MEDIA RELEASE

Two CSUN Professors Receive Haynes Foundation Fellowships

(NORTHRIDGE, Calif., April 17, 2008) — Cal State Northridge professors José Luis Benavides and James David Ballard each received $12,000 from the John Randolph Haynes and Dora Haynes Foundation to support historical research.

Benavides, a journalism professor, received the award for his ongoing research regarding Mexican-American music performer and radio broadcaster Pedro J. González. Ballard, a sociology professor, was recognized for his research and analysis on the transportation of radioactive waste.

Part of the grant will help cover travel expenses for Benavides and journalism professor Susan Henry during a summer excursion dedicated to finding valuable information on González. Popular during the 1930s, González is most noted for his pioneering efforts in the area of Spanish-language radio broadcasting in the United States.

"I’m really happy to have received the means to pursue research," said Benavides. "The grant will allow Susan and me to travel to Mexico City, Sacramento, San Francisco and Washington D.C. We also hope to be in contact with family members of González."

Ballard’s project, "Los Angeles and High Level Radioactive Waste Transport: Implications for the Community, Surrounding Counties and Local Transportation Infrastructure," will assist policy makers in determining the social, economic, political and transportation impacts waste shipments may have on surrounding communities, citizens and the local transportation infrastructure.

"My research will focus on the impacts of a large-scale, long-term federal program that would necessitate moving tens of thousands of shipments of highly radioactive materials through Southern California," said Ballard. "Given how important transportation is to this geographic area, the study will offer policy suggestions on how to minimize the transportation related impacts of this program on the population of this region."

The John Randolph Haynes and Dora Haynes Foundation is a leading supporter of social science research for Los Angeles. It is also the oldest private foundation in the city. Each year, the Foundation distributes up to $3 million in grants and scholarships to various institutions—most of them local. These funds, in turn, are used to encourage study and research into the underlying causes of social problems in Los Angeles and to recommend ways of addressing them.

"The Haynes Foundation is one of the few organizations that support social science research," said Ballard. "It is very humbling to receive this recognition considering the important research being done by social scientists in Southern California."