Rotagram for Wednesday, November 15, 2023

Meeting was called to order by immediate past president Joe Lins who is substituting for President Ripley who is at a “money planning learning workshop.” Today’s opening thoughts, What kind of car does Scooby Doo drive? “A Scubaru.” One more joke from Past President Joe Lins, “I hear they’re not making 12-inch rulers any longer.”

Joe thanked Jim Williams and his committee for putting together today’s great program. Today’s important facts, British singer Petula Clark is 91 years old today. Yesterday, in 1907, Oklahoma became the 46th state of the union. Also, yesterday in 1914, the newly created Federal Reserve Bank opened in 12 cities. In 1982, the 57th day of the NFL players strike, both sides came to a loving agreement. In 1966, the crewed space flight Gemini 12 marked a successful conclusion of the Gemini program, achieving the last of its goals successfully. In MLB news, Shohei Ohtani turned down a “qualifying offer” of about $20 million from the Los Angeles Angels and will remain a free agent. The Denver Broncos are poised to improve their record to 5-5 with a win this weekend over Minnesota.

For our Commencement Ceremonies, Andrew Gregson led us in our Invocation with a prayer. “Thank you very much, let us take a moment to reflect on the spirit of Rotary, the beacon of service, fellowship, and community in this moment of togetherness. Let us be grateful for the opportunities we’ve made. Also, make as a positive impact in the lives of others. May our actions bring both big and small contributions to well-being of our community and beyond. As we engage in today’s discussions and activities, we may embody the rotary ideals of integrity, goodwill, and service above self. Amen.” Gerardo Chagolla gave us our Patriotic Moment leading us in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Our Song Master today was Zoot Velasco. Zoot channeled his inner Greg Hickman, who was the original Song Master. Hickman was a Pastor in Fullerton, and he absolutely personifies service above self and happiness and love. Zoot led the group in Smile, the tradition Rotary International song. Great Job Zoot.

Today’s guest, Jennifer Gregson, Andrew Gregson’s wife. Elva Rubalcaba and Carlos Leija, guests of Dr. Alva. David Zampaparapa a former Cal State Fullerton Rotaract and guests of Zoot Velasco. Welcome to all guests.

Today’s announcements: Joe Lins announced that the CIA Awards have stalled at $15,903. We need $4,100 to hit our goal of $20,000. Cathy Gach announced “Fullerton Uncorked” a previously successful event that was developed by Fullerton South Rotary. “We have the opportunity to take this event and move it forward.” Cathy wants to know how many members of our club would like to participate, “I already have 16 people who are in.” Please contact Cathy Gach with any questions. Zoot Velasco announced an upcoming off-site meeting on January 10th at the Fullerton College Theater for the Business Conference, “Business in the Digital Age.” “It’s a fundraiser for business scholarships at Fullerton College.” Everyone is invited and it is all paid for because you are grandfathered in from the lunches from Rotary. Feel free to reach out to Zoot for more information on event. Orly Lobel, author and Warren Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of San Diego of Law is confirmed guest. Vice President of Technology at Cal State Fullerton, Rommel Hidalgo, will be our Keynote speaker, “his team will be bringing robots and 3D printers and all kinds of things for you to play with at lunch.” Stephanie L. Smith, Nasa’s Social Media Manager for the Mars Robot will be talking about social media and what we as businesses can do for it. Fullerton College’s Drone Program will be there with robots as well. Senator Newman will be hosting a panel of Social Entrepreneurs to talk about what North Orange County is doing to lead the way in social enterprise. “It’s going to be a really great conference; lunch will be served. Please invite a friend.” The price for Fullerton Rotary Club members is free, price of guests is $60. Contact Zoot Velasco for more details.

Leslie McCarthy announced that Bob Jahncke and Gerardo Chagolla have been updating the club’s online roster with updated photo’s, if anyone is interested in updating their photo’s please come to a weekly meeting and see Gerardo so that he can take your photo.

