Barbara Mannino and Syd Harris were no strangers to Cal State San Marcos when they attended the ACE Scholars Services scholarship donor reception in 2015.   Mannino had been on the advisory council to President Karen Haynes for more than five years, dating back to her decades-long role as the CEO of the Vista Community Clinic. Harris, Mannino’s husband of almost 30 years, had loaned a piece of his stone artwork to the university.   The longtime residents of North County had watched CSUSM spring up from nothing – Mannino still remembers the site near a Jerome’s furniture store – and become increasingly impressed by its evolution into a pillar of the region.  On this day, however, the couple’s connection to the university grew more personal. As they listened to the inspiring speech of Julius Williams, a former foster child turned ACE Scholar, they thought of their own adopted daughter, whom Mannino took in as a foster child during her first marriage. They thought of how much Kim Mannino Sun could have benefited from something like ACE, CSUSM’s unique program that supports former foster youth.  “She’s been very successful in her life, but she struggled in school, and if there had been something like ACE for her, I think she might have finished high school and gone to college,” Mannino said. “So when we heard Julius speak, we were really moved and inspired by him.”  Mannino and Harris returned to their home in Vista, talked it over, and decided that they wanted to start giving more than time and art to the university. It was the start of a new phase of a wonderful relationship.  The couple made a five-year pledge to fund a working scholarship for an ACE student, a commitment that they renewed in 2018 for five more years. Last fall, too, they increased the amount of their legacy gift, which will go to ACE as well as to the new engineering program and Veterans Services.  The latter two initiatives also are near and dear to the couple’s hearts. Harris was a professional engineer for almost 40 years before being reborn as an artist late in life, and he grew up as an Air Force brat whose family moved all over the world because of his father’s job.   “While the ACE program was important for both of us – maybe more for Barbara than me initially – I wanted something that I could direct some of my attention to,” Harris said. “That’s where the engineering and veterans component came from. Based on what the university is doing, it seems to be a good fit.”  The stepped-up level of donating to CSUSM fits into a general pattern of giving back for the couple. After retiring in 2012 from a 30-year career running the nonprofit Vista Community Clinic – which she expanded from a shoestring organization with a budget of $500,000 and a staff of 30 to a regional fixture with a budget of $35 million and a staff of 530 – Mannino threw herself into volunteering.   A dog lover who has three mixed breed rescues, she began giving her time to the San Diego Humane Society, the Animal Rescue Resource Foundation and the county Department of Animal Services. She read to second- and third-graders through the Oasis program at Olive Elementary School in Vista. She continued her work as a coach for other CEOs and nonprofit leaders as part of the Fieldstone Leadership Network.  And in December 2017, she heightened her engagement by joining the CSUSM Foundation Board.  “When I retired, I didn’t want to be responsible,” Mannino said. “I was asked to be on several boards, and I said no. I really did just want to walk dogs, read to kids, and listen, but I didn’t want to have to make decisions. After five years, I was ready to take a step back in, and I was fortunate that Cal State San Marcos came forward with the foundation opportunity.”  As for Harris, he has loaned to CSUSM indefinitely a large alabaster sculpture that sits in the McMahan House, and more could be in the offing. About 60 of his pieces decorate the inside and outside of the couple’s Vista house, in the same neighborhood where President Haynes and Jim Mickelson, her husband and the director of ACE, live.  “I’ve encouraged him to leave some of his pieces to the university,” Mannino said. “There are enough of them to go around, and they’re beautiful.”   Besides their philanthropy and other retirement pursuits, Mannino and Harris are avid travelers who have been on more than 50 vacations in the last six years alone. They consider their most memorable experience to be a trip to San Ignacio Lagoon in Baja California, a remote spot that’s the only place in the world where humans can have physical contact with whales.  “There were 331 whales in the lagoon when we went, and 10 percent of them are friendly,” Mannino said. “They bring their babies up to the boat, and you can touch and kiss them. There’s nothing else like it.”  The couple doesn’t have any children together, though they treasure their time with Kim and their two adult grandkids, Kimberly and Kevin. They both live in the South, along with Kim, but for most of her life, Kimberly, now 30 and the mother of a 4-year-old boy, would stay with Mannino and Harris in North County for the entire summer.  “She developed her own circle of friends, she worked at the clinic, and really became part of our West Coast family,” Harris said. “It was a joy.”  The couple was unsuccessful at convincing their granddaughter to attend CSUSM, but they are still dorm parents, in a sense. The niece of Mannino’s son-in-law is a junior from Malaysia whom Mannino and Harris helped to move into her apartment.  It’s just another tie that binds them to CSUSM.  “It’s really been a miracle because I never expected it to grow like it did,” Mannino said. “One of the things that really impresses us about the university is that it’s such a community gem and is really focused on strengthening and building the community.  “Choosing to give to Cal State San Marcos and being able to further the education of people who might not otherwise have had the opportunity to go to college, and one day will be able to give back tenfold, is a legacy that my husband and I are very proud of.”  

