Faculty member establishes endowment to support student programs

Dahna Stowe and sister Dorie Gutierrez donating $125,000 over five years

By California State University, Bakersfield

February 26^th, 2026

More California State University, Bakersfield students will be able to access vital support services on campus thanks to the support of a fellow Roadrunner.

Sociology lecturer and double alumnus Dahna Stowe and her sister, Dorie Gutierrez, are donating $125,000 over five years to CSUB to establish the Rasmussen Family Endowment in honor of their parents.

The endowment will support five key CSUB initiatives: SANKOFA Scholars, Excel Scholars, Project Rebound, CARE Services and the Basic Needs Fund, which supports students at both the Bakersfield and Antelope Valley (AV) campuses.

“These programs are aligned with our values. We’re not going to support anything we don’t believe in,” Stowe said. “It was important for us to support those programs, especially ones like SANKOFA that are not as solidified as others and are still trying to build up. Hopefully this will help bring more attention to these programs.”

Stowe, who was a nontraditional student first-generation graduate, earned her bachelor’s degree in sociology from CSUB in 2011 and her master’s in the subject in 2013. She has worked as a lecturer in the Sociology Department since 2015, first at AV and then on the Bakersfield campus. While she still teaches some AV students today, most of her classes are on the main campus.

“I love it. I wouldn't want to be doing anything else,” Stowe said.

Stowe has been a longtime supporter of CSUB. She has been a donor since she first started working at the university, giving $10 a month out of her paycheck to support students.

“Even that helps,” she said. “What might look to some like a measly $120 a year, imagine what that can do for a student, what that can do for a family?”

Director of the Educational Opportunity Program and Special Programs Natasha Harris — who helps run the SANKOFA Scholars and Excel Scholars programs — said that over the years, Stowe has “played a vital role in the support and persistence of our students. Through her generosity, we have been able to provide book stipends, leadership opportunities as well as workshops and opportunities that support career readiness and placement.”

Associate Professor of Sociology Dr. Rhonda Dugan — who now serves as chair of the Sociology Department — has known Stowe since she was a student in her Introduction to Research Methods class, which Stowe now teaches. Dr. Dugan said she was a great student who has gone on to become an essential faculty member in the department who is always willing to go the extra mile to help students.

“She always goes above and beyond what she’s expected to do in her role as a professor. She’s had a great impact on the students and our department,” Dr. Dugan said. “I think what she and her sister are doing with this endowment is remarkable. It’s great that they have a lens on where the need is. It really says something about who they are.”

While Gutierrez isn’t a CSUB graduate, she is excited to be involved with the endowment because it is something that benefits the community that they grew up in.

“We’re just two local girls trying to do some good,” she said. “For us to be able to do what we’re doing I think solidifies our commitment to this community, to our respect for this community, to the fact that we appreciate where we come from and we have never forgotten where we've come from. Bakersfield will always be a part of us.”

A difficult upbringing

Stowe and Gutierrez were both born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, but spent most of their childhood in Bakersfield being raised by their mom. It was a challenging time for the family, which often struggled to make ends meet.

“We grew up in poverty. We were that family that had to make a pot of spaghetti last a week,” Stowe said.

Their parents emphasized the importance of education from an early age, especially their mother. Susan Rasmussen worked for many years as a substitute teacher in Bakersfield.

“Our mother always told us that education was the thing that was going to get us out of where we were,” Stowe said. “She obviously knew enough to know that that was our ticket out. If we wanted anything better for ourselves and for our own children, that's how we were going to get it out.”

Gutierrez, who is three years older than Stowe, said one of the main reasons why her mother always stressed the value of education was because it is something that can never be taken away by someone else.

“They can take away everything else — your house, your car, your clothes — but they can never take away your education. She was always very big on that,” she said.

While Gutierrez said she and her sister had mixed feelings about their experience growing up in Bakersfield, they now look back on that time more positively.

“We're grateful for all the good, the bad, and the ugly that this town has given us,” Gutierrez said. “As we've gotten older, we've realized that there's more good coming from Bakersfield, and we claim Bakersfield as our hometown. Cedar Rapids, Iowa, was the place we were born, but this community raised us. We didn’t have roots until we came to Bakersfield.”

'Leaving a legacy'

Stowe and Gutierrez hope the new endowment will help more current and future CSUB students stay in school and graduate, especially those who come from underserved communities and low-income households like the one they grew up in.

For two sisters who come from very humble beginnings, they never imagined they would be in a financial position to make a donation of this size. To them, it’s all about giving back to the community that helped make them who they are today.

“I think both of us have a clear understanding of what we have been given and how rare it is for people like us to come from where we come from and end up where we are,” Stowe said. “I think we're both very committed to making sure that we give back because somewhere along the line, somebody gave to us. Somebody helped us, so here we are, trying to help other people.”

They both hope the endowment will inspire others to take similar action to ensure that students have the support they need to be successful at CSUB and go on to serve their communities.

“We hope that people will be like ‘I see what they did and maybe one day I can do that,’” Gutierrez said. “There's a responsibility I feel that comes when you end up in a position that we are in, that you give back in any way that you possibly can to the community that helped you get where you are at this moment in time. We're leaving a legacy for those who come long after we're gone.”