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1960s
Lawrence J. Peters ’65 (Physics) published the book “Software Project Management Methods and Techniques,” from Auerbach Publishing, in late 2025. Peters lives in Auburn, Wash.
- Mark L. Levinson ’68 (Political Science) was honored with the 2026 Bill Van Gieson Spirit of Calabasas Award, by the Calabasas Chamber of Commerce. The award recognizes leadership, initiative and contributions to the Calabasas community. Levinson is a past chair of the Chamber’s board of directors and a two-time past recipient of the organization’s Chairman’s Award for service. A practicing attorney for more than three decades, Levinson focuses on family law.
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1970s
Diane (Velarde) Hernandez ’74 (Chicana/o Studies), ’75 (Teaching Credential) contributed to a project to craft more than 130 handmade quilts for CSUN students in the Resilient Scholars Program, presented at the program’s holiday dinner on Dec. 12, 2025. The quilters group, Telas de la Vida – the East Los Angeles Stitchers (aka TELAS), promotes quilting in the Latina community. “These quilts are heirlooms,” Hernandez said. “We want the students to know that not only are we proud of them, but that they’re loved and supported.” Hernandez and her late husband, Sergio Hernandez ’76, were alumni of CSUN’s Educational Opportunity Program (EOP). One of their daughters, Jenna Hernandez ’15 (Chicana/o Studies), M.A. ’24 (Higher Education Leadership), serves as an operations specialist for CSUN EOP. Diane Hernandez worked as a teacher and administrator, serving more than 30 years at her alma mater, San Fernando High School — where she taught English as a Second Language, U.S. History and English, and served as advisor for the mock trial team. -
1980s
Risa (FISHBEIN) THOMAS ’84 (Radio-TV Broadcasting), a freelance associate director and script supervisor working primarily in live TV, received the 2025 Volunteer Service Award from her national sorority, Delta Delta Delta. The award celebrates volunteers who have gone above and beyond in their service to the sorority. Thomas serves as alumnae chapter president for the San Fernando Valley. As an undergrad, she also served as collegiate chapter president. She has worked for more than 40 years in TV production. Thomas is a member of the Directors Guild of America and the Television Academy, serving on several committees and councils. - Gene Baur ’85 (Sociology), president and co-founder of Farm Sanctuary, celebrated the 40th anniversary of the pioneering farm animal sanctuary and advocacy organization. An early leader in undercover investigations and farm animal rescue, Baur was instrumental in passing the first U.S. laws prohibiting inhumane animal confinement, and he continues to work on food industry reforms. A renowned activist and national bestselling author, Baur was called “the conscience of the food movement” by Time magazine.
- Shari McMahan ’87 (M.S., Environmental and Occupational Health) is president of Eastern Washington University in Cheney, Wash. She has served as the university’s leader since 2022, and she noted her role in branding the university as the region’s polytechnic institution as a major professional accomplishment. Previously, McMahan served as provost and vice president for Academic Affairs at Cal State San Bernardino, and as deputy provost at Cal State Fullerton.
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1990s
Raj M. Patel ’90 (Electrical Engineering) is chief technology officer at MeridianLink, Inc., a leading provider of modern software platforms for financial institutions and consumer reporting agencies. Previously, Patel served as executive-in-residence for research and development at Permira, a global private and growth equity firm. His career also has included senior leadership roles at Genesys and senior technology roles at Symantec, Pinterest, Salesforce, Cisco/Webex and Yahoo.
- Yung-mee Rhee ’93 (M.M., Piano Performance) performed Mozart’s “Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor” with the Tehachapi Symphony Orchestra in March. Rhee is an accomplished pianist and teacher, and an adjudicator of the annual Southwestern Youth Music Festival as well as the Music Teachers National Association Bartok Competition. She has served on the faculty of the Korean Institute of Piano Pedagogy since 2010.
