CSUN Stories Interview – Sharron Morgan

My name is Sharron Morgan and I am a recent graduate from CSUN. I came here a couple years ago, so that would be 2006, and enrolled in the credential program for teaching. It was a two year program, and I completed that in May of 2008.

This is a career change for me, so being a teacher is relatively new, even though I am an older person. I have been in the work world for a number of years, and my first degree, bachelor of business, was from the University of Illinois many many years ago. I decided to get into teaching because I saw an ad in my magazine– Peace Corps Volunteer magazine — that was recruiting people to come teach in Los Angeles. People who had international experience. So I was intrigued by that and I made a phone call and there I was, pursued that path. So I learned that the state of California has a program for people who do not have a bachelor’s degree in the subject area that they want to teach, but have some knowledge, or a lot of knowledge, and that is through state tests that are offered. So the more I explored it the more I realized that this would be a path for me to pursue and that I had a lot to offer to the field. I moved to California and began that whole process of re-training myself and getting qualified to take the state exams, and so on. At the same time I knew I was going to need to be enrolled in a university’s intern program, so I contacted CSUN and there we were.

Once I found a job, once I got finished with the exams that I needed to pass and so on I needed to find a job, which I did. Then at the same time I needed to get enrolled in the university’s intern program. That all happened very quickly actually and I was very impressed with the staff that made that happen. I actually got a job offer about the late part of August of 2006. In fact, the credentialing program had already started, or the fall session for 2006 had already started by the time I contacted the faculty, but like I said I was only a couple weeks late and they were very gracious in getting it going and moving things right along. So one day I wasn’t in and the next day I was in, and so it was good.

CSUN Stories Interview – Steve Ford

My name is Steve Ford. I graduated in January 1985 in Speech Communication, which is today Communications Studies, but I was proud to be a Speech Communication major, and initially began as a marketing major, but wanted to be into Communications for broadcast and/or, marketing agency work, like advertising agency and public relations agency work.  So I crafted a special option in the speech communication department which allowed me to have a triple major: one third journalism, one third marketing, and one third speech.

My dad was a professor of Sociology here from 1958 to the late ’80s or early 1990s — I don’t know the date that he retired. But that let me really grow up on this campus.

People think Speech Communication is all about talking and standing at a lectern, you know, and blabbing away on rhetoric. I found the Speech Communication Studies program to be fantastic from the standpoint of understanding writing for broadcast, understanding rhetorical discourse, writing to persuade, advertising writing, interpreting and evaluating communication and understanding the theory of communication, world views of communication and all the theoretical things that you don’t think you would get, and I say that just to give a plug for the depth and academic side of Communications Studies. Really powerful information.

It actually makes me feel a bit like Rip Van Winkle, you know, to come back here today because I blink my eyes and wake up and I come back in 2009 and there’s nine new buildings. I parked my car over in the parking lot that’s east of the University Student Union, and I recognize the parking lot, but you know, I walk no more than twenty-five, thirty seconds into the University Student Union and I see a dramatically different structure. I was on the board of directors of the University Student Union in 1984 and 1985.  I was very involved there. So I have both affection for what I see on the campus today and also sort of shock and dismay because many of the open, green-lawn walk areas are now concrete buildings. But it’s tastefully done, and I still see the orange grove, so I must tell you that so long as the orange grove is here on this campus I will forever allow and bow to the expansion of the campus to build more concrete. But that orange grove has to stay.

When I look back at the difference between me today and what I would have been, say, if I hadn’t gone to Cal State Northridge, that education that I was describing — with the unique major that I had through the Speech Communications department — enabled me to do everything I’ve done in the 25 years since then. I’ve been in management, advertising agencies, public relations agency work, I’ve hosted a national TV show on the Home & Garden television network, I’ve done radio, television, print journalism, using the journalism I studied here. I continue to be motivated and excited about my career with the studies that I took here that have enabled me to be a better communicator, professionally, and make a living at it in the years since graduating.

CSUN makes a powerful difference. You are influenced by what was positive here at CSUN far beyond what you are aware of when you are going to school here. It takes you forward to open options and awareness that you didn’t know — you didn’t have — until you got here.  And then by whatever studies you go into, suddenly a whole new world opens up and, depending on how much vigor and enthusiasm you bring, CSUN meets you and pulls you forward.

CSUN Stories Interview – Dorothy Stiller

[San Fernando Valley State College] had  just opened when I came.  I came from Valley Junior College [Los Angeles Valley College], over on Fulton Avenue.  And I did two years there, and then realized that this was a good spot to come into, at the end of my two years, to complete my degree.  That would have been in 1957.

