Alumni

2010 Distinguished alumni

Education: Tod Burnett, EdD

Dr. Tod Burnett (EdD ’05) received the Distinguished Alumnus Award at the GSEP Education Division Commencement on June 19. He is the president of Saddleback College, located in Mission Viejo, California. The two-year community college, founded in 1968, serves approximately 40,000 students each year in Orange County. Burnett was appointed to the presidency in August 2008 and, as CEO, manages 1,350 employees and a $95 million budget. Prior to assuming the Saddleback presidency, Burnett served as vice chancellor of the California Community Colleges—the largest higher education system in the world, comprising 110 colleges and serving more than 2.7 million students each year. While he was vice chancellor, Burnett coordinated the implementation of the California Community Colleges’ first system-wide strategic plan, managing emergency planning, communication, and preparedness efforts. He also facilitated a $70 million private philanthropic gift for scholarships, the largest ever made to a community college system in the U.S.

Burnett also served as California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s deputy appointments secretary, advising the governor on more than 300 appointments to state agencies, boards, and commissions. His public service has included positions within the EPA in Washington, D.C., and on the Board of Public Works for the City of Los Angeles. Burnett is the recipient of the Alumni Public Service Award from the University of California, Riverside for his work at the national, state, and local levels of government.

Burnett is a longtime supporter and two-term president of Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership, Inc., and has served on boards and committees of the Westchester Family YMCA, the Los Angeles Junior Chamber of Commerce, and the California State Society.

Burnett received his bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Riverside and his MBA from the University of Southern California. He was awarded his doctor of education in organizational leadership from GSEP. He resides in south Orange County.

Psychology: Elizabeth Laugeson, PsyD

Dr. Elizabeth Laugeson (MA ’00, PsyD ’04) received the Distinguished Alumnus Award at the GSEP Psychology Division commencement on May 23. She is a licensed clinical psychologist and a clinical instructor in the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences at the UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, and the director of The Help Group-UCLA Autism Research Alliance, a collaborative research initiative of the Semel Institute and The Help Group, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit dedicated to developing and expanding applied treatment research for children and adolescents with autism-spectrum disorders. Laugeson is also the director of the UCLA Early Childhood Clubhouse Program, a partial hospitalization program designed to improve social and behavioral capacity in preschool children with high-functioning autism, and the associate director of the UCLA Parenting and Children’s Friendship Program.

One of Laugeson’s current projects is the development of PEERS, an evidence-based social-skills intervention for teens. Her work has been featured on many national and international media outlets, including The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, CBS, and Channel 4 in England. Prior to her current appointments, Laugeson was principal investigator and collaborator on a number of studies funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control, investigating social skills training for children and adolescents with developmental disabilities. Among her numerous professional accolades are the Nathan and Lily Shappell Foundation Donor Award from the Friends of the Semel Institute, the Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award from the National Institutes of Health, and the Ann Chaplin Award from the Psi Chi National Honor Society in Psychology.

Laugeson received her bachelor’s degree in psychology from California State University, Long Beach. She earned both her MA in psychology and her PsyD from GSEP. She resides with her husband, Lance Orozco, in Sherman Oaks, California.

2009 Distinguished Alumni

Education: Jennifer Trubenbach

Jennifer Trubenbach (MA ’04), alumna of the master of arts in educational technology program at GSEP, is president and executive director of Operation of Hope, a nonprofit foundation that conducts free facial reconstructive surgeries on children in need in Ecuador and Africa. Operation of Hope has performed more than 2,000 corrective surgeries over 20 years. The organization recently won $50,000 in actor Hugh Jackman's Twitter contest, in which he invited fans to suggest their favorite charities.

Trubenbach has worked at Operation of Hope since 1996. She manages public speaking engagements, fundraising efforts, surgical supply inventories, travel arrangements, volunteer coordination, and legal and regulatory compliance. Previously, she was a field consultant and corporate training executive at ASI in Atlanta, Georgia, and, before that, director of marketing, sales, and special events for MGM Grand Air. Trubenbach has also worked for Bell and Howell, Jet America, and the Carter Hawley Hale Corporation.

Trubenbach was featured in the September 2008 issue of People, in one of the magazine’s largest-ever humanitarian stories. The article spotlighted her personal support of Beloved Jefeti, a Zimbabwean boy whose face was disfigured by a land mine. In addition, People named Trubenbach as a one of its 2008 "Heroes of the Year," and she was recognized at the 2008 "Heroes Among Us" All-Star Tribute hosted and internationally broadcast by CNN. Trubenbach has been honored by the Ecuadorian Embassy and the Ministry of Health of Zimbabwe, was named one of Orange County’s “Hottest Business People” by Metro Magazine, and received the Well Done Award from Kingdom Assignment.

Trubenbach earned her bachelor’s degree from Azusa Pacific University, which also honored her as its 2009 Distinguished Alumnus. Trubenbach resides with her husband, Ted, in Lake Forest, California.

Psychology: Neva Chauppette, Psy.D.

Dr. Neva Chauppette (PsyD, '92) is a licensed psychologist in part-time private practice in Los Angeles, California, and the full-time project director of a mobile medical clinic that provides free and comprehensive HIV, Hepatitis ABC, and STD services to at-risk individuals. Chauppette is also a consultant to numerous HIV and chemical dependency treatment facilities throughout several states.

As a consultant, Chauppette offers psychiatric consultation regarding individual psychotherapy clients of other providers or agencies (multi-diagnosed: psychiatric illness/ HIV+/HCV+ /addiction), as well as program needs assessments, curriculum development and design, technical assistance, crisis intervention, and staff and client trainings. She provides technical assistance to the California State Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs, the California State Office of AIDS, and the Los Angeles County Office of AIDS Programs and Policies. Services provided include statewide trainings, staff consultations, and program design and implementation. In addition, Chauppette is on the speakers bureaus of several pharmaceutical companies, such as Abbott, Roche, Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, and Boehringer Ingelheim.

Chauppette has worked in the field of substance abuse and HIV since 1988. She is the former clinical director of an outpatient mental health clinic for women of color with multiple morbidities (HIV, HCV, psychiatric illness, and substance misuse).

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Past Distinguished Alumni

Education	Psychology
Dr. Lydia Ledesma-Reese '87 Richard A. Alonzo '87 Nnamdi M. Asika '84 Robert Booker '74 Ned E. Doffoney '91 D R. Halm '86 John C. Holmes '83 Patricia House '76 Graciela Italiano-Thomas '97 Donna H. Kasser '84 Audre Levy '92 Walter J. Michalski '86 Chenits Pettigrew '84    Sylvia G. Rousseau '99     Bobbie B. Scoggins '92   Jeremy N. White '94   Evelyn Wong '85  Ziegfred Young '88	Dr. Monica Rivera Mindt '94 Rhonda F. Brinkley-Kennedy '86 Lloyd J. Hedstrom '51 Bradley Ogden Hudson '90 Louis E. Jenkins '70 Leonardo M. Marmol '60 Marilyn J. Simpson '89 Sherry L. Skidmore '68 H. N. Wright '65