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2000s
Leticia (CONTRERAS) CASTRO ’04 (Liberal Studies – ESL/Teaching Credential) is an elementary school principal in Phoenix, Ariz. She also serves as governing board president of the Avondale Elementary School District. In 2025, the Arizona Association of Latino Administrators and Superintendents honored Castro as Outstanding Administrator of the Year. - Lucy (MCCABE) MACIS ’05 (Psychology), M.S. ’09 (College Counseling – Student Services) returned home to CSUN earlier this year, joining University Relations and Advancement as director of development for scholarships. Previously, she worked for 13 years at the CSUN Career Center, as well as serving as a graduate-level instructor in the Department of Educational Psychology and Counseling. Most recently, Macis served as executive director of development for parishes and schools with the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, where she led major gifts efforts, implemented new fundraising initiatives, supported scholarship and tuition assistance, and partnered across multiple regions and stakeholder groups.
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Alexandra Hohmann ’09 (Honors English), ’10 (Teaching Credential) became a National Board Certified Teacher. She has taught English at John H. Francis Polytechnic High School in Sun Valley for more than a decade. As the school’s Poetry Club sponsor, Hohmann also helps amplify student voices and works with student volunteers to create Poly’s literary magazine. -
Dennis Yong ’09 (Liberal Studies – Life Science), M.A. ’16 (Science Education) is the new assistant principal at Rancho Pico Junior High School, in the William S. Hart Union High School District. Yong began his career in education as a science teacher at his alma mater, Canyon High School in Canyon Country. He served in several leadership roles at Canyon High, including department chair, administrative intern, head coach for the tennis program and faculty advisor to the school’s environmental club. -
2010s
Bryan Longpre ’10 (Finance), managing director at Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, was named to the Forbes 2025 “Top Next-Gen Wealth Advisors List.” He focuses on helping families and institutions as a specialist in private investments, impact investing and retirement planning. At CSUN, Longpre played for the Matador Baseball team, and he went on to play professionally as a pitcher in the Toronto Blue Jays organization.
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Julia Aks ’12 (Special Major) was nominated for a 2026 Academy Award for her satirical short film, “Jane Austen’s Period Drama.” Aks and partner Steve Pinder wrote and directed the short film, and Aks stars in the leading role as “Miss Estrogenia Talbot.” They describe the film as “quite literally a period piece — a satire about menstruation.” An actress and opera singer, Aks previously starred in the horror comedy feature “Clinger.” She lives in Los Angeles. -
Luis René Carrillo ’13 (Jewish Studies), a board-certified emergency nurse and U.S. Army veteran, serves as the alumni activator at Jewtina y Co. and as an emergency room R.N. at Kaiser Permanente. At Jewtina, an organization that nurtures Latin-Jewish community, identity, leadership and resiliency, he manages the professional network of the PUENTES Leadership & Resiliency Fellowship alumni. This role aligns with Carrillo’s passion for elevating Latin Jewry in North America and revitalizing Jewish spaces in Los Angeles. At Kaiser Permanente, he focuses on emergency nursing and quality improvement within a 57-bed emergency department. He’s also a Doctor of Nursing Practice candidate and Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner student at Cal State Long Beach, where his doctoral research centers on improving care for psychiatric patients in the emergency department. Carrillo also holds a B.S. in nursing from Mount Saint Mary’s University. - Elizabeth Dorssom ’14 (Public Administration), an assistant professor of political science, also serves as program coordinator for the online Master of Arts in Community and Economic Development program at Lincoln University of Missouri. As coordinator, Dorssom supports the program’s mission to prepare professionals to address structural challenges in communities, such as housing, employment and access to resources.
