Statewide Leadership Post

 Diana W. Guerin, a veteran professor of child and adolescent studies and Cal State Fullerton alumna, has been elected chair of the California State University Academic Senate for 2012-13.

Guerin will be the fifth CSUF faculty member to serve as chair of the statewide group that advises the CSU Board of Trustees, chancellor and state Legislature. The CSU, with more than 44,000 faculty and staff members and approximately 427,000 students, is the nation's largest public university system.

A member of the CSUF faculty since 1988, Guerin (M.A. psychology ’80) has served on the university’s Academic Senate since 2000. She has been elected senate chair three times — 2006-07, 2007-08 and 2010-11 — and served as the secretary and editor of the organization’s publication, Senate Forum.

Guerin has served on the statewide CSU Academic Senate since 2004, including as secretary of the organization for two terms: 2009-10 and 2010-11.

She has served as chair of CSUF’s Child and Adolescent Studies Department and department academic adviser. She has been a member of the university’s Instructional Technology, Professional Leaves and Faculty Personnel committees, and in 2000, was an external reviewer to Cal State Bakersfield and Chico State’s child development programs.

Guerin has served on the university’s most recent steering committee for reaccreditation by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges; the committee oversees the university’s efforts in preparing for review by the national association.

In addition, she is co-director of the Fullerton Longitudinal Study, a long-term research effort charting the development of more than 100 children and their families from the child’s first birthday; the study is ongoing and the subjects are now in their 30s. Guerin was a graduate student when she first became involved with the widely cited study.

In 2009, Guerin was honored with the university’s Faculty Leadership in Collegial Governance Award, presented annually to recognize faculty members who have made significant contributions to collegial governance and the mission of the CSU.

Guerin has co-authored more than two dozen articles, book chapters and books, and presented more than 70 research papers or posters. In addition, she has served as president of the Orange County Association for the Education of Young Children and was a member of the state association’s board of directors.

The Fullerton resident’s research interests include children’s temperament, intellectual giftedness and child safety. In addition to her master’s degree from Cal State Fullerton, Guerin also holds a master’s degree and doctorate in psychology from UCLA.

The CSU Academic Senate is composed of elected academic senators representing the 23 campuses of the CSU. It was formed in 1963 and makes recommendations to the CSU Board of Trustees, chancellor and state Leglsiature on education issues and academic governance.

In addition to Guerin, Barry A. Pasternack, emeritus professor of information systems and decision sciences, and Stephen J. Stambough, associate professor of political science and chair of the Politics, Administration and Justice Division, also represent Cal State Fullerton on the statewide board.