For many years, Cal State Fullerton alum Ra\u00fal R. Tapia has had a significant hand in creating success stories. That makes sense, given his altruistic nature and the fact that, having made his way from laboring in the Southern California lemon fields to advising a U.S. president in the White House, he himself is an extraordinary success story.<\/p>\n
Despite his achievements, Tapia, who earned a bachelor\u2019s in political science in 1972, considers the help he\u2019s given others to be among his greatest honors.<\/p>\n
Those honors could fill a textbook. An all-too-brief snapshot: After graduating from Harvard Law School and earning a master\u2019s from Harvard in public administration, Tapia served on Jimmy Carter\u2019s staff, as deputy assistant to the president for Hispanic affairs. He later worked on the finance and steering committees for the John Kerry, Al Gore and Clinton-Gore presidential campaigns.<\/p>\n
As an entrepreneur and attorney, Tapia created and heads Tapia & Associates and works as an independent consultant, focusing on strategic planning, crisis management, telecommunications, municipal services, health care and public affairs. He is the founder, and former chairman of the board, president and CEO of the Republic Communications Corp., and was the founder, director, president and CEO of the AMO Broadcasting Co. In addition, he continues to serve on a number of for-profit and nonprofit boards of directors.<\/p>\n
The multitude of awards Tapia has received through the years is no less impressive. A few examples: He garnered the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Hispanic Bar Association of the District of Columbia and was recognized as the Role Model of the Year by Latina magazine.<\/p>\n
Closer to home, Tapia earned CSUF\u2019s Presidents Award as the outstanding graduate of the Class of 1972 and, 22 years later, was honored by the university with the Vision & Visionaries: Distinguished Alumnus Award.<\/p>\n
![\"Raul](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/CSF-L-TAPIA-1130-2.jpg\")
Raul R. Tapia, shown here with Hillary Clinton, earned a law degree and a master\u2019s degree in public administration from Harvard and served as
\ndeputy assistant to the president for Hispanic affairs under Jimmy Carter. (Photo courtesy of Raul R. Tapia)<\/p>\n
How did Tapia go from the farm fields to the White House and beyond? It began with a stellar work ethic \u2014 and life-altering help from Cal State Fullerton.<\/p>\n
\u201cI learned about the value of hard work early on,\u201d said Tapia, the son of a seamstress and a steelworker. \u201cMy first job was at age 11, picking lemons in the foothills of Upland and Rancho Cucamonga.\u201d He later worked as a grocery store box boy, among other menial jobs. \u201cI didn\u2019t think I had the grades to succeed in a university.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fortunately, CSUF thought otherwise, inviting Tapia into New Educational Horizons, a university program that brought together young students with similar backgrounds.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe people at Cal State Fullerton have always assisted diamonds in the rough,\u201d Tapia said. \u201cThey gave me an opportunity and a sense of direction. \u2026 My professors furnished me with a lifelong love of learning. For example, my freshman English teacher assigned me extra writing assignments outside of the regular coursework. My writing skills, which hadn\u2019t been strong but are critical for any lawyer, improved dramatically due to her feedback and encouragement.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thanks to his commitment to help others, Tapia has served as a mentor in Cal State DC Scholars, a program in which students earn academic credit while interning in the nation\u2019s capital. Over the past two decades, more than 650 CSUF students have been involved in the program.<\/p>\n
\u201cDC Scholars is a great program,\u201d Tapia said. \u201cHowever, I\u2019ve been mentoring others long before that. \u2026 Being a good mentor involves stoking the embers that you see in a person and building that into a flame; that flame is hope. Rather than push, a good mentor suggests and provokes thought, and the most successful mentees I\u2019ve worked with are intellectually curious.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tapia credits Jack Mandel, a lawyer who later served as an OC Superior Court judge, as a key mentor. The two first met when Tapia was a CSUF junior, and Mandel later assisted Tapia in his acceptance into Harvard Law School.<\/p>\n
CSUF political science major Colson Houck Teal, who served in the Cal State DC Scholars program in the spring of 2024, as well as last summer, credits Tapia with helping him apply to law schools, while sharing his wealth of knowledge and experience. \u201cMr. Tapia has told me about what I can expect in law school, and he\u2019s been helping me, in particular, with my law school application. \u2026 Not only is the information he provides incredible, but his positive spirit has also had a real impact. He\u2019s shown me the kind of person I want to be, not just in my accomplishments but in how I want to live life in general.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tapia remains grateful for the help of others. \u201cI\u2019ve received far more than I\u2019ve given,\u201d he said. \u201cI stand on the shoulders of my mentors and teachers. People believed in me and gave me hope and encouragement. And the debt I owe, one I can never repay, is the debt to Cal State Fullerton.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For many years, Cal State Fullerton alum Ra\u00fal R. Tapia has had a significant hand in creating success…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":83096,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164,2627,7,2628,23,611,77],"class_list":{"0":"post-83095","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-anaheim","8":"tag-anaheim","9":"tag-anaheim-headlines","10":"tag-anaheim-news","11":"tag-cal-state-fullerton","12":"tag-california","13":"tag-fullerton","14":"tag-local-news","15":"tag-orange-county","16":"tag-uncategorized"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83095","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83095"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83095\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/83096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83095"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83095"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}