California State University, Dominguez Hills

FIFA Senior Manager of Media Partnership Services Ilyanna Gutierrez at FIFA’s Mexico City headquarters. CSUDH alumna Ilyanna Gutierrez will be at the center of one of the world’s biggest events this summer. In her role as Senior Manager of Media Partnerships Services for FIFA, she will be overseeing such operations for all 104 tournament matches at the 2026 World Cup.

Nearly 800 elementary, middle, and high school students gathered at CSUDH on May 28 to present their innovative solutions to community issues at the STEAM MAX Showcase, a competition featuring the students’ app prototypes. The event was a culmination of CSUDH’s STEAM MAX program, run by the Center for Innovation in STEM Education (CISE).

Kenny Seeton (center) with a visiting delegation from Japan in CSUDH’s Central Plant. Visitors included a professor and students from Nagoya University and engineers from Dairei Kogyo Co., Ltd. Source: Earthjustice Fossil fuels power industrial heating. California can transition to more efficient and cleaner equipment. Whether you realize it or not, our society runs on industrial boilers.

Joy and jubilation were in the air on May 15 and 16, as thousands of proud Toro graduates participated in 2026 Commencement. Over the course of six ceremonies, 3,404 new alumni walked across the stage to accept their bachelor’s degrees, with another 751 earning master’s degrees. CSUDH’s first cohort of 16 Occupational Therapy Doctorate students were also conferred their degrees, becoming the first Toros to earn doctoral degrees at the university.

Irene Harapat junto a su familia. Source: La Opinión (Spanish) “Hoy es el día en que puedo decir: No fue fácil, pero lo logré”, se podía leer en el birrete de Yolanda Sáenz Chávez, quien superó infinidad de obstáculos para titularse como maestra en la Facultad de Educación de Cal State Dominguez Hills.

Source: Daily Breeze More than 4,000 college graduates from Cal State Dominguez Hills will receive their diplomas this weekend, with the first of many commencement ceremonies taking place on Friday morning, May 15. The first commencement ceremonies took place at the tennis stadium at Dignity Health Sports Park and included the College of Arts, and Humanities and the College of Education.

J.D. Elson at Commencement Source: KTLA A California State University, Dominguez Hills graduate student who once battled homelessness and addiction celebrated a major milestone this weekend with family, friends and supporters at his Long Beach home after earning his master’s degree. J.D. Elson, who was recently honored with the 2025 CSU Trustees’ Award for Outstanding Achievement, shared his story with KTLA after walking across the stage at CSUDH.

The sixteen members of CSUDH’s first cohort of Occupational Therapy Doctorate (OTD) students graduate this week, becoming the first Toros to receive doctorate degrees from the university. The three-year OTD program is the first doctoral degree CSUDH has offered and is one of only two OTD programs in the CSU system.

Commencement is an enormous milestone for every CSUDH graduate. For students who are also parents, it not only represents their personal persistence, but the strength of their support systems and the shared sacrifices of their families. Between academic coursework, child care, jobs, and household responsibilities, parenting Toros face a relentless marathon of responsibilities and competing demands.

Our faculty members participate in conferences around the world, conduct groundbreaking research, and publish books and journal papers that contribute to their field and highlight their expertise. We feature those accomplishments and more in this section. To share faculty news, email lmckibbin@csudh.edu.