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Outstanding University Service Award—Anne-Louise Radimsky

Anne-Louise Radimsky

Sacramento State computer science professor Anne-Louise Radimsky proudly refers to students here as “the working bees, the ones who are going out and doing the work.”  She should know. For 28 years she has helped prepare her students to graduate and join the work force.

Radimsky received Sacramento State’s 2006-07 Outstanding University Service Award in part because of her commitment to educating students and preparing them for careers. She says she likes knowing that students who may not have opportunities elsewhere can come here, learn and become professionals. “I recently came across a former student who graduated and began working at Intel. It was nice to see he had achieved a level of success.”

She is also a mentor for women and minorities. “This is not the ivory tower like some other schools,” she says. “Real life comes here. Our students often come from backgrounds where the family is not college-educated. I try to nurture my students, help them when they need it and encourage them to continue on. It’s nice to know they have a chance to make it.”

Her interest in helping women and minorities may have come from her own personal experiences. While a student at Berkeley, she was the third woman in her college to earn a doctorate degree in electrical engineering and computer science. And, as a new instructor at UC Davis, she was the only woman in her department, something that made her feel a bit isolated.  

“The male colleagues didn’t want to go to lunch with me because they thought they were obligated to pay. But when I came here, the first thing the chairman of the department said was, ‘Let’s go to lunch.’ He didn’t feel obliged to pay for my lunch and that was perfectly fine with me,” she says.

Radimsky says she loves being at Sacramento State and has shown it by giving back to the college and the University. She was chair of the Computer Science Department, chair of the Academic Senate Fiscal Affairs committee, chair of the her college academic council, chair of the primary Retention, Tenure and Promotion committee in her department, a mentor for several Project Success students and an advisor to several student organizations, including the Society of Women Engineers.

“I’ve been on many, many committees,” Radimsky says. “I like to do it, though, because it takes me out of my little world of engineering. I like being involved. It’s part of the job, part of the game and part of the enjoyment.”