2024 President Awards

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.

Shannyn Sayula
Multicultural Affairs, Student Affairs

The Inclusive Excellence Award recognizes an employee who has made a significant contribution in fostering an inclusive culture of respect, collegiality, and civility. Our 2024 honoree, Shannyn Sayula, is the inaugural Assistant Director for the Asian, Pacific Islander, & Desi Resource Center. Shannyn also plays a key role in implementing parts of our Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions grant, which aims to improve and expand the university’s capacity to serve Asian American and Pacific Islanders and lower-income students. Previously, as a graduate assistant supporting El Concilio for Latinx Success, Shannyn not only used her excellent organizational and communication skills to help launch this new campus group but, says nominator Eduardo Leyva, she was also “the engine behind the Seal of Excelencia application,” working tirelessly and collaboratively as co-lead writer to submit a successful application. Awardees undergo a rigorous application and verification process, so being recognized in this way for our commitment to Latinx student success is an especially significant honor for The Beach — and a testament to Shannyn’s exceptional commitment to addressing equity gaps on 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.

Kim Truesdelle
College of Engineering Administration, Division of Academic Affairs

The Innovation Award recognizes an employee who has made a significant contribution in innovating the delivery of services to the campus community and whose efforts reflect the university’s core values of excellence, integrity, service, creativity, and innovation. Our 2024 honoree is Kim Truesdelle, who serves as Assistant to the Associate Deans in the College of Engineering. Kim is responsible for the coordination, administration, and/or oversight of numerous activities and programs that support the success of both engineering students and faculty. Admired as an innovative thinker who consistently provides valuable suggestions, feedback, and advice, Kim often takes the initiative to optimize college operations. Associate Dean, Dr. Antonella Sciortino, noted that Kim helped develop a streamlined process for revision and approval of theses and graduate project reports; she also provided key insights and guidance as the college sought to improve Its scheduling process. Through her contributions of thoughtful ideas, solutions, and analyses that led to enhanced administrative practices and procedures, Kim created positive change for engineering students, staff, and faculty, as well as for their on- and off-campus partners.

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.

Debora Aguilera
Housing & Residential Life, Division of Student Affairs

The Leadership Award recognizes an employee who has made a significant contribution in providing high-quality leadership and whose efforts reflect the university’s core values of excellence, integrity, and service. Our 2024 honoree is Debora Aguilera, the lead custodian for Housing and Residential Life (HRL). Executive Director of HRL, Corry Colonna shared that custodians have a unique role on our campus — one that can go beyond maintaining the appearance and cleanliness of facilities and to the very heart of student success. Debora certainly went “above and beyond” to assist a student in one of the buildings she oversees — someone who was struggling with a difficult and ongoing mental-health situation. On multiple occasions, Debora helped calm the student and provided translation assistance. She jumped in, without hesitation, to ensure that the student received the comfort, support, encouragement, and resources needed at the time. Debora’s actions were reflective of effective and empathetic leadership at The Beach.

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.

Dr. Elyzza M. Aparicio
Office for Undergraduate Research, Division of Academic Affairs

The Student Success Award recognizes an employee who has made a significant contribution in support of the university’s core mission of providing excellent, highly valued educational opportunities. Our 2024 honoree is Dr. Elyzza Aparicio, director of the Office of Undergraduate Research Services (OURS). Elyzza’s unwavering dedication to helping students realize their full potential and to enhancing student research culture at The Beach shines through in all she does, but perhaps most notably in her innovative, inspiring, and proactive efforts to expand high-impact research opportunities, to centralize undergraduate research resources, and to facilitate greater collaboration among students and faculty mentors. Elyzza has also made important contributions to the OURS Research Certificate, the CSULB Student Research Competition, and other key initiatives. She is admired for her strong commitment to advancing Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility goals and for challenging students “to see themselves as researchers, scholars, and overall contributors to the culture of excellence” at The Beach. Dr. Simon Kim, Associate Vice President of the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs, shared, “Her genuine compassion, mentorship, and unwavering support have left an indelible mark on those she has interacted with, inspiring them to reach their full potential and make meaningful contributions to their fields of study.”

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.

Shark Beach Safety
Division of Academic Affairs

Front, L-R: Elizabeth Jahn, Emily Spurgeon, Lauren Faulkner, Susan Miles
Back, L-R: Ava Domenichelli, Kevin Abbott, Darnell Gadberry, Patrick Rex, Zach Merson, Dr. Ryan Logan, Dr. Christopher Lowe. Not pictured: Felicity Eriksson, Whitney Jones

The Team Achievement Award recognizes a team that collaborated on a significant project that had a positive impact on university operations and benefited a major sector of the university. This year, we honor the Shark Beach Safety team, which is leading the way in the field of shark research while also seeking to prepare the next generation of marine biologists, to change public perceptions of white sharks, and to introduce new audiences to the wonders of the ocean. By establishing and expanding its on-campus partnerships, the team was able to draw a record 2,000 visitors for the most recent “Sharks at the Beach” event. They also developed a Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics curriculum that is being delivered in local K-12 classrooms and presented two major workshops, which served all California lifeguards and delivered essential information — informed by the team’s own groundbreaking research — on a variety of topics related to white sharks. Those initiatives were among the materials and information shared with a growing community of global partners when the team traveled to Australia in 2023 to make a special presentation.