The California State University (CSU) will present four faculty and one staff member with the esteemed Wang Family Excellence Award for their unwavering commitment to student achievement and advancing the CSU mission through excellence in teaching, scholarship and service. Each honoree will receive a monetary award provided by CSU Trustee Emeritus Stanley T. Wang and administered through the CSU Foundation.
Honorees will be recognized publicly today, January 28, during the CSU Board of Trustees meeting in Long Beach, California.
“Our 2025 Wang Family Excellence Award recipients personify passion, innovation and a commitment to elevating the CSU learning experience for the diverse and talented students we are so honored to serve,” said CSU Chancellor Mildred García. “These five extraordinary individuals are connecting students with transformational opportunities for personal and intellectual growth, as well as to serve leadership roles in their communities. We offer our enduring and heartfelt appreciation to Trustee Emeritus Stanley Wang and his family for their generous gift that allows us to provide financial support for these outstanding and student-focused awardees.”
Introduced in 1998, the Wang Family Excellence Awards recognize CSU faculty members who have distinguished themselves through high-quality teaching and excellence in their area of expertise. The awards also acknowledge a staff member whose contributions go above and beyond expectations.
The five honorees are:
Gisela Bichler, Ph.D., Cal State San Bernardino (Professor, Criminal Justice) | Outstanding Faculty Scholarship
Dr. Gisela Bichler is known as an international leader in crime analysis, situational crime prevention and social network analysis. A prolific researcher whose work has been cited nearly 2,000 times, Dr. Bichler has authored 63 publications and 44 technical reports and has given more than 100 research presentations to audiences around the world. Within the last five years alone, she has published “Understanding Criminal Networks: A Research Guide” with the University of California Press, more than a dozen peer-reviewed journal articles and three book chapters. Many of her scholarly works have included students as co-authors, providing them with valuable and impactful experiences.
Bichler has also secured more than $4.5 million in external funding, with nearly $2 million of that amount coming from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Institute of Justice and the U.S. Department of Justice. Currently, she serves as principal investigator on a four-year, nearly $1 million grant from NSF.
In the classroom, Bichler is a widely sought-after teacher whose connections with her students last long after graduation, including those who continue to work with her on research projects. She also serves as a mentor, motivator and source of inspiration to new faculty, often including them in her research projects and offering career advice.
Rashida M. Crutchfield, Ed.D., Cal State Long Beach (Professor, School of Social Work) | Outstanding Faculty Service
Dr. Rashida Crutchfield, a founding advisor of CSULB’s Basic Needs Program, is credited with significantly changing universities’ understanding of how housing and food insecurity create barriers to students’ success. Crutchfield first began studying impacts on students experiencing basic need insecurity across the CSU in 2015. Her research, along with the research of a small community of colleagues, essentially forged a basic needs movement in policy and practice across the country.
In 2018, along with two other CSU colleagues, Crutchfield co-created the CSU Basic Needs Research Consortium (BNRC), which continues to regularly convene experts from across the system. She was also part of a team that developed the California Higher Education Basic Needs Alliance.
At CSULB, Crutchfield also serves on the President’s Equity and Change Commission, participated in the Dean’s Black Health Equity Group, and has led the College of Health and Human Services and Long Beach community task force to address homelessness. As the campus’ primary contact for research regarding students experiencing homelessness and food insecurity, she has participated in dozens of media interviews. In spring 2021, Crutchfield founded the CSULB Center for Equitable Higher Education, where she serves as executive director.
Nanda Ganesan, Ph.D., Cal State LA (Professor, Information Systems) | Outstanding Faculty Teaching
Dr. Nanda Ganesan has shown outstanding leadership throughout his tenure at Cal State LA, where he has served as the chair of the Department of Information Systems multiple times. In this role, Ganesan has been instrumental in program development, curriculum revisions and faculty recruitment, showcasing his commitment to advancing the department and supporting its faculty and students.
