May 13, 2002 Vol. VI, No. 15

Briefs

Rawitch Named New Assoc. Dean in AMC

"With a wealth of experience as a professional journalist and as a member of the CSUN journalism faculty, Dr. Rawitch brings outstanding expertise to this position," Toutant said in announcing the appointment.

After working as a general assignment reporter, state editor, radio writer and editor for Associated Press, Rawitch began teaching at Northridge as a part-time lecturer in the Journalism Department, and joined the full-time faculty in 1984, teaching a wide variety of courses.

When the College of Arts, Media, and Communication was formed, she served in the dean's office as transition coordinator, and drafted all of the new college's policies and procedures. She also was the coordinator/writer of the university's highly praised accreditation self-study.

In other university-wide assignments, Rawitch also serves on the University Planning and Budget Group, and as chair of the university's Council of Chairs. Rawitch succeeds Paul Krivonos, who has served for the past three years as interim associate dean.

First Place Finish for Information Systems Students

This was the first Northridge team to win this competition. Team members included Stelian Damu, Sam Ee (captain), Marisol Magana, Midori Murata and Sean Sedruley. Their advisors/coaches were professor Dat-Dao Nguyen and professor David Liu, along with help from the College of Business and Economics Office of Information Technology and Vic Catalasan.

The competition consisted of analyzing, designing, documenting and presenting an enterprise solution for a multinational, multibillion dollar biotech company (process modeling, data modeling and object modeling), including a thorough analysis of the economic, managerial and technical feasibility of various Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) candidate solutions.

The victory comes as the department is inaugurating its new Bachelor of Science degree in Information Systems, which was developed through an interdisciplinary collaboration between the Information Systems and Computer Science departments.

New Learning Resource Center Director Appointed

Segura comes to Northridge from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, where he has worked since 1994, first as founder and director of its Learning Resources Center and later as associate to the vice chancellor for student affairs and campus life.

At Amherst, Segura forged strong ties with programs in both academic and student affairs to help guide efforts to improve the retention and graduation of undergraduate students. He has a strong commitment to working with students of diverse backgrounds, especially first-generation college students.

While there, he also developed a tutor training program that obtained certification from the College Reading and Learning Association. He also introduced supplemental instruction and video supplemental instruction to the campus after completing supervisor training at the University of Missouri, Kansas City.

Segura has extensive teaching experience, ranging from bilingual teaching for the American Embassy in Bogota, Columbia, to teaching graduate and undergraduate courses as an adjunct professor in the School of Education at the University of Massachusetts. He succeeds Robert Stoneham, who has been serving as interim director of the Northridge LRC.

Online Students to Meet for First Time at Graduation

The students make up the first cohort of a recently established online master's degree program in speech-language pathology sponsored by the colleges of Health and Human Development and Extended Learning.

The students will receive their diplomas at the College of Health and Human Development's ceremony at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, May 30, on the Oviatt Lawn.

For many of the students, commencement will be the first time they have ever set foot on the Northridge campus. The graduates completed their coursework via Web, e-mail and fax while engaging in supervised fieldwork. Professors in the program gave tests via the computer and communicated through e-mail, computer discussions and chat rooms.

"The program allowed me to custom-fit class schedules around my job and family," said Denise Duff, a graduate from Huntington Beach. "I could attend class early in the morning or late at night. I could go to class in my pajamas and slippers."

The three-year program trains therapists in schools, hospitals, nursing homes and rehabilitation centers to help people overcome speech impediments caused by conditions such as autism, strokes, accidents and birth defects.

Northridge Students Win Research Competition Awards

Abhijit Chaudhari, competing against 10 other students, won first place in the Engineering and Computer Science category. Mohenish Singh, competing against 13 others, won second place in Health, Nutrition, and Clinical Sciences.

Luis Zuniga, competing against nine others, won an honorable mention in the Engineering and Computer Science category. This undergraduate section was the only one in which an honorable mention was awarded.

The full list of Northridge students and their faculty mentors is as follows:
Name, Faculty Mentor, Department
Sheila Bare (U), Scott Andrew, English
Sean Beard (U), John O'Brien, Art
Abhijit Chaudhari (G), Deborah Van Alphen, Electrical Engineering
Karen C. Friesen (G), Sandra Stanley, English
Dang Hong Huynh (G), Maria E. Zavala, Biology
Stephen Parr (G), David Sannerud, Music
Mohenish Singh (G), Ben Yaspelkis, Kinesiology
Arwen Eliz. Vidal (U), Gerry Simila, Geology
Luis A. Zuniga (U), Behzad Bavarian, Electrical Engineering

@csun | May 13, 2002 issue
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