Black Scholars United is a student organization dedicated to serving as a support system academically, socially and for moral well-being for students since 1987.

When the words "college student" and "diet" are mentioned in the same sentence, they usually conjure images of binge drinking, crash calorie cutting, late night Taco Bell runs and horror stories about the "freshman fifteen."

Sherri Anderson, an accounting professor for 31 years at SSU, has lived a life full of serendipity.

Professor Jessica Parker says we are the brink of a profound moment in education as we watch what it means to come of age in a digital world.

Alexandra "Sascha" von Meier, professor of environmental studies and planning at SSU, is on her way to being part of the solution.

Kristel England is a McNair scholar and a welfare mother who is striving to pull herself out of poverty by working toward a college degree.

The first to serve as the Associated Students Diversity Senator is Kim Liaz, who, after growing up in diverse communities, says arriving at SSU felt a bit like "culture shock."

Heidi LaMoreaux has played an active role in promoting environmental education and science awareness in California.

Finding inspiration in the music of Igor Stravinsky, Charles Mingus and Edgard Varese, Brian S. Wilson's eclectic compositional style is a masterful blend of classic and jazz idioms that feels simultaneously familiar and new.

A composer and conductor , Wilson is music department chair at SSU. Currently serving as professor of music theory, he has taught classes in nearly every area of the music curriculum since his first year in 2001, as well as conducted the symphonic wind ensemble (which he founded) and jazz ensembles.

Wilson is a native of Lynn, MA, and a graduate of New England Conservatory, the University of Chicago and the University of Arizona. An enthusiastic champion of music education, he co-founded the Sonoma Brass Institute in 2005 to offer brass education and performance opportunities of the highest quality to the North Bay area.

Wilson is equally at home whether writing for orchestra, chamber ensemble, klezmer band, opera, wind symphony or jazz ensemble. His jazz-inflected harmonies, free borrowings from the Jewish liturgy and exciting rhythmic turns are hallmarks of his distinctive style.

Wilson's breakthrough piece for solo trombone and percussion, The Avanti (the full title is: The Avanti Feels Glued To The Road Even When Cruising at 100 Miles Per Hour!), captured first prize in the International Trombone Association composition competition and has gone on to receive performances worldwide.

Wilson's latest commission is Byron Songs, which will receive its premiere at SSU on Nov. 9. This song cycle is based on settings from Lord Byron's Hebrew Melodies and will be performed by soprano Carol Menke and pianist Marilyn Thompson. Wilson is currently working on a trio for violin, horn and piano, commissioned by Music in the Mishkan at Congregation Sha'ar Zahav in San Francisco.

An inveterate traveller, Wilson served for 20 years as music director of the University of Detroit Classic Theatre study abroad program on the Greek island of Spetses. More recently he has conducted, given clinics and lectured about his music in Taiwan, Colombia (SA), Russia, Italy and Israel.

Among his awards and honors are several New York State Decentralization Grants, the ASCAP Standard Award, College Music Society Pacific Central chapter and National composition awards and the U.S. Department of Education Ensuring Access Through Collaboration And Technology (EnACT) Grant.

Wilson says, "My background is in trombone, piano, music education, composition and conducting and thus I have taught just about every course in the curriculum. Versatility is my curse! I love teaching music theory and conducting groups for special projects. I teach Diatonic Harmony, Chromatic Harmony, Form and Analysis and Private Instruction in Composition. I also have been known to sweep the floors, wash the windows and take out the trash!"

The World Technology Network has named Philosophy Professor John P. Sullins a finalist for an award for his visionary research in the ethical use of robotics.

Thanks to the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Graduate Scholarship, Ramona Indrebo will be able to "give voice to marginalized groups."

A graduate student beginning Business Management studies at Sonoma State this fall, Indrebo is a non-traditional student that the Foundation has recognized as someone who can make a dramatic contribution to society by finding ways to help the elderly.

Natalie Hambalek has been named a recipient of the William Randolph Hearst/CSU Trustees' Award for Outstanding Achievement.

Andy Collinsworth, professor of music, says his goal is to make SSU a leading center for music education in Northern California.

Nadir Vissanjy has created a long list of accomplishments in the short time since he graduated from SSU in 2007, and will soon be adding Harvard to that list.

"Try something new." Graduating senior and student commencement speaker, Daisy Meyer, took that advice to heart as a freshman.

In January, the Career Services Office welcomed JP Villafuerte as the new Career Advisor and Program Specialist.

Dr. John Sullins, associate professor of philosophy, is winner of the 2011 Herbert A. Simon Award for Outstanding Research in Computing and Philosophy.

Phi Beta Delta has inducted twelve members of the Sonoma State University community into the international honor society, including six faculty and staff, and six students.

Community is everything to Carlos Pena, and the members of the Rohnert Park Independent Business Leaders (IBL) know it.

Brian Wilson, chair of the music department, and John Stanley, music lecturer, recently traveled to Colombia, South America as guest conductors at the 16th International Wind Music Seminar of Latin America (Seminario Internacional de Musica Orquesta Latinoamericana de Vientos).

Judy Navas is something of a theatrical virtuoso. Her journey throughout the arts has resulted in an impressive collection of dramatic talent.

What do Neil Armstrong, Stephen Spielberg, Donald Rumsfeld, Michael Moore and SSU's Sean O'Neill all have in common?

Why, they're Eagle Scouts of course.

Recording horn sections for P. Diddy and working on soundtracks for movies is only a small part of what Doug Leibinger does.

The phrase "ordinary people can do extraordinary things" has always inspired Brandy Harris, an engineering science major at Sonoma State University.

Don Romesburg, assistant professor of women's and gender studies, grew up in Juneau, Alaska, but was always a big-city boy at heart. He has mostly lived in San Francisco since 1994 and got his Ph.D. from U.C. Berkeley in U.S. History with a Designated Emphasis in Women, Gender, and Sexuality.

He has published on early 20th-century U.S. social science, cultures, and discourses of adolescence and homosexuality, the social history of queer performers, and male intimacy in popular culture. His most recent work relates to queer transracial adoption.

In Fall 2010, he established the new university-wide Queer Studies Minor, making SSU the fourth CSU campus with such a program. Through overseeing the annual Gender Studies Program Series and being active in co-curricular programming, Don works to foreground the central role that Women's and Gender Studies plays in the meaningful gender, sexual, racial, and socioeconomic diversity on campus.

When not at SSU, Don is a curator at the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Historical Society, where the most recent show, "Passionate Struggle: Dynamics of San Francisco's GLBT History," attracted over 25,000 visitors. In Fall 2010, a major exhibit,
"Our Vast Queer Past: Celebrating GLBT History," will open in the Historical Society's new Castro space.

Utilizing his background in cultural activism and media relations, Don provides regular comment for news and documentaries on an array of issues related to lesbian, gay,
bisexual, and transgender culture and politics.

Don and his husband have one of the 18,000 same-sex marriages in legal limbo in California due to the passage of Proposition 8. They are also proud transracially adoptive papas to a five-year-old daughter.

Sonoma State's championship soccer guru and head men's soccer coach Marcus Ziemer offers expert analysis, breakdowns of matches and historical insight throughout the FIFA World Cup on KBBF 89.1 FM every Thursday from 5 to 7 p.m. Ziemer, along with host Mike McDowd, presents the World Cup Live Radio Show throughout the duration of the international event which concludes on July 11.