times, her condition made her feel isolated.

“Growing up, I never met anyone with an amputation,” Bretado says. “At certain ages, I shielded myself from the world a little bit. I wanted to cover my leg and not talk about it.”

As she got older, Bretado became more comfortable with talking about her experiences. She decided in high school that she wanted to become a prosthetist, and went on to earn her bachelor’s degree in health sciences at CSUDH in 2016 before joining the graduate program. She has also been a peer mentor with the Amputee Coalition since 2014, and says that she brings a special type of empathy to her prosthetics patients.

Martha Bretado helping a patient
Bretado (right) assists a patient with a fellow student.

“When patients know I have a limb lost, they get very excited,” Bretado says. “I know what they go through. I’ve had practitioners who never listened to me and made me feel little.”

“I tell other students what we need to focus on more as clinicians, and that’s having an open mind and really listening to your patients,” Bretado adds. “I love the feeling of making people’s lives better, and that’s what I want to do for every patient.”

Kroener shares Bretado’s enthusiasm for patient interaction, and says that their unique perspective was helpful to fellow students in their graduate program.

“It’s a different dynamic,” Kroener said. “There are things they wouldn’t think of when treating a patient, so they were able to learn from our experiences.”

Kroener, who was raised in Scottsdale, Ariz., has always used a wheelchair due to cerebral palsy. A self-described “big advocate” for adaptive sports, she began playing wheelchair basketball at age 10—an experience which she says “opened up the whole world.”

Kroener added track and field to her athletic endeavors, earning multiple awards for discus, javelin, and shot put, and attended the University of Texas at Arlington to play on the women’s wheelchair basketball team. Being part of a tight-knit disabled community was hugely impactful for Kroener, who was inspired by her fellow teammates.

“They were independent, married, had kids, worked full-time jobs—that was really cool to see,” she says. “It showed me what was possible.”

Kroener holding a prosthetic piece
Kroener working with prosthetic materials.

Kroener has also shared her enthusiasm for adaptive sports with Bretado, who says she wishes she “had known what is out there” earlier in life. Both students recall that none of their personal practitioners or doctors ever spoke with them about adaptive sports or other inclusive activities.

“If you’re just giving your patient a device and not helping them find opportunities within the disability community, you’re doing a disservice to them,” Kroener says. “It’s really powerful to meet other people with disabilities.”

Kroener and Bretado look forward to continuing bringing their expertise and empathy to the field post-graduation. They share a vision in which people with disabilities are afforded with respect and understanding, and difference is normalized.

“People tell me, ‘I’m sorry,’ and I’m like, ‘why?’” Bretado says. “This made me who I am. I’m a passionate person who loves people, who wants to always help people. That’s not something I’m sorry about.”

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Press Releases

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CSUDH in the News

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September 11, 2023

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Faculty Highlights

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Staff Spotlight

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