Most notably, in 2024, he spearheaded a comprehensive update to the bachelor’s degree program in Computer Information Systems at Cal State LA, introducing three critical specializations in cybersecurity, data analytics and software development. Ganesan also established the Master of Science in Information Systems program and founded two computer labs for hands-on learning. Furthermore, he redesigned the university’s CIS 3010 Management Information Systems course, which received the Quality Matters certification.
Ganesan has influenced the broader academic community through his advisory roles and contributions to external institutions, sharing his insights on educational and technological advancement both nationally and internationally. He has published extensively on effective teaching methodologies – focusing on online and hybrid learning models. He has garnered numerous awards for his work, including recognition from the Cal State Student Association for pioneering the use of blended and hybrid learning technologies in higher education and being named Cal State LA’s President’s Distinguished Professor in 2024.
Kimberly Stillmaker, Ph.D., Fresno State (Associate Professor, Civil Engineering) | Outstanding Faculty Innovator in Student Success
As director of the Lyles College of Engineering’s new Foundation for Success Program, Dr. Kimberly Stillmaker focuses on improving outcomes for all first-year and sophomore students pursuing engineering degrees at the college. Stillmaker works to ensure that her students—many from historically underrepresented groups—have the tools to succeed both as college students and as engineers.
Stillmaker led the implementation of a pre-engineering major aimed at helping first-time engineering students find a clear roadmap to graduation and beyond. Overall, these efforts are showing promising results, with the first-year engineering retention rate increasing dramatically and students providing overwhelmingly positive feedback.
Stillmaker also coordinates the Central California Engineering Design Competition, engaging first-year engineering students from Fresno State and students from Central California community colleges in a joint competition and culminating group project.
Stillmaker has also pursued external funding to support her work. Among her grant projects, she is a co-principal investigator on an NSF-funded ADVANCE grant that focuses on establishing a systemwide networking and mentoring program within the CSU that fosters diversity and equity among engineering faculty. She has been published in multiple outlets, most with student co-authors, to expand understanding of the importance of diversity and belonging within the engineering field.
Freddie Sánchez, Ph.D., CSUN (Assistant Vice President of Student Affairs, Equity & Inclusion) | Outstanding Staff Performance
Dr. Freddie Sánchez is a passionate advocate for equitable access to higher education and a dynamic changemaker focused on the empowerment of historically underserved student populations. Recognizing the importance of fostering a sense of belonging for students, he has created authentic opportunities for students from every background, identity and lived experience to feel seen, supported and celebrated.
In his previous role as associate director of Programs and Inclusion for the University Student Union, he expanded capacity and resources for CSUN students through the Pride Center, Veterans Resource Center and the Undocumented Student Center. He also pioneered programs such as the Women Inspired to Succeed and Discover Opportunities through Mentoring (WISDOM) program and the HEAL Project, which connects CSUN students with tools and resources they need to thrive in college and complete their degrees.
Sánchez serves as co-chair of CSUN’s Commission on Diversity and Inclusion and also served as one of three campus leaders responsible for guiding CSUN successfully through the process for earning the Seal of Excelencia from Excelencia in Education. Sánchez has received national recognition from NASPA, Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education and the Association for College Unions International for his work in spearheading policy change and faculty and staff retention efforts.
For more information on the awardees and their accomplishments, visit the Wang Family Excellence Award website.
About the California State University
The California State University is the nation's largest four-year public university system, providing transformational opportunities for upward mobility to more than 460,000 students from all socioeconomic backgrounds. More than half of CSU students are from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds, and more than one-quarter of undergraduates are first-generation college students. Because the CSU's 23 universities provide a high-quality education at an incredible value, they are rated among the best in the nation for promoting social mobility in national college rankings from U.S. News & World Report, the Wall Street Journal and Washington Monthly. The CSU powers California and the nation, sending nearly 125,000 career-ready graduates into the workforce each year. In fact, one in every 20 Americans holding a college degree earned it at the CSU. Connect with and learn more about the CSU in the CSU newsroom.