CSU Chancellor Charles B. Reed will address the graduates at 6 p.m. on the lawn of the University Club, located on the southwest corner of the campus at Nordhoff Street and Zelzah Avenue.

            CSUN's highest honor for a graduating senior--the Wolfson Scholar award--this year will go to Louise Scharf, a finance and business honors major. In September, Scharf will begin work on a doctorate in molecular biology at the University of Chicago.

           The Simi Valley resident maintained a 3.97 grade point average while holding leadership positions in the Business Honors Association and on the Business Honors Student Advisory Committee.

            Scharf's interest in finance shares space in her life with another passion: science. Raised in East Germany by her father, a physicist at Martin Luther University in Halle, and her physician mother, the Wolfson Scholar was ready for CSUN's opportunities.

            "In Germany it was hard as a woman, especially a young woman, to be successful," said Scharf, who arrived in the U.S. with husband Rene Limberger four years ago. "One of the things I like about CSUN and the American undergraduate curriculum is that you can explore different things."        

     Encouraged by associate professor of biology Stan Metzenberg, whose classes early on inspired her to delve into scientific inquiry, Scharf has decided on a career in academic research.    

         Her favorite semester, said the honoree, was one in which she studied for the subject Graduate Record Examination while taking 25 units, a mixture of science and business that included three three-hour lab classes. "Can you tell I like being in school?" she laughed.

            Outstanding achievement awards also will be presented to:

• Christopher Zaddach, recipient of the Nathan O. Freedman Memorial Award for Outstanding Graduate Student for 2006. Zaddach earned a 3.93 grade point average while pursuing his master's degree in clinical psychology at CSUN, and in fall 2006 will begin doctoral studies at Loyola University in Chicago.

  Described as a "clear, critical and analytical thinker," Zaddach accumulated clinical experience as a psychological assessment examiner in CSUN's Child and Adolescent Assessment Clinic. He works with parents and caregivers of developmentally disabled children at the Parent-Child Interaction Program, Regional Center Los Angeles County/CSUN, among other duties.

• Cristine Rose, recipient of the Association of Retired Faculty Memorial Award for graduate students. Rose, who maintained a 4.0 grade point average while earning her master's degree in theater, prepared a thesis that drew on her experience as a professional actor.

  Entitled "The Actor's Role in American New Play Development: 1950-2000," the thesis has drawn faculty praise as "a highly unique and valuable aspect of theater," at the "forefront of performance research."