The Road is Never Straight - CSUSB Magazine - California State ...

COLLEGE NEWS
Business & Public Administration . . . . . . . . . . . . . Norton Marks, interim dean
QUICK TAKES
The premier international
accrediting agency for
schools and colleges of business
has granted reaccreditation
to CSUSB’s College of
Business and Public
Administration. The
Association to Advance
Collegiate Schools of
Business International is considered
one of higher education's
most rigorous accrediting
bodies, stressing academic
excellence and commitment
to improvement.
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The CSUSB Inland Empire
Women’s Business Center,
a program of the Inland
Empire Center for
Entrepreneurship (IECE)
in partnership with the U.S.
Small Business Administration,
has begun offering
workshops to provide business
counseling, training
and mentoring designed
for and targeted to women
business owners. The center
has been holding workshops
on contracting with the government.
The workshops are
designed to help small businesses
get contracts with the
U.S. Department of Transportation,
DOT related
entities, and other government
agencies.
STUDIES IN
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
Bruce Varner,
attorney and longtime
member of
the CSUSB
University
Advisory Board
and past board
chairman was honored
in mid-April
as the College of
Business and
Public
Administration’s
2004 Arrowhead
Distinguished
Executive Officer.
Varner, a partner with the law firm Varner,
Saleson & Brandt, LLP, whose offices are in
Riverside and Upland, has been an ardent supporter
of the university. “Bruce has been a longtime
friend of the university and a major supporter
of a variety of programs at Cal State San
Bernardino,” said CSUSB President Albert
Karnig. “He’s been totally committed to the mission
of the university and our role in providing
higher education and other significant benefits to
the community. We’re deeply appreciative of his
friendship and generous support for Coyote
Athletics and the university as a whole. He’s been
an important part of the Cal State family for
many years and we are delighted to honor him
with the Arrowhead CEO Award.”
The annual award recognizes honorees’
leadership, civic service and commitment to education.
A luncheon banquet was held in his
honor at the university’s Santos Manuel Student
Union Events Center. Besides serving on the
CSUSB Advisory Board, Varner also was one of
the financial founders of the Coyote athletic program,
helping to fund the development of
the university’s athletic facilities, including
Coussoulis Arena.
Varner and his
wife, Nancy,
established
one of the
original athletic
scholarships at CSUSB
in honor of his parents,
Ann and Doyle Varner.
A graduate of the University of
California, Santa Barbara and
University of California Hastings
College of the Law, Varner began his
legal career as an associate with the
law firm of Kendall and Anderson in
Los Angeles. He moved to San
Bernardino in 1964 to become an
associate with the firm of Lonergan
and Jordan and became a partner
in 1967. For the next 30 years, he
practiced law with the firm that
became Gresham, Varner, Savage,
Nolan and Tilden. In 1997 Varner
and partner Steve Saleson branched
out to establish the law firm of
Varner, Saleson & Brandt, LLP.
Among his firm’s many clients is Stater Bros.
Markets. Varner was instrumental in helping to
negotiate the recent agreement with the Inland
Valley Development Agency that will allow Stater
Bros. to acquire and develop approximately 160
acres at and around the San Bernardino
International Airport (the former Norton Air
Force Base) for a new distribution center and
general offices.
Varner’s community activities are numerous.
He has served two terms as president of the
National Orange Show board of directors, and he
is currently chairman of the nonprofit board of
directors of the San Bernardino County District
Attorney’s Advisory Council. He is president of
the Silver Eagle Club, a group that supports
March Air Reserve Base, and he supports the
Friends of the Arrowhead, a non-profit corporation
that raises funds for the refurbishment and
continued maintenance of the Arrowhead landmark
in the San Bernardino Mountains.
A special counsel to the mayor of San
Bernardino, Varner also is past president and
board member of the San Bernardino Boys and
Girls Club, past president and board member of
the San Bernardino Jaycees and has many other
community affiliations. He was named the Inland
Empire Entrepreneur of the Year in 1996.
Proceeds from the Arrowhead Award luncheon
will benefit the Bruce Varner Endowment
Scholarship for deserving students who attend
CSUSB’s business college.
10
CSUSB
Spring/Summer 2004