John Bwarie, City Councilman Greig Smith’s deputy district director, and McCarthy hold an impromptu caucus during a meeting of the Northridge East Neighborhood Council at Granada Hills Fire Dept. Station # 87.

Brittny McCarthy had been up early to attend a meeting with members of a Northridge civic organization, had devoted a block of time to squinting at the fine print of legislation that could affect Cal State Northridge, had met with a professor about the possibility of federal monies to fund a project, and had exchanged calls with Valley legislative offices.

That brought her to about noon.

McCarthy, Cal State Northridge’s new director of government and community relations, is a self-admitted wonk and problem-solver who works “very, very hard,” but who derives a sense of balance from her practice of yoga and enjoyment of “simple things,” like biking to the local farmer’s market.

McCarthy (left) in 2004, during her Capitol Hill days as a legislative analyst for Congresswoman Betty McCollum of Minnesota.

She comes to her job with years of national higher education policy experience as a Capitol Hill legislative assistant with Congresswoman Betty McCollum of Minnesota, with a background in community relations and with a portfolio of lessons learned as federal relations director for the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU).

Succeeding Judith Nutter, who retired in December 2008, McCarthy has been working hard to introduce herself to the region and to ensure that CSUN’s neighbors and government officials know they always will find her door open. She took a short break to talk with Northridge Magazine about her new assignment.

Q. The work of the Government and Community Relations office is a lot to get one’s arms around. How would you describe it?

A. I see my job as not about me, but about everybody else on campus and in the community…I focus on the faculty work that’s happening, the student experiences that are taking place here at Northridge, the community partnerships that are being created.

It’s my job to proactively seek out people, to connect the dots, to see the bigger picture and to hone in on the interesting, exciting, impactful examples of the activities at Cal State Northridge, so that we can make the case for public support of the university…

We are making figurative deposits into the bank, if you will. That means spending time with people on campus, seeing what they’re excited about, so that I can use that information to work with our elected officials at all levels, from city and county to state and federal.

There may be a project on campus that is ripe for Congressional attention, for example. What do we need to do in order to make that happen? Faculty members are extremely busy and become immersed in their work. Some have never thought of their work in terms of attracting federal support. I’m here to help them think about possibilities.

At a gathering of Valley legislative aides, McCarthy provides an update. Among the participants are Damian Carroll (right), senior field representative for 42nd District Assemblymember Mike Feuer, and Vance T. Peterson, Northridge’s vice president for university advancement.

Q. What about the university’s relationship with the surrounding community? How do we work on being good neighbors to each other?

A. We’re a vibrant university community; we have a lot of students with energy and extracurricular interests. Naturally, with a university of 30,000-plus students—the majority of whom still arrive on campus in cars—traffic issues arise. But the university is committed to being a fair and good neighbor. I see that as part of my job.

Our Facilities Planning department is working hard, for example, to mitigate traffic patterns on the southeastern part of campus… We’re also going to start bringing neighbors back onto our campus in a more concerted effort, showing them some of the great things that are happening right here on campus. One of the first events we’ll organize is a tour of our sustainability efforts on campus…It’s a proactive way to make sure the neighbors see all the ways CSUN is contributing to the community.

Q. You have to cover a lot of territory in the course of a day, don’t you? What prepared you to touch so many community bases so frequently?

A. When I worked for Congresswoman McCollum, it was my responsibility to represent her with her constituents…I traveled from Washington, D.C. to her district quite often. I would express her position, hear and report back the community’s concerns. They didn’t always agree with her. It was my job to be diplomatic and always to leave a meeting knowing that the constituents felt listened to—whether or not we were all on the same page.

Those skills were critical for the work I’m doing now. I represent the university when I come to the table with our neighbors and, usually, we all leave the room feeling good about each other.

Q. What led you to volunteer your time as a yoga instructor at CSUN, in the middle of your crowded schedule?

CSUN employees’ budget crunch stress is relieved by lunch hour “free furlough yoga” led by volunteer McCarthy, the university’s new government and community relations director.

