Board of Trustees Honors Three Retiring Professors with Namesake Scholarships

At this years commencement ceremonies the Alliant community bid farewell to three of its professors, and honored their contributions to the university with a scholarship in each of their names.

Drs. Connell Persico, Christopher Tori and Ronald Gandolfo each gave more then 30 years of service to Alliant. To acknowledge the legacy these men will leave behind, trustees have created a scholarship of $5,000 to be awarded annually to a student nominated by the faculty of the retiring faculty member's home campus.

Graduate School of Education – Los Angeles Professor Dr. Connell Persico has served as Provost of the CSPP’s Los Angeles campus as well as Alliant’s systemwide Senior Vice President. In 1990, he received and honorary doctorate from the California School of Professional Psychology and in February, 2006, established an endowment to support an annual award to a student who is ‘working in or working to create a positive LGBT organization or environment.’ Dr. Persico focused on organizational change and leadership and greatly contributed to the Rockway Institute as an affiliated faculty member.

The Dr. Christopher Tori scholarship will be given to a student at the San Francisco campus, where Dr. Tori has taught in the PsyD Clinical Psychology Program. During his time there he developed a strong interest in psychology as it relates to spirituality, health, religion and Southeast Asian cultures and languages, as is evident in the dissertations he’s chaired and literature he’s produced and contributed to.

The Ronald Gandolfo scholarship will be given to a student at the Fresno campus, where Dr. Gandolfo taught in the California School of Professional Psychology for 34 years. Dr. Gandolfo is a cornerstone of CSPP-Fresno, having been there since its inception. He was so devoted to the cause that he served for one year without pay to help the campus get started and has remained chair of the campus ethics committee during his entire time at Alliant.

For More Information
Dr. Persico’s Faculty Webpage
Dr. Tori’s Faculty Webpage
Dr. Gandolfo’s Faculty Webpage