Business Council Honors University With Partnership Award

California State University, Fullerton and President Milton A. Gordon will be honored Thursday, April 17, with the Education Partnership Award from the Orange County Business Council.

The honor is one of five inaugural awards the council will present during its annual dinner at the Hyatt Regency Irvine.

“The awards are a first for the business council...a formal way of recognizing Orange County business leaders who consistently and positively impact the county in the areas of advocacy, economic development and education,” said Stan Oftelie, president and CEO of the Orange County Business Council. “We congratulate all of the well-deserved business leaders who have helped shape Orange County's economy and have made the business council a stronger institution.”

The Education Partnership Award was developed to recognize an institution and/or person who has shown a deep commitment to working with the private sector to achieve an educated work force, and an organization that has used its assets to address the needs of the economy and the business community.

Gordon and Cal State Fullerton will be honored for “significant contributions to teacher education, for providing a valuable market research operation to serve the business community's needs, and for offering a forum for regional issues.”

The university, with an enrollment of more than 31,500 students and nearly 140,000 graduates, is the third most populous in the California State University system. As noted in the university's latest Economic Impact Report, CSUF and its students generate $828.5 million in economic activity each year and support 11,679 full- and part-time jobs. The university also generates $142.2 million each year in federal, state and local taxes.

“The relationship between the Orange County Business Council and all of education is so important,” said Bill Habermehl, Orange County Superintendent of Schools and a member of the OCBC dinner host committee. “The better the quality of students that comes through the K-12 system and on to university, the better the work force we have and that's very important for our county.

“Its wonderful that OCBC recognizes people and institutions that make a continuing and long-term commitment to the business community, ” he added. “Cal State Fullerton, no doubt, does that.”

Others who will be honored are: Southern California Edison Company - Economic Advocacy Award; The Irvine Company - Economic Development Award; Disneyland Resort and President Cynthia Harriss - Workforce Development Award; and Henry T. Segerstrom and C.J. Segerstrom & Sons - Segerstrom Lifetime Achievement Award.