A. I’ve been doing yoga since my days at the University of Minnesota. I was looking for a way to be physically active in a cold state, and I was looking for a little bit more of something, I didn’t know what…[Yoga is] not only a physical practice but a spiritual practice for me, a place where I’m reminded of what is and isn’t important. I think it really helps me be a better professional…

President Koester was holding forums to help explain to the campus community what was happening with the budget. She took time to remind everyone to be kind to one another. I thought to myself: “Well, how can I be kind?” …Cal State Northridge has an innovative Employee Assistance Program to help faculty and staff through this difficult period of mandated furloughs [The state has mandated campus closure and furlough days for CSUN employees, amounting to a 10 percent pay cut]. I asked Human Resources if I could teach free introductory yoga, and they loved the idea. We call it “free furlough yoga.” It’s been super successful; the first class was more than 20 strong, and the second time we had close to 30. At least half had never done yoga before.

Contact McCarthy at (818) 677-2123 or Brittny.mccarthy@csun.edu.

From left, orthopedic and sports physical therapist George Erb, faculty mentor Dee Lilly, with Dee Lilly Scholarship recipients Rebecca Guinn and Nina Kaufman, Physical Therapy Department chair Sheryl Low and Sylvia Alva, dean of the College of Health and Human Development

Convinced he couldn’t get through his dissection class, George Erb ’86 (Physical Therapy) was ready to withdraw from Cal State Northridge after two weeks of anatomy.

“I was fully prepared to leave,” recalled Erb. “Then Professor Dee Lilly stepped in and got me through it. She convinced me I could do it, and she helped me and supported me emotionally. And I did it.”

Anatomy turned out to be Erb’s favorite subject. The following semester, he even served as a lab assistant for the class.

Dee Lilly was a valued faculty member at California State University, Northridge throughout the 1980s, teaching anatomy and physiology. She was known for encouraging future physical therapists by instilling a yearning for knowledge and a motivation to help others.

“She was an amazing mentor,” said Erb. “You could go to her with any issue, whether it was school or personal, and she was there for you. I’m not kidding when I say that I remember studying late and calling her at midnight with questions. She has a gift in that regard; she’s still helping people.”

Today Erb is a leading orthopedic and sports physical therapist in Ventura County. He established George Erb Physical Therapy, Inc. in 1988 and the George Erb Fitness Center in 2006, both in Camarillo. Committed to providing his patients with excellent care in a friendly, family-like atmosphere, Erb has specialized in creating fitness programs that teach clients to avoid injury.

Lilly had meant so much to Erb and to peers who had come through the program that he wanted to honor her in a meaningful way. The best way to do that, he decided, was to help students. His generous gift established the Dee Lilly Scholarship.

“Dee Lilly was my anatomy professor when I was in the physical therapy program,” said Sheryl Low ’86, chair of the department. “She inspired a love for learning and conveyed to all of us the true meaning of being a physical therapist. Dee always made even the struggling student feel they could learn. She is responsible for mentoring and inspiring so many students through her continued teaching.”

The Dee Lilly Scholarship provides financial assistance to students pursuing degrees in physical therapy at CSUN. Its recipients have demonstrated exceptional commitment to professional growth and service, outstanding leadership, a positive and professional attitude, and outstanding clinical potential. Two scholarships are awarded each year.

“Dee Lilly has spent her entire professional life selflessly assisting people to achieve,” said Erb. “And really, as physical therapists, that’s what we’re supposed to do.”

College of Social and Behavorial Sciences Dean Stella Theodoulou (far right), with Ahmad’s family: sister Cathy (left) father Dr. Hossein Eshraghi, and mother Afsar Eshraghi.

Ahmad Eshraghi ’07 (Political Science) is remembered by those who knew him as a young man with many interests. He dearly loved classical music, photography, chess and books about history and philosophy.

In pursuit of more knowledge about the world and its complexities, Ahmad sought and earned his bachelor’s degree in political science in 2007 and continued his studies as a graduate student. The Ahmad Eshraghi Endowed Scholarship in Political Science was established by his family to honor his memory.

“Ahmad had two successful careers in America after our family emigrated from Iran,” said Afsar Eshraghi, his mother. “One was experiencing different kinds of business venues such as real estate and sales. The other was his dedication to education.”

Ahmad Eshraghi ’07

Ahmad applied and was accepted at USC and CSUN but followed the advice of a counselor at Glendale Community College in choosing Cal State Northridge.

