Seaside, Calif., Oct. 22, 2025 - President Vanya Quiñones’s first President’s Speaker Series of the 2025-26 Academic Year explores the topics of employment, careers, social mobility, education and equity. 

Titled “Developing Talent: Building Tomorrow’s Workforce,” the event takes place at 6:30p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 12, at the World Theater and features keynote speaker Erik Cushman. He is the longtime publisher of the Monterey County Weekly, an award-winning newspaper founded in 1988 and augmented by an active website. 

He is also chair of the Monterey County Workforce Development Board, a federally-mandated, public-private jobs program that helps employers find skilled workers, and helps eligible job seekers who face barriers to employment. 

“Right now, in our part of California, the opportunities available to people with ambition to…advance economically and educationally are more numerous than they’ve been in my lifetime,” he says. 

After a Q&A, his talk will be followed by a moderated panel discussion featuring CSUMB alumni who will talk about the success they have achieved in starting and growing businesses, or ascending in their careers. 

The panelists include:

• Valerie Valdez, who earned a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology from CSUMB in 2016. In 2020, she opened Strength Monterey, a boutique gym offering personal training.

• Environmental studies major Colleen Courtney who has worked for County of Monterey Supervisor Mary Adams and currently works at Central Coast Community Energy.

• Erik Uppman, a 2001 graduate in computer science, who has worked in advertising for Chevrolet, Ford and MINI/BMW. He has been with Cannery Row Company for 11 years.

• Sabrina Siqueiros, who graduated with a degree in sustainable hospitality management and is an event sales specialist at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

The World Theater is located at 5260 Sixth Ave., Seaside.

Get more information and RSVP. 

About Cal State Monterey Bay

In 1994, a group of educators, elected officials and community leaders established Cal State Monterey Bay on an inspiring coastal section of Monterey Bay that was once Fort Ord Army base. The university is now recognized for innovative programs reflected in our 30 undergraduate and eight graduate degrees that prepare our students for success and help power the regional economy. Seventy-two percent of our students receive financial aid, and 49% are part of the first generation of their families to attend college. Learn more at csumb.edu.

Media can contact: Walter Ryce, 831-582-3653, wryce@csumb.edu, or Mark Muckenfuss, mmuckenfuss@csumb.edu, 831-582-3991.