Week of May 21, 2012
Nine California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) students will be recognized as “2012 Outstanding Graduates” by their respective colleges during commencement ceremonies May 23-25 in the campus’ Central Quadrangle.
Each CSULB college selects student honorees (although two are selected from the College of Liberal Arts and the College of Health and Human Services) based on nominations solicited from faculty, staff and other students. Honorees must earn a 3.5 grade-point average or above and demonstrate service and dedication to CSULB and to the community.
This year’s outstanding graduates and the degrees they will be conferred during their respective ceremonies include:
Below are brief individual biographies for each of the nine CSULB Outstanding Graduates this year.
2012 Outstanding Graduates
at California State University, Long Beach
College of the Arts
2012 Outstanding Graduate
Lisa Vien
Bachelor of Fine Arts, Interior Design
A decorated veteran and former California Army National Guard administrative management supervisor, Lisa Vien participated in Operation Iraqi Freedom from 2003-04, earning an Army Commendation Medal. A first-generation college student, she placed on CSULB’s 2011 President’s and 2010 Dean’s Lists and joined the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society in 2008. Her leadership helped establish professional contacts for sponsorships and fundraising events supporting the 2011-12 BFA Interior Design Senior Studio thesis project. For her own senior thesis, she designed a college counseling center for veterans.
In January, Vien traveled to Bali, Indonesia, as part of a Habitat for Humanity Global Village volunteer team. A Los Angeles chapter member of NEWH, The Hospitality Industry Network, she won the organization’s 2011 Al Koller Scholarship Award and modeled for the 2011 Ritz Fashion Show and Auction. In 2009, she joined the International Interior Design Association’s Orange County chapter and won the 2010 Rockstar Haute Couture Fashion Show Best New Artist Award by using recycled architectural materials to create her entry.
Vien’s goals after graduation are to attain a master’s degree in architecture and become a senior designer or director of interior design.
College of Business Administration
2012 Outstanding Graduate
Amanda Jane Baldwin
Bachelor of Science, Business Administration (Option in Accountancy)
During her time at CSULB, Amanda Baldwin set the example for student excellence and community service. A President’s Scholar and University Honors Program participant, Baldwin maintained a spot on the President’s List during five of her last seven semesters. In 2011, she coordinated the campus Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program, which offers free income tax assistance to hundreds of low- and moderate-income individuals (students and community members), the handicapped and the elderly. She also co-coordinated VITA in 2012.
As a member of campus’ Beta Alpha Psi & Accounting Society, she was the spring 2010 associate treasurer, fall 2010 treasurer, and mentored fellow accounting students in interviewing techniques and business communication. The Accounting Society chose her as its 2009 Most Outstanding Returning Member. In addition, through the CSULB Learning Assistance Center, Baldwin tutors students in accounting, economics and mathematics. In the community, Baldwin volunteers for a Long Beach church’s homeless drop-in center and, as a Jana Vaughn Williams Scholarship recipient, returns to La Sierra High to speak about attending college.
During summer 2011, she interned with KPMG, a “Big 4” accounting firm, which is where she will begin full-time employment upon graduation. Additionally, her leadership abilities led to her selection for the 2010 Deloitte National Leadership Conference and Discover KPMG summer leadership program. Her goals after graduation are to pass the CPA exam and gain her license.
College of Education
2012 Outstanding Graduate
Patrice Collins
Master of Arts, Early Childhood Education
A Phi Kappa Phi National Honor Society member, Patrice Collins has maintained a 4.0 grade point average during her graduate studies, and her master’s thesis was titled “Exploring Father Involvement: A Qualitative Study with Formerly Incarcerated African-American Fathers.” She has delivered presentations on early childhood education and African-American fatherhood at numerous forums such as the 2012 Association for Childhood Education International conference and the 2011 National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) speaker series.
Collins conducted extensive research about early educational practices, including such during study abroad programs in Tanzania, East Africa and St. Croix, Virgin Islands in 2009. A recipient of numerous awards, she received the 2011 Alan T. Nishio Educational Equity Award and 2010 Governor Schwarzenegger Minerva Scholarship, and was excited most recently about the graduate research fellowship she received from the university which covered her tuition for a full year supporting her research.