“His father and I felt very good about his decision,” said Mrs. Eshraghi. “He liked all of his teachers. but from the very beginning he felt a special bond with Professor Jim Mitchell in the Department of Political Science.

“Dr. Mitchell was a real mentor to him and became like another member of our family. He encouraged Ahmad and was instrumental in Ahmad’s decision to attend graduate school.”

Shortly after beginning his graduate studies, Ahmad became ill with cancer.

“He was so concerned that he would miss classes,” said his sister, Cathy Eshraghi. “Dr. Mitchell reassured him and visited him during this difficult time.”

After Ahmad’s death, his family searched for a lasting way to honor his memory. The Eshraghi family decided to establish the Ahmad Eshraghi Endowed Scholarship

“We all recalled how much Ahmad changed as a person after attending CSUN,” said Cathy. “He really developed his ability to think about world affairs and to talk about issues that matter.

“We thought, ‘What better way to honor Ahmad than to give others the opportunity to also grow as individuals and develop their intellectual ability and knowledge about global politics?”

“Despite Ahmad’s success in business, he didn’t feel complete without an education,” said Afsar Eshraghi. “Education is an investment no one can take away from you. We left Iran with nothing, but because of my husband’s education, we were able to rebuild our lives.”

President Jolene Koester (Photo by Lee Choo)

The start of a new academic year always is a time of great excitement and anticipation. Each fall semester, thousands of new and continuing students arrive at Cal State Northridge, ready to pursue the promise of higher education: full of potential and enthusiasm, students learn, participate and become engaged in the community and campus life. This culminates with graduation and leads, we hope, to a lifelong commitment to personal and professional excellence, as well as to a lifelong connection to Cal State Northridge.

While the excitement for the 2009-10 academic year is no less palpable, it would be remiss of me not to note that, like the rest of the country and around the world, Cal State Northridge faces serious challenges related to the unprecedented nationwide recession that has affected and touched all of us.

As one of 23 campuses in the California State University (CSU) system, Cal State Northridge’s budget is very closely tied to the financial health of the state of California. This fiscal year, due to a perfect storm of circumstances related to budget management and revenues, the CSU has been hit by a 20 percent (or $584 million) budget cut. Cal State Northridge’s share of this cut is a staggering $41 million.

Everyone in the campus community has been personally affected by the burden of this budget reduction: undergraduate students will pay almost $1,000 more in registration fees during the 2009-10 academic year; nearly all employees have taken a 10 percent salary reduction to accompany the two days a month they will be furloughed during the fiscal year; the university has implemented a hiring freeze, and more than 100 part-time faculty will not have classes to teach this year.

In order to protect quality of instruction in the face of fewer budget resources, Cal State Northridge will need to reduce its student enrollment by 3,000 students this year, and another 3,000 during 2010-11, as part of a system wide impaction plan to cut enrollment statewide in the CSU by 40,000 students. In a time of increased demand for higher education access, this projected reduction will bring the university’s enrollment back to 2001-02 enrollment levels!

As this suggests, our ability to fulfill our mission to serve the needs of the people of this region will be severely impacted. Prospective students were turned away this year and more will be turned away next year, which has been particularly painful for a campus known for its commitment to access. Current students will experience the impact of furloughs and budget cuts through longer wait times, reduced services, and increased competition for classes.

Nevertheless, we remain focused on the need to continue delivering the world-class education our students have come to expect at Northridge. For example, while no one could have guessed the severity of the damage, the university’s leadership team anticipated reductions and in the previous year had been actively planning, re-prioritizing, evaluating and pruning, in recognition that state dollars may never again flow in our direction as they have in the past. We are developing new approaches and relying on our own ingenuity.

At California State University, Northridge, people put their whole hearts into the mission of providing superior higher education for our students. We have a history of coming back strong in crisis, ready to continue the work and to excel. We will do the same in the face of this fiscal crisis.

A silver lining is found in the generosity of alumni and friends like you, who are part of our campus community and believe in our mission as strongly as we do. You have supported that mission by contributing to Northridge’s scholarship fund, by establishing endowments and gifts honoring faculty and loved ones, by volunteering your time, and by acting as our best advocates for increased higher education funding. Your support, always important to us, now is critical.

