Employee of the Year for Inclusive Excellence

The Inclusive Excellence Award recognizes an employee who had made a significant contribution in fostering an inclusive culture of respect, collegiality, and civility. The employee aligned actions and decisions with the University’s core value of diversity.

Sandy Jimenez
Housing & Residential Life, Division of Student Affairs

Sandy Jimenez, Area Coordinator for Parkside Central, is the recipient of the President’s Award for Employee of the Year for Inclusive Excellence in recognition of her transformative leadership and deep commitment to fostering belonging. Since stepping into her role in July 2024, Sandy has drawn from her own experience as a first-generation college graduate to intentionally create spaces where students feel “seen, valued, and empowered to succeed.” Overseeing a residential community of approximately 420 students and co-supervising a team of Resident Assistants, she leads with “presence, care, and intentionality,” cultivating an environment grounded in respect, collegiality, and civility.

A hallmark of Sandy’s impact is the creation of “First(Gen) Fridays,” a monthly program series designed to support first-generation students’ academic, personal, and social development. Through programs such as Vision Boarding & Goal Setting, Money Matters, and the First-Gen Send-Off Celebration, Sandy has built “a consistent and welcoming space for community-building, fun, and skill-building,” ensuring that every opportunity for connection matters. Her work extends beyond Housing through partnerships with programs like GenExcel and EOP, demonstrating her commitment to “building community and effective cross-cultural collaborations” across the campus.

Guided by her belief that “Housing is more than a place to live,” Sandy exemplifies inclusive excellence through intentional, relational leadership. Whether coordinating campus-wide celebrations, creating opportunities for student engagement, or fostering meaningful partnerships, she consistently uplifts the diverse experiences of CSULB’s community. Through her efforts, Sandy not only advances the University’s core value of diversity but also leaves a lasting impact on the culture of inclusion and belonging across campus.

Employee of the Year for Innovation

The Innovation Award recognizes an employee who had made a significant contribution in providing innovation in the delivery of services to the campus community, such as students, faculty, or staff. The employee aligned actions and decisions with the University's core values of excellence, integrity, service, creativity and innovation.

Scot Woodyard
ITS Servers, Systems & Web, Division of Information Technology

Scot Woodyard, a dedicated member of the California State University, Long Beach community for over three decades, is the recipient of the President’s Award for Staff Employee of the Year for Innovation. This past year, Scot has demonstrated an “extraordinary acceleration of innovation that has transformed service delivery across our entire campus community,” developing creative, scalable solutions that enhance the experiences of students, faculty, and staff.

Among his many contributions, Scot led the development of Course Copilot, an AI-powered virtual assistant embedded in Canvas that provides “24/7 intelligent support” tailored to individual courses, helping address inequities in student access to academic resources. He also reimagined IT service workflows through tools like the TDX Assistant, “dramatically reducing time spent on repetitive searches” while enhancing decision-making, and BeachCaptions, described by stakeholders as “a game changer” for enabling campus-wide accessibility compliance at scale.

Scot’s impact extends beyond digital innovation into the physical environment of the university. Through the creation of a Workspaces, a space optimization tool, he introduced data-driven approaches to managing campus facilities, enabling departments to “make informed decisions regarding space optimization and hybrid work strategies” while improving efficiency and user experience. His solutions have achieved measurable results, including significant improvements in space utilization, and have “set a new standard for institutional resource management.”

What distinguishes Scot’s work is not only its technical excellence, but its lasting value. By designing and executing a custom, scalable application to automate complex processes, he has empowered others across campus to innovate and adapt. His efforts reflect a deep alignment with the University’s core value of innovation, demonstrating how thoughtful design, effective implementation, and commitment to service can create enduring, campus-wide impact.

Employee of the Year for Leadership

The Leadership Award recognizes an employee who had made a significant contribution in providing quality leadership in the delivery of services to the campus community, such as students, faculty, or staff. The employee aligned actions and decisions with the University's core values of excellence, integrity, and service.

Jason Deutschman
Engineering Student Success Center, Division of Academic Affairs

Jason Deutschman, Associate Director of Advising in the College of Engineering’s Engineering Student Success Center (ESSC), is the recipient of the President’s Award for Staff Employee of the Year for Leadership. With more than 15 years of service to California State University, Long Beach, Jason has demonstrated exceptional leadership defined by dedication, collaboration, and an unwavering commitment to student success. He is widely recognized as a “hard-working and extremely reliable and dedicated individual” whose leadership has strengthened advising services and enhanced the student experience across the college.

In his role, Jason oversees the daily operations of the advising unit, leading a team of advisors while coordinating critical initiatives such as SOAR registration and enrollment campaigns. Known for his “vast knowledge of engineering curricula” and ability to think “out of the box,” he has been instrumental in expanding the advising team from three to eight positions and establishing specialized roles to better meet evolving student needs. His leadership has also driven improvements in processes, communication, and access to services, contributing to a more effective and student-centered advising environment.

