Juanita E. Razo, Jeffrey C. Senge and Lillybeth Sasis are presented with plaques as part of their Oustanding Staff Employee award and pose with President Milton A. Gordon during Staff Recognition and Appreciation Day.

Cal State Fullerton Honors Trio

Staff Members Garner Top Prize for Outstanding Service

June 9, 2008 :: No. 277

Juanita E. Razo, Lillybeth Sasis and Jeffrey C. Senge are so dedicated to serving students that they have been named Cal State Fullerton's 2008 Outstanding Staff Employee Award recipients. They were honored at the university's recent Staff Recognition and Appreciation Day festivities before an audience of their peers.

All three recipients were presented with $1,500 checks from the Presidents Associates, as well as plaques, season tickets to Titan athletics and cultural events and special parking passes for a year.

The trio is part of a group of 23 staff members - winners of the Titan Excellence Award - who had been nominated during the academic year from different areas on campus.

Juanita E. Razo

Razo, assistant dean of students for leadership and multicultural development programs, joined the campus 11 years ago, after serving as a graduate assistant in New Student Programs.

She is responsible for numerous campuswide student leadership programs, such as the Student Leadership Institute; the annual University Leadership Conference; Greek Life, which involves oversight for 20 chapters, including international and culturally related Greek organizations; and the Multicultural Leadership Center, which provides advising for culturally related student organizations, as well as many educational mentoring programs.

In nominating Razo, Dean of Students Kandy Mink Salas noted: "Juanita always goes the extra mile in every task she takes on. In her regular duties, which are many, she has been the lead coordinator for the Commencement Hosts program for the past three years. In this role, she recruits and coordinates more than 50 university staff members to serve as hosts for our commencement program. . She has served as an adviser to many, many student organizations and programs. In particular, she was instrumental in advising students in their planning of large-scale campus cultural celebrations.

"Juanita is very committed to diversity and has mentored countless students, helping them choose careers, get involved on campus and through some difficult personal challenges," added Mink. "She is a wonderful role model for students, and her presence and work on campus for the past nine years has helped make Cal State Fullerton a great place to go to school."

Razo said her job is "dynamic, challenging, yet very rewarding.

"I have a strong commitment toward serving others and in strengthening my community," she added. "My job not only complements these values, but gives me an opportunity to develop programs and services that teach students about these values. In looking back at my career at Cal State Fullerton, I've come to realize that my job has really provided me with some wonderful experiences and opportunities to impact people's lives and effect change on campus and in the greater community."

Razo earned her bachelor's degree in liberal studies from Cal Poly Pomona in 1993 and her master's degree in counseling from Cal State Long Beach in 1997.

Lillybeth Sasis

Sasis, assistant director of the Center for Careers in Teaching, "always makes the welfare of students seeking a career in education her top priority," said President Milton A. Gordon when he announced the award recipients.

"She is continuously busy with one project or another," he said. "She never waits to be asked or told what needs to be done, but rather is always looking for something that can be improved upon."

Known as the "heart" of the Center for Careers in Teaching, Sasis creates or revises brochures and updates media presentations used to educate students. She maintains the center's website and was instrumental in the implementation of the center's MySpace.com page, which reaches students who otherwise may not seek out advisement or know where to turn for guidance if they wish to become a teacher. She recently created a podcast to introduce prospective teachers to the requirements and pathways for entering a credential program.

"Serving students planning to become elementary, middle or high school teachers through academic advising is very rewarding," Sasis said. "As the popular saying goes: 'To teach is to touch the future,' and so is the work we do in the Center for Careers in Teaching. We touch the lives of our students in a meaningful way so that they may achieve their career goals to become teachers.

"Knowing that a student has carefully selected the classes needed for graduation and how he/she can become a teacher is the most satisfying accomplishment," Sasis said. "Helping students figure out their academic programs and equipping them with the resources and pathways to become teachers is a fulfillment in itself. The trust and confidence bestowed upon me is very inspiring. It is very motivating and at the same time challenging, because it provides an opportunity to carry out our work to a much higher level of excellence."

Sasis teaches a Freshman Programs class for future teachers, gives monthly seminars and served as this year's co-president of the campus Asian American and Pacific Islander Faculty and Staff Association.

Before joining the university nearly nine years ago, Sasis was an instructor and assistant director of the Learning Center at Biola University. She earned her bachelor's degree in International Studies from Maryknoll College.

Jeffrey C. Senge

When he was a student, Senge, who is blind, had to rely on other people to read his textbooks to him and help him study. There were no special computer programs like there are today that could help him.

"We have all these options now," said Senge, coordinator of the campus Information and Computer Access Program in the Office of Disabled Student Services.

"I love being a part of a pioneering movement to bring opportunity to individuals who struggle because of visual impairments and physical, neurological or learning disabilities," said Senge, who started his career at Cal State Fullerton 18 years ago. "With technology changing and improving all the time, students today have the ability to pursue opportunities. One of my greatest joys is making access to computer-assisted technology available to everyone who needs it to succeed in school and life. I really love what I do because I'm doing something I really see value in."

Senge "demonstrates continual creativity and leadership," noted Gordon in introducing the honoree. "He provides the vision and impetus for the ever-improving services for students with disabilities and has been responsible for the growing availability of adaptive technology for students with perceptual and/or cognitive disabilities in the testing rooms, in the library and in various computer labs across campus."

Gordon added that Senge responded to a student complaint, which was filed with the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights, by leading a team in designing a program for the timely delivery of alternative print media, such as Braille and electronic text. The program has become a national model used by the Office for Civil Rights as the standard in reviewing other disabled students service programs.

Between 2002 and 2007, more than 4,200 requests for alternate format instructional materials were completed through Senge's program.

"Jeffrey is nationally recognized in the adaptive technology community and is often sought for consultation by colleagues in the CSU and around the country," Gordon said. "He serves on a number of advisory committees and boards, including the California Community Colleges and Guide Dogs for the Blind. He also serves on the advisory board for a $35 million federal grant to Benetec/Bookshare to expand a national digital library for both trade and college textbooks."

Senge earned his bachelor's degree in art from Cal Western University in 1971 and his master's degree in special education from Cal State Fullerton in 1993.

Photos:

Photos are available at www.fullerton.edu/newsphotos.

Media Contacts:
Mimi Ko Cruz, Public Affairs, 657-278-7586 or mkocruz@fullerton.edu

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