Contact: Muriel Banares or
Paula Gonzalez ,
(818) 677-2130
mbanares@exec.csun.edu

CSUN to Recognize Top Graduates at Honors Convocation

More than 1,400 graduating bachelor's and master's degree recipients have been invited to participate in this event.

ABC News correspondent Judy Muller, who has won awards for her coverage of the Los Angeles riots and the O.J. Simpson case, will give the keynote address.

Eight students will receive special recognition for their outstanding academic performances and contributions to the community.

Seven years ago, Teodora Manolova emigrated to the United States from Bulgaria, leaving behind everything familiar to her, including her father.

Now at age 20, she has overcome language barriers, financial difficulties, cultural adjustments and homesickness for those she has left behind and will receive the 2000 Wolfson Scholar Award, an honor given each year to the university's top graduating senior.

Manolova has a cumulative grade point average of 3.9 and has been a recipient of several awards, including the Lonnie Turner Award in 1999, an outstanding junior student award in political science.

Manolova is a member of the Northridge Presidential Scholars Association, Golden Key Honors Society, Phi Eta Sigma Honors Society, CSUN's political science club and the pre-law society.

She will graduate with a degree in political science and will return in the fall to finish her second bacheloršs degree in business law.

Graduate student Marina Croci, 25, has been selected to receive the Outstanding Graduate Student Award from the Robert H. Schiffman Memorial Scholarship. Croci is receiving her master's in Family Environmental Sciences. Her nomination was supported by her excellent academic record and recommendation letters from her professors. She has held the position of Chair in the Department of Family Environmental Sciences Coordinating Council.

After graduation, Croci will attend the University of Connecticut to pursue her Ph.D. in Family Studies this fall. Croci said she will take all of her experiences she has learned while working at the child and family studies laboratory school at CSUN.

English graduate student Ericka Wright also has been selected for the Outstanding Graduate Student Award from the Robert H. Schiffman Memorial Scholarship.

Wright has been offered full fellowships from USC and UC Riverside. She also won both an award of merit for outstanding student teaching and the Helen Lodge/Richard Lid Northridge Writing Project Award which recognizes "excellence in a secondary school English teacher pursuing an M.A. in English, English Education, or Education."

Wright has presented papers at national conferences, including the Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Conference, and will be chairing a session at the conference next year. Wright has also submitted a paper on the English M.A. program to the MLA Journal of Profession. While at CSUN, Wright served as co-president for the Association of Graduate Students of English. She has also been involved in a CSUN graduate conference, "Voices on the Edge."

Radio-Television-Film student Sam Mithani has been selected to receive the Outstanding Graduate Students Award from the President's Associates.

Mithani has a 4.0 GPA. His recommendations from the faculty have cited his scholarly contributions to the field of media theory and criticism, his dedication to continuing academic and extra-curricular achievement at CSUN and his involvement in the larger community of students, teachers and academic institutions.

Mithani has been admitted to the Doctoral Program in Critical Studies at USC School of Cinema-Television. The program is top-rated in the nation in the field of film and media studies.

This summer Mithani will be conducting further research into the foundations of his CSUN master's thesis that includes an examination of the implications of social consciousness in the film noir genre in Hollywood.

Born and raised in East Los Angeles to a single mother on welfare, Myisha Blackman, 23, is the only person in her family to graduate from college. She will receive the Outstanding Graduating Senior Award from the President's Associates.

Blackman, who is receiving her bachelor's in Deaf Studies, will attend Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., to pursue her master's degree in interpretation with an ultimate goal to earn a Ph.D. in sociolinguistics. Blackman, a hearing student, will attend Gallaudet University this fall.

Blackman will be graduating with an overall GPA of 3.8. She is a member of the Deaf Studies Association at CSUN, the National Black Deaf Advocates, the Los Angeles Black Deaf Advocates and the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf.

Gina Garcia, 22, of Simi Valley, will receive this year's Outstanding Graduating Senior Award from the Karen, Leon and Rita Goldstein-Saulter Memorial.

Garcia was honored for excelling in academia, contributions to school and community and exceptional achievements of life circumstances.

Garcia, who will receive her bachelor's degree in business administration, was recognized as an honor student, served as president of the Latino Business Association, and interned for Mattel, Inc.

Garcia also worked on campus supervising resident advisors for the university's dorms. She is a member of Beta Gamma Sigma, the honor society for collegiate schools of business.

After graduation, Garcia will travel to Florida and to South America in an exchange program for two months.

As an African American wheelchair-bound paraplegic, Lawrence Johnson, 44, of Ventura, knows what it is like to overcome the odds.

Johnson is the elected president of the student government for the CSUN extension campus at Channel Islands.

"As a high profile disabled individual, I have taken on the role as a spokesperson for all of our disabled students to ensure that our new campus and transportation services are ADA compliant and that each individual has equal access," Johnson said.

Johnson will receive the Outstanding Graduating Senior Award from the President's Associates. He is an active member of Psi Chi and Phi Kappa Phi academic honor societies. He has been accepted to further his education in college counseling and student services at CSUN.

Johnson will graduate with a 4.0 GPA with a bachelor's degree in psychology on Friday, May 26 at 10 a.m.

Julio Ortiz, the youngest of 11 children and the first one in the family to attend college, will receive the Outstanding Graduating Senior Award from the Alumni Association.

Ortiz founded the journalism department's Spanish "Valley View News" that has allowed bilingual journalism students to expand their experiences to prepare them for the working world.

He will graduate with two majors -- journalism and communication studies -- and is a member of the Kappa Tau Alpha and Lambda Pi Eta.