Honors Convocation Recognition for Kimberly Arellano

Health Sciences major Kimberly Arellano (Public Health) is the recipient of the Karen, Leon and Rita Goldstein-Saulter Memorial Award. She has maintained a 3.83 GPA and is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including the 2015 Dean’s Award for the College of Health and Human Development and a fellowship with the National Institutes of Health – Maximizing Access to Research Careers Predoctoral Fellowship. Last summer, she interned at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and has presented posters at both Harvard and Emory Universities on public health issues. She is active on campus as a member of Health Education Student Organization (HESO) and as an “alive and well” peer health educator, providing alcohol, tobacco and other drug-prevention education and programming.

Arellano is equally committed to community service. She served on the executive board of the Southern California Society for Public Health Education, and during her senior seminar in public health, she developed obesity-prevention programs for adolescents at local high schools. She is also passionate about animal welfare and rescue, and she volunteers at the East Valley Animal Shelter in Van Nuys. A first-generation college student and daughter of a single mom from Mexico, Arellano credits her success to the mentorship and support provided by CSUN’s Minority Access to Research Careers (MARC) program. “I’ve had opportunities I would have never gotten without this program,” she said.

This summer, Arellano will complete an internship with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Her career goal is to pursue a master’s in public health, earn a doctorate and come back to teach at CSUN.  Read the full story about campus-wide CSUN Honors Convocation Award recipients in CSUN Today.