Cal State San Bernardino students Jocelyn Cannon and Eric Doucette will be honored as the 2016 outstanding students for the College of Business and Public Administration during its commencement ceremonies on Saturday, June 18.
The college’s commencement will be at noon at Citizens Business Bank arena, 4000 East Ontario Parkway in Ontario. The CBPA commencement ceremony is one of four university graduations scheduled that day, bringing to a close CSUSB’s yearlong 50th anniversary celebration. More than 480 students are expected to participate.
Doucette, who lives in Riverside and will graduate with an MBA in management, will be recognized as the college’s Outstanding Graduate Student. He was also named the MBA Outstanding Academic Student of the Year.
Doucette became interested in business administration as he struggled with the management and business side of leading a small Calvary Chapel affiliate church in Grand Terrace for the last 12 years. The more he studied, the more he wanted to learn more about business administration, specifically in the concept of a business as a mission, the need for seminaries and Christian universities to incorporate business classes into their theology and practical ministry departments and in church government structure.
After graduation he plans to continue leading his church, and at the same time pursue teaching at the community college level. Doucette said he would love to obtain a doctorate degree and eventually become a professor, teaching leadership, business and management courses at the university level.
He said he was most inspired by his wife and family and encouraged by a number of professors.
“All the faculty was awesome, but most notably, I was inspired by Dr. Paul Kirwan, Dr. Kathy Pelletier, and Dr. Craig Seal,” Doucette said. “It was while sitting in their classes that I thought to myself repeatedly, I would like to do what they do. I could see myself in that role.”
Cannon, who lives in San Bernardino and will graduate with a bachelor of arts degree in business administration, will be recognized as the college’s Outstanding Undergraduate Student.
Originally a math major, Cannon became interested in finance when she realized she could have a career in math-related field with real life concepts behind it. She found finance to be rewarding and applicable to people’s everyday lives.
After graduation, Cannon plans to work full time in the commercial real estate lending department at Farmers Insurance Group Federal Credit Union, where she has been working part time while working toward her degree.
“In the future, I may possibly go back for my master’s degree, but that will be at a later time. I want to work first and see where it leads me and then I can decide if further education will bring me more opportunities,” Cannon said.
She credits her family for her inspiration, especially her older brother, who graduated from college with a degree in kinesiology and is still continuing his education.
“He is high achieving and driven, and as his younger sister, I always looked up and admired that,” Cannon said.
She also credits two CSUSB staff members as mentors.
“Erika Quinonez and Sara Calderon have both been great mentors to me,” Cannon said. “When I worked on campus in University Development, they both served as my supervisors. Since I have left, they have both been there to listen to my worries, my accomplishments, and they have always provided me with great advice and guidance. I sincerely appreciate all they have done for me.”
CSUSB will hold three other commencement ceremonies on June 18: The College of Social and Behavioral Sciences at 8 a.m., the College of Natural Sciences at 4 p.m. and the College of Arts and Letters and the College of Education at 8 p.m.
All of the commencement ceremonies at Citizens Business Bank Arena will be webcast live on the Creative Media Services webcast page.
For more information about the June 2016 graduations, visit the CSUSB Commencement website at or contact the Office of Special Events and Guest Services at (909) 537-7360.
For electronic images of Eric Doucette and Jocelyn Cannon, and for more information about Cal State San Bernardino, contact the university’s Office of Strategic Communication at (909) 537-5007 and visit news.csusb.edu.