About the Director

Fibromyalgia Research and Education Center

April 2, 2007

By Mimi Ko Cruz

C. Jessie Jones

Age: 57

Residence: Lives in Fullerton with her dog, Cato, and cat, Kitty

Years at Cal State Fullerton: 15

Education: Ph.D. in sport psychology/health/counseling, 1983, Ohio State University; Master of science in exercise science, 1979, Cal State Long Beach; bachelor of science, health and physical education, minor in art, 1973, Cal Poly Pomona.

Areas of expertise: Issues related to fibromyalgia, successful aging, physiology of aging, effects of exercise on the aging process and kinesiology.

Exercise routine: Dance, one night a week; jog or walk, five days a week; resistance training, twice a week; yoga, twice a week; and golf, as often as possible.

A little history: In high school, Jones was a cheerleader and an athlete and though she enjoyed her popularity, “I always had the gnawing feeling that I was dumb,” she said.

Her dyslexia, attention deficit and hyperactivity disorders had not yet been diagnosed, and her academic performance suffered. “I did very poorly in academics at a young age, so when the school counselor told me that I should ‘just get married and have kids’ after I graduated, that’s just what I decided to do,” Jones said.

But her soldier fiancée died while fighting in the Vietnam War, so the 18-year-old Jones found work as an assembly line worker for General Dynamics in Palo Alto. She toiled there for two years until the day her supervisor gave her this advice: “You are too smart to be working in a factory. Go to college.”

With help from some “very influential teachers, I reached deep inside for the courage to believe in myself,” Jones said. “Although it was a long journey, I feel gifted to now be a professor at CSUF.”

Her philosophy: “Life needs to be a balancing act between passionately striving to be the best you can be, and yet keeping a sensitive heart to help those less fortunate.”

Her advice to students: “Words have crucial consequences. Choose them wisely. I will paraphrase some thoughts on this topic from my favorite philosopher, Dr. Haim Ginott: Choose what you say carefully; you have the power to make people’s ‘lives miserable or joyous.’ Your words can be a ‘tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration.’ You ‘can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal.’ Your response ‘decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated.’ No mater what type of career you pursue, do every job the best you can, no matter how minuscule you think the task may be.”