Her campus leadership includes service on the Isabel Patterson Child Development Center Associated Students Inc. Board of Trustees and as a COE senator. Since 2011, Collins has worked as a CSULB Family and Consumer Sciences Department instructor and, since 2008, a Child and Family Center early childhood educator. Nationally, she is an active member of the National Association for the Education of Young Children, ACEI and NAACP. Additional nonprofit affiliations include the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Head Start and AmeriCorps Vista, and her community service work with at-risk children and families.
Though she is receiving her master’s degree in early childhood education this month, Collins’ plans include pursing a doctorate degree in early childhood education in the near future. She considers increasing awareness about high-quality early education for young children a major priority.
College of Engineering
2012 Outstanding Graduate
Celeste Gabriela Montenegro
Bachelor of Science, Electrical Engineering
Born in Guatemala, Celeste Gabriela Montenegro is the first member of her family to attend college. A member of the President’s List and the Golden Key Society at CSULB, she also won the Senate Award in Physics and Engineering at East Los Angeles College, where she studied prior to enrolling at CSULB, and was a John Cooke Foundation scholarship finalist. Montenegro has volunteered numerous hours as a tutor and lab assistant for the CSULB electrical engineering department, including serving as a teaching assistant for an electrical engineering course.
As a Society of Women Engineers member and industry chair, she participated in numerous outreach programs such as Women @ The Beach. She is a member of IEEE, Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers and the Hermanas Unidas club.
In the community, her tutoring work with people who are disabled or studying for the GED at the Compton Adult School led to her receiving the Latina Leadership Network Award, and the Cambalache Athletic Club recognized her for helping at-risk girls as a football coach. At a Los Angeles food bank, she packs up food for the homeless.
Following graduation, she wants to pursue a biomedical engineering master’s degree so she can help make existing medical technology more available in developing countries.
College of Health and Human Services
2012 Outstanding Graduate
Jamie Antonette Leonardo de Luna
Bachelor of Science, Nursing
An accomplished scholar who is passionate about people, Jaime Antonette Leonardo de Luna was a member of the Dean's or President’s lists nearly every semester at CSULB. She has worked as a nurse’s aide at Long Beach Memorial Medical Center, which is where she will begin her career as a registered nurse immediately after graduation.
Very active in the community, de Luna served as summer day counselor at the YMCA of Greater Long Beach and served as a volunteer nurse assistant at Camp Kindle, where she was named best support staff. She was also a volunteer live-in caregiver for the Casa Hogar de Los Ninos in Tijuana and a volunteer at Tony’s Treehouse, an orphanage in Tijuana.
On campus, she was class representative and president of the California Nurses Student Association, and in 2008, she traveled to New Orleans as part of CSULB’s Alternative Spring Break rebuilding efforts following Hurricane Katrina. Additionally, as a member of the student organization, Petra, de Luna co-chaired the community service committee from 2007-08 and won the 2007-08 Ripple and Spirit awards as well as the 2006-07 Rookie of the Year award, counting Giving Tree and Reading to Kids among her volunteer projects.
College of Health and Human Services
2012 Outstanding Graduate
Brandon L. Evans
Bachelor of Arts, Social Work
Brandon Evans earned an associate degree in 2010 from Los Angeles Harbor College, where he twice received the academic achievement award and was voted most likely to succeed before transferring to CSULB. At CSULB, he served as secretary of the Associated Students of Social Work and treasurer of the campus’ Chapter of Active Minds. He also worked as a facility supervisor for the CSULB Office of Recreation and Club Sports and earned the School of Social Work’s annual Diversity Scholarship.
In the community, Evans volunteers at the Beacon House in San Pedro, a non-profit substance abuse treatment and support facility where he has served as a mentor since 2006. He has also served as a personal service coordinator at the Mental Health America Village in Long Beach and as a youth camp leader at the Academic Enrichment Camp at CSULB. In addition he was an intern at the California Conference for Equality and Justice and the Serra Project (a group home for children living with HIV/AIDS in Long Beach.
His educational journey isn’t finished quite yet, however. Evans has been accepted to the CSULB School of Social Work’s MSW Advance Standing Program, for which he will specialized in the area of older adults and families. He will begin his graduate degree in June.
