[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 27 (Tuesday, February 13, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E342-E343]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      TRIBUTE TO DR. MILTON GORDON

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. LORETTA SANCHEZ

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 13, 2007

  Ms. LORETTA SANCHEZ of California. Madam Speaker, I rise today to 
honor a man who has been dedicated to higher education and who is a 
model community servant to my district, Dr. Milton Gordon.
  As Chancellor of California State University, Fullerton, Dr. Milton 
Gordon has been a visionary for the students and faculty as he works to 
promote higher education for women and minorities.
  On February 27th, 2007, Dr. Gordon will be honored by KinderCaminata, 
a non-profit community organization in Orange County, California that 
sponsors educational outreach to kindergarten-age children and their 
families, focusing on promoting literacy, celebrating cultural 
heritage, and career education. Dr. Gordon will be receiving the 
``Corazon'' Award from KinderCaminata. The tribute is a much deserved 
honor and should be celebrated by everyone in Orange County, 
California.
  Below are remarks that illustrate Dr. Gordon's outstanding commitment 
to all the students that Cal State Fullerton seeks to serve. These 
remarks are taken from Dr. Gordon's report to the University's Latino 
Faculty and Staff in October 2006:

       We are here to strengthen our ties as a community that is 
     working to make learning truly accessible and preeminent to 
     all students and especially to Latino Students.
       Cal State Fullerton feels that a large measure of our 
     success is due to our campus outreach efforts and service to 
     the community. While demographic growth has also contributed 
     to the Latino increase, without college readiness programs 
     offered by CSUF, such as Gear Up and ENLACE, the educational 
     obstacles faced by large numbers of Latino students would not 
     have been overcome.
       But there is much more we need to do. We need to expand our 
     efforts to work with parents and students in the middle and 
     high schools of the county to increase the number of college 
     ready Latino graduates. We continue to work with colleagues 
     from Fullerton and Santa Ana Colleges to develop a work plan 
     to improve county-wide Latino college readiness programs 
     modeled after the Santa Ana Partnership and its ENLACE 
     Program. We are in the process of creating additional 
     programs in the sciences in collaboration with Fullerton 
     College to increase the transfer of well prepared Latino 
     Students into our Math-based programs in the sciences and 
     engineering. We hope to expand such collaboration with 
     transfer programs to Cal State Fullerton from all Orange 
     County

[[Page E343]]

     community college campuses with high Latino enrollment.
       We believe that our adhesion to the Cal State Fullerton 
     mission to make this campus a place where ``learning is 
     preeminent'' and our enforcement of rigorous academic 
     standards have been keys to our success. By serving the 
     learning needs of all students, we serve Latino students; by 
     maintaining high learning expectations, we serve Latino 
     students; by caring for the well-being of our students, we 
     serve Latino students.
       An activist community orientation defines the role the 
     university will take in town grown partnerships. Such 
     involvement better informs university personnel of the 
     community's needs. These partnerships must engage students, 
     faculty, staff, and campus administration in university-wide 
     service commitments. The university must be a good neighbor 
     and a good partner.
       In working in the Latino community, campus personnel must 
     be culturally aware and mindful of the central role family 
     plays within the culture. We must have a clear and simple 
     outreach message. In providing information on what students 
     need to know to be college ready, make sure you know your 
     audience. Our information must be available in straight-
     forward language that does not speak down to our audience and 
     written in language understood by parents. We will be 
     developing a Spanish-language campus web-site and improved, 
     accessible messages in Spanish to reach out to our Latino 
     parents and potential students.
       All of the programs and services enumerated above define 
     what it means to be a student-focused institution and are 
     integral to making us a Hispanic Serving Institution in word 
     and deed.
       I personally look forward to our continued collaboration to 
     make this a place where all students can be successful and 
     achieve their dreams regardless of race, gender or ethnicity.
       I look forward to Dr. Gordon's continued work for Cal State 
     Fullerton and KinderCaminata and it is my pleasure to honor 
     him today.

                          ____________________