Michelle Yerke (Class of 2010)
Social Services Supervisor
Senior Center in Central Park, Community & Library Service, City of Huntington Beach
Michelle first discovered her passion for working with older adults through a CSUF Human Services internship. After the internship, Michelle secured a position and worked as a lead Care Manager with the local senior center for several years. Ultimately she returned to CSUF and earned a Master’s in Gerontology which helped round out her knowledge base and provided great connections with others in the field of Gerontology.
Currently she is the Social Services Supervisor at the Senior Center in Central Park and oversees the Care Management, Home Delivered Meals, Transportation, and Volunteer Services, all of which are possible through exceptional staff and volunteers. Go to the Huntington Beach website to learn more about the programs that Ms. Yerke runs.
Ryan Dickey (Class of 2015)
Information Technology
Project Manager
CSUF Information Technology Department
Ryan leverages his BA in Sociology from UCSB and his MS in Gerontology from CSUF to on a daily basis understand and bridge gaps between team members while he managing various projects both on and off campus. Age differences are one of the key leaders to miscommunication and disconnection among groups, and his background allows him to navigate those intricacies to mitigate potential issues.
A father of 2 and currently pursuing an MBA with an Information Systems emphasis from CSUF, he continues to look for opportunities to grow his knowledge in the management of people, processes and projects. Ryan is also a leader and moderator of an online community of over five thousand individuals of all ages, ethnicities and genders. He found having the ability to understand and emphasize across all age ranges that he gained through his Gerontology degree has been key to keeping order through the potential discord of a large community.
Ryan was also the president of the CSUF chapter of the Sigma Phi Omega Gerontology Honors society from 2014-2015.
Denise Noguera (Class of 2012)
Call Center Manger
(Program Administrator II)
Ventura County Area Agency On Aging
denise.noguera@ventura.org
Denise has worked for VCAAA almost 9 years. She started as a Case Manager for Care Transitions, then a Program Coordinator for the Fall Prevention Program, followed by the position of Case Manager for the Housing + Program with Housing Authority, and then became a Program Manager I where she supervised staff & managed several of short term case management programs within the agency: Title IIIE Family Caregiver, Title IIIB Social Model Case Management, DA Elder Abuse XE, Alzheimer's Disease & Related Dementias & PEARLS (Program to Encourage Active Rewarding Lives). She also worked as their Grants Administrator and now as the I & A Manager (Call Center Manager).
She has found that her degree in Aging Studies has rewarded her with many opportunities to do the work she loves. She enjoys being a part of new projects and watching her staff learn and grow.