������

Cal State Long Beach is for everyone, including early- and mid-career professionals seeking promotions or career transitions. Accordingly, the (CPaCE) hosts several certificate and professional designation programs providing life-changing skills and experiences.

“This program took me to something that graduating college, my undergrad, I never thought I would be into,” said Ryan Hopkins, who completed what is now known as the Global Logistics Professional program in 2007.

Hopkins is among the more than 1,100 students who have earned a CPaCE credential in logistics or port operations since 1997. CPaCE has and, like Hopkins, other alumni can attest to their learning helping them to find roles matching their aspirations.

“I feel like this program really helped me, like stepping stones, get to this point,” said Jessica Butler-Roberts ‘10, ‘17, who completed the Collections Management for Costumes and Textiles program before managing a private art collection.

CPaCE programs span fields including the arts, business and government management, and emergency services. A look at six:

Collections Management for Costumes and Textiles

Today’s clothing can become tomorrow’s artifacts. Butler-Roberts discovered this after completing her Bachelor of Arts in fashion merchandising and design and working at a Hollywood costume house.

“There’s a real personal connection to the previous owner, and the history of the time, that I found fascinating,” Butler-Roberts said.

The can be completed in about a year and prepares students to protect historic collections from such threats as humidity, pests and extreme temperatures. Students finish with a field assignment, typically at a museum.

Butler-Roberts said this program also prepared her to earn her Master of Arts in art history. She now oversees a collection of paper prints for the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation in Portland, Oregon – she observed that if you can care for fabric, you can protect paper – and is also a Collections Management instructor.

Crime and Intelligence Analysis

Crime analysts increase the odds that cases get closed. This can be completed in less than six months and, as explained by an analyst who helped design it, helps students use software like Excel and their own intellectual abilities to assist detectives.

“Every analyst I’ve ever met has been a very detail-oriented person,” said Rachael Chapman, who helped design this program and is now with a Minnesota agency. “That weird comma in the textbook that’s bold for no reason will drive us nuts.”

Mikaila Pacis ‘21 completed the program in 2022 after earning a Bachelor of Science in criminal justice and is now a Costa Mesa Police analyst. She affirmed that data proficiency and communications skills are essential to her work, in which she reviews crime reports, attends briefings and composes crime bulletins.

“I really appreciated how they prepared us for the day to day of the job,” Pacis said.

Emergency Medical Technician

The is a hands-on experience preparing students to pass the National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians Exam. Requiring less than three months to complete, it is a fit for aspiring firefighters and paramedics, plus undergraduates seeking nursing degrees.

“It was interesting because you get to see what it’s like to work in this field,” first-year pre-nursing student Emma Nguyen said. “You’ll be working with EMTs, as well as nurses in the hospital.”

Nguyen and another first-year pre-nursing student, Dakota Fazzolare, took the program, which includes clinical hours in the field, this past fall.

“We saw everything from just a simple fall to a bicycle-car collision,” Fazzolare said.

“Being able to be there for people and being able to help people is right up my alley,” she also said. “It’s everything I want in a job.”

Global Logistics Professional

Cal State Long Beach is near the nation’s busiest container ports, so it is natural for CPaCE to educate people interested in global shipping.

Two students who the helped into the field are Hopkins, director of network optimization for Saks, and Maribel Jimenez ‘07, global trade and customs principal for Nike. Learning from instructors with industry experience was a program highlight, both said.

“It was people out in the industry doing that job, it brought realness to me,” Jimenez said.

Hopkins spent about a decade in business-to-business sales before switching to logistics. For Saks, he helps the retailer locate fulfillment centers and with other projects focused on efficiently moving packages from Point A to Point B.  

Jimenez earned a Bachelor of Science in business management before coming to CPaCE to enhance her earnings potential. With Nike, she’s responsible for understanding nearly 50 free trade agreements and ensuring containers filled with $1 million worth of goods cross international lines.

“There’s some excitement, it’s stressful,” she said. “When you make it happen, it’s so empowering.”

Human Resources Management

Human resources professionals play essential roles in many organizations, filling open positions and helping employees to develop skills.

Edna Dominguez ‘20 found her calling in human resources after earning a Bachelor of Arts in American studies. She found a job at Pacific Gateway, a workforce development agency serving Long Beach and Signal Hill, before turning to CPaCE.

This online can be completed in about four months and covers employment law, compensation, talent development, inclusion and other topics. Dominguez enjoyed learning about the different facets of human resources – she said there’s more to HR than being where employees go if they get in trouble – and connecting with students already in the field.

Dominguez completed her certificate in 2021 and is on the human resources team at the Port of Long Beach, where she is focused on talent development.

“Now, where I’m at, I feel like I found my true career,” she said. “I don’t ever see myself changing what I’m doing.”

Meeting and Event Planning

Gatherings are a major part of professional life and the events industry has room for people of many proficiencies. The is informed by the Events Industry Council’s exam for the Certification in Meeting Planning and can be completed in less than three months.

Events professionals do much more than plan parties, instructor David Anderson said. They bring people together to accomplish strategic goals as varied as fundraising for childhood cancer patients, bringing FBI agents face-to-face with international counterparts or arranging corporate board meetings. Designers and creatives have important roles in the field, and so do app developers, stagehands and salespeople, he said.  

“Regardless of your personality type or skillset, there is a home for you in the events industry,” Anderson said.