Leslie announced the Fullerton Rotary Christmas Social on Wednesday December 13, from 5:30 pm to 8:00 pm at the Coyote Hills Country Club. The cost of admission is $30 per member and guest. Please bring one unwrapped toy or gift card per person that will benefit Crittenton and the Boys and Girls Club of Fullerton. Food and Desserts will be served with a No-host bar with a corkage fee of $20. Please RSVP with Leslie by phone or email at 714-984-5497 or lesliemccarthy23@gmail.com.

Really quickly, Joe Lins announced that anyone interested in being in the board of directors so that they could run for president, please let either Cathy or Joe know as they are meeting on Friday to nominate some folks. Also, Demotion Night is 6 months away and the club will need some help with that so please contact Jim Williams if you’d like to help, please.

Today’s Recognition Master/ Fine Master was Past President Zoot Velasco who fined himself $5 for “us having to hear him once again.” He started off by asking our Cal State Fullerton guest to stand and be recognized, “I want to recognize Cal State Fullerton president because we love that you are Cal State Fullerton, and we love that you are housed here and every single person is so proud of having the University here. The number one Business School of all the CSU’s.” Zoot calls CSUF a flagship for the Arts and for baseball, and he requested everyone to please stand and recognize greatness. Zoot asked Joe Lins to please stand and be recognized, “you are a real estate guy, you are a salesman. You should be good at telling jokes. How is it that Jim Ripley, who is a finance guy, can tell a joke much better than you?” Zoot fined Joe $5 for all his bad jokes today. Jin Sung was asked to stand and be recognized for her wedding anniversary, “one of the reasons we make you pay a fine on your anniversary is to remind you that it’s your anniversary,” joked Zoot. Larry Bennett, who was not present was recognized for his 15 years in Rotary. Rick Crane was asked to please stand and be recognized for his Rotary Anniversary on November 21. Rick was also recognized for his participation in the Jim Thompson Track and Field Meet. Zoot fined him $5 and anyone else who has been to the Track and Field Meet donated $5 as well. Cathy Gach was asked to please stand and be recognized as Fullerton Rotary Club’s president elect, “I am thrilled about it because we have not had a woman president since 2008. I am thrilled that you are going to be president, but I am even more appreciative of what you did as treasurer when I was president and for all the other presidents.” Cathy was fined $5 for her recognition. Zoot also donated another $5 in her honor for all the years of her serving as the club’s treasurer. He asked club members to donate $5 if they agree with all the years of service that Cathy has had in our club. Last, Zoot asked Leslie and Monica Fernandez to stand and be recognized for all the work they do in setting up for the weekly meetings. “How about a big hand for them? Who will pay their fine?” Everyone agreed that a past president should pay the fines, Marty Burbank agreed to pay. Zoot put on a great Fine Master segment, great job! Joe Lins humbly bragged that around 5:40 am, his son and daughter in law had their second baby daughter named Violet. Congratulations Joe on becoming a grandfather again.

Proposed New Members:	Mark, Lee, Radiant Futures, Proposed by Leslie McCarthy
	Erlanson, Lana, Radiant Futures, Proposed by Leslie McCarthy
	Sung, Jin, Oasis Center International, Proposed by Dan Ouweeleen