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Victor Villa ’15 (Management) of L.A.’s acclaimed Villa’s Tacos hit the big time in February with a cameo in Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime show. At the beginning of the Grammy-winning Puerto Rican singer’s performance at Super Bowl LX, he passed a series of small businesses. He took a piragua, a traditional Puerto Rican shaved ice dessert, from one seller, and then handed off the cone to Villa, as the grinning taquero stood behind a cart emblazoned with the Villa’s Tacos name. On Instagram, Villa thanked Bad Bunny for the unforgettable opportunity. “It’s crazy where a taco can take you,” he wrote. Eight years after launching what would become a wildly successful taco stand in front of his grandparents’ Highland Park home, and three years after opening his first brick-and-mortar storefront — plus a second location in downtown L.A.’s Grand Central Market and a third in Highland Park — Villa’s Tacos is an unqualified success. A fourth location in South Pasadena is in the works. - Luis G. DeVera ’18 (Geography), M.A. ’21 (Geography), environmental scientist for the California State Parks Great Basin District, received the state parks’ 2026 Climate Adaptation Award for his project, “Arthur B. Ripley Desert Woodland State Park: Western Joshua Tree Rehabilitation and Fuels Reduction Project.” DeVera noted that he’s focused on strategizing and implementing ways to prepare parks for natural hazards such as wildfires, floods and droughts. He accepted the award this spring in Sacramento. DeVera also serves as a lecturer in CSUN’s Department of Geography and Environmental Studies.
- Madeline Fanton ’18 (M.A., Theatre) directed Westmont College’s production of “Little Women,” based on the novel by Louisa May Alcott and adapted by Kate Hamill, at the Porter Theatre in Santa Barbara. Fanton is a visiting professor of theatre arts at Westmont.
- Sam Yaffa ’18 (Finance/Business Honors) and DMITRIY SLOBODSKIY JR. ’19 (Finance), two of the cofounders of White Lion Capital LLC, and their team were named to the 2026 Forbes 30 Under 30 for Finance list. The founding team began investing while still in college, launching Triton Funds, a $25 million student-run fund backed by San Diego investors. In 2019, they scaled up with White Lion Capital, which oversees more than $1 billion in capital across around 100 companies. In 2024, they expanded into crypto with Awaken Finance, allocating more than $500 million to blockchain projects.
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2020s
Daniel Ramírez ’20 (Journalism) is a sports anchor at Telemundo Las Vegas/KBLR. He joined Telemundo Las Vegas as a multimedia journalist in 2024 and has been heavily involved in the station’s sports coverage. Previously, Ramírez served as a multimedia journalist for Telemundo 33 Sacramento and Telemundo 51 Fresno, as well as a multimedia reporter and producer at KDRV NewsWatch 12 ABC in Medford, Ore. At CSUN, Ramírez specialized in Spanish-language journalism. - Amy L. Latzer ’25 (Public Sector Management) is the chief operating officer at American Jewish University in Los Angeles. Her background includes nearly two decades of executive leadership experience. Previously, Latzer served as chief operating officer of 211 LA, an information and referral system for Los Angeles County.
In Memoriam
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FACULTY & STAFF
Dianne Philibosian (College of Health and Human Development), a trailblazing educator, lifelong advocate for children and community well-being, and professor emerita of recreation and tourism management, died on Oct. 13, 2025. She was 79.“Dianne was a clear and strong voice for students, the College of Health and Human Development, and communities within and beyond CSUN,” Mechelle Best, dean of the college, wrote in a tribute. “She was a leader, mentor, teacher and researcher. Dianne was kind. She was also enormously productive, and as she moved along, she reflexively made sure to open doors to success for others.”
Philibosian began her career at CSUN in the early 1970s. She served as faculty in the departments of Elementary Education, Child Development, Speech Communication, and Recreation and Tourism Management (then known as Recreation and Leisure Studies). She also chaired the Department of Child Development (now Child and Adolescent Development). She served as program director for the Early Childhood Education master’s degree and specialist credential, as well as for the Consortium of the California State University and Colleges, also known as the “1,000-Mile Campus.” This program was geared toward California adults who found it difficult to attend on-campus classes — before the advent of online education.