Jason’s influence extends well beyond his department through his active involvement in college and university committees, including his leadership in the Equity Through Advising initiative, where he helps assess and address inequitable academic policies. His contributions to campus-wide efforts, such as the SOAR Planning Committee, led to “a major change process for first-year students” and the development of improved workflows and communication systems that benefit the entire community.

Under Jason’s leadership, the ESSC Advising Center has earned recognition for its innovative practices, including “an efficient system for students to make appointments,” strong collaboration with faculty, and expanded support for first-year and pre-major students. His efforts have directly contributed to steadily increasing graduation rates for engineering students over the past decade. Respected by colleagues, faculty, and students alike, Jason exemplifies excellence, integrity, and service, and his “outstanding dedication to our students fulfills the CSULB mission of providing superior service.”

Employee of the Year for Student Success

The Student Success Award recognizes an employee who had made a significant contribution in support of CSULB’s core mission of providing excellent, highly-valued educational opportunities. The employee aligned actions and decisions with the University's core value of educational opportunity.

Michelle Linton
Career Development Center, Division of Student Affairs

Michelle Linton is the recipient of the President’s Award for Staff Employee of the Year for Student Success, recognized for her impactful leadership in advancing CSULB’s mission. Through innovative programming, strategic partnerships, and a deep commitment to student-centered practices, Michelle has expanded access to career education and professional development across the Beach community.

As coordinator of the Recent Grad & Alumni Job Search Success Conference, Michelle significantly grew the program, increasing participation from 87 to 151 attendees while creating opportunities for direct engagement with employers and recruiters. By connecting graduates with industry professionals and incorporating a mini job fair, she strengthened the bridge between education and employment. The program’s effectiveness is reflected in measurable outcomes, with student confidence in “learning how to conduct an effective job search” and “how to make a job application stand out” increasing dramatically, demonstrating her ability to deliver meaningful and lasting impact.

Michelle’s influence extends campus-wide through initiatives like the Online Career Tools Showcase, where she equips faculty and staff with resources to support students’ career development, ensuring that “career learning extends beyond the Career Development Center and into classrooms, offices, and student-facing programs.” Through her work with the Career Advocates Program and Career Curriculum Integration, she has helped faculty embed career readiness into academic experiences, reaching hundreds of students and empowering campus partners to engage in this work.

In addition to organizing over 35 career-focused events each semester, Michelle remains dedicated to individualized student support through counseling and her work with the WorkAbility program, ensuring equitable access to career preparation. Her efforts consistently reflect a commitment to innovation, collaboration, and sustainability, and she approaches her work with “positivity, enthusiasm and an exceptional level of professionalism.” Through her leadership, Michelle has created enduring pathways for student success that benefit the CSULB community.

Team Achievement Award

The Team Achievement Award recognizes a team of staff members who collaborated on a project, process, or other significant initiative to achieve distinctive results/solutions which positively impacted University operations, improve productivity, and/or reduce costs, and benefited a major sector of the University. The team aligned actions and decisions with the University's core values of excellence, integrity, service, creativity, innovation and educational opportunity.

BeAChampion Team / Campus Assessment & Stabilization Team
Divisions of Academic Affairs, Student Affairs, & Athletics

Front, L-R: Liz Grimes, Cameron Cecil, Tamika Spivey, Brenda Vogel, Loren Edwards, Caitlin Broadwell, Tiffany Edlin

The BeAChampion Facilitation Team—Caitlin Broadwell, Cameron Cecil, Loren Edwards, Liz Grimes, Tamika Spivey, and Tiffany Edlin—is the recipient of the President’s Team Achievement Award for their exceptional collaboration in transforming the student-athlete experience at California State University, Long Beach. Representing a cross-divisional partnership across Athletics, Academic Affairs, and Student Affairs, the team exemplifies how “dedicated staff can transform the student experience through creativity, equity-driven design, and sustained collaboration.”

Originally formed as a voluntary working group in 2020, the team spent five years designing and refining BeAChampion into a comprehensive, four-year developmental program that fully launched in 2025–2026. The initiative delivers a structured sequence of courses supporting student-athletes at every stage of their journey, integrating academic success, mental and physical health, leadership development, career readiness, and community engagement. More than a curriculum, BeAChampion represents “a historic investment in holistic student-athlete success and a model of innovation with relevance to all students.”

The team’s collaborative leadership and commitment to continuous improvement have resulted in measurable outcomes. In its first full year, 100% of first-time, first-year student-athletes enrolled in the program, with participants reporting increased clarity, confidence, and preparedness for life beyond athletics. These results reflect the team’s intentional focus on “belonging, persistence, and long-term student success,” directly advancing University goals related to retention, graduation, and workforce readiness.

Supported by NCAA grants and aligned with the Beach 2030 Strategic Plan, BeAChampion continues to grow as a sustainable and scalable model. As noted in the nomination, “BeAChampion is more than a program; it is a testament to the transformative impact of CSULB staff.” Through vision, innovation, and a shared commitment to student success, the BeAChampion Team has created an enduring initiative that reflects the University’s values and leaves a lasting impact on the campus community.