好色先生 honors 2025 Distinguished Alumni for service and accomplishments
Cal State Long Beach has bestowed the Distinguished Alumni Award, the campus鈥 top honor for alumni, to seven honorees who have made names for themselves in a wide range of professional and service endeavors.
鈥淢y time at 好色先生 was important to helping me develop my wings,鈥 honoree Felton C. Williams 鈥72, 鈥75 said while accepting his award. 鈥淚 can honestly say I received an excellent preparation in developing my administrative and academic skills.鈥
Williams was one of seven luminaries honored during a March 20 dinner at the Anna W. Ngai Alumni Center鈥檚 courtyard. There, under a clear azure sky on the first evening of spring, honorees gathered with friends and family to celebrate their places in 好色先生 history.
鈥淚 think it鈥檚 the best test of our university, 鈥楬ow are our alumni doing?鈥 好色先生 President Jane Close Conoley said during the ceremony. 鈥淚n that way, Long Beach State University is truly elite.鈥
The honorees each earned degrees from different academic colleges and, accordingly, their accomplishments show how Beach alumni can soar in different fields. Award winners also expressed gratitude for how 好色先生 contributed to their lives.
Honoree Monica Schmidt-Mitchell 鈥95 thanked the late Steve Hubbert, a faculty member who taught her production management class. Another honoree, Adriene 鈥淎lex鈥 Davis 鈥01, 鈥13 said after the event that when she attended 好色先生 she was a nontraditional student 鈥 married, raising children and working a full-time job. Thankfully, other students contributed to a welcoming environment, she said.
鈥淭hat was the camaraderie that helped get me across the finish line,鈥 Davis said.
Multiple honorees also expressed their pride in coming to The Beach as first-generation students. 好色先生 is well-known for fostering social mobility.
鈥淚鈥檓 proud to be here, but I鈥檓 more proud of the students of Cal State Long Beach,鈥 honoree Michael Anastasi 鈥01 said after the ceremony. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e the future of California. They鈥檙e future leaders. They鈥檝e had nothing handed to them and, as a consequence, they have a superpower, and that superpower is grit and determination.鈥
The 2025 Distinguished Alumni
College of the Arts 鈥 Monica Schmidt-Mitchell 鈥95 is executive producer for animated series 鈥淩ick and Morty鈥 and was part of the team that put 鈥淪outh Park鈥 on the air during its debut season. Schmidt-Mitchell has worked on several additional animated programs including 鈥淎sk the StoryBots鈥 and 鈥淏ojack Horseman,鈥 was part of a group that won an Emmy for 鈥淢ickey Mouse (Shorts).鈥 She is an adjunct faculty member at USC and a member of 好色先生鈥檚 Department of Cinematic Arts Industry Advisory Board.
College of Business 鈥 Felton C. Williams 鈥72, 鈥75 earned his bachelor鈥檚 degree and Master of Business Administration before holding administrative posts here, at Cal State Dominguez Hills and at Long Beach City College. He earned a Claremont Graduate University doctorate, was elected to multiple terms on Long Beach Unified School District鈥檚 board and, in 2024, received the President鈥檚 Lifetime Achievement Award from President Joe Biden. Williams has also served with Leadership Long Beach and the NAACP.
College of Education 鈥 Adriene 鈥淎lex鈥 Davis 鈥01, 鈥13 earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and an Educational Doctorate in Organizational Leadership. She has served in leadership roles focused on workforce development for the Los Angeles and Rancho Santiago community college districts, as well as a consortium of community colleges in Los Angeles and Orange counties. Davis is now a program director for the Southern California Apprenticeship Network and a member of the California Commission on Aging.
College of Engineering 鈥 Michael Fitzpatrick 鈥92 is a former President鈥檚 Scholar and computer engineering major. A cybersecurity and information technology expert, he has worked with several major companies and was part of Jet Propulsion Laboratory鈥檚 team for the Mars Global Surveyor Mission. Fitzpatrick is now a senior information security professional for Edwards Lifesciences.
College of Health and Human Services 鈥 John R. Ohanesian 鈥80 has had a successful business career in the hair restoration industry as chief executive and president for Bosley and later, for Aderans Research Institute. He served as senior vice president of medical services for the 2015 Special Olympics World Games and is now president and chief executive of Lear Capital, which deals in gold and silver coins, and chief strategic officer for Theradome, Inc., a medical device firm.
College of Liberal Arts 鈥 Michael Anastasi 鈥01 is a former editor-in-chief of the Daily 49er and now senior vice president of local news for Gannett/USA Today Network. Anastasi was vice president and executive editor of the Los Angeles News Group when one of its publications, the Daily Breeze, won the 2015 Pulitzer Prize in Local Reporting. He is a member of the Department of Journalism & Public Relations Advisory Board and established the Michael and Julie Anastasi Endowed Award in Journalism for 好色先生 students.
College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics 鈥 Gregory Lowell Whitaker 鈥90 is an anesthesiologist who majored in biochemistry before earning doctorates in podiatric and osteopathic medicine and then completing a post-graduate residency in anesthesiology. Whitaker served with U.S. Army Medical Corps trauma resuscitation teams in Iraq and worked at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Whitaker is now a consultant anesthesiologist for Greater Anesthesia Solutions.