When you’re a college student, the last thing you want to do – well, other than study for another final or write another term paper – is talk about the end of your life.  College students, or just young people in general, like to think of themselves as invincible, as immortal. The notion of death is too distant, too hypothetical, too unpleasant.   But end-of-life conversations don’t have to be only about dying. They can also be about living – specifically how you want to live.  This is where WGYLM comes in. The alphabet-soup acronym stands for “What Gives Your Life Meaning?” and it’s an annual campaign at Cal State San Marcos to increase awareness about palliative care and the importance of aligning health-care decisions with your personal values.  The idea is to get people thinking and talking about what is important in their lives, as a means of ensuring that loved ones know what to do in the event of a serious illness or accident – which, after all, can strike at any age, without warning.  The creators of WGYLM hope that those difficult discussions lead to action in the form of signing an advance directive, a legal document that has two components to it. First, you name a health care advocate who will speak for you if you become incapacitated and can’t speak for yourself.   Second, you specify the kinds of care that you do and do not approve. Do you want CPR? Do you want hydration? Do you want to be on a breathing apparatus?   It’s recommended that anyone over the age of 18 fill out an advance directive. According to national statistics, though, 89 percent of college students and 74 percent of adults haven’t done so.  “It’s important that people have the conversation,” said Sharon Hamill, the faculty director of the CSU Institute for Palliative Care at Cal State San Marcos. “Last spring, we had a campaign on campus, and part of it was: Will you pledge to have a conversation about what’s important to you? We’re not going to get a ton of people signing advance directives because it’s really personal, and it usually takes people a couple of times before they’re comfortable doing it. But we want the conversation started.”  Hamill recalled a talk with a female student about which family member she would name on her advance directive. The student said she would name her father, not her mother, because her mother wouldn’t let her die, no matter how many machines she was hooked up to and for how long.  Hamill told the student, “If you feel that way, it’s important that you talk with your mom about it now. You don’t want her finding out about that in an emergency room.”  Hamill says she encourages students to have tough conversations about quality of life and end-of-life decisions over the holidays, when families congregate together. For Christmas, she planned to give an advance directive to each of her three sons – ages 28, 26 and 21 – and their gift to her would be filling it out and giving it to their doctor.   “My youngest said, ‘You know, Mom, it just makes me go all existential,’ ” Hamill said. “I replied, ‘Well, it should.’ These are the kinds of things you need to let people know so that if, God forbid, something happens, we’re able to act in accordance with what you would have wanted.   “If you don’t ever tell anybody, then what are you going to do?” 

It’s another step in the right direction for Cal State San Marcos. Forward Together, the University’s first comprehensive fundraising campaign, was a bold ambition. Some wondered if CSUSM aimed too high when setting a goal of raising $50 million. “We’re one of the youngest Cal State University campuses in the system, and to try and do a campaign at such a young age, well, some saw that as being risky,” said Jennifer Milo, CSUSM’s athletic director. “We don’t have the alumni base yet, but it still was very successful.” The naysayers didn’t understand the drive of an unrelenting Milo and the steely leadership of CSUSM President Karen Hayes. They were two of the forces behind securing additional scholarship funds for student-athletes, which was a requirement for the Cougars to earn NCAA Division II status. “Scholarship money is the lifeblood of any program,” said CSUSM women’s basketball coach Renee Jimenez. “They always say, ‘It's the Jimmys and Joes and not the Xs and Os.’ But if you don't have the resources to recruit really good kids and student-athletes, you are definitely at a disadvantage.” That drawback was underscored when the Cougars departed the NAIA and moved up to the NCAA. Suddenly, CSUSM was competing against different, and better, opponents. To raise its game meant raising money, and the Cougars’ administration and coaches rolled up their sleeves and did just that. But their work was only a winner because of the community support from people keen on what’s happening at the growing University. With its eyes on competing for national championships, it’s a natural strategy to fill the coffers toward that aspiration. “The best teams in the country are the teams with the best scholarships,” CSUSM men's basketball coach B.J. Foster said. “That’s just the way it goes.” CSUSM coaches no longer need to worry about leaving a recruit’s home concerned about losing another prized student-athlete because of scholarship limitations. Before the success of the Forward Together campaign, coaches often chased down a recruit only to face them as an opponent during the season. “That is a very frustrating thing, there is no question about that,” Foster said. “Because of the great location of the school and with the great academic programs that we have here, we have that advantage to go ahead and rival those schools. “But when you are talking about recruiting against private schools, and even some in our league that are able to offer housing, meals and everything, it's going to trump a beautiful school with great academics because they don’t have to pay for anything.” Thanks to Forward Together, that’s no longer the case. “It levels the playing field once that happens and it just gives us more options in recruiting where you can weather an injury or two, which is invariably going to happen,” Foster said. Foster has held down the fort just fine with limited funds. He can point to having the California Collegiate Athletic Association player of the year in 2017-18 and others on the all-conference first and second teams. But any squad is only as good as its depth, and that was where Foster would see the biggest disadvantage because of limited scholarship funds for his players. “We’ve had those really good players, but after those three