Meet the Team

Erica Alexander, B.A., serves as the Service Learning Coordinator. Erica is responsible for building community-university partnerships, connecting students with internship and service learning opportunities/projects, identifying community needs, and facilitating career development advisement to students. She graduated from Cal State San Bernardino in 2009, receiving a Bachelor's Degree in Social Sciences with an emphasis in Psychology, Anthropology, and Sociology. Erica served 4 years at a non-profit after-school program provider and brings with her experience in volunteer/internship coordinating, working with children, data management, and curriculum development. Erica is also currently obtaining her Master's in Education at CSUSB with an emphasis in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL).

Beatriz A. Barragan, B.A., serves as the CoyoteCareers Alumni Partnership Coordinator. Beatriz is an alumna of Cal State San Bernardino, graduating with a Bachelor’s degree in Communication – Public Relations. She has over five years of public relations experience, including corporate and non-profit client account work for a public relations firm in Los Angeles. Beatriz also worked for three years at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital as their Senior Event Marketing Representative in their Garden Grove office. Her responsibilities included marketing, event planning, and fundraising. Most of her focus at St. Jude was directed towards implementing marketing strategies and fundraising in the Southern California Hispanic markets. Beatriz is a founding member for the CSUSB chapter of Lambda Theta Alpha, Latin Sorority Inc. She is also a founding member for the CSUSB Hispanic Alumni Chapter and served on the Board of Directors for 2 years before taking on the position as Alumni Partnership Coordinator.

Carol Dixon, M.B.A., serves on the Executive Board, as the Activity Director for Career Services and CoyoteCareers Project Co-Director. Carol serves as the Interim Director of the Career Development Center, which has the smallest student-to-staff ratio in the entire CSU. Ms. Dixon also serves as the Director of the Coussoulis Arena, a 5,000-seat facility that holds approximately 30 events per year for local and national organizations. She has developed and implemented career workshops and developed a Career Success Summit event. She was recognized as the Outstanding Adjunct Faculty of the Year (2002) and was named “A Citizen of Achievement” award recipient for 2007 League of Women Voters. She received an M.B.A. from Cal Poly Pomona.

Rebecca M. Eddy, Ph.D., serves as the evaluator for CoyoteCareers. Rebecca currently a Research Assistant Professor and Co-Director of the Master of Arts Psychology program at Claremont Graduate University. She received her doctorate in Applied Cognitive Psychology and has focused much of her work on applying principles of learning and cognition to educational evaluation in programs and schools. As both principal investigator and co-principal investigator of numerous grants and contracts, she has secured more than $1.1million for research and evaluation projects in the past three years through the Institute of Organizational and Program Evaluation Research.

Pamela Langford, ’85, M.B.A., Director Alumni Affairs, serves on the Executive Board, as the Activity Director for Alumni Affairs and CoyoteCareers Project Co-Director. Pam has 25 years of experience in higher education, 17 of those in Advancement where she has had direct responsibility for building programs in community relations, annual giving, advancement services, the athletics association, and alumni relations. Since her appointment as Director of Alumni Affairs, Pam has tripled membership in CSUSB’s Alumni Association; launched and successfully completed the Association’s first scholarship endowment fundraising campaign; established an Alumni Scholars scholarship program; initiated a monthly online newsletter that reaches over 30,000 alumni, students and friends; developed a comprehensive online alumni community that draws more than 2 million hits annually; and attracted nearly $1 million in affinity partnership revenues. Pam also coordinated a successful Alumni Professor for a Day program, which brought accomplished alumni back to CSUSB to share their career road-to-success stories with students. In 2002, the CSUSB Alumni Association earned two Council for the Advancement and Support of Education Awards of Excellence for best practices in alumni relations.

Joanna Oxendine, M.Ed., serves as the Assistant Director of Alumni Affairs. Joanna is a North Carolina native and two-time graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She brings with her seven years of teaching experience. Prior to moving to Southern California in 2007, Joanna worked to develop a high school writing curriculum and district-wide policy for Gates County Schools in Gatesville, North Carolina. As the CoyoteCareers Alumni Partnership Coordinator, she facilitates alumni participation in Academic Career Education (ACE) workshops as well as the Hispanic Alumni Chapter. In addition to connecting students to successful CSUSB alumni, she provides logistical support in maintaining accurate alumni records.

Diane Podolske, Ph.D., Director of Community-University Partnerships, serves as Chair of the Executive Board, CoyoteCareers Project Director, and the Activity Director for Service Learning. Diane has 18 years of experience from two very different kinds of higher education institutions. At the University of Nebraska, she developed a comprehensive service learning program that included a web-based registry of volunteer needs at regional CBOs, faculty training seminars, and a community networking program. She now leads a two-campus initiative that includes academic service learning, a service learning scholarship program, and community-based research. Under her leadership, CSUSB has received national recognition on the President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll and the Carnegie Classification for Community Engagement. Her experience in project and budget management, including federal and state grant administration, contributes to the grant’s success. She received her doctorate in Educational Psychology from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Valentina Watson, B.A., serves as CoyoteCareers Career Information Coordinator. Valentina is a graduate of University of California, Riverside, receiving a Bachelor’s Degree in Art History. Native to the Inland Empire, she has six years experience working as a Contracts Manager and Instructor for a primary art education institution, primarily at public elementary schools in Fontana, Rialto, Corona, and Temecula. As CoyoteCareers Career Information Coordinator, Valentina is responsible for the Academic Career Education (ACE) workshops in order to prepare students graduating from CSUSB for their chosen professions.