Class Notes

Elise Fenn (MA, PhD, Psychology) reports receiving tenure in the Department of Psychology at California State University Northridge (as well as welcoming the arrival of baby Ezra!) During her time at CGU, Fenn worked in Professor Kathy Pezdek’s lab and co-authored scholarly articles with her, including 2019’s “Nonprobative Photos Increase Truth, Like, and Share Judgments in a Simulated Social Media Environment” in the Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition.

Diverse Issues in Education recently highlighted two CGU graduates. Soua Xiong (PhD, Education, 2019), Asst. Professor at CSU Fresno, was recognized as an emerging scholar. The journal also announced Yvonne Hernandez Friedman’s (PhD, Education, 2013) appointment as Assistant Vice President for Student Engagement at the University of Houston-Clear Lake.

The Human Side of Management discussion series concluded during Women’s History Month with an energized conversation about “Why Women’s Leadership Matters.” The discussion comprised an all-star panel of female leaders across different industries: Ayca Altintig, assistant professor of finance at the Drucker School; Paola Nava (MBA, 2011), people director at Reformation; Katrina Frye (MAAM, 2013), principal consultant at Culture Shift Collective and CEO at Lauretta Records; and Gina Orozco (EMBA, 2013), vice president of gas engineering and system integrity at SoCalGas and member of the Drucker Industry Advisory Board.

The Human Side of Management discussion series concluded during Women’s History Month with an energized conversation about “Why Women’s Leadership Matters.” The discussion comprised an all-star panel of female leaders across different industries: Ayca Altintig, assistant professor of finance at the Drucker School; Paola Nava (MBA, 2011), people director at Reformation; Katrina Frye (MAAM, 2013), principal consultant at Culture Shift Collective and CEO at Lauretta Records; and Gina Orozco (EMBA, 2013), vice president of gas engineering and system integrity at SoCalGas and member of the Drucker Industry Advisory Board.

Sherif El-Sabbahy (MS, Math, 2014; MSFE, 2015), Miguel Lopez Velarde (MSFE, Math, 2015), Hanutosh Baria (MSFE, 2017), and Naomi Rinaldi (MBA, 2016) participated in a virtual panel discussion moderated by Professor Ayça Altintig in mid-February. They shared personal experiences from their professional journeys and offered students advice on how to prepare for a successful career in the finance industry.

Doctoral student Ran Zhao (MSFE/Math) and Lu Zhu co-authored “The Externalities of Credit Default Swaps on Stock Return Synchronicity,” which was published last year in the Journal of Futures Markets. Zhao also presented on “Credit Derivatives and Corporate Default Prediction,” “Improving Asymmetric Stochastic Volatility Models with Ex-post Volatility,” “Bond Volatility and CDS Auctions,” and “Credit Risk Contagion in a Network Economy: Evidence from Supply Chain Data” at various finance association annual meetings in 2020/21, including the Financial Management Association Annual Meeting, Southern Finance Association Annual Meeting, Midwest Finance Association Annual Meeting, and the Western Conference in Mathematical Finance.

Iliana Perez (MA, Economics; PhD, Education), who is the director of research and entrepreneurship at the non-profit Immigrants Rising, discusses her career on CGU’s podcast series, How Did You Get That Job?

Sherif El-Sabbahy (MS, Math, 2014; MSFE, 2015), Miguel Lopez Velarde (MSFE, Math, 2015), Hanutosh Baria (MSFE, 2017), and Naomi Rinaldi (MBA, 2016) participated in a virtual panel discussion moderated by Professor Ayça Altintig in mid-February. They shared personal experiences from their professional journeys and offered students advice on how to prepare for a successful career in the finance industry.

An SF State News publication taken from the dissertation of Dayna Herbert Walker (MA, PhD, Psychology) has been getting traction in the press. Walker argues that a connection exists between a person’s childhood family environment and the types of leaders they’re drawn to as grown-ups.

Matthew A. Witenstein (PhD, Education) recently published “A bottom-up approach to improve women’s access to technical and vocational education and training in India: Examining a non-formal education upskilling programme” in the International Review of Education.

Alma Keshavarz (MA, Public Policy; PhD, Political Science) co-authored the article “‘Made in Yemen:’ Houthi Exhibition Showcase New Drones, Missiles, and Naval Mines.” You can find the report on the Small Wars Journal website.

The article “Prosociality and Hoarding amid the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Tale of Four Countries” has been accepted for publication in the Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology. The article’s co-authors include Wing Yan (Vienne) Lau (MA, ’16; PhD, ’20, Psychology) and Dwight C. K. Tse (MA, ’16; PhD, ’19, Psychology).