or four guys a lot of the guys were walk-ons or competing on a partial scholarship. If you can put together five or six players the caliber of our best three last year, who knows, you might be competing on the national stage. But when you couldn't do that with your recruiting, that was a very frustrating thing.” Angst has transitioned to eagerness as a bigger pot of scholarship money continues to transform an athletic program that is already full-steam ahead. “We’ve made huge strides since 2009 in our department,” Milo said. “The growth in the last nine years has obviously been incredible with our transition to the NCAA. But we wanted to go after the best and brightest student-athletes, so we put our head down in going to work to grow our scholarship capacity.” The program has been heaven sent for coaches, who can now recruit players who once seemed off-limits. “I think you are going to see a big jump in performances this year, and in some ways it has nothing to do with what I do as a coach or what Jen does as an administrator,” Jimenez said. “It’s about getting the talent, which Forward Together allows us to do. It’s hard when you have to go into a living room and beg someone to come when you can’t give them what another school is offering them. That is embarrassing for the coaches.” That’s no longer a concern for CSUSM coaches. “We can say, ‘Hey, this is what we are going to give you. We can do it in a great location and you will get a fantastic education and a first-class basketball experience,’ ” Jimenez said. “It’s hard turning down good players, and now we feel like we can compete for those players by giving them an offer they can't say no to.” That so many people said, “Yes” when approached by CSUSM to enhance Forward Together has been revealing. “For the school to be so young and to see how quickly the community and the donors have grasped on to athletics and helped raise scholarship money is exciting,” Jimenez said. “They are the ones that have their hand prints all over our program. “It takes everybody to try and win a national championship and everyone has to be involved, from the donors to the administrators to the coaches and the players.” It’s an endeavor in which everyone is pulling in the same direction on the athletic rope. Those supplying the bang for the athletic buck can’t be overlooked. “I think it shows that we have finally arrived,” Milo said. “Some of the donors might not even have an allegiance to CSUSM, but their involvement shows that people are ready to invest in our school. They can see the amazing education the students are getting and then believe in the vision presented by President Haynes. “This might seem like an overnight success, but it has taken a lot of hard work to reach where we are today. Our athletic funding has gone from $150,000 to more than $800,000, but it has taken a lot of work. We’ve gone from people saying, ‘Who is Cal State University San Marcos?’ to us preserving and educating people on who we are and what we do. A lot of people didn’t know about us.” The Cougars hurdled some of those obstacles with the resounding success of Forward Together. “Everybody wants to be part of something special,” Foster said. “These additional funds will help build the school spirit and pride in the university. We're going to have something here that the alumni and the community can really sink their teeth into.”

It’s a Monday afternoon in October at Del Dios Academy of Arts and Sciences, which means it’s time for a little STEM.  Sixteen students from sixth through eighth grades line up outside a classroom door 15 minutes before the lesson is to begin at the middle school in Escondido. The regular school day is over, so they don’t have to be here. They want to be here.  They want to see, and learn from, Emmanuel.  Soon, Emmanuel Morales, a senior chemistry major at Cal State San Marcos, arrives along with a fellow STEM ambassador from the university’s Center for Research and Engagement in STEM Education (CRESE). Wearing a white CSUSM T-shirt with the words “Learn STEM Lead STEM,” he starts unpacking his supplies and informing the students about that week’s assignment: They will create a robotic arm out of ordinary household supplies like cardboard, plastic straws, popsicle sticks and string.   “This is a semi-difficult project,” Emmanuel tells the middle-schoolers. “The idea is to simulate the function of tendons in the hand and wrist.”  As he circulates around the room over the next hour, helping groups of two and three with their construction at separate tables, it’s clear that Emmanuel has earned the students’ respect with his soft-spoken, patient demeanor.  “The kids are very attached to him,” said Sophia Gonzalez, an English teacher at Del Dios who supervises the weekly STEM sessions. “He doesn’t say a whole lot, but he’s very open with them and doesn’t really dictate; he just offers his expertise or alternate solutions. Today, they were all looking forward to him. They enjoy coming here, and I think it’s because of how he interacts with them.”  Emmanuel is in his third year as a STEM ambassador, one of the senior members of a group of about 20 CSUSM undergraduate science students who fan out weekly to 12 middle schools across the San Marcos, Escondido and Vista school districts. They do their work through a program called Mobile Making – funded by a five-year grant from the National Science Foundation, as well as a donation from Carlsbad-based Nordson – the purpose of which is to bring design-based, STEM-related activities to underprivileged schools that wouldn’t otherwise have exposure to such disciplines.  Twice a week, Emmanuel stops by the CRESE center in the QUAD building – it’s nicknamed the STEMbassy – to load up on the materials that he’ll need for that day’s project. Besides the robotic arm, among the activities that STEM ambassadors (who also attend Saturday training sessions once every few weeks) assist students with are building basic robots with toothbrushes and cell-phone motors, creating solar-powered vehicles from recycled materials, and powering motors and buzzers with conductive Play-Doh.  It’s all part of a nationwide trend toward the lost art of making things. Makerspaces are popping up in schools around the country – CSUSM is considering installing one – and Mobile Making is just a way to take the same concept on the road.  “Making in general is a big movement right now,” said April Nelson, the program director for CRESE. “The mobile part is unique to us. We are definitely one of the schools leading the charge on this, and we’d like to be more of an example.”  