California State University At Los Angeles

A man suspected of decapitating a Cal State Los Angeles professor at her Pasadena home and then apparently committing suicide was identified Tuesday as a boyfriend and former student at the university. By the time the body of Glenda Vittimberga, 36, was found Monday, Mark Guerro, 38, had stripped naked and walked into the path of a big rig on Interstate 15 in the Cajon Pass, Pasadena police said.

OMAHA -- It's a matchup straight out of Aesop's Fables, only this time the tortoise is favored over the hare. Cal State Fullerton, the up-tempo team that relies on quick guards, will meet plodding Wisconsin, with its giant-like men in the middle, in the opening round of the NCAA Midwest regional today at the Qwest Center. No.

The family of one of two Cal State Los Angeles students who drowned this month filed a $100- million wrongful death lawsuit Monday against Alpha Kappa Alpha, the sorority that Kristin High's family blames for her death at Dockweiler State Beach. The suit in Los Angeles County Superior Court contends that High, a 22-year-old senior at Cal State Los Angeles and mother of a 2-year-old boy, was led into heavy surf late at night on Sept. 9 by sorority members.

Question: Who was Ruben Salazar? Answer: Salazar worked for The Times for 11 years as a reporter and foreign correspondent. He left the newspaper in 1970 to become news director of KMEX-TV but continued to write a weekly commentary for The Times. Many consider him one of the strongest voices in the Chicano rights movement that swept through Los Angeles and other cities in the 1960s and 1970s.

Lupe Exposito's fate was sealed in the instant it took to decide which concrete path to take to safety. Exposito, a 23-year-old microbiology major at California State University at Los Angeles, drove to the hilly Eastside campus Thursday morning from her home in San Gabriel with her sister, Rosa, 22, and parked in the subterranean level of Parking Lot C, which fills up early, particularly on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

The NCAA is looking into allegations made by three former members of the Cal State Los Angeles women's cross-country team who accused Coach Greg Ryan of violating NCAA rules, misappropriating funds and mentally abusing them. Maria Lopez, who along with Gracie Padilla and Jeri Young filed complaints with the university in May, said she had been interviewed by an NCAA investigator at her home in Compton.

The subject was well-worn: violence and hip-hop culture. Then why were people suddenly shouting? There was Ice-T, the pioneer of LA gangsta rap music, notorious for his violent--and sometimes misogynist--lyrics, sitting on a panel late Saturday afternoon at Cal State Los Angeles discussing why rap music was violent. "I'm a person who deals with violence always in my music," he said. "Masculinity runs this world. The person who's violent gets control. Peace gets nothing."

Licensed marriage, family and child counselor Elise Nickel hadn't been in a classroom for 10 years and knew she needed to learn more ways to tackle family problems, "not only for my own children but for the parents that I counsel." So she enrolled in Saturday classes in Cal State Los Angeles' Parent Educator Certificate Program and was one of its first eight graduates April 21.

The season is here, which means Shaun Scott has to provide the same painful explanation to every classmate who, not knowing what happened to him and his teammates, innocently asks him how the Cal State Los Angeles basketball team will fare. "I basically tell them that we all got cut," Scott said. "The entire team got cut." Well, two-thirds of it at least. Eight in all. And not even the eight months that have passed since the team went through its own March Madness have healed the wounds.

SCHOLARSHIP FUND: Minority students at Los Angeles Southwest College and Cal State L.A. received scholarships from the Donald Jones Memorial Fund, named after the 34-year veteran of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. The fund was set up by Jones' widow, Johnetta Jones, who gave a total of $3,000 to four students, two of whom are studying the administration of justice at Southwest and the other two who are in the independent living program at Cal State L.A.

Barry Munitz, who quit as chief executive of the J. Paul Getty Trust in February amid controversy about his leadership and spending, is returning to the California State University system as a teacher and fundraiser at Cal State Los Angeles. University officials announced Friday that Munitz, 64, chancellor of the 23-campus system from 1991 to 1998, will hold the title of trustee professor.

Four teenagers were hospitalized -- two in intensive care -- after being hit hundreds of times with a plastic paddle as part of a university hazing ritual, Monterey Park police said Friday. Lt. Chris Keller said the students are 18 and 19 years old and appear to be fraternity members at Cal State L.A. Three of them were hospitalized at San Gabriel Valley Medical Center in San Gabriel and the fourth was at Beverly Hospital in Montebello.

A chemistry professor at Cal State L.A. was named Thursday as one of the four winners of the prestigious "U.S. Professors of the Year" award. Carlos G. Gutierrez, 56, was chosen for the national honor by two organizations, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education. Gutierrez, who has been at Cal State L.A. since 1975, was cited for his efforts to encourage students, particularly minority students, to enter scientific fields.

The season is here, which means Shaun Scott has to provide the same painful explanation to every classmate who, not knowing what happened to him and his teammates, innocently asks him how the Cal State Los Angeles basketball team will fare. "I basically tell them that we all got cut," Scott said. "The entire team got cut." Well, two-thirds of it at least. Eight in all. And not even the eight months that have passed since the team went through its own March Madness have healed the wounds.

For Bobby Castillo, playing baseball in the streets of Lincoln Heights, with balding tennis balls and hubcaps for bases, helped blaze a path to dreams and away from trouble. As a relief pitcher, he played on the World Series-winning Dodgers team of 1981. He also taught the screwball to a pudgy Mexican left-hander known for staring at the heavens when he delivered his loopy pitch.

For 42 students from Italy, summer English classes at Cal State Los Angeles were academically challenging. But just as important, they said, were off-campus adventures to learn about American culture: riding buses, touring movie studios, partying at nightclubs and eating at In-N-Out Burger. "I'd like to experience life as real Americans do," said Luca Pedrotti, 23, who was enrolled in the Italian Summer Program at the Eastside campus. "This is what I'm looking for, to live true Los Angeles life."

Two organizations are teaming up this week to use William Shakespeare to fight bigotry, bias and racism. Shakespeare Festival/LA, a nonprofit theater group, and the National Conference group, a nonsectarian race-relations organization, are working with 50 youths at Cal State Los Angeles to develop three original plays based on themes from the Bard's work. The plays will be based on themes from "Romeo and Juliet," "Othello" and "A Midsummer Night's Dream."

Cal State Los Angeles, which was embroiled in a racial controversy last season when basketball Coach Jim Newman's contract was not renewed, has named Henry Dyer, former Ram running back, to succeed Newman. Dyer, basketball coach at Compton College the last three seasons, is black, as is Newman. When Newman, Cal State L.A.

When Gina Parodi was a senior at South High School in Torrance, male classmates in auto shop would not let her take apart the lawn mower motor they were studying. But Parodi, who grew up building miniature roller coasters for pinballs and radio-controlled dune buggies, finally got her hands on a lawn mower motor three years ago. She joined a club at Cal State L.A. that designed a car each year for the international Supermileage competition sponsored by the Society of Automotive Engineers.

A small explosion at a Cal State L.A. science laboratory Tuesday night slightly injured three students and spilled some chemicals, the Los Angeles Fire Department said. Brian Humphrey, a spokesman for the department, said the blast occurred about 9 p.m., when a capped container of nitric acid burst, scattering shards of glass that cut a 24-year-old woman, a 28-year-old man and a 44-year-old woman. All the injuries were minor, Humphrey said.