2025 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.

Paul Carter
Office of Belonging & Inclusion, Division of 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 2025 honoree, Paul Carter, is the Assistant Director of the Black Resource Center. Since coming on board in 2022, Paul Carter has become “a pivotal force in our mission to recruit and retain Black students,” according to Associate Vice President for Student Affairs Jeff Klaus. Paul’s strategic partnerships with such organizations as Building Bridges and the Black Deaf Tour have introduced hundreds of prospective students to The Beach and directly contributed to a 20% overall increase in Black student enrollment and a 40% increase in first-time, first-year students. Post-enrollment, Paul helps ensure their success by designing and implementing programs, such as the inaugural Black Excellence Overnight Experience, that connect them with key resources and foster a stronger sense of belonging on campus. Paul has also become an effective leader beyond Student Affairs by serving as part of the Black Excellence Experience planning team; leading the Day at the Beach Black Student Reception; chairing the Black Graduation Celebration” and Black History Month events; and coordinating and facilitating campus-wide training such as Combatting Anti-Blackness and LGBTQIA Allyship. Klaus noted that Paul “embodies the essence of inclusive excellence through his unwavering commitment to fostering an inclusive culture of respect, collegiality, and civility at CSULB.”

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.

Caitlin Broadwell
Health & Wellness Administration, Division of Student 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 2025 honoree is Caitlin Broadwell who serves as an Athletics Case Manager in Health & Wellness Administration. Caitlin is being recognized for her “unparalleled dedication to student-athlete well-being,” which has, according to Senior Associate Athletics Director Tiffany Edlin, “transformed the culture surrounding mental health within Long Beach State Athletics” and has been “a driving force behind the evolution of holistic student-athlete support, ensuring that mental health, life transitions, and proactive care” remain departmental priorities. As part of those efforts, Caitlin has developed strategic alliances to support the mental, emotional, and physical well-being of student-athletes; instituted educational programs for coaches, sport supervisors, and support staff; and implemented a variety of initiatives that reach, on average, 75% of our student-athlete population each semester. Caitlin’s tireless commitment to filling critical gaps in support — perhaps most notably, by making the mental-health conversation an ongoing, rather than reactive, one — has re-shaped the student-athlete experience, set a new standard for holistic student-athlete wellness, and kept Long Beach State at the forefront of mental-health awareness and suicide prevention in college athletics.

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.

Marijose Ramirez
Financial Management, Division of Administration & Finance

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 2025 honoree is Marijose Ramirez, formerly the Senior Contract Specialist and recently promoted to Interim Contract Manager. Marijose’s colleagues in the Department of Financial Management report that her thorough approach to the contract-review process ensures that all agreements adhere to legal standards, minimize risks, and protect the university’s interests. In addition, her strong support of the Procurement Services Department and careful oversight of leasing matters have led to significant cost savings, expedited processes, improved vendor relationships, and the recovery of over $160,000 in outstanding receivables. Marijose’s interpersonal skills are just as impressive as her technical abilities; she is highly responsive to the needs of diverse internal and external stakeholders, and this, in turn, fosters seamless transitions and productive collaborations. In her prior role as Senior Contract Specialist, she continually took on leadership roles in Contract Services, providing guidance and skills-training to junior team members and others, and serving on cross-functional teams with staff from across the university’s operational subdivisions. Her commitment to excellence, dedication, and professionalism was demonstrated throughout every aspect of her work and interactions.

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.

Omar Hussein
Graduate Studies, 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 2025 honoree is Graduate Writing Specialist Omar Hussein. For the past eight years, Omar has played a major role in graduate-student success by providing expert writing support to master’s, doctoral, and other postbaccalaureate students at The Beach. Omar’s commitment to inclusivity and accessibility is singled out for special mention by Interim Dean of Graduate Studies Dina Perrone, who notes, “His patience, encouragement, and deep understanding of student challenges make him a trusted and respected mentor.” During a typical academic year, Omar will hold between 600 and 700 writing appointments with graduate students who overwhelmingly rate his services as “outstanding” on post-appointment surveys. When he’s not working directly to support graduate writing, Omar might be found providing operations and program support to the Graduate Center — in fact, he led the Center’s first-ever self-study and assessment — or conducting training and workshops for the larger Beach community. He also serves as campus coordinator for the Sally Casanova Pre-Doctoral program. As one appreciative student noted, “Omar’s brilliance as an educator and mentor is unquestionable, but it is his genuine care and compassion for students that … made the most profound impact on me.”

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.

University Police Department / Campus Assessment & Stabilization Team
Divisions of Administration & Finance / Student Affairs

Front, L-R: Captain Carol Almaguer, Maria Gutierrez (CAST), Sergeant Jafra Millner
Middle, L-R: Detective Ryan Maligie, Graciela Lopez (CAST), Officer Garrett Evans, Donna De Loera (CAST),
Back, L-R: Damian Zavala (CAST), Lieutenant Johnny Leyva, police dispatcher Matt Drake, Sergeant Stephen Gray, Chief John Brockie
Not Pictured from UPD: Officer Mikayla Afusia, Patrick Banks, Officer Vincent Castillo, Gracie Cole, Corporal Christian Cooley, Corporal Michael Faxon, Teresa Gresty, Cielo Gudino, Corporal Erik Hendricks, Sergeant Lizeth Henriquez, Kristie Horning, Officer Devon James, Allyson Joy, Vy Le, Sergeant Vergel Munoz, Gregory Pascal, Sharon Ramirez, Corporal Luis Rocha, Sergeant Gene Rodriguez, Officer Jesse Scott, Brianda Sicairos Ayon, Gail Smith, Sergeant Marissa Vancil, Officer Jose Vazquez, Officer Corina Washington

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 University Police Department (UP) and the mobile mental-health professionals of the Campus Assessment and Stabilization Team (CAST) for coming together to address the urgent and complex needs of individuals facing mental-health or behavioral crises. By combining UPD’s modern policing techniques and community-first orientation with CAST’s humanistic, trauma-informed approach to mental-health support, this partnership is transforming how urgent matters are handled here at The Beach. Even as demand for services increases — CAST call volume nearly doubled between 2023 and 2024 — the team continues working successfully to enhance student and campus safety while ensuring that all crisis-response interactions prioritize understanding, dignity, and compassion. This has led to big improvements in several key areas: the number of voluntary and involuntary psychiatric hospitalizations decreased, for example, along with the use of force in crisis situations. Also, the team has been successful in linking more individuals with vital support services, both on and off campus. Captain Carol Almaguer points out that, as a direct result of the team’s actions, one CSULB student in crisis received life-saving medical attention that would likely not have reached her otherwise. In short, she says, the CAST-UPD collaboration is a “shining example of what can be achieved when teams unite with a shared purpose.”