The Emmanuel of the age of the students he’s mentoring now would scarcely recognize the Emmanuel of today. Back then, not only was he not doing STEM activities at school, but he didn’t even know what STEM was. He was raised in a part of Vista where, he says, “not many people think about college. Most people just want to get a job and start making money.” Emmanuel was one of those people. He lacked confidence in his intelligence and academic potential. He switched from Rancho Buena Vista to Vista High after his sophomore year, and didn’t have many friends at the new school. And on the home front, his dad temporarily moved out of the house during his high school years, leaving him without a father figure during that crucial, angst-ridden stage of development. That was when the man Emmanuel still refers to simply as Mr. Robinson entered the picture. Mark Robinson is a Vista High science teacher who’s in his 25th and final year at the school – he plans to retire this spring to focus on his prosperous side venture of winemaking. Emmanuel took Robinson’s chemistry class as a junior, and something immediately clicked. He discovered that, unlike with other subjects, chemistry came easily to him. More importantly, he found in Robinson an adult figure who believed in him, who thought he was smart, who thought he was special. “He was a very big influence for me,” Emmanuel said. “He always told me, ‘You’re a fantastic student to have around here, you’re picking up this chemistry very quickly.’ It felt good hearing that from him.” Robinson, like Emmanuel a first-generation college student whose father wasn’t present in his life, saw in Emmanuel a kindred spirit. They frequently would sit and talk after class and after school about topics far beyond just chemistry. “He was an incredibly fascinating human being,” Robinson said. “He was serious about the subject matters, but he was way more interesting after class. He had so many ideas, a gazillion little hypotheses in his head. We would talk about anything and everything – philosophical things, science things, earth things, botany, ethnobotany, you name it. If you ask me to pick a word to describe him, it would be curious. He has a curious mind. He’s blessed.” Emmanuel liked Robinson so much that he proceeded to take his anatomy class as a senior. He went from getting Bs and Cs in most classes to taking AP courses. At Robinson’s urging, he began thinking about college for the first time. “When I graduated, he told me he was very proud of me,” Emmanuel said. “He would jokingly say, ‘If I could adopt you, I would.’ ” After he arrived at CSUSM, Emmanuel started looking for opportunities to teach, to take Robinson’s influential tutelage and pay it forward. When he learned about the STEM ambassador program, he knew he had found the perfect avenue. “The best part is seeing the students’ smiles and knowing that I taught them something,” Emmanuel said, “that they’ll go home and think about trying to be a STEM student.” Emmanuel used to aspire to be a high school science teacher like Robinson, but Robinson himself convinced him to aim higher. Emmanuel now says he wants to get a job at a company like Viasat or Genentech and try to earn a master’s degree while working. Asked if he thinks of himself as a Mr. Robinson for the middle-schoolers, Emmanuel smiles. “That’s something I can take pride in,” he said. “He was very highly looked upon at our school, and I want to be looked at that way as well. The students look up to me; my coworkers look up to me. “It’s great to think that all this happened because he told me I should continue going to school and get an education.” Here’s to you, Mr. Robinson.

The first gift of the day came in just after the clock struck midnight. By 6 a.m., when the late-autumn sky was still dark, 114 donations already had been made.  The pace rarely waned during Giving Day at Cal State San Marcos on Nov. 27. Administrators gave. Faculty gave. Students gave. Alumni gave. Community members gave. All around campus, people could be spotted wearing blue heart stickers, a telltale symbol of the spirit of generosity at the university.  By the time the 1,488th and final gift was registered at 11:59 p.m., CSUSM – with the help of matching gifts from Jack Raymond, chair of the university’s Foundation Board – had raised $448,955 in a single day. That’s an astounding increase of 2,877 percent over the inaugural Giving Day three years earlier.  When President Karen Haynes announced the launch of CSUSM’s first comprehensive fundraising campaign at the University Student Union ballroom in September 2015, surely there were skeptics. How could a university that only recently had celebrated its 25th birthday hope to raise $50 million, which was double the goal that initially had been proposed by the Foundation Board? Most comprehensive campaigns are built chiefly on the strength of alumni, after all, and CSUSM – as young as it is – simply doesn’t have a vast pool.  The remarkable growth of Giving Day, however, is just one of the many signs that what CSUSM lacks in age, it more than makes up for in ambition. Haynes’ financial target for the Forward Together campaign might have sounded audacious to outsiders, but it was par for the course to anyone familiar with this campus and its leader.  “I am fairly comfortable with bold goals if I think that they are attainable,” Haynes said. “Yes, it was a little scary, but it pushed all of us to stretch to say it is possible. I just thought the $50 million number felt right for this campus and the way we acted.”  As it turned out, the $50 million figure not only was attainable, but it was surpassable. When Forward Together officially ended as the calendar turned to 2019, the campaign had blown past its objective, ultimately landing on $55,035,210 as the amount raised.  How impressive is that? Consider that CSUSM raised more in the seven years of the campaign than it had in the first 21 years of its existence combined. Consider that nearly three-fourths of the university’s alumni graduated during Haynes’ tenure as president.  It’s difficult to establish with certainty, but CSUSM does have good reason to boast that it’s the youngest university in the nation to undertake such an ambitious fundraising challenge at such a young age.  