Onna Victoria Fyssicopulos (Psychology) is this year’s CSU Trustee Emerita Anna Ortiz-Morfit/Hearst Foundations Scholar. Students across the CSU system are honored each year with the CSU Trustees’ Award for Outstanding Achievement. Honorees are selected based on their superior academic performance, personal accomplishments and community service. The scholarships are funded in a variety of ways, including support from current CSU Trustees, Trustees Emeriti and CSU Foundation Board members.
Fyssicopulos, a first-generation college student, said the award will go toward helping her complete her undergraduate studies.
“Receiving the CSU Trustees’ Award for Outstanding Achievement is a tremendous honor, and I am truly grateful to have been selected,” she said. “Winning this scholarship has provided some much-needed relief along my way. And the relief isn’t just financial, but mental and emotional as well — I feel a sense of accomplishment, like all the hard work was worth it, and validated, like I’m on the right path.”
Fyssicopulos is a senior psychology major in CSUN’s College of Social and Behavioral Sciences. The 27-year-old plans to graduate in spring 2026 and eventually become a psychologist, specializing in clinical mental health counseling.
“My goal is to provide therapy to individuals who have experienced trauma, abuse and neglect, especially those in low-income and underserved communities,” she said. “I’m hoping to work in settings where I can have the greatest impact, like community mental health centers, schools and crisis centers, or possibly even opening a private practice focused on trauma-informed care.”
Fyssicopulos, who moved to Los Angeles from Orlando, Florida at the age of 11, first earned an associate degree in psychology at Los Angeles City College, then transferred to CSUN, where she has excelled in her studies. This year, she became the first recipient of CSUN’s Jhoanna Serrano Psychology Award. Fyssicopulos has served as a peer educator for the Joint Advocates on Disordered Eating (JADE) through CSUN’s University Counseling Services — and is currently a peer educator and treasurer for The Blues Project, which promotes awareness and education about depression and suicide prevention. She also volunteers as a Crisis Text Line counselor and contributes to research taking place at CSUN’s Intergroup Prejudice Lab.
Fyssicopulos said she initially chose CSUN because she felt it had a strong psychology program.
“In hindsight, I would choose CSUN again, a hundred times over,” she said. “CSUN has helped shape my career plans by providing me the tools I need to succeed — the knowledge, the skills and the experience. But more than that, CSUN has given me the confidence to pursue my plans wholeheartedly, by giving me the community and support I always wanted.”
