For immediate release:

Cal State L.A. Alumni to be
Honored at Annual Awards Gala

On Thursday, October 20, 2005, California State University, Los Angeles will celebrate the outstanding contributions of its alumni and students to their professions, communities and the University at the 32nd Annual Cal State L.A. Alumni Awards Gala.

Alumnus of the Year: John E. Huerta ’65, general counsel of the Smithsonian Institution, serves as legal advisor to the Board of Regents and to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. He is responsible for protecting the unique federal trust status of the 156-year-old institution which serves as the National Museum of the United States. The Smithsonian has an annual operating budget of $1 billion and more than 6,000 employees. Huerta was previously a partner in a 10-lawyer civil litigation firm, Gronemeier, Barker & Huerta, in Pasadena, CA. He was also counsel to the Western Center on Law & Poverty, Los Angeles, and was director of the Southern California Office of the Mexican American Legal Defense & Educational Fund. Huerta received his Juris Doctor degree from Boalt Hall School of Law at UC Berkeley in 1968, where he served on the Law Review. He also attended Harvard University as a Law and Humanity Fellow, and has a bachelor’s degree in political science from Cal State L.A.

University Service Award: The Honorable George Nakano ’70,’77 is former assembly member for the California State Legislature, representing the 53rd District encompassing the southern coastal region of Los Angeles County. Upon his election to the State Legislature, Nakano focused on issues critical to the South Bay such as education, coastal protection and economic development. Appointed by the Speaker in January 2002 to serve as Democratic Caucus Chair, Nakano became the first Asian American to hold a leadership position, and later, one of the highest-ranking Asian Americans in the State Legislature. Nakano’s community activities include the Torrance Education Foundation, and director emeritus of the Salvation Army Advisory Board. He also founded the Torrance chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League in 1983. Nakano earned his bachelor’s degree in mathematics and master’s degree in education at Cal State L.A.

The 32nd Annual Cal State L.A. Alumni Awards Gala will present the University’s Distinguished Alumni Awards to alumni from the University’s six Colleges: James A. Bell ’97, executive vice president and CFO, The Boeing Company; Michael L. Brown ’86, commissioner, California Highway Patrol; Mary Levin Cutler ’55, philanthropist; Isaac Larian ’78, founder and chief executive officer, MGA Entertainment, Inc.; Gary J. Matus ’69, managing partner, Egon Zehnder International; and Kenneth L. Moffett ’61, Ph.D., interim superintendent, South Pasadena Unified School District. In addition, Cal State L.A.’s professor of education, Martin Brodwin ’69, will be honored as this year’s Distinguished Faculty Alumnus.

Two exemplary Cal State L.A. students will also be honored: Andre Petrikovets (Biology), Outstanding Senior, and Stephanie Abraham (Interdisciplinary/Cultural Studies), Outstanding Graduate Student.

For Gala ticket information, contact the CSULA Alumni Association at (323) 343-4980.

Working for California since 1947: The 175-acre hilltop campus of California State University, Los Angeles is at the heart of a major metropolitan city, just five miles from Los Angeles’ civic and cultural center. More than 20,000 students and 170,000 alumni—with a wide variety of interests, ages and backgrounds--reflect the city’s dynamic mix of populations. Six colleges offer nationally recognized science, arts, business, criminal justice, engineering, nursing, education and humanities programs, among others, led by an award-winning faculty. Cal State L.A. is home to the critically-acclaimed Luckman Jazz Orchestra and to a unique university center for gifted students as young as 12. Among programs that provide exciting enrichment opportunities to students and community include a noted alternative energy technology initiative; an NEH- and Rockefeller-supported humanities center; a NASA-funded center for space research; and a growing forensic science program, to be housed in the Los Angeles Regional Crime Lab now under construction. www.calstatela.edu

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