As the Director of the Educational Opportunity Program, Ms. Blanks oversees and provides personal counseling, financial aid counseling and academic advising, implements the unit strategic planning initiative, and assesses students’ needs using student development assessment instruments and personal interviews.  She is also responsible for managing complex student issues and developing policies and procedures within student persistence patterns.  In addition, Ms. Blanks supervises professional staff and graduate interns.

Ms. Blanks is a returning Cal State San Marcos alumni who started at Cal State San Marcos as the first peer mentor with EOP in 1990.  She later moved to the department of School Relations in which she became an ambassador.  Ms. Blanks previously worked for Cuyamaca College (EOPS/CARE Programs); and San Diego Miramar College in various special programs such as EOPS/CARE/CalWORKs and TRIO. She has worked for over eleven years in EOPS/CARE, New Horizons, CalWORKs and TRIO (SSS) at various campuses.  She has also taught College Success Skills and Academic Planning courses.

Ms. Blanks' interests are in low-income women and their families and she is a strong advocate for women’s issues. In her spare time she sews and listens to music.

E-mail: cblanks@csusm.edu

Cecelia Blanks 

As the Transitional Counselor for the Educational Opportunity Program at Cal State San Marcos, Ms. Norma Larios is responsible for the programs’ admission process, providing advising services to incoming students and also providing technical support in the creation / maintenance of the programs’ various databases.

Ms. Larios previously worked with the Student Support Services program at Cal State San Marcos where she ensured that the program was in compliance with federal regulations and implemented improvements in technology.

Ms. Larios academic interests include educational access and equity in the public school system with an emphasis in the K -12^th grades.

E-mail: nlarios@csusm.edu

As the Director of the Educational Opportunity Program, Ms. Blanks oversees and provides personal counseling, financial aid counseling and academic advising, implements the unit strategic planning initiative, and assesses students’ needs using student development assessment instruments and personal interviews.  She is also responsible for managing complex student issues and developing policies and procedures within student persistence patterns.  In addition, Ms. Blanks supervises professional staff and graduate interns.

Ms. Blanks is a returning Cal State San Marcos alumni who started at Cal State San Marcos as the first peer mentor with EOP in 1990.  She later moved to the department of School Relations in which she became an ambassador.  Ms. Blanks previously worked for Cuyamaca College (EOPS/CARE Programs); and San Diego Miramar College in various special programs such as EOPS/CARE/CalWORKs and TRIO. She has worked for over eleven years in EOPS/CARE, New Horizons, CalWORKs and TRIO (SSS) at various campuses.  She has also taught College Success Skills and Academic Planning courses.

Ms. Blanks' interests are in low-income women and their families and she is a strong advocate for women’s issues. In her spare time she sews and listens to music.

E-mail: cblanks@csusm.edu

As an Educational Opportunity Program Counselor, Mr. Yang is responsible for advising and counseling EOP students and coordinating the CSUSM Bridge Building Parnership and SSS/EOP Annual Recognition Ceremony.

Mr. Yang is a former EOP student at his alma mater University of California, Santa Barbara.  Prior to his employment with Cal State San Marcos, Mr. Yang spent three years working with inner-city, probation, and foster youth in Sacramento, CA.

Mr. Yang's professional and academic interests include student development and leadership, foster and probation youth in the educational system, research of micro-aggression in higher education, multicultural development and awareness, music and the performing arts in education, and community development and social grassroots movements.

E-mail: dyang@csusm.edu

Norma Larios

Heather Tibbetts

Cecelia Blanks 

David Yang

Senior Counselor

Educational Opportunity Program