And there is so much here that merits your support. Northridge is a dynamic world in which promising scholars—undergraduates as well as graduates—are engaged in vital research, where faculty mentors abound, where a cross-section of people have come together to protect our environment for future generations. You’ll read about some of them in the following pages.

When you do, bear in mind that the value our graduates add to our society is beyond measure, and our work here is important to the economy of the entire state. It will take patience, fortitude and sacrifice, but we can and will continue that work together. For these reasons, I am grateful for your continued support of the university.

Jolene Koester
President, California State University, Northridge

Keep up with the president by visiting her blog, http://blogs.csun.edu/president/

Simpson in rehab hospital, December 2002, after spinal cord injury from a violent crime

Nicole Simpson ’09 (Kinesiology) may not always see them coming, but she is an expert on navigating life’s twists and turns.

During Cal State Northridge’s May 2009 commencement exercise, she navigated her wheelchair to the podium and stood up in her leg braces as her name was called, a feat that represented the sheer grit of the woman and a team of remarkable student volunteers from CSUN’s Kinesiology Department.

A fit 21-year-old Simpson, a group and personal fitness trainer, on the beach in 1989

In fall 2002, a fit and eager Simpson gave up ownership of her gym in order to enter the College of Health and Human Development as a fulltime student. Her eye was on a bachelor’s degree in exercise science and a possible future in physical therapy.

“I loved fitness, loved helping people,” said Simpson. “I still do.”

Mid-semester, some twists and turns arrived, as they tend to do, out of the blue.

Following a weekend pool tournament, she and a friend had stopped off to get in a little practice at a local establishment. Simpson’s memory is fuzzy on the details, but she has been told she visited the ladies’ room and “never came out.” An initial search by her alarmed buddy failed to turn her up, but two hours later she was found behind the pool parlor.

“Between the doctors and the police,” Simpson said, “they figured I had been beaten, raped and run over by a car…The person, or persons, never has been found…And so it’s a mystery.”

Simpson was left with a broken neck, a broken lower back, broken ribs, a broken collar bone, both lungs punctured by her ribs, and a lacerated liver.

She spent three and a half months in the hospital.

At CSUN’s Run, Walk & Roll event, a week before her May 2006 ovarian cancer operation

The very next semester, spring 2003, Simpson came back to CSUN.

With therapy, she was crawling by summer. Within 14 months, using her leg braces and a walker, she took her first steps since the spinal cord injury.

Ferociously independent, Simpson spent all of 2005 in Australia as a Study Abroad student, proving her ability to live on her own. Confident and impatient to get on with her life, she signed up to return to CSUN for fall 2006.

But again, twists and turns. Some suspicious pains sent Simpson in December 2005 to a doctor’s office in Australia. Within six months, she was battling full blown ovarian cancer. Five surgeries and 12 cycles of chemotherapy dominated her life for the next year and a half, and her weakened state left her unable to walk.

By fall 2007, Simpson was back at CSUN.

A project for kinesiology professor Steve Loy’s Kinesiology 446 “Research in Exercise Physiology” class became much more. Loy recognized the potential for an extraordinary learning experience for Simpson and for graduate students at CSUN’s Brown Center for Adaptive Aquatic Therapy and Center of Achievement for the Physically Disabled. “For students to see hard work rewarded within the time frame of a semester’s education was important,” he said.

Loy asked Simpson to set a goal she thought she could achieve in one semester, and Simpson chose to stand up at the podium at graduation. “It would signify all the hard work I’ve been through in the past seven years,” she said.

On a rainy day at the end of fall 2008, the students met with Simpson, Loy and Mai Jara, interim adapted aquatics director, to create a training program. “This was not part of a class for the students,” Loy said. “This was one of their peers who wanted to accomplish something, and they had the knowledge…and the capacity to help her do that.”

Simpson and a devoted friend and classmate, exercise science graduate student Moisey Bininashvili, already had begun therapy as part of the 446 class project. During spring 2009, students Beatriz Chavez, Ryota Nishiyori and Ai Katase worked with Simpson at the Brown Center on campus and met weekly with Jara to assess and plan.

Jara’s therapy program for Simpson “focused slowly on weight bearing exercises, started with leg strengthening…so she would be able to support and carry her weight.”