Dr. Schwartz was the chairman of that department [Education], and he was also the main teacher in getting us into training.  Everything I took was geared toward teaching.  For example, the Music Department with Dr. Ryan was learning to teach music in the schools.  And the same was true with the Physical Training [Phys Ed], which was Mrs. Fisher, as I recall — there again, we were given ideas about incorporating it into our teaching.

I was older, because I put my husband through college first, and then he decided that he would put me through college. . . I think I had an advantage as far as my age was concerned, because I thoroughly loved it, and I got a lot out of all my classes because I enjoyed coming and studying, so in that respect it [San Fernando Valley State College] had a lot to offer and I appreciated it as far as the professors and just being a new college was great for me too.

I think it’s been a fantastic thing for the valley to have this university and it seems to be better each year as far as things that are offered and then the community involvement as far as Northridge is concerned, I think it’s great.  It’s a wonderful thing for our community.

It was just an overall wonderful accomplishment for me to be able to finish and get through in four years — which doesn’t happen too often.  — and then also getting the teaching credential to me was like an insurance policy, so wherever we might go I could use it, and it wasn’t until two years ago that I stopped with my substitute work.  I enjoyed that thoroughly throughout the valley.

CSUN Stories Interview – Natalie Holtzman

I wouldn’t be anything without it (education).  When I see a person and they tell me, “Hh, I can’t go to school because…”  You know, just go, because I want everybody to be educated.  I just– I adore people being able to think.  They think– they think that they’re going to really learn something and it’s going to make them be something and do something.  That’s not what it’s about.  It’s about learning how to learn.  It’s opening up the doors and showing you where to go to get the learning that you need, so that you can develop the thing that you want.  So that you can get the thing that you want.  So that you can think about the thing that you want.  I promote that constantly, I’ve never lost that.  I have a great love for knowing everything there is to know.

I was on the campus newspaper, and I advise everybody to do at least one semester on the campus newspaper.  I advise my grandchildren.  One semester is all you have to do, because you will get to know everybody and everything about how the school works, and that’s what I adored about being on the paper.  I was on the Pierce [College] paper also, and I was on the paper here [the Sundial].  I was on the magazine [Scene Magazine] and the magazine we put out. . .  I believe was either the first in the country, or at least the first for CSUN, that was dedicated totally 100% to women, and it was at the height of the latest women’s movement, because the women’s movement never stops.  It’s ongoing.

Hi, I’m Amy Reichbach.  I am an alum of Cal State University Northridge.  I graduated in 1977.  I now work here as a health educator in the Klotz Student Health Center.  I love being a health educator.  I have contacts with students from – I’ve been here 19 years now as a staff member – I still have contacts from at least 12 to 15 years ago.  Students stay in touch with me.  People still say, you know, “You made a difference in my life,” and that’s what I like about my job.

I think the other thing that helped motivate me was when I came here, one of my mentors was the woman for whom the Health Center is named, Addie Lou Klotz, and I met her through my journalism teacher . . . I met her when I was still in high school, and she encouraged me to come here too, and she encouraged me to be in Health Sciences.  She was the first director of the Student Health Center here.  And so she was the first director.  She mentored me, she taught me a lot about being in health education.  She was the first person I knew that had an MPH, a masters in public health, along with her MD degree, and I adored her.  I was here for groundbreaking [of the Klotz Health Center], I wanted to come and work for her.

. . .

[Even though CSUN has grown] there are things that galvanize the community.  In 1992, I think and again in ‘95 I spearheaded a drive to bring the Names Project AIDS Memorial Quilt to campus, and it was a collaborative effort.  The premise had to be that nobody got charged any money to come view the quilt.  So everything had to be donated, and what I found in terms of building relationships — from President Blenda Wilson on down, in those days — is it’s still possible to do that, no matter how big you are.  I got to know people on all levels, from the custodial staff up to the president’s office, to make this event happen, and everybody cared about it and everybody came.  It was possible, even in those times, to build relationships that cross all levels of campus and everybody knew everybody for a common goal.  I think those things are still possible, despite how big we are.

CSUN Stories – Ed Reichbach Interview

I am Dr. Edward Reichbach (I differ with my daughter, I go with the original Austrian pronunciation).  I graduated with a Master’s.  I went on and got my doctorate and wound up teaching at Florida International University in Miami, and I credit Cal State Northridge — now — with getting me into administration because that’s what my degree was in, and that helped me immeasurably.