And if not in the nation, it’s certainly the youngest in the 23-campus California State University system. As if inspired by the boldness of CSUSM, exactly a year after the public launch of Forward Together, Cal State San Bernardino – a university then twice as old as CSUSM – announced that it was embarking on its own $50 million campaign. The very next month, Cal State East Bay – a school that was more than twice as old and has an alumni base nearly three times as large – set off on a $60 million campaign.  “I think some of them got the impetus, whether their presidents would admit it or not, to say, for example, ‘Why can’t East Bay do it at 60 years for $60 million?’ ” Haynes said. “So there was a little skepticism around the CSU about our campaign, but there were some that thought, ‘Wow, we’ve never done it and we’re 60 years old, we’re 80 years old.’ ”  Because of its limited institutional history, Cal State San Marcos approached the campaign in its own youthful, scrappy, entrepreneurial manner – what might be called the “CSUSM way.” Most universities carefully arrive at a campaign goal figure by hiring a council that does an assessment based on its donor base. CSUSM did it based on a round, impressive number thrown out by its president during a Foundation Board retreat in 2012.  “The meeting where we came up with the dollar amount, I wouldn’t recommend that for other institutions,” said Cathy Baur, vice president for University Advancement. “But it says a lot about our fortitude, our willingness to take a gamble and know that we have a good story to tell and have such strong support in the region that we could actually make it happen.”  Most universities structure campaigns around a series of major gifts from well-heeled alumni. CSUSM did receive a number of donations of at least $1 million, but Forward Together would not have succeeded without the committed participation of a veritable army of staff, faculty, students, alumni and community members making sometimes small but meaningful contributions. The number of gifts in the campaign was almost 26,000, and the average gift size was about $2,200. That’s approximately half the amount of the average gift size for San Diego State during its recent comprehensive campaign. “We always viewed this campaign as the one to prepare us for the next campaign,” Baur said. “Part of our goal was to build and work on that culture of philanthropy. We really feel like we have done a good job with that. Every single senior manager on this campus contributed to the campaign through either a one-time gift or a multiyear pledge. I think that’s indicative of the commitment people have to this university.” Major fundraising campaigns, of course, didn’t used to be the province of CSU schools, which only a couple of decades ago received about 80 percent of the money for operating costs from the state. That number has fallen to 55 percent, with student tuition and fees accounting for the rest. Yet CSUSM continues to grow, both in students and in stature, and the demand for cutting-edge programs and services from the surrounding region only intensifies. That desire for transformational change in the face of ongoing financial belt-tightening by the state was the motivation for Forward Together, which was built around the three pillars of “Preparing Tomorrow’s Leaders,” “Building Great Communities” and “Solving Critical Issues.” “In my early years in this business, there were people who would say, ‘I don’t know what you suits are doing here, but if you’re raising money, don’t raise it for my program,’ ” said Kyle Button, the associate vice president of development, who was recruited by CSUSM to help run the campaign in 2014, a year before the public launch. “The idea was that they’d never get the money back from the provost or the state if they saw their program as appealing to private support. We don’t hear that so much anymore. The game has changed. We’re now a part of doing business.” Once the campaign priorities were established, it was time to venture out into the philanthropic community and do a little storytelling. And CSUSM knew it had good stories to tell. Katherine Kantardjieff had come to CSUSM in 2011 from Cal State Fullerton, where she had gained experience in fundraising as a chemistry professor. In her new position as dean of the College of Science and Mathematics, she was sent on something of a road show around San Diego with a development officer, meeting with potential donors and heralding the innovative people and programs in her college. She came armed with so-called “wow” statements, and perhaps her most powerful one was about CSUSM’s proposed EngiBeering certificate program that would explore the science and engineering behind brewing craft beer – a powerful message in San Diego, which has come to be nicknamed the “Capital of Craft.” “The end of the wow statement was, ‘Come join us and help us fuel a billion-dollar industry because life is too short for bad beer,’ ” Kantardjieff said. “It was all about getting people’s attention and making them feel good and making them want to know more.” Kantardjieff also put together an advisory council in 2012 composed of “a team of people that was chomping at the bit to champion for this university.” One of the members was Simon Kuo, the vice president of corporate quality for Viasat, and it was partly through the cultivation of that relationship that CSUSM in early 2018 received $1.5 million from the Carlsbad-based global communications company (along with several employees) to become the founding partner of the university’s engineering program. “It’s not that easy to fundraise. You have to have a compelling vision,” Kantardjieff said. “When it comes to engineering, the reason we got a donation from Viasat is that the community believes we can do this. We have their trust, we have their confidence. They know we can deliver.” The gift from Viasat was far from the only one that will cause real and lasting change at CSUSM. Jan and Esther Stearns donated $1 million to ACE Scholars Services, the university’s one-of-a-kind program to support former foster youth. The Epstein Family Foundation gave $1 million toward a much-needed physical expansion of CSUSM’s Veterans Center. A small group of donors made it possible for the university to become an All-Steinway School, a designation held by fewer than 200 colleges, universities and conservatories worldwide. And for the first time in the 2017-18 academic year, more than a million dollars was dispersed to students in privately funded scholarships. “Those are the kinds of quantum leaps that you want to create through a comprehensive campaign,” Button said. “The results are visible and palpable and real, and that does make a good case in the future for the next campaign of support.”

