U.S. Rep. Mark Takano, D-Riverside, who chairs the House Veteran’s Affairs Committee, will visit Cal State San Bernardino on Friday, Jan. 31, to meet with university officials and learn about CSUSB’s veteran and cybersecurity programs.
 
Takano, who is also a member of the House Committee on Education and Labor, will be greeted and escorted by Robert J. Nava, CSUSB vice president for University Advancement and Pam Langford, assistant vice president for Alumni, Government and Community Relations.
 
Takano will first tour the university’s Cybersecurity Center, meeting with center director Tony Coulson; assistant director Vincent Nestler; Charles Rouse, manager of the Community College Cyber Pilot (C3P) program; and Manuel Vasquez, president of the Cyber Intelligence and Security Student Organization (CISO).
 
Takano will then tour the CSUSB Veterans Success Center, where he will meet with center director Agustin Ramirez; Marshall Thomas, director of Active Duty and Veterans Affairs for California State University, Office of the Chancellor; Christina Hassija, CSUSB associate professor of psychology; and Andreas Kossak, adjunct professor of communication studies and founder of the Written by Veterans Creative Writing Program.
 
Takano, who has represented the 41st Congressional District since 2013, also serves the House subcommittees on Higher Education and Workforce Investment, Workforce Protections, Economic Opportunity, and Health.
 
The 41st Congressional District includes the cities of Moreno Valley, Perris and Riverside.
 
Cal State San Bernardino is a national leader in cybersecurity education. Due to the excellent curriculum and faculty expertise in cybersecurity, CSUSB has been designated as a Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance by the National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security since 2008. As a reflection of this excellence, CSUSB was recently designated as a Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense/Information Assurance through 2021.
 
CSUSB’s Veterans Success Center, which opened in 2012, offers a central campus location, where student veterans and military members can work on assignments, congregate between classes and hold study groups. The center offers dynamic programs that are comprehensive in scope and sensitive to the unique needs of service members, which includes: new student veterans orientation; a monthly seminar series; weekly mental health support group; science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) tutoring; SALUTE Veterans National Honor Society; veterans’ graduation celebration; complementary printing; free test taking materials; advocacy and referral services; refrigerator and microwave; complimentary arts and crafts; and a military veterans writers group.