Our Program at Hand was introduced by the highly esteemed Commodore of the Fullerton Yacht Club, Dick “Can I still Call You Senator” Ackerman. Mr. Ackerman took the microphone and gave one of the best introductions he has given in the while. “Born and raised in Los Angeles. She is the president of the largest Cal State campus in the entire system and the second largest university in California. Her hobbies are kayaking, crocheting, and hiking. When she was in high school, her counselor told her that maybe she should get a job instead of college. Fortunately, her Spanish teacher thought that she should go to college. The rest is CSU history, please welcome new president of Cal State Fullerton, Dr. Sylvia A. Alva.” President Alva took the stage and thanked everyone for having her, “you know, unfortunately, there are still cases out there, when teachers have a hard time seeing the potential and the promise that each and everyone has.” Dr. Alva’s presentation consisted of what is happening at CSUF, what the mission is at Cal State and the work that has begun. Dr. Alva credits Jim Young, Theresa Harvey (Theresa is the chair of Cal State Fullerton’s Auxiliary Services Corporation),as a tremendous champions, leaders, and important stakeholders. From day 1 of her Presidency which began in August, she has been engaged in what she calls a very expensive listening tour, “listening tour gives an incoming President the opportunity to catch up with an institution to understand its strength, its history, its legacy,” said Alva. “But also, some of the challenges and the opportunities to continue to contribute to the work of the university I want to share with.” President Alva is a first-generation college student, “CSU system changed my life. I am always grateful, and I always acknowledge the role that the faculty played in helping me see something in myself that I didn’t see.” Both of her parents are immigrants from Mexico, who came to America as young adults to establish a family here. She calls her parents, motivators; a catalyst that helped her push ahead and topple barriers and obstacles that many students experience. President Alva’s family is a CSU family, her husband, children, and sister’s all graduated from a CSU. Her professional career started at CSUF, having just graduated from UCLA with a doctorate, looking for her first job, she applied at CSUF and was hired as an assistant professor. Moving through the ranks into an administrative role, having spent the first 20 years of her career at Fullerton. She then moved to CSU Northridge working under dynamic leader Jolene Koester, where she served as dean of the College of Health and Human Development. At CSU Pomona, she served as provost and vice president for academic affairs. During her presentation, Dr. Alva talked internship opportunities that the campus offers its students, and the shared commitment to service that the Fullerton Rotary Club and CSUF Leaders offer to the community. “I will share with you that last year we had 900 students engaged in service-learning courses and they contributed 21,000 hours of service to the community of Fullerton. The service mission value that we share with Rotarians.” To give us a sense of how the university has changed in terms of its size and impact, in enrollment; the demand for a Cal State degree continues to remain very high, the campus welcomed 7,000 first time freshmen, 4,000 transfer students and 1,800 graduate students. Last

May during graduation season, CSUF graduated 11,000 Titans, “that’s a huge number!” Dr. Alva shared that her eldest daughter graduated from CSUF, “she serves as an academic advisor at another CSU that has really benefited so much from the experiences that she had here at this university. I am thankful for the quality education that she received here.” Cal State Fullerton recently was named number two in the nation for social mobility by the US News and World report and number two in the State of California in issuing degrees to women, “I think, in higher education, women are rightfully showing up, doing great work and leading organizations that are important to their communities.” CSUF is number three in the nation for degrees earned by Latin X and underrepresented students, it serves a significant proportion of Hispanic students making it a Hispanic Serving Institute, a federal designation. In the area of philanthropy, CSUF raised an astonish $270 million dollars as part of “It takes a Titan” campaign, which brought in non-state dollars to help enhance the campus programing and it allows them to increase engagement with its alumni. She was eager to connect with Dr. Joe Arnold, who was not present, “he will be very pleased to know that our Visual Arts complex is moving along under way and we expect that the faculty will be moving in this time of fall 2024.” She mentioned a student housing project and engineering science innovation hub coming soon, alongside the Titan Gateway Bridge which will connect College Park with the larger portion of the university. Dr. Alva ended her presentation with the need to increase tuition, “we have not raised tuition in 11 years. And so the need to increase tuition was done with a lot of thought of deliberation.” Tuition increase will not go into effect until August of 2024. President Alva took questions from members. Past President Joe Lins thanked Dr. Alva and presented her with a certificate in her name to Working Dogs 4 Warriors, a nonprofit dedicated to helping our Nation’s Warriors by training and donating service dogs to Veterans and First Responders.

Last thing on the agenda was the 50/50 drawing worth $35. Lucky ticket holder 0746 wins the money. The following week will not have a meeting because of Thanksgiving. Meeting adjourned.