Employee of the Month - November 2025
Carmen Arredondo, Area Coordinator
Housing and Residential Life
Awarded Thursday, November 13 at Friendship Walk. Carmen was joined by President Andrew Jones, AVP Student Success and Engagement Daria Graham, Director of Residential Life Fatou Olshanski, and numerous Housing and Residential Life and Student Affairs colleagues, and her mother.
As the Area Coordinator at Beachside Village, Carmen has made a lasting impact leading initiatives with the Transfer Learning Community, ensuring that non-traditional and transfer students feel a true sense of belonging at The Beach.
Whether through feedback sessions, meet-and-greets, or even casual teatime gatherings in her office, she has created safe, supportive spaces where students can ask questions, connect, express themselves, find guidance, and access resources.
Resident Life Coordinator Sam Luley shared that Carmen’s intentionality “really shines when she works with her Resident Advisor Student Staff. In her one on ones with staff she coaches them in professionalism development, job tasks, academic habits, and personal struggles. Carmen’s passion for helping students is evident in her approach to supervising as it combines empathy, accountability, and support to help students reach their full potential. She consistently finds a way to balance supporting students and challenging them to further their development, and at the core of it is care.”
Carmen serves as a role model for peers through her dedication, adaptability, and continuous improvement. She is noted for actively implementing feedback to enhance her performance and the student experience and making both students and staff colleagues “feel at home at the Beach.”
Her residence life journey began about eight years ago at UC Riverside, then Oregon State University, and ultimately, she landed at CSULB, first as a Residence Life Coordinator and now as Area Coordinator for Beachside Village.
She said, “My passion within the field is centered on the importance of community and creating spaces for student growth and success. As I reflect on my journey within Higher Education, the quote that I live by is ‘Be who younger you needed’ - as a first-generation Latina, this quote has resonated strongly as I create change and make Beachside Village a place for residents to feel supported and seen.”
In her free time, she enjoys working out, hanging out with her family, friends, and dog "Little Red", trying new restaurants, and supporting her favorite musical group BTS.