Jack Raymond marvels at the success of Cal State San Marcos’ first comprehensive fundraising campaign. When the quiet phase of Forward Together was launched in 2012, Raymond wondered if the $50 million campaign goal might be a stretch for such a young University. But Raymond, a longtime supporter of CSUSM and chair of its Foundation Board, didn’t view that as a negative. “There’s nothing wrong with stretch goals,” he said. Plus, he knew CSUSM had a unique advantage – President Karen Haynes. “Karen is the person who has made the sea change in the University,” Raymond said. When the Foundation Board was determining the campaign goal in 2012, someone suggested $25 million to coincide with the university’s 25^th anniversary in 2015. Haynes, never one to shy away from bold goals, responded, “Why not $50 million?” When the clock struck midnight on New Year’s Eve, it signaled the close of CSUSM’s campaign. The University didn’t just meet its ambitious $50 million goal, it crushed it. The campaign raised more than $55 million, funds that will help CSUSM continue to prepare tomorrow’s leaders, build great communities and solve critical issues for years to come. Dan Epstein, who provided the gift that pushed CSUSM over the $50 million threshold, said Haynes’ leadership was critical in making the campaign a success. “She was the driving force, and people got involved because of her,” said Epstein, who gave multiple gifts throughout the campaign, including $1 million that is allowing for a much-needed expansion of CSUSM’s Veterans Center. “She’s been able to reach out to so many people in the community and gotten people behind the University’s mission, which is very clear – it is providing access to higher education for people who might not otherwise attend college.” Seeing CSUSM work to expand access for underrepresented students resonated with numerous donors, and they credited Haynes for making that one of her primary goals upon her appointment as president in 2004. “President Haynes has always struck me as a gracious and thoughtful leader, clear in her intent to serve the community, provide opportunities to students who may not otherwise have such access to education, and support the development of the ‘whole person,’ ” said Emilie Hersh, who serves on the Foundation Board and is an Executive in Residence for the College of Business Administration. Julie Pardee first met Haynes and Jim Mickelson, Haynes’ husband and founder of CSUSM’s ACE Scholars Services, about a decade ago. Impressed by the education her son, Chris, and his wife, Natalie, received at CSUSM, Pardee wanted to help other students. The Pardee Foundation Scholarship annually provides 50 awards of $2,000 to CSUSM students who show financial need and have a minimum 3.25 grade-point average. They later added a yearly gift to ACE, which supports former foster youth. “Karen and Jim inspired us, and we’ve been thrilled to watch it continue to benefit the students who have received these benefits for over 10 years,” Pardee said. “Each year we receive personal letters from the recipients and are blessed by each one. “Karen has grown CSUSM in creative and innovative ways. It’s been an honor to be part of her inspiring ways.” The University’s growth was another common element that donors highlighted in describing the importance of Haynes’ leadership. Ann Hunter-Welborn, another longtime supporter and a member of the University Council before CSUSM was founded, has seen the University’s growth from the beginning. “For years, people referred to the three major universities in San Diego County,” Hunter-Welborn said. “I can’t tell you how many times I corrected people – ‘There are four!’ That correction is no longer necessary. “Karen Haynes has provided the leadership that put CSUSM on the map. The University is firmly a part of the San Diego community, recognized for its offering of a sound education, for its contributions to the social fabric, and for its participation with the business community. Dr. Haynes’ enthusiasm is infectious, her wisdom is unbounded, and her drive for excellence is apparent in everything she does.” It’s a sentiment echoed by Christy Wilson, the executive director of the Rancho Santa Fe Foundation. “She’s brought a vibrancy to Cal State San Marcos,” said Wilson, who has attended every one of Haynes’ Report to the Community addresses. “People weren’t talking about CSUSM much before she arrived. It was there, but it wasn’t talked about a great deal. She’s brought a vibrancy and helped the campus feel more alive. “She’s not afraid to lead and she’s not afraid to take risks. She takes a stand and she believes in it and executes on it.” Haynes’ tenure as CSUSM president will end on June 30 when she retires. While the campaign may have ended, its success will leave a long-lasting legacy thanks in large part to Haynes’ leadership. “She’s one of the most impactful presidents of an academic institution that I have ever known,” said Ruth Westreich, a longtime supporter of numerous CSUSM initiatives. “Her impact will live on.”

