Cal State, Long Beach receives $1 million for center

The Communication Studies Department at California State University, Long Beach, decided a while back that its university support was never going to keep up with departmental ambitions. College and university development efforts weren’t netting much for communication, so, the department faculty decided to begin their own development operation. Faculty member Pat Kearney was given some release time to see what she could do, and she came up with a winner—a $1 million charitable remainder trust for the purpose of constructing a communication skills development center. Once more, the gift came from a retired department faculty member.

The Luster E. and Audrey Nichol Hauth Center for Communication Skills opens its doors this month in a temporary facility. Designed to serve a broad audience, plans for the permanent center include a reception and resource room, two staff offices, and five conference-sized rooms for individual coaching and group interaction. One room will serve as a video studio, and other rooms will have individual stations where students and clients can view their presentations. The plan involves using graduate students and advanced undergraduate students as peer coaches, as well as utilizing the specialized expertise of the faculty. Besides individual and group student coaching, the center plans to provide instruction in presentational software, such as PowerPoint, parliamentary procedure, work with faculty from across the Long Beach campus on classroom communication issues, and provide specialized consulting services, such as focus group facilitation, mediation, and videoconferencing, to the community.

Lus Hauth graduated from the University of Iowa in 1962 and was a faculty member at Long Beach for 28 years, until his retirement in 1992. Hauth was devoted to student skill development, and he and Audrey had dreamed of a way to use funds they had saved over the years from lucrative Southern California real estate dealings. As Audrey Hauth noted, “A very special reason for giving is that my parents were philanthropists and taught me the joy of giving. And ever since we’ve given to CSULB, we’ve had a wonderful ripple effect where wonderful experiences have resulted!” Lus Hauth added, “It’s a payback for all the good years CSULB gave me. They gave me a gift where for 28 years I looked forward to going to work every single day.”

So this gift was a good match between a perceived need and someone who was able to use an opportunity to fill that need. Kearney and department faculty member Terre Allen will provide administrative leadership for the facility, and Scott Allen, a full-time lecturer, will staff the Hauth Center. But, communication studies faculty members such as Tim Plax can use the center for communication research, James Sauceda can use it for reader’s theatre rehearsals, Craig Smith can use it for political communication consultation, and Fathi Yousef can use it to observe intercultural interactions. And, Cal State Long Beach students and faculty will have a new facility of which they can be proud.