Philibosian led the college as associate dean for 11 years, starting in 1987 when it was known as the School of Communication, Health and Human Services. Her institutional knowledge and vision for the future ensured growth and development for the college. She also served as its first director of development (while serving as associate dean), helping lay the groundwork for CSUN’s fundraising structure.
Most recently, she served as interim director of CSUN’s Institute for Community Health and Well-being, following her retirement from the faculty in 2015. She returned to help after the institute transitioned from a university institute to a college-based institute.
Philibosian was the first woman to serve on the Board of Regents for University of the Pacific (her alma mater), and she was a civic leader for the city of Pasadena.
“Dianne could be relied upon as a voice of clarity and caring,” Best said. “She shaped so much of what we have been able to accomplish since the early 1970s. Her advocacy for the students was reflected in everything she did — including the fact that before the university had professional voiceovers for our commencement ceremonies, Dianne was the announcer of student names at HHD’s and other commencement ceremonies.”
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Bertram “Bert” Barer (Radio-TV-Film), a founding faculty member of what’s now known as CSUN’s Department of Cinema and Television Arts, died on Feb. 2, 2026, in Massachusetts. He was 97.Born and raised in New York state, Barer was a U.S. military veteran. He served as a military newscaster in Europe at the conclusion of World War II, witnessing the liberation of concentration camps. This experience shaped his worldview, instilling a profound sense of truth, responsibility and service, his family noted.
He went on to help found and chair the Department of Radio-TV-Film at what was then San Fernando Valley State College (now CSUN), and he was instrumental in bringing the first public radio license to the university. Deeply committed to mentoring, he prepared students for meaningful careers in broadcasting and storytelling.
After CSUN, Barer served as a communications management consultant at several media companies. He also worked with the U.S. military in Japan, where he offered his expertise for more than 20 years. He had a lifelong love of adventure and the outdoors, instilling in his children an enduring appreciation for nature.
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Robert Docter (Educational Psychology and Counseling), an L.A. school board member in the 1970s who successfully pushed to end corporal punishment and tried to integrate campuses through busing, died on Nov. 3, 2025. He was 97.Widely known as “Dr. Docter,” he taught at CSUN for 56 years and served for decades as a regional leader within the Salvation Army.
As a school board member from 1969-77, Docter was most closely identified with two issues — taking away the long-held right of school staff to hit children and trying to quickly and aggressively address the harms of segregation, according to an obituary in the Los Angeles Times.
Docter’s efforts to promote comprehensive integration would fail. As the school board president, Docter became the face of the school system’s effort to carry out court-ordered, mandatory integration, including through forced busing, which he supported as a social-justice imperative. “I believe in a multicultural society,” he told the L.A. Times in 1992. “I was looking for sensible ways to achieve this.”
Docter was born in San Francisco to two Salvation Army pastors and moved to L.A. in 1945, graduating from Fairfax High the following year. His connection to the Salvation Army was lifelong. He met his future wife, Dolores Diane Beecher, at a Salvation Army summer camp. They married in 1953.
He was a U.S. Army veteran, serving from 1952-54, stationed at Fort Ord in Monterey, and he played trumpet in the 6th Infantry Division Band. Later, he taught at Vanalden Elementary in Tarzana for six years while earning his advanced degrees from UCLA.
In 1960, he joined the faculty of what was then known as San Fernando Valley State College. His fraternal twin brother, Richard Docter, taught in CSUN’s Department of Psychology.
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ALUMNI
Darren Levine ’83 (English), deputy district attorney for Los Angeles County and president and co-founder of Krav Maga Worldwide, died on Jan. 28, 2026. He was 65.
After graduating from CSUN, Levine earned his Juris Doctor from Loyola Law School. He served as deputy district attorney for Los Angeles County since 1990, and he was recognized as Deputy District Attorney of the Year in 2003, as well as co-recipient of a National Association of District Attorneys award.
