Dr. Fredi Avalos

Fredi Avalos received her doctorate in Cultural and Media Studies from Claremont Graduate University in Los Angeles. She has been a member of the adjunct faculty at CSUSM for 13 years.  Dr. Avalos teaches a wide variety of courses in both Communication and Media Studies, including Intercultural Communication, Media and Society, and Discourse, Power and Social Identity. Recently, she has received funding from the Collective Voices organization and is currently developing partnerships with CSUSM students, the International Rescue Committee and the National Latino Research Center to teach at-risk high school youth Critical Media Literacy and Public Speaking skills. 

Jan Cushman

Jan Cushman is the Sponsored Projects Administrator for the University Auxiliary and Research Services Corporation (UARSC). UARSC is an integral part of the California State University San Marcos (CSUSM) community, providing administrative support for sponsored programs and commercial enterprises including childcare services, campus dining services, and bookstore operations. Jan’s association with CSUSM began almost 14 years ago, but her life path took a turn toward financial interests at a very early age when she was selected classroom banker for her kindergarten class. This experience was a precursor to a 25-year career in banking.

Born and raised in Wisconsin, Jan moved to southern California via a cross-country car trip that would ignite her passion for traveling.  She began her banking career working for a branch office of a large regional bank headquartered in Los Angeles and over subsequent years worked for two additional national banks.  Her aggregate professional banking experience honed her financial knowledge as well as increased her awareness of the pleasure she derived from providing exceptional customer service for her clients. These skills are carried over today working with CSUSM faculty and staff to develop proposal submissions to federal agencies such as the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Education.  She particularly enjoys translating the creative ideas of the Principal Investigators and Project Directors into the financial language of budgets.

Jan earned a degree from the University of Wisconsin and a Certificate in Bank Management from University of California Los Angeles.  She spends much of her spare time visiting ancient rock art sites to view Native American petrographs and petroglyphs, browsing through art galleries and museums, and prowling thrift shops for recyclable treasures. 

Dr. Sharon Elise

Sharon Elise is Professor of Sociology and Chair of the Department at CSU San Marcos.  She joined the department in January 1994 after 4 years as Assistant Professor of Women’s Studies at Fresno State.  She earned a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Oregon.  Her research and scholarship were funded by grants from the Center for the Study of Women in Society at University of Oregon and from a Minority Fellowship from the American Sociological Association.  Dr. Elise is a specialist in Critical Race Studies.  She also teaches, writes and researches in areas of higher education, social inequality, gender, development and sociopoetics.  As a child Dr. Elise traveled widely due her father’s career as a naval officer.  Her experiences living all over the U.S. and in the Caribbean and Pacific contributed to her interests in inequality, gender, racism and colonialism.  She is also a practicing (and published) poet and won the first city-wide poetry SLAM in San Diego in 1998.

Lt. Jesus Flores

Jesse has been in law enforcement for thirteen years, with ten of those years here at Cal State San Marcos. Jesse has been with the University Police Department since June 2001. He has been serving as the Interim Police Lieutenant since May 2012. During his time with UPD Jesse has served as a Police Officer, a Field Training Officer, a Patrol Sergeant, the Defensive Tactics Instructor for the department and a member of the system-wide Critical Response Unit. Jesse has been the lead investigator for threat assessment investigations for the campus since October 2011and has been instrumental in the development of this comprehensive program. In his new role as Police Lieutenant, Jesse will have the management oversight of all investigations conducted by the department. Given his university law enforcement background and his incredible ability to build relationships throughout the campus community, Jesse is well suited for this new role.

Henry Gee

Henry Gee is in his 34th year in higher education, and his ninth year as the Vice President of Student Services at Rio Hondo College in Whittier CA.  Prior to that, he served for 10 years as the Dean of Student Affairs at Santa Ana College and 15 years at Azusa Pacific University in various capacities.  He has been active with the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA) having served in many roles regionally and nationally; he is currently serving as the Region VI Director for NASPA.  He has also served as the co-facilitator for the past eleven years of the Leadership Development Program for Higher Education (LDPHE), a program sponsored by the Asian Pacific Americans in Higher Education (APAHE) and the Leadership Education for Asian Pacifics (LEAP).  Henry was a member of the inaugural LDPHE class in 1997 and is a former Board member of APAHE.

Henry was honored with the Doris Ching “Shattering the Glass Ceiling Award” by the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA) Asian Pacific Islander Knowledge Community (APIKC) in 2003, was honored in 2004 by the NASPA Foundation as a “Pillar of the Profession” and received the inaugural “Outstanding Mentoring Award” from the NASPA APIKC in 2008.  In July 2009, Henry was honored to receive the David R. Barclay Alumni Leadership Award bestowed upon him by LEAP.  In November of 2009 he was presented the inaugural Community College Professional Award from NASPA Region VI at the Western Regional Conference in San Jose and subsequently was presented with the inaugural National Community College Award at the NASPA National Conference in Chicago in March 2010. 

On a personal note, Henry is a 1^st generation college student, married, has a son who graduated from Cal Poly Pomona and majored in Landscape Architecture; he is working as a Landscape Designer, and they have an extremely active 14-year old daughter who is a freshman in high school, plays on the girls varsity tennis team, runs on the track & field team, and has previously earned her black belt.

Dr. Merryl Goldberg

Dr. Gerardo González

Dr. Gerardo González is Dean of Graduate Studies, Associate Vice-President for Research, and Professor of Psychology at California State University San Marcos (CSUSM).

