Congratulations Aayushi, the 2026 College of Humanities Dean’s Scholar

When she first started at CSUN, Aayushi (EYE-you-she) made some promises to herself: to take risks, embrace challenges, and welcome the unknown. She didn’t want to leave college unchanged.

Wasting little time, Aayushi stepped into leadership as the youngest board member of the CSUN Cinema Club, serving as Sergeant-at-Arms. She became a writer for The Sundial. Later, facing her fear of public speaking, she was selected for the CSUN Department of Communication Studies’ intramural competition, and won. Her commitment to service grew along with her confidence, inspiring her to work as a peer mentor for incoming freshmen. And, at the University Student Union, she was hired as a Meeting Room Crew Member and was later promoted to Operations Assistant.

In linguistics, Aayushi discovered a field that connected language, identity, and community. Through her minor in TESL, she gained field experience with the CSUN Intensive English Program, which inspired her to create an independent research project focused on making language learning more accessible for beginner ESL students, without diminishing their confidence. She has presented her research on equitable language learning