Few job titles have earned the envy status that Judith Downie ’94 has in San Diego County. When Downie introduces herself as a craft beer historian, jaws drop and questions begin to pour in. It’s an unexpected title for a librarian, especially one who five years ago couldn’t stomach the taste of beer. While today she favors a good mead, stout or fruit sour over the iconic hoppy India Pale Ales of the region, she knows craft beer and is leading the effort to preserve its history, which dates back 150 years in the region. From capturing that history to launching a first-of-its-kind EngiBeering™ program, beer initiatives are bubbling up at Cal State San Marcos. A FLAVORFUL HISTORY The first recorded brewery to pop on the scene in San Diego was Chollas Valley Brewery in 1868 by German immigrant Christian Dobler. Naturally, German-style lagers were the preferred brew at 5 cents a glass. Agriculture dominated the region’s industry and a small handful of breweries emerged in that first wave before Prohibition. The second wave of craft beer in San Diego (1933-1983) brought mixed results and several false starts. Home winemaking was legalized, but not home brewing, which included the sale of supplies to make beer. At first, alcohol could only be served in restaurants, not bars or saloons in California. Confusion over government regulation and taxation stalled business. Four breweries came and went. Some closed operations, others moved north to Los Angeles. For three decades, craft beer production disappeared in San Diego, unable to compete with brewery giants like Coors, Budweiser and Pabst Blue Ribbon. In 1978, President Jimmy Carter signed legislation that permitted home brewing. By 1983, California legalized the sale of craft beer, ushering in the third and current wave of craft beer for San Diego. Bolt Brewing opened in Fallbrook in 1987. Then came Old Columbia Brewery, the first craft brewery of Karl Strauss and his cousin, which was soon renamed Karl Strauss Brewing Company. It is the longest continuously open brewery in San Diego. Downie points to a pivotal moment that may have clinched San Diego’s place in beer history. In 1997, a consortium of craft brewers came together to form the San Diego Brewers Guild. “It was Greg Koch, the founder of Stone Brewing Co., who said, ‘We can work together or fail separately,’ and it feels apropos to say, but the rest is history,” Downie said. “One characteristic that has undeniably influenced the success of craft brewing in our region has been the genuine collaboration among craft brewers.” Today, San Diego boasts the title of “Capital of Craft” with over 150 licensed brewers. And it’s a powerful economic engine, producing more than $870 million in output annually. In August 2017, the University Library launched the Brewchive™, a comprehensive archive celebrating the San Diego craft brewing industry. The collection is one of only a handful of specialty archives nationwide focused solely on beer. “They put their heart and soul into this industry and we want to make sure that history is preserved and celebrated,” said Dr. Jennifer Fabbi, dean of the CSUSM Library. The initial idea for an archive to record and preserve San Diego brewing activity was at the suggestion of Char Booth, associate dean of the library and a home brewer. Tap handles, growlers, beer lists, coasters, recipes, brewing logs, manifestos and marketing materials are all part of the growing collection of the Brewchive™. As the library collects and digitizes these historical documents and artifacts, it is also curating signature collections, including the Stone Brewing Co. Collection and Women in Craft. Oral histories told by homebrewers and professionals are also featured in the online archive. “Our business students and the students enrolled in the upcoming EngiBeering™ program can learn from both the successes and failures the local breweries have gone through,” Downie said. RAISE YOUR HAND AND RAISE YOUR GLASS This fall, the University will welcome its inaugural cohort of students into the EngiBeering™ certificate program. The two-part certificate, or what’s referred to as a stackable certificate program, explores the science and business of craft brewing. “Industry leaders need to fill this critical gap in their workforce,” said Dr. Jackie Trischman, biochemist and program director of EngiBeering™. “They need trained professionals who have business insight but also know the science of making exceptional craft beer.” Some of the courses for the 18-month program include recipe development, sensory evaluation to identify flavors and beer quality (yes, students will actually drink beer), learning the brewery processes, the evolution of beer, brewing science and an internship. Unlike traditional classes, EngiBeering™ lab courses will happen on-site at local breweries. And most notably, the program’s teaching faculty are professionals currently working in the industry. “It’s exciting to me because there is more science involved in beer production than people think,” Trischman said. “A brewer is a scientist.” EngiBeering™ was developed by eight CSUSM faculty across three colleges in partnership with more than 12 brewers including alumni Kyle Adams ’13 of Prohibition Brewing Company and Mike Stevenson ’12 of Culver Beer Company. “The brewing community is one of the most congenial and positive groups I have ever met,” Trischman said. “The love for their craft shines through their work, and it’s that same passion that built this program.” THE CRAFT BUSINESS As a prominent industry for the local economy, generating more than $100 million in tax revenue annually, craft brewing is a serious business. Measuring its impact and predicting its growth is in the hands of business researchers at CSUSM. Since 2015, the College of Business Administration has published its semiannual San Diego Craft Brewer Confidence Index, a survey conducted in partnership with the San Diego Business Journal, that gauges local brewer confidence in the industry. The latest report, released in April, revealed that brewers continue to display an impressive level of optimism in their businesses. Nearly 64 percent expect to add employees and 32 percent expect their total barrel output to increase from 11 percent to 20 percent in the next year. Business confidence is a predictor of industry growth, according to researchers. The college also produces an annual Economic Impact of Craft Breweries Report, in conjunction with the San Diego Brewers Guild and the San Diego North Economic Development Council, analyzing the impact of the industry on the region. On Oct. 10, the college will host the Craft Economic Summit, unveiling its latest findings and discussing trends and forecasts for the craft brewing industry. “The industry is thriving,” said Ed Ashley, director of business community relations for the college. “Stone Brewing Co. grew up a nine-iron away from us and our campus has grown right alongside it. We share the heart of the brewers and the love for the craft.” WHAT'S THE CATCH? A BASEBALL IN A BEER Gabrielle DiMarco was simply enjoying a beer and a ballgame on June 5 at Petco Park. While it was mostly a forgettable evening for the Padres, who lost 14-1 to the Atlanta Braves, it turned into a life-changing experience for Gabrielle when a foul ball landed in her beer cup. That alone likely would have gotten Gabrielle on the nightly sports highlight shows. What followed made the Cal State San Marcos literature and writing studies student a social media sensation. Gabrielle, with encouragement from the surrounding fans, proceeded to drink the entire beer with the baseball still firmly planted in the cup. Video from the moment went viral with Gabrielle even receiving marriage proposals from as far away as Australia. “I’m going to keep it in that cup forever,” Gabrielle told The San Diego Union-Tribune. “I’m never taking it out. It’s a trophy.”

