November 20. 2006 :: No. 82

California State University, Fullerton President Milton A. Gordon has been honored locally by the Asian Business Association and elected nationally to serve as vice chair of an organization that champions Hispanic higher education success.

Gordon received the Excellence in Community Education Award from the Asian Business Association of Orange County, which recognized honorees at the association’s 12th annual Recognition Awards Banquet, “Quest — A Journey and Venture to Success.”

Gordon also has been elected to leadership positions for two national organizations, as vice chair of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU) and as a member-at-large of the executive committee of the Coalition of Urban and Metropolitan Universities (CUMU). He is now serving a three-year term on the HACU Board of Governors and is one of two members-at-large on the CUMU Executive Committee for 2006-08.

Since his appointment as university president in August 1990, Gordon has presided over a steady rise in minority student enrollment. Under his leadership, Cal State Fullerton has become No. 1 in California for the number of bachelor’s degrees awarded to Hispanics, as well as the No. 1 destination — for eight consecutive years — for the state’s community college students transferring to a public university in California.

In addition, Cal State Fullerton is ranked eighth in the nation for the number of bachelor’s degrees awarded to underrepresented students. More than half of CSUF’s 35,921 students identify themselves as members of ethnic groups — the largest is Hispanic, constituting 27 percent of the student body, followed by Asian/Pacific Islander at 22 percent.

Gordon is the recipient of numerous honors, including the Chief Executive Officer Leadership Award from the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education, Education Partnership Award from the Orange County Business Council, Cesar Chavez Community Service Award from the Hispanic Bar Association, and the Education Award from the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Orange County.

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