This year's awards go to Grant Ashley, former executive assistant director of law enforcement services for the FBI; former California Lt. Governor Mike Curb, philanthropist and chairman of Curb Records; and Mory Ejabat, co-founder, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Zhone Technologies. The three will receive their honors during a special dinner at the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel.

The Distinguished Alumni Awards pay tribute to those whose achievements place them at the summit of their professions. "Cal State Northridge and its alumni have left their positive imprint in virtually every walk of life," said D.G. "Gray" Mounger, assistant vice president of alumni relations at CSUN. "This year's honorees are no exceptions. They have accomplished so much with the creativity, courage and dignity that so many students and alumni possess. They are an honor to this university."

As former executive assistant director of law enforcement services for the FBI, Ashley oversaw state and municipal law enforcement training, agent training, the FBI Lab, investigative technologies and criminal justice information services for the bureau.

Ashley joined the FBI in 1976 in a support position while still a student at Cal State Northridge. Once he earned his accounting degree in 1978, he left the bureau briefly to work in private industry as a certified public accountant before returning to the FBI in 1980 as a special agent.

Over the years, Ashley has investigated white collar and violent crime cases in Los Angeles, Washington D.C. and Chicago and overseen operations in San Diego, San Francisco and Las Vegas. He became second in charge of the FBI in 2004 when he was named executive assistant director of law enforcement services. He retired earlier this year and is now vice president for security at Harrah's Entertainment Corp.

Mike Curb was 19 and a student at what was then San Fernando Valley State College when he launched his own record company and began releasing the soundtrack albums he composed to motion pictures. As a teenager, Curb formed his own musical group, the Mike Curb Congregation, which had worldwide success with such albums as "Burning Bridges," "Put Your Hand in the Hand" and "Softly Whispering I Love You."

In 1969, Curb merged his company with MGM Records and became president of the MGM Company. At the age of 25, Curb turned MGM's fortunes around with such hits as "One Bad Apple" by the Osmonds, "Natural Man" by Lou Rawls and "The Candy Man" by Sammy Davis Jr. After MGM was sold in 1974, Curb went on to build Curb Records and the Curb/Warner label, which released numerous high-charting singles from the mid-to-late ‘70s.

It was during the 1970s that Curb began to apply his experience as a businessman to public service. In 1976, he served as chairman of the Ronald Reagan California Campaign for President and later was co-chair of President Gerald Ford's campaign. In 1978, Curb was elected lieutenant governor of California. He served for only one term before returning to Curb Records, of which he is chairman. He is also chairman of World Entertainment. Both companies are located in Nashville, Tenn., where he and his family reside.

Curb Records has been honored by Billboard magazine as the 2001 Billboard Country Music Label of the Year. Among the artists who record with the company are Wynonna Judd, Tim McGraw, LeAnn Rimes, Lyle Lovett, Lee Greenwood and Hank Williams, Jr.

Curb is also a noted philanthropist who has given to several universities and other institutions in the Nashville area.

Mory Ejabat, who holds a bachelor's of science in industrial engineering and a master's in systems engineering from CSUN, is co-founder of Oakland-based Zhone Technologies, Inc., which is the first company dedicated to building total-delivery solutions for voice, data and video services to access the local network.

Ejabat was born in Tehran, Iran, in 1950. He immigrated to the United States in 1970 and enrolled at CSUN shortly thereafter. He has served as chairman of the board of directors and chief executive officer of Zhone Technologies since its inception in 1999. Prior to co-founding Zhone, Ejabat held various senior management positions with Ascend Communications, Inc., which in 1999, during his tenure as president and chief executive officer, was successfully sold to Lucent Technologies, Inc.

Ejabat last year pledged $1 million to Cal State Northridge's College of Engineering and Computer Science for the creation of the college's first endowed chair. The Mory Ejabat Chair will be awarded to a tenured full professor with an outstanding record in both scholarship and teaching in the college.