Like many great stories, it began over cocktails. It was Oct. 9, 2013. Danika Garlotta ’06 can still recall what she was drinking as she and her husband Chris talked about wanting to travel the world but struggling to find the time. Somewhere between a Scotch Egg and an Old Fashioned, Chris turned to Danika and said, “Let’s take a sabbatical.” It was unexpected, unthinkable and completely exhilarating. Within three months, the couple quit their well-paying jobs, sold everything, rented out their house in San Francisco and said goodbye to family and friends as they boarded a one-way flight to Rome. To ease her mother’s angst and assure her that she was not dead on the side of the road halfway across the world, Danika set up a blog to chronicle their adventures. Their plan was simple. “We would do what we want, stay where we wanted, and if we didn’t like someplace, we’d move on,” Danika said. With no itinerary and no end game, she began sharing their adventures in their travel blog aptly named “No Destinations.” Four years and more than 200 destinations later, Danika and Chris have transformed their dream of seeing the world into a profitable, luxury-travel brand. LIKES LONG WALKS ON THE BEACH “We’re not the backpack-across-Europe, stay-in-a-youth-hostel type of people,” said Danika, laughing. “We prefer luxury and style and love to explore beautiful beaches and cities. Our focus is not to travel to, but instead experience new places, cultures and people.” And their experiences run the gamut from eating at questionable alleyway cafes in Hanoi, Vietnam, while sitting on plastic stools to a 12-course meal at a Michelin-rated restaurant in Paris. Along the way, they’ve had some truly once-in-a-lifetime adventures, including swimming with sea turtles in the crystal blue waters of the Maldives, trekking through the dense rain forests of Malaysia, hiking a breathtaking Icelandic glacier and exploring the deserts of the United Arab Emirates on camelback. Think luxury, but laid back – and that’s No Destinations. “We’re finally doing something we love, and we get to do it together,” Danika said. But the two are very different. Danika describes herself as the frantic worrier, while she says her husband always manages to stay cool under pressure. Consider their packing styles, and humor, as shared on their website, nodestinations.com: Danika: My packing style is chaotic, stuffed and somewhat unrealistic. Chris: My packing style is simple and organized – basically the complete opposite of Danika; one pair of shoes is enough. The couple met on Match.com shortly after Danika graduated from CSUSM in 2006 with a degree in communication. Friends at first, it took three years before they would fall in love and later get married on a white sand beach in Cabo San Lucas with a handful of their closest family members in attendance. A LIFE OF ITS OWN As Danika will tell you, they didn’t set out to create the world’s best travel blog. They set out for discovery. They set out to experience new cultures and see new things without being confined to two weeks of vacation time. And for the first year, they did just that. Soon, the blog’s readership expanded beyond family and friends and, in 2016, it caught the attention of Libby Kane, a reporter with Business Insider. Danika and Chris were in China at the time, and although Danika postponed the Skype interview a few times due to a cold, the three finally connected. The article and its accompanying video interview went viral. “It was wild,” Danika said. “Overnight we saw our following on Instagram and Facebook increase by the hundreds of thousands.” Thirty million views later, No Destinations was entrenched in the spotlight. Since then, their travels have been featured in Food & Wine Magazine, Forbes Travel Guide, Travel+Leisure, along with 16 other luxury travel publications A LIFESTYLE THAT WORKS Although the Garlottas have banished the stereotypical 9-5 workday, they do work. They call themselves digital nomads – freelancers on the constant move. “Just because we’re traveling does not mean we are ‘on vacation’ even though sometimes our office is a cabana on the beach in Indonesia,” Danika said. Before boarding their flight to Italy in 2014, Chris worked for startup tech companies in Silicon Valley, doing graphic design and web and app development. He is the founder of zingsale.com, a service that alerts Amazon users when a particular item drops in price. Danika was the head of marketing for a string of boutique hotels in San Francisco. Today, Chris continues to work remotely for a few tech companies, while Danika is a marketing and design consultant for a handful of clients, in addition to managing No Destinations full time. Both work 20-40 hours a week, and depending on travel schedules, they decide when to take on new projects or clients. Because they live in a different city every few weeks and primarily stay in apartment rentals, there is one nonnegotiable amenity must: a desk with a chair that has a back. Being a digital nomad can present its challenges, at times, like staying on top of constantly changing time zones, preparing for periods when WiFi access is limited or nonexistent in some areas, and relying almost exclusively on digital communication methods. The travel duo recently became a trio with the addition of their son Axel, born in December 2017. Chris and Danika have started a travel bucket list for Axel – and are already putting their little guy’s passport to good use. In the last few months, the Garlotta family has traveled to United Arab Emirates to take in the gorgeous views, went on a safari in Sri Lanka and got up-close with an elephant, and sailed to the Bahamas on a luxury cruise. Still on their bucket list: Antarctica and Australia. In traveling the world, Danika discovered something unexpected. “These experiences have taught me how truly big and open the world is and that there isn’t just one traditional path to happiness,” she said. “The toughest decision we ever made was making the decision to just do it. I never would have imagined that this life was possible, and now I cannot imagine our lives any differently.” Follow along on their adventures at nodestinations.com or @nodestinations