Congratulations to the staff and faculty who are earning degrees this year. While graduation ceremonies are canceled, we still want to celebrate you and your accomplishments.

Please read on to see who is graduating. Campus News will celebrate our employee graduates the next several weeks. There's still time to submit, please click here for instructions.

Name: Becky Brown
Department: Development Office
Current job title: Director of Development
New degree earned this year: Master's degree in history

Name: Miriam Villaseñor
Department: Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships
Current job title: Student personnel technician
New degree earned this year: MBA

Miriam came to the United States at a young age and had to adjust to a new country, people and culture. She earned her B.S. in business in 2007, while a human resources specialist in the Army National Guard. In 2013, she was deployed to Afghanistan and it was then that she realized she loved teaching her fellow soldiers about human resources. Upon Miriam’s return from deployment, she started studying for her GMAT to get into grad school. Unfortunately, being deployed again in 2015 set her dream of graduation school back. She continued to study while on duty and applied to the master’s program and was admitted fall 2017. Miriam was then called again to active duty in July 2018 to December 2019, but she continued with her studies. Miriam has finished graduate school while juggling full-time work, full-time Army and part-time graduate school. Now in her final semester, Miriam is set to graduate and we couldn't be more proud of her or the work that she has accomplished in the last couple years.

Name: Gladis Villalpando
Department: SupportNet
Current job title: Student success advisor
New degree earned this year: M.S. in student affairs and college counseling

The Student Affairs and College Counseling program has given me the proper educational background to become a valuable student affairs professional. I've learned key student development theories that help us understand and recognize the challenges that students face so that we can better serve them. In addition, I was able to hone into the core conditions and strengthen my counseling skills which help me empathize, advocate and establish rapport with my students.

Name: Janette “Christy” Cee-Sumner
Department: Police Department
Current job title: Police dispatcher
New degree earned this year: MBA – human resources
A constant desire to know and do more. Fifty-two years old and I went for it, life is good.

We look forward to celebrating more graduates next week.