When I first came here this was a branch of L. A. State College [now CSU Los Angeles]. It was orange groves and Devonshire Downs which was a state or county fairgrounds.  It was large tents, tentlike buildings, and all of a sudden there were portables dropped.  There were many veterans like myself attending.  There were also people who lived at this end of the valley who didn’t want to go all the way back to Vermont Ave. to go back to L.A. State and since the branch was open and it was accredited, we could finish our degrees.   All this — there were  wheat fields along Sepulveda Blvd. and as you climbed the hill, it was ranches, cattle. . . And to see a small college starting here was just amazing to me. I always thought this would be rural for the rest of my life.

I remember Delmar [Oviatt].  He was the first Dean of the College of Education – I think it was the School of Education, because there were no doctorates at the time.  He was open.  You could talk to him anytime, because we were small enough.  And I remember going up the first time and seeing him and I said “Dean how are you?” and he says “Wait a minute I remember you, you were down on Vermont,” “yeah right,” and it was just an open, because we were small, everyone knew everybody, so it was really a nice way to fall into graduate school.

CSUN Stories Interview – Hinda Lee Sheffer

I wanted to go to a state college. Let me say that– one of the questions you asked was,  “what was the most significant day for you?” It was my graduation day. My high school guidance counselor said I was not college material, I had to take a business class and I would never graduate from college. So for me, I was looking for something that was small and easily managed. After I went to junior college I came here, I did not want something mammoth like a UCLA. What I’ve seen today of this campus is nothing what it was like when I first came here. It was a small city — not even a small city –  it was just very small and very comfortable and very familiar. And now I see so many buildings and so many things, it’s so huge, compared. You have a three or four story parking lot. We had outdoor parking lots that, you know, that might be filled. So that was one of the things I wanted. I wanted a smaller school, which is what this afforded me at that time.

Even though I only lived over the hill, I wanted to stay in the dorm and it was very exciting for me. My sister had lived in a dorm in college and I wanted the same experience. It was all so new. I was with the big kids, so to speak. To be quite honest, most of my memories are centered around the dorm life, although I have some wonderful memories of the school life also.

[Living in the dorms was] very much like a sorority of sisters. We had interesting things. Like if someone got engaged, there’d be a message on the bulletin board, there’s going to be a candle-lighting tonight. They’d pass around a candle with an engagement ring on it and when it got to the girl who was getting engaged she’d blow it out. Oh, and we’d cheer and have a bridal shower and all that stuff. Which today sounds like totally ridiculous I’m sure, but in those days that was something you did if she got pinned or she got engaged. And there was a big social hall where we did that.

They had what’s called a panty raid. And if you’re not old enough you don’t know what a panty raid is. It’s when the guys break into the dorm and steal all the girls panties and then the next day. . . I have a photo of it with me, and the panties were all strung from the Sierra Hall tower. I for whatever reason locked my door, and then ended up because I was judicial vice president, I ended up helping the police type up a report and everything. The best part of it is, they gave us a party afterwards. You know, like a “we’re sorry” party.

Bernard and Joel Klass

CSUN Stories Interview – Joel and Bernard Klass

(Joel Klass):

[CSUN had] the major that I wanted to pursue, which was Religious Studies. I did a minor in Jewish Studies, which I declared my junior year, and then, from my junior to senior year — mostly my senior year was Jewish Studies courses that were focused. But it was convenient, near my house. We lived in — we still live in — West Hills, and my brother went here, my father had gone here, so it’s in the family, and it was the school of choice for the major, and I had friends here and family here.

I was a full-time student, and I was working. So I worked part time, and I was also a musician, so I was in a band at the time. So I was busy — I had a lot going on.

With work and school there was a connection because I had work/study courses that I had to take, and I got credit for those through my job. So there was a relationship there which I was really glad that I took that course, because I really got a lot out of it. It was the “Working in the Jewish Community” course I was getting college credits for. I was working at the Jewish Federation as an office manager, and we would do different things there. We have historic bus tours of Jewish Los Angeles, there’s events, special activities. We have publications, membership. I did a lot of the website development, and all of that that I did it would culminate in a paper at the end of the semester, I would turn that into my professor as part of the final.

Because of the assignments we had to do in that course, it really strengthened my bond to working in the Jewish Community. Because I had to fulfill a certain number of hours and write a paper, and the only way I could do the paper correctly is if I had done certain research in the Jewish community, and in the organization. On budget — on finances, for example — I had to research all the money that was coming in and going out, and all those things really opened up a new world for me that I didn’t really deal with before. . . . Evaluating and analyzing how [finances and political issues] affect the Jewish community in Los Angeles did have an impact on me, and changed the way I saw my job. And I think the course did open up another dimension for me.