Simpson, at high risk for fractures, often worked strapped to a tilt table, gradually putting weight on her lower extremities. As graduation approached, her crew of helpers grew anxious, she said, “but I had undying faith that I would do it.”

On the evening of graduation, escorted by kinesiology student Steve Paredes, Simpson heard her name called. Paredes stood to one side and assisted as his friend made the most important of all her journeys.

Simpson’s big, loving family was on hand to see it. “My dad—he’s hard of hearing, bless his heart—got into the ceremonial line to give me a kiss on the cheek,” she laughed. “He couldn’t hear anybody saying ‘Sir, you can’t go up there!’ “

The crew of student volunteers also attended. “It was a great feeling,” said Nishiyori. “…If you have determination and desire and a goal like Nicole did, you can achieve your goal. To be a part of that is exactly why I got involved [in CSUN’s kinesiology program], helping people regain something they’d lost.”

Simpson already is a work on a book about her triumph over assault and illness, and on developing a nonprofit she will call the Wellness Network, a web of health practitioners who “address all the dimensions of wellness.” When it is up and running, Simpson will connect individuals—including those who cannot afford to pay—with the appropriate therapists.

“This is my career,” she said, “my life blood.”

Simpson at workout machines, Brown Center for Adaptive Aquatic Therapy

In spring 2009, a triumphant Simpson stands at last to accept her prize: a diploma from California State University, Northridge.

After Simpson’s first place win in CSUN’s wheelchair 5k benefit, months of surgery and chemotherapy awaited her.

Presidential Scholars (top row from left): Arnold Bae '09, Bobby Salehani, Nadine Zuckerman, Evan Rosenblatt '09 & Sunny Reichert '09, Trevor Barrett '08, (bottom from left) Vahagn Hokhiyan, Manako Yabe, Mary Kirby '07

Cal State Northridge’s Presidential Scholars are a diverse and staunchly independent bunch. But they are alike in ways that count: they share a powerful need to serve society, and they have the smarts and drive to do it well.

The Presidential Scholars Awards program—the top tier of CSUN scholarships—is barely five years old, but its architects brim with confidence about the caliber of its students. “It’s still too young to point out a Nobel Prize,” said Vice President for Student Affairs Terry Piper, “but I hope one day we’ll have one.”

Under President Jolene Koester, it has evolved into something different from California State University presidential scholar programs that focus on the recruitment of high-achieving students. “Our program,” said Vice President Piper, “is really focused on creating high achieving students.”

Shortly after Piper’s arrival at CSUN in 2001, President Koester asked him to help chart a new direction for an existing program. He decided “a total re-think” was in order and, supported by two key faculty committees, set to work. “We wanted to offer a scholarship that would encourage students to aim high, to achieve more,” said the administrator.

Underwritten through private donations from Mary ’63 and Jack Bayramian, Medtronic MiniMed and other generous contributors, the program demonstrates the importance of private philanthropy to Cal State Northridge, President Koester said.

“We’d love to be able to fund many more of these outstanding students,” said Piper. “In times like these, when the university faces unprecedented challenges from the economy, an influx of new endowments for our scholars, their research and scholarly activities would allow us to widen the circle.”

Financial support is liberating, said Financial Aid Office Director Lili Vidal, who helped launch the program. “Many of our students work, and this scholarship gives them money so that they don’t have to work as many hours. It gives them time to concentrate on the academic experience.”

One of the program’s most attractive features is its requirement that each scholar work hand in glove with a CSUN faculty member. “In many ways,” said Piper, “it is an internship with an experienced professor. Most of the scholars plan to go on to research careers, to law or medical school, or to a professional school where investigation, problem solving and critical judgment are needed at the highest possible level. This is a way to give them a leg up in that process.”

Campus scholarship coordinator Jannaee Brummell said the scholars must hit the ground running, scouting out their faculty mentors and developing their scholarship projects just weeks into the fall semester. “But Presidential Scholars are not intimidated by challenge,” she said.

On these pages, Northridge Magazine takes a look at a few scholars past and present.

Presidential Scholars

Diversity and the Vote

Trevor Barrett '09

Vahagn Hokhikyan

Manako Yabe

Bobby Salehani

Sunny Reichert '09 & Evan Rosenblatt '09

Mary Kirby

Nadine Zuckerman

Aerial view of California State University, Northridge

For many, the term “sustainability” is familiar. Just don’t ask about specifics. Something about the environment, right?

