Scholarship Honors Local CSUN Official

Longtime advocates of building a public university in Ventura County have established a scholarship honoring Joyce M. Kennedy, director of the Cal State Northridge Ventura campus who announced her retirement two months ago.

The Kennedy Tribute & Scholarship Committee will host an endowment dinner at the Holiday Inn in Ventura Dec. 11 at 6 p.m. to honor Kennedy and raise money for the scholarship fund bearing her name.

“Without Joyce Kennedy, we wouldn’t really be going forward,” said Beverly Polis, who served on a committee advocating a public university in Ventura County for years.

“She was the leader and the spirit of the movement to bring us a university. And in the meantime, she provided an education for thousands of people in Ventura County.”

Kennedy, who will leave her post in the spring, announced her resignation as a gubernatorial task force was considering whether to convert Camarillo State Hospital into a four-year college once the mental hospital closes in June.

That task force has since recommended that the Cal State system take over the 750-acre property south of Camarillo.

Tickets for the dinner are $55, with proceeds going to the newly organized scholarship fund. Additional donations also will be accepted and founding sponsorships are $1,000.

Scholarships will be awarded to students at Cal State Northridge Ventura campus and later at Cal State Channel Islands, the name designated for the new campus.

For more information, call 641-9422 or 520-7657.