At CSUN there are at least 500-1000 Jewish students on campus– perhaps more, by now. I was involved in Hillel — they’re on every campus, and there is a social scene. They meet, for example, at the Coffee Shop — I used to go to meetings there, and we’d talk about Judaism, talk about Hebrew. . . At Freudian Sip, we would talk. . . And we would have field trips. You know, for — we’d go to the beach, or we’d go to a pool hall– it was social things, social activities. So there is a [Hillel] community, but it’s relatively small.

[My experience here] really made me more appreciative, more aware, and more knowledgeable about Hebrew language, about Jewish texts, about Jewish history, history of all religions. It broadened my entire knowledge base, and that made me a different person. It definitely allowed me to mature, and to grow into someone who. . . As a result of the education I got here, I’m just more knowledgeable and more aware and appreciative of history and of Judaism. The skills I learned here have helped me greatly in my job, both at the Federation, and with teaching. . . . So it’s really impacted me as a Jewish person, I would say, the most, and that’s very valuable. I feel like I learned a lot.

bernard_klass-excerpt

(Bernard Klass):
My situation was quite a bit different than my son’s. To give you a little different perspective on my very fine experiences here at CSUN: years ago they offered some classes in educational theory and so forth. I was already teaching [at Pierce College] at that time and . . . I met Ralph Prator at the gym. . . . Pierce, you know, their gym wasn’t air-conditioned, and they didn’t have a lot of nice facilities. I started coming up here. I saw this rather handsome elderly gentleman, and we got to talking, and I told him that I was teaching over at Pierce College. . .. So we struck up a conversation, and he said, “Well, I teach, in addition to being the president, I teach some courses in education.” And I said, “Well, you know it wouldn’t hurt to review some of the things I’m doing, maybe I can improve my effectiveness. Even though I’ve taught for many years there are always new things to learn.” I’ve kept young by trying to keep up with new things, and not just be stuck in the mud,so to speak. So I struck up quite a friendship with Dr. Prator, and I took a couple of his classes, and I found some very interesting new theories that he presented, and it helped me in teaching students.

Virginia Elwood-Akers

CSUN Stories Interview – Virginia Elwood Akers
Ok, I’m sitting in my original office which I just think is fascinating, because lots of people have been here since. I was hired in August of 1972, just out of library school (Oregon is where I went to library school). But I wasn’t young, I mean I wasn’t a brand new “baby” librarian because I had had other careers first, which was the reason they hired me, because I worked in public relations. And they wanted somebody who had a background in public relations because Norman Tanis — who was the director of the library at the time — was starting a development program. And he founded a group called the Bibliographic Society, which was kind of the precursor of the Friends of the Library. So it was called the Bibliographic Society and the first president of that group was the head of the Southwest Museum [Carl Dentzel], so it was very prestigious. And they needed somebody who could write press releases and newsletters and brochures, and that was me, so they hired me.

Anyway, so they had programs they invited poets and writers and famous scientists, like Francis Crick. They invited people to come and speak and they had — we had, I should say — a publishing program called the Santa Susana Press, which published gorgeous books. And everything was swell and fine as long as there was money. And then the money began to get tighter and tighter, and I know one person who used to say that the state university used to be supported by the state, and now it is acknowledged by the state. Probably in the early 80s the money just started to dry up. It was probably connected to Proposition 13, when education money dried up all over the state. And so the Bibliographic Society gracefully died, but not totally. The press went on and they still published beautiful books.

Well there was the great library party of — I can’t remember what year — when Ward Ritchie, the publisher — do you know Ward Ritchie? Well, Los Angeles used to be very famous for fine press books. Glen Dawson did one, Ward Ritchie was a printer who did one. Anyway. . . they did an exhibit of Ward Ritchie press books, and his girlfriend, — using the word “girl” very, very loosely — was Gloria Stewart, that was in Titanic. They were already in their eighties, I believe. Anyway they had this party out in the lobby that was just wonderful. It had music, it had dancing, it had drinking, it had raucous wonderfulness, it was a great party.

Bonnie Giles and Claire Ovrid

CSUN Stories Interview – Bonnie Giles and Claire Ovrid

(Bonnie) My father, Ted Ovrid, started working here in 1961 when it was the San Fernando Valley State College, and he was employed here until 1989 when he retired after 26 years of service. He was the PPM [Physical Plant Management] Material Fabrication Specialist Supervisor, and in 1983 he constructed the time capsule for the CSUN 25th anniversary, which has been opened now for the 50th anniversary. I would like to add that one of the reasons I am employed here: my father had already retired, but his experience here was a very good experience, and he was very proud to be contributing to CSUN. And so when I was looking for places to be employed I gave some thought to the type of environment that I wanted to be in, and so I applied here and fortunately they did hire me and I am very proud now to be employed in the President’s office and really be contributing to the campus today.

claire-ovrid-excerpts

Ted Ovrid with the CSUN 25th anniversary time capsule, 1983.