There seems to be no single definition that nails the concept down, but an often quoted 1987 United Nations commission said sustainable development “meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”

Sustainability guru Debra Rowe is more to the point. It would “improve the quality of life now without damaging the planet for the future,” she said.

For Tom Brown, executive director of Cal State Northridge’s Physical Plant Management Department (PPM) and a multiple statewide award-winner for sustainability leadership, the concept is not new; it has been a heartbeat of his operation for decades. “In our vintage perception,” he said, “sustainability means systems that are robust and that last a long time.”

Whatever its application, it is working up a head of steam at CSUN, where leaders from the ranks of faculty, administration, staff and students are earnestly working on sustainability projects and raising awareness, all with a collective eye on the university’s environmental future.

“They say a campus is green when it is looking at three different aspects of itself: operations, curriculum and research,” said former CSUN urban studies and planning professor Ashwani Vasishth, founding director of CSUN’s year-old Sustainability Institute. “We’re trying to do all three.”

Vasishth, now teaching on the East Coast, was part of a core campus  “greening” team, the busy idea and implementation arm of the institute, established in October 2008 to “promote, facilitate, and develop educational, research, and university and community programs related to sustainability.”

Today, veteran advocates like Brown and his department can be found at any given time working with the greening team, whose members are engaging students, faculty and staff, who in turn are sponsoring campus wide workshops, and so on. “Before,” said Vasishth, “we were operating in silos. That’s changing. Conversations are happening on campus that have never happened before.”

On a 356-acre campus full of green growing things, sustainability is a big conversation. Read on for just part of it.

Crowned by a “cool” roof surface, the Valley Performing Arts Center is one of the few such centers that has “met or exceeded state efficiency standards.” (Rendering by HGA)

Sustainability is not just a buzzword on campus construction sites.

Of the nearly half dozen projects recently completed or under construction at Cal State Northridge, all have exceeded state guidelines for energy efficiency by 15 to 30 percent. The designers of at least two—the Valley Performing Arts Center at California State University, Northridge and the Student Recreation Center—hope to be approved for certification by the highly regarded U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED).

LEED certification provides independent, third-party verification that a building project meets the highest “green” building and performance measures from design to completion.

“Each new building is an opportunity for a more sustainable design and greater energy conservation,” said campus architect Nathaniel Wilson in a statement underscored by U.S. Green Building Council research indicating that U.S. buildings account for 72 percent of electricity consumption, 39 percent of energy use, 38 percent of all carbon dioxide emissions, and 40 percent of raw materials use. Buildings generate 30 percent of waste sent to landfills.

The 1,700-seat Valley Performing Arts Center, scheduled to open in 2011, is an example of new buildings at CSUN that are “smart” and “green.” Its builders have registered with the council to pursue LEED Silver certification for the center. It is designed to exceed state energy efficiency requirements by 15 percent through the use of a reflective “cool” roof surface which deflects heat and saves on cooling costs, through a high volume, low velocity displacement ventilation system for the main hall, and through other alternate energy resources.

High volume, low velocity air conditioning system demands will be met through the center’s use of CSUN’s own hydrogen fuel cell which provides power to the chillers in the satellite plant, eliminating the need for major chillers at the building. Heat recovered from the fuel cell exhaust, along with new boilers in the satellite plant, will provide heat.

“It is one of the few performing arts centers that has met or exceeded state efficiency standards,” Wilson said.

Set to open in fall 2011, the new student recreation center will be chock full of “green” goodies such as solar tubes for day lighting and the possibility to capture and re-use rainwater.

Designers of the more than 100,000-square foot Student Recreation Center, slated to start construction this fall, plan to apply for LEED Gold certification. The structure will include solar tubes for lighting, recycled carpet and an air circulation system that directs air at ankle level instead of at the roof, which saves energy, said Bryanne Knight, project coordinator.

Knight said the center’s roof has been designed to “optimize and catch the most sunlight” for the solar tubes and to facilitate the capture and re-use of rainwater.

