May 5, 1998
Contact: Carmen Ramos Chandler,
(818) 677-2130
cchandler@exec.csun.edu
An estimated 6,162 students are candidates to receive their diplomas - approximately 5,298 bachelors and 864 masters in a total of 50 fields - in a series of ceremonies that begin the evening of May 26 with the university's Honors Convocation.
"I'm extremely proud of our 1998 graduates. They have worked very hard to master new knowledge and skills, to overcome every obstacle and to prepare themselves for the challenges of the 21st century," said CSUN President Blenda J. Wilson. "We also want to acknowledge their families and loved ones for the patience and sacrifice that enable these graduates to complete their education."
"Commencement is a time of tradition, celebration and confidence in the future these graduates will create," Wilson said. "We invite members of our community to join us for this most significant beginning for the 1998 graduates of Cal State Northridge."
The graduation celebration begins at 6 p.m. Tuesday, May 26, with the Honors Convocation at the University Club on the southeast corner of the campus at 18111 Nordhoff St. in Northridge.
This year's speaker is John B. Slaughter, president of Occidental College and an active community leader who has been involved in the restructuring of the Los Angeles Unified School District and a member of the Christopher Commission, which took a look at the Los Angeles Police Department after the Rodney King beating. He has also been an active participant in the discussion of minorities in higher education.
The formal commencement ceremonies are as follows:
€ Distinguished television and film director Oz Scott will address the College of Arts, Media, and Communication at 8 a.m. on Wednesday, May 27, on the Oviatt Lawn in the center of the campus.
Scott was responsible for taking the widely acclaimed play for colored girls who considered suicide when the rainbow is enuf to Broadway and directed Richard Pryor and Cicely Tyson in the film Bustin' Loose. He has also had a successful career in television, directing episodes of Chicago Hope, The Practice, Party of Five, Picket Fences, and The Cosby Show.
The college will also present an honorary doctorate of humane letters to Abraham Polonsky, who was banished from Hollywood for 16 years during the House Committee on Un-American Activities hearings in the early 1950s.
Eaton is the director of CSUN's Summer Academic Program for Elementary School students and director of the University Reading Clinic. She received the Myrtle Shirley Memorial Award from the San Fernando Valley Reading Council for outstanding contributions to the field of reading and the Los Angeles Reading Association for outstanding contributions to council activities.
Noski, a CSUN alum, is a member of the board of directors of Raytheon Co., and is also a board member of the PanAmSat Corp., a NASDAQ-traded company in which Hughes holds a majority interest.
The ceremony will begin at 8 a.m. Thursday, May 28, on the Oviatt Lawn.
Seitsive, who will be 92 on May 19, still practices medicine and is an active member of the community. She is a member of the World Health Organization and a founding member of the Los Angeles Music Center, the University of Judaism and the Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies.
Mann has recently announced that he will relocate two of his biomedical companies to Cal State Northridge, where he will create the San Fernando Valley's first biotech office park. The 73-year-old physicist-turned-entrepreneur recently pledged to donate $100 million each to USC and UCLA, making the total contribution among the six largest ever made to higher education.
California State University Chancellor's Office Press Releases
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