(Claire) That’s 25 years ago, and I remember that he was very excited about being involved in that project. There was a ceremony when they actually were presenting the time capsule, where it was going to be buried, and so forth and so on, and I was there at that little ceremony. And then he [Ted] was the last person to see the time capsule, because he sealed it and buried it. There was a $25 charge for anyone that wanted to put something personal into the time capsule. $25, 25 years ago was more than it is today — we spend that to go out for dinner now. And I said to him, “You know you’re going to be the last one to see this time capsule, you’re going to close it up, you know couldn’t you just slip something in from our family, like a little photo or something?” And he said, “Oh, no — people that are putting personal things in have to pay the $25. So now I was quite interested with the opening of this time capsule, if in fact he did put something in; but we have spoken to the young man that had opened it and has the contents and it seems like my husband Ted Ovrid did not give in to his wife’s wishes. It seemed like he was going to follow the rules. And that is really in keeping with my husband’s character. In his mind, that wouldn’t have been fair. Other people had to pay $25 to put personal items in. And even though he could do it without anybody looking, he would be honorable.

Stan Charnofsky

CSUN Stories Interview – Stan Charnofsky

I was a graduate student at USC [University of Southern California], and a guy named Phil Monroe, who was a professor of Physical Education, asked me to come out and interview for — amazingly– the baseball coach’s job. Because I’d played professional baseball with the New York Yankees. Meanwhile, I was working on my doctorate at USC in Counseling/Psychology, and then I get offered this job as the baseball coach. So I consulted with my advisor at USC, and he said “Well, it’s a professorship. That’s hard to get — so, take it if you can, and then later maybe, you can switch over.” Well, that’s exactly what happened. I was a coach, and I taught Physical Education for five years, and then they needed me in the Educational Psychology department, and I switched over.

…

Dr. Prator used to come to the Physical Education building to work out. He was the President, and I’d run into him there because he’d be in the faculty dressing room and we’d talk, and talk, and I got to know him fairly well. When it came to the point that they said, “Well, we only have fifteen Latinos on the whole campus, a dozen Blacks on the whole campus, [so] we’re going to try to recruit minorities,” [Prator said] “Stan, I’d like you to be the first EOP [Educational Opportunity Program] Director, because students get along well with you, and you understand them.” I mean, I had a good relationship with the students. He said, “I know you don’t know much about the other aspect of it, but maybe we can do that.”

So what I did was, I called in Miguel Verdugo – Mike Verdugo, who was head of what they called UMAS at that time – United Mexican American Students; and I called in Archie Chatman, who was head of the BSU, the Black Student Union. And I said, “You guys go out and find students – I don’t know how to find them.” [They asked,] “What are the criteria?” [I answered] “Bring them over, and we’ll see.” The interesting thing to me was, we brought kids in who were failing in the eleventh grade, and then all of a sudden got As and Bs in the twelfth. Their overall grade-point average wouldn’t have permitted them to get in here, but we saw something in them. They must have had a terrible eleventh grade year – you know, maybe trouble in their family, maybe a loss, maybe jail – who knows what? So we looked for people who showed some little glimmer of promise. And that first year we brought in 123 Blacks and Latinos – mostly Black students – all from Central LA, or Sylmar, or San Fernando.

After the takeover in November of 1968, the campus was pretty disrupted for several weeks, and there were other incidents around the campus : they broke a door in the administration building at one protest, and there were other arrests made after that. But what happened was, they brought in ministers from South Central LA – Black ministers– they brought in Latino, Chicano men – and a couple of women too, I think– I don’t think Delores Huerta was around yet then – but Cesar Chavez’s people – people like that came in, and they all wanted to try to ameliorate the situation. “How can we get this to work? How can we have this thing work?”

…

The demonstrations were unfortunate, but sometimes power is the only– You show power is the only way you fight power. The power structure doesn’t give up power voluntarily, in any situation – very rarely. [It’s not] “Oh, you want something? We’ll give it to you.” You know– they’ve got to feel pressure. So that’s what happened. And I think the best thing was, we have a diverse campus. We have campus of diversity. My own Master’s program now – we have people from all over the world that come here. We have a lot of Muslims, we have middle-easterners, Israelis, Iranians, Iraqis, Russians, a lot of Armenians. We have people from all over, everywhere, that come to our program now. I know that’s not the cause and effect — but because we have an open campus, people are attracted to us. So we have a very diverse campus, which I really like.