College of Liberal Arts
2012 Outstanding Graduate
Alejandra Fernandez Campoy
Bachelor of Arts, Comparative World Literature and Classics
Minors in Music and Spanish
Alejandra Fernandez Campoy’s passion for intellectual pursuits has fueled her academic success. With a 3.93 grade point average in her major and a double minor in music and Spanish, for which she achieved a 4.0 GPA, she placed multiple times on the Dean's and President's Lists.
As a 2011-12 McNair Scholar, she gave a presentation on Argentinean writer Adolfo Bioy Casares’ La Invencion de Morel at the group’s research conference, among others, and published the paper in the CSULB McNair Scholars Research Journal this spring. Fluent in Spanish, she participated in the spring 2010 Study Abroad-Direct Exchange Program at the Universidad de Alicante, Spain.
Her campus leadership included serving as the Spanish Club vice president (2009-11), Associated Students of Comparative Literature president (2011) and managing editor of the Comparative World Literature Department’s journals for 2010-11, Genre Volume 30 and Genre Volume 31. She also is a member of the Golden Key Honor Society.
While attending CSULB, she was a University Print Shop student assistant from 2006-09 and worked as an English as a Second Language specialist at the Learning Assistance Center from 2010-11. At present, she is a reading and math tutor at the UROK Learning Institute and an essay reader at Mira Costa High School. Her career goals include acquiring a Ph.D. and teaching literature at the university level.
College of Liberal Arts
2012 Outstanding Graduate
Emily Elizabeth Sander
Bachelor of Arts, Anthropology
Bachelor of Arts in Human Development
Minors in Psychology and Theater
Emily Elizabeth Sander exemplifies the ideals of a well-rounded liberal arts student. With a double major and two minors, psychology and theater, she has placed on both the President’s and Dean’s lists and participates in the University Honors Program. In 2011, she presented her B.A. thesis, “Am I Blue? Preschoolers’ Understandings of Learned vs. Experienced Emotions,” at the American Anthropological Association annual meeting in Montreal, a rare undergraduate honor.
She is a member of the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society, Golden Key Society and the National Society for Collegiate Scholars. She served as the 2011-12 Anthropology Student Association co-president, 2011-12 Human Development Student Association president and 2010-12 Anthropology Department ambassador and joined national organizations, including the Society for Psychological Anthropology and the Anthropology of Children and Childhood Interest Group.
Since 2010, Sander has tutored athletes at the Bickerstaff Student-Athlete Center, and in 2011, she worked as a research assistant with Human Development Department Professor Heather Rae-Espinoza. In the community, Sander mentors students through Better Learning After School Today and participates in the community theater group, Alive Theater. She also interns with the Harbor Area Counseling Services.
A Screen Actors Guild member, she works as an actress and producer and runs her own photography company. After graduation, Sander wants to pursue acting and producing with future plans to obtain a Ph.D. in comparative human development.
College of Natural Science and Mathematics
2012 Outstanding Graduate
Kimberly Michelle Johnston
Bachelor of Science, Biological Sciences (Option in Physiology)
Kimberly Johnston has demonstrated her CSULB success in multiple ways. With a 3.869 grade point average, she has placed on both the President’s and Dean’s lists every semester since December 2007. As a member of Chemistry and Biochemistry Department Professor Stephen Mezyk’s research lab, she works with other researchers on her project involving redox stability of anticancer radiopharmaceuticals under physiological conditions. She made oral presentations of her research data at American Chemical Society Conferences held in Anaheim and Boston and at PacifiChem.
Her academic work has earned her the 2011 Dumont and Hawthorn Excellence Scholarship, 2011 Target Specialty Scholar award, 2010 Women in Philanthropy Excellence in Research Award and the 2009 Spyros Pathos Excellence in Chemistry award, among others. She is a member of the Phi Beta Kappa and Sigma Alpha Lambda honor societies.
Since 2009, Johnstone has tutored students in chemistry at CSULB’s Learning Assistance Center (LAC). She also works as a Starbucks barista. In the community, she volunteers as a St. Mary’s Medical Center clinical care extender and assisted with the hospital’s 2010 annual auction and dinner as well as reached out to the community for the Long Beach marathon and triathlon. Through Starbucks, she also volunteers at the Long Beach Rescue Mission.
In August, Johnston will begin work toward a master’s of science degree in physician’s assistant studies at the College of Pharmacy and Health Science in Boston.
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