In addition to providing sorely needed research labs and lecture halls, CSUN’s 90,000-square foot “biotechnology” building—Chaparral Hall—conserves energy throughout its spaces, from the use of fluorescent lighting to the installation of low-flush toilets and waterless urinals. The building also uses energy from the campus’ hydrogen fuel cell satellite plant.

Student Housing’s 58,000-square foot dormitory and 6,000-square foot “common program” building will feature fluorescent lights, low-flush toilets, dual glazed windows, drought tolerant landscaping and “cool” roof surfaces.

Directed by associate professor of geography Helen Cox, nine geography undergrads are identifying, measuring and tagging every tree on the CSUN campus. That means more than 3,600 of varying species, some native, some ornamental and each with a different drought tolerance, shading capability and ability to sequester carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

At the heart of her investigation is a desire to know if the university can minimize its water usage—by choosing drought-tolerant trees—and sequester more C02_.

Feeding the data into a software program developed by the U.S. Forest Service’s Center for Urban Forest Research, Cox is trying to determine how CSUN might reduce its overall greenhouse gas emissions by maximizing the uptake of carbon dioxide by trees.

Currently, CSUN’s carbon emissions data is sent to the California State University Chancellor’s Office, combined with data from other CSU campuses and integrated into a greenhouse gas inventory report for the California Climate Action Registry.

“I thought it would be interesting to find out Northridge’s numbers as a single campus,” said Cox, “and be able to calculate an individual carbon footprint for the university, so that we can look at ways internally to reduce it.”

Cox’s explorations led her to the 1989 “CSUN Plant Survey” by geography professor emeritus Robert Gohstand. “With all the changes to the campus since the 1994 Northridge earthquake,” said Cox, “I was certain the landscape would be significantly different.”

This Roxburgh fig tree provides fruit and shade to members of the campus community.

Her team of students used Gohstand’s tree atlas as a base map, then filled in the data for all of the new trees using botanical guides and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s national online plant database. Biogeographer, horticulturalist and assistant geography professor Doug Fischer, biology professor Jennifer Matos and Jim Hogue, herbarium curator, helped identify others.

About 20 percent of campus trees remain on the students’ identification “to-do” list for the survey, supported by CSUN Provost Harry Hellenbrand as a project of the campus’ core greening team, of which Cox is a member.

Among the notable trees tagged, said student team member Kevin Ulrich, are the huge Dawn Redwoods between two of the campus’ science buildings. Until a small forest was discovered in China in the 1940s, the Dawn Redwood was thought to be extinct, and still is considered critically endangered in the wild.

Student team members Brian Shimizu and Roger Motti never again will see trees as anonymous backdrops. “Walking down the street now, I find myself identifying trees,” said Shimizu.

The project, in fact, has had an effect on the students’ career paths. Ulrich is drawn to the restoration of native habitats, Shimizu is considering a master’s degree in environmental or sustainable geography, and Motti will pursue an interdisciplinary master’s degree at CSUN in sustainable development. He plans eventually to build sustainable urban communities focusing on food networks.

Assistant psychology professor Erica Wohldmann and CSUN student Roger Motti inspect a community garden at the campus Hillel House.

In other times, Nancy Kurland, Erica Wohldmann, Sheela Bhongir and Misak Sevlian may have had a mere nodding acquaintance at faculty meetings or in class.

But in these times of drought and threatened resources, the four have come to know each other well. They represent a growing circle of campus people drawn together out of a need to act as good stewards of the planet in general and of CSUN’s collective greening practices in particular.

Kurland, an assistant professor of management, has a background in society and business ethics, but found herself pulled toward sustainability issues in the aftermath of a controversial water measure in her town.

Wohldmann has “always been interested in issues related to the environment and social justice.” An assistant psychology professor, she grew “tired of seeing Styrofoam all over campus.” Provost Harry Hellenbrand steered her to the campus’ core greening team, the action arm of the Sustainability Institute, and Wohldmann ran with the ball, working with campus units to initiate use of eco-friendly containers.

A senior majoring in urban planning, Bhongir was part of the Change the World Club at her high school. “I’ve always had that activism spirit within me…As humans, we’re supposed to work hand in hand with the environment.”

Bhongir took a class with urban studies and planning professor Ashwani Vasishth, CSUN Sustainability Institute’s founding director. “He exposed us to all the different environmental problems going on… I would say his class motivated me a lot.”