Dr. González joined CSUSM in 1991.  His research has emphasized Latino and cultural/linguistic minority populations, including dropout prevention with Latino middle school children, college persistence in under-represented university students, and prevention of depression in primary care for Spanish-speaking populations.  He has published extensively in scientific journals on the detection of clinical depression using bilingual computer-assisted assessment techniques.  Dr. González has been the principal investigator for major grants from the National Institute of Mental Health and the National Institute of General Medical Sciences. Dr. González received the CSUSM Presidents Award for Scholarly and Creative Activity in 2004.

From 1997 to 2000 González served as the chair of the Department of Psychology.  Dr. González served and chaired numerous academic senate and university committees.  In 2000-01, he was chair of Academic Senate.  He also chaired the CSUSM Hispanic-Serving Institution Task Force.

Dr. González was past director of the National Latino Research Center (NLRC) at CSUSM.   The NLRC was established in 1999 to promote scientific research, exchange of information, training, and technical assistance and services related to the U.S. Latino population.  Dr. González was director from 2002-2006.

As Dean of Graduate Studies, Dr. González oversees 13 CSUSM graduate programs.  He served as Chair of the California State University Graduate Deans Council.  Dr. González was an elected board member of the Western Association of Graduate Schools (WAGS).  As Associate Vice-President for Research, he oversees university centers/institutes, research activities, and sponsored projects.  Dr. González is also an elected Councilor at Large for the national Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR).

Dr. Elisa Grant-Vallone

Elisa Grant-Vallone joined CSU San Marcos in 1998 after receiving her Ph.D. in Organizational Psychology from Claremont Graduate University.  She is currently Director of the Faculty Center and Professor of Psychology. She has taught courses in organizational psychology, Teaching of Psychology, research methods and group dynamics. Her research focused primarily on work-family balance, career development, and mentoring and has been published in journals such as Organizational Dynamics, Work and Stress, Journal of College Student Development, Journal of Career Development and Journal of College Student Retention. As Director of the Faculty Center, she has enjoyed developing New Faculty Institutes, designing programs and workshops related to teaching and learning, and creating a mentoring program for faculty.

Jennifer Handy

Jennifer Handy is the Director of Corporate and Foundation Relations at California State University San Marcos (CSUSM).  She joined the University Advancement team in January 2013.  Prior to coming to CSUSM, she worked in the Foundation Relations Department at the University of San Diego from 2001 to 2013.  Jennifer served as the Executive Assistant of the department and worked her way up to Assistant Director in 2006.

At CSUSM, the University Advancement’s (UA) mission and purpose is to help make the connections that create lasting relationships with alumni, with legislators, with donors and with community members, while sharing the University’s collective story internally and externally. The goal of UA is to make as many meaningful connections as possible, share CSUSM's message, and build a foundation of philanthropic support that will help secure the University’s and the region's future.  UA offers services to the university community that are focused on securing private sources of support for projects and activities that address current institutional fundraising priorities.  Jennifer has the primary responsibility for the design, implementation, and management of a comprehensive development plan focused on expanding and enhancing corporate and foundation relationships for CSUSM.  She directs and coordinates activities to obtain corporate and foundation support to meet the fundraising and strategic objectives of CSUSM.

Jennifer grew up on the East Coast, going to school in New Hampshire and Massachusetts.  She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. While doing her undergrad work, Jennifer spent a year studying at the University of Hawaii, Manoa.  Having a strong interest in nutrition and physical fitness, she is working on completing her Fitness Specialist certification through Miramar College.  Jennifer is married with two young children.

Dr. Lorena Meza  

Dr. Meza was born in Uruapan, Michoacán Mexico; she immigrated to the United States at the age of eight and became first in her family to attain a college degree. 

Dr. Meza currently works at CSUSM as Interim Vice President for Student Affairs.  She provides leadership for Enrollment Management Services, Student Academic Support Services, Student Development Services, Dean of Students, University Corporation, Associated Students Inc. and Commencement.  Previously, Dr. Meza was the Associate Vice President for Student Academic Support Services and provided leadership and oversight for ACE Scholar Services, Career Center, Disabled Student Services, Educational Opportunity Program (EOP), Language Learning Center, Math Lab, Proficiency Services, TRIO Student Support Services, Undergraduate Advising Services and Writing Center.  Dr. Meza served in an interim role as the Associate Vice President for Enrollment Management Services.   Dr. Meza also worked as the Assistant Dean in the School of Education at the University of San Diego and has held positions in various areas in higher education, including: Assistant to the Director of Enrollment Services, Assistant to the Director of the Educational Opportunity Program, Summer Bridge Coordinator and Reading Instructor, Admissions Specialist, and Counselor/Instructor.

Dr. Meza has been successful in garnering numerous federal grants for low income first generation college student and students with disabilities and has also garnered external funding sources in support of special programs.

At CSUSM Dr. Meza has served in various committees and task forces including leading the Hispanic Serving Institution Task Force Phase 2 and WASC Theme #3, Improving First-Year Retention at Cal State San Marcos.  Her current assignment is serving on the Graduation Initiative Steering Committee.  In the past, Dr. Meza has also served as President of LAFS.  Dr. Meza has been awarded with the Sandra Kuchler Student Affairs Award, 1^st Annual All People’s Award, and LAFS CSUSM Leadership Award amongst others.  She serves in several higher education boards and presented at various higher education associations such as National Association of Student Personnel Administrators and ACE Women Network in Higher Education.  

Dr. Meza holds B.A., Literature and Writing Studies, California State University San Marcos; M.A., Education/Multicultural Counseling, San Diego State University; M.B.A., California State University San Marcos; and has a Ph.D. Leadership Studies; Higher Education Administration from the University of San Diego.