As president of Krav Maga Worldwide, Levine served as the U.S. chief instructor for the Krav Maga self-defense tactics system. He was an internationally recognized self-defense and counterterrorism expert, and he taught Krav Maga to thousands of civilians and police officers, as well as to military special operations and counterterrorism units throughout the U.S. and abroad.
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Marina McIntire ’74 (M.A., Linguistics), a sign language interpreter and professor, died on Oct. 2, 2025, in Portland, Ore. She was 83.
Born Marina Lucile LaRay in Los Angeles, she studied comparative French and English literature at the University of California, Riverside. There, she met her husband, Elliot McIntire, and the couple were married for 62 years, according to a tribute published in The Oregonian.
Marina McIntire earned a master’s in linguistics at CSUN, and she went on to complete a Ph.D. in linguistics at UCLA. In her career, she served as a sign language interpreter at conferences in Italy, Germany, Denmark and Finland.
She also taught, serving on the faculty at institutions including CSUN, Pasadena City College, Gallaudet University, Durham University and Northeastern University. In the late 1980s, she earned a Fulbright Fellowship to work at Stockholm University in Sweden.
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Rafael Muñoz ’17 (Computer Information Technology), a first-generation student whose passion for cybersecurity helped shape the future of the program at CSUN, died on Oct. 11, 2025. He was 32.Muñoz was deeply committed to fostering opportunities for students to learn, grow and lead in the ever-evolving field of cybersecurity. He partnered with professor Doris Chaney to bring the Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition (CCDC) to CSUN. They formed the university’s first CCDC team for the Andrew J. Anagnost College of Engineering and Computer Science, debuting in the western regional competition in 2012.
As captain, Muñoz later led his teammates to victory — winning first place at the regional competition and competing at the 2017 National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition. After graduation, he continued to give back to the program. He also cofounded and served as president of CSUN’s Layer8 cybersecurity club.
Muñoz most recently had worked as a security operations engineer at Fox Corp., and he held previous positions at Technicolor and The Aerospace Corp. The son of immigrants, he grew up with a deep appreciation for hard work, sacrifice and perseverance.
His mother and sisters have established the Rafael Muñoz Legacy Scholarship Endowment at CSUN, to support first-generation scholars who share his passion for cybersecurity education.
Remembering Rudy Acuña
CSUN President Erika D. Beck said his work left “an indelible mark” on campus and in ethnic studies programs across the nation. “His legacy of scholarship, advocacy and unwavering dedication to social justice will continue to inspire future generations,” she said. “We extend our deepest sympathies to his loved ones and to all who were touched by his life’s work.”
Acuña served as the founding chair of the Mexican American studies department, which became Chicana/o studies in the College of Humanities. The program was created at the height of the Civil Rights Movement, when students demanded that more minority faculty be recruited and curriculum established that reflected students’ diverse backgrounds. For the brand-new department, Acuña developed a curriculum of 45 courses that launched in the fall of 1969.
Gabriela Chavira, director of CSUN’s Office of Undergraduate Research and professor of psychology, first met Acuña as an undergraduate student, when she took his course, Chicana/o Studies 445, History of the Chicano. “He encouraged students to use their critical thinking skills and question the source of all information we receive,” she said.
When she joined the student organization, Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán (MEChA), Acuña was the co-mentor for the program, Chavira said. He also encouraged her to pursue doctoral studies in developmental psychology.
“When I returned to CSUN as an assistant professor of psychology in 2004, he helped me network across campus — as a colleague,” she noted.
Acuña, who was born in Boyle Heights, Los Angeles, earned his doctorate in Latin American Studies, with a concentration in history, at USC. He’s the author of more than 20 books, including “Occupied America: A History of Chicanos,” which served as a foundational text for Chicano/a studies in higher education across the country.
He also wrote numerous academic articles, book chapters, book reviews and opinion pieces.