Success Stories from Cal State Fullerton's Professional Development Programs

The individuals featured on this page have achieved great success after taking part in one or more of Cal State Fullerton's professional development programs.

Tiffany

encourages current students to begin exploring their career interests while in high school, to take advantage of continuing education programs and CTSOs, and to join the summer internship program. Additionally, during the summer, university representatives will be involved in “First-Generation Forward” workshops, as well as participating in ongoing professional development programs, goal setting, creating blogs, preparing annual reports, and other support programs.

Ana

was instrumental in organizing the first SBA SCORE training in Spanish, “Simple Steps En Español”, a program that is now being replicated in other parts of the state.

Hailing from Redding, California and with a strong passion for the northern part of the state, Eric has taken his own success and invested it in the economic development of his region. In this role, he interacts with government officials, business leaders, and other community stakeholders to direct programs and policies driven by research. He then moved to Cal State Fullerton to pursue a degree specializing in 3D character animation.

Jackson

holds a degree in Psychology from CSU Sacramento and a certificate in its management and executive leadership programs.

He

is a member of several boards of trustees of foundations and non-profit organizations that work to serve communities.

His work includes criminal justice, nonviolence, educational opportunities for young people, supporting young adults in sports, and economic opportunities. The CSUF Center for Educational Partnerships houses federal programs and partnerships that support underrepresented students as they pursue post-secondary studies. In this position, he maintained the company's social impact and sustainability initiatives that support underserved populations and represented the company in all aspects of community relations. A lifelong entrepreneur, his commitment to the economic development of Mendocino County focuses on increasing the region's tourism market share while simultaneously improving the quality of life of local residents and supporting other stakeholders.

Having risen through CALED

, Gurbax has been involved in most of the organization's successes over the past two decades, including creating key tools to support economic development in California.

In his position, Melone oversees the educational and credit activities of FarmLink, which provides services to hundreds of agricultural and fishing companies each year. Cal State Fullerton's goal of annually educating thousands of Orange County students who are the first in their families to attend college includes initiatives such as celebrating National First-Generation College Student Week, programs to support teachers and staff, and events and seminars that help students network and advance higher education. Cal State Fullerton awarded a second round of grants from its Scott-Jewett Fund for Student Success and Innovation to expand student participation in big data research, the Cal State DC Scholars program, creative activities, an engineering design challenge, and more.

Geri

was also a member of the executive committee of Fresno DRIVE, the boards of directors of The Women's Foundation of California, Access Plus Capital (Fresno CDFI), and the Reinvent Stockton Foundation.