It turns out that Vasishth, now teaching in New Jersey, inspired Sevlian as well. An urban studies and planning major, Sevlian eventually hopes to build small pockets of sustainable communities. “It’s a dream,” said Sevlian, who works with the Associated Students’ Environmental Affairs Committee,  “a dream eco-community with a natural gas station and biodiesel.”

Like many of their colleagues in the CSUN sustainability effort, the four have gravitated to their areas of interest:

Water Management

Misak Sevlian of the Associated Students Environmental Affairs Committee plans the October 2009 Campus Sustainability Day with Sheela Bhongir of Students Associated for Sustainability and advisor Anne Sherman of the Matador Involvement Center.

As an original core greening team member, Kurland is working with students to organize CSUN’s Water Day in October 2009 for the campus and community, to raise awareness about water and water conservation issues at home and on campus. Campus experts will present workshops on water in the San Fernando Valley, on conservation and resource management, on economic and regulatory barriers to water re-use projects at CSUN, and on techniques for reducing individual water consumption.

“People are not attuned to the idea that we’re in a drought,” said Kurland. Every project we undertake, she said, “takes tons of water.” Citing water expert David Carle, Kurland said it takes eight gallons of the wet stuff to grow a tomato and a cool 2,000 gallons just to clean an eight-inch silicon wafer.

As part of the campus’ “waste not, want not” water conservation effort, a computerized weather-based central irrigation system will be launched in fall 2009, enabling CSUN’s Physical Plant Management Department to monitor and automatically control irrigation campus wide, taking the guesswork out of its water distribution.

Low-flush toilets and waterless urinals, already in use at the University Student Union, are planned for the campus’ student housing complex, and for the newly opened science building.

“We take water for granted,” said Kurland. “Part of the purpose of Water Day is to start this conversation.”

Curriculum, Food Options

Student Sanjay Gupta and Adam Siegel, assistant director of CSUN Hillel, working in the community garden.

At schools nationwide, sustainability is no flash-in-the-pan. At Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, a concentration in sustainability is planned, and Arizona State’s School of Sustainability graduated its first class in May. CSUN students eyeing careers in the field also are looking for curriculum, and Northridge aims to give them what they need: Wohldmann thinks a CSUN degree with an emphasis in sustainability could be a reality by the end of the 2011-12 academic year.

“The workplace is now changing,” said Wohldmann. “We’ve got to prepare our students for it.” Students interested in the emphasis will take a core cluster of courses sponsored by CSUN’s Institute for Sustainability and available under the general education curriculum. An upper division interdisciplinary experimental course launching in fall 2009 will get them started, and they will wind up with a research practicum in which they will solve a problem “using cost benefit and cradle-to-cradle carbon foot printing methods.” An electives cluster will be offered by all departments.

Students will learn that “sustainability is not just about the environment,” said Wohldmann. “It’s about social justice and economics as well…

“The fact of the matter is, we’re all in this together,” she said.

Plans for a community garden are in the talking stages; one already has been started at the campus’ Hillel chapter facility.

Waste Management, Student Engagement

In spring 2009, Sheela Bhongir helped lead a waste recycling effort that began as a business honors mentorship project. After consulting with Associated Students Recycling, Bhongir and fellow students came up with practical ideas such as high visibility recycling bins. They ran an audit that provided a “snapshot” of the waste discarded on campus, and conducted a recycling survey that measured student awareness.

As director of the Associated Students’ Environmental Affairs Committee, Bhongir works closely with Sevlian, who is helping the committee become CSUN’s “student clearing house” for information on sustainability issues. “We’re advocating for a greener campus, pushing such things as swapping out Blue Books [traditional test pamphlets] for Green Books [100 percent recyclable],” said Sevlian.

Want to know more? Try sustainability@csunas.org, www.csunas.org/recycle/, and www.csun.edu/sustainability/ for starters.

Campus Sustainability Day: Wednesday, October 21, 9 a.m.—noon Whitsett Room at CSUN, 1—8 p.m. outdoor activities at CSUN

Info for both: Annie Sherman at asherman@csun.edu or (818) 677-7715, and www.csun.edu/sustainability

Both events free