CSU, Title III, HSI Awardees, Leads
The CSU Think Tank (Hub) is supported by the directors and project managers leading the grants and implementation efforts at their respective institutions across the CSUs.
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Leadership
The CSU Think Tank (Hub) is supported by the directors and project managers leading the grants and implementation efforts at their respective institutions across the CSUs. These leaders have extensive experience in STEM fields and have a dearth of experience with HSI grants.
| CSU Fullerton | Dr. Megan Drangstveit |
megand@fullerton.edu |
Megan Drangstveit was recently recognized by the National Institute for the Study of Transfer Students (NISTS) as a winner of the 2022 Transfer Champion – Rising Star Award.
The Rising Star Award recognizes individuals who are making important contributions but are relatively new to the transfer field. Awardees create new programming or substantially improve programming that is responsive to the specific transfer student population and shows evidence of success. Rising Stars use best practices and theoretical frameworks to design, implement, and assess their efforts and use resulting data to guide future work. They use their strong communication and collaboration skills to educate others about transfer students, and they are not afraid to challenge the status quo. Generally, these individuals have served in transfer-related roles for three to five years.
Drangstveit is the principal investigator and project director for Project RAISE (Regional Alliance in STEM Education). The program, funded through U.S. Department of Education HSI-STEM grants, is a partnership between the CSUF College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, College of Engineering and Computer Science, and nine partner community colleges.
Under Megan's leadership, Project RAISE has not only served the students in the program but has had a positive impact across the institution. As a nominator described, “Dr. Drangstveit shares data and observations about the challenges facing Latinx and low-income STEM transfer students and influences recommendations for institutional enrollment management plans."
Peer advising is a strong component of the program. An external evaluator for the project stated, “Project RAISE peer advisors have, with support from their director, transformed from helpful employees to fully engaged stakeholders. This transformation is directly attributable to Megan's leadership style, her dedication to the pursuit of continuous improvement, and her genuine concern and compassion for CSUF's transfer student community."
Based on the success of Project RAISE, Drangstveit continues to lead the next iteration of the program. |
| CSU San Bernardino | Dr. Sastry Pantula |
Sastry.pantula@csusb.edu |
CV Website Link
Website Link
A Brief Summary: Sastry G. Pantula, is the Dean of the College of Natural Sciences at CSUSB since August 2018. He is committed to training future leaders in science, and his core values are to strive for excellence, enhance diversity and foster harmony. Most recently, he has served as the Director of Data Analytics programs at Oregon State University (OSU). He has also served as the Dean of the College of Science at OSU from August 2013 to August 2017, after serving a threeyear term as the Director for the Division of Mathematical Sciences at NSF. Pantula spent more than 30 years as a statistics professor at North Carolina State University (NCSU), where he began his academic career in 1982. At NCSU, he also served as the Director of Graduate Programs (1994- 2002) and the Head of the Department of Statistics (2002-2010). Pantula is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the American Statistical Association (ASA). He served as ASA President in 2010 and received the ASA Founders Award in 2014. Pantula is a member of the honor societies Phi Kappa Phi, Phi Beta Delta, Sigma Xi and Mu Sigma Rho. He is also a member of the NCSU Academy of Outstanding Teachers. He directed/co-directed seventeen doctoral students and published a number of refereed publications in quality journals. He was a PI/Co-PI of NSF grants related to workforce development, vertical integration of research and education, and to enhance diversity. He is currently the PI of a Department of Education's HSI grant titled “Advising for Undergraduate Success (A4US)" and “Proactive Approaches for Training Hispanics in STEM (PATHS)". |
| CSU Stanislaus | Iqbal Atwal |
iatwal@csustan.edu |
Website Link |
| CSU San Marcos | Dr. Suzanne Hizer |
shizer@csusm.edu |
Website Link
ResearchGate Dr. Hizer is a proud alumna, having earned her undergraduate and graduate degrees in Biological Sciences and Ed.D. at CSUSM. She has served our campus through teaching and staff positions, including her most recent role as the director of Supplemental Instruction and STEM Tutoring. Her guiding philosophy of “students first" has been shaped by her own experience as a scientist and STEM educator who was first in her family to earn a college degree. That philosophical value paired with her educational journey and service prepare her well for this new opportunity. I look forward to Dr. Hizer's leadership and contributions as senior co-director of CLASS, STEM beginning January 22, 2018. Please join me in congratulating her on this appointment! |
| CSU Sacramento | Dr. Lynn Tashiro |
tashirol@csus.edu |
Websilte Link
CV Link |
| Cal Poly Pomona | Dr. Subodh Bhandari |
sbhandari@cpp.edu |
Website Link |
| CSU Bakersfield | Dr. Charles Lam |
clam@csub.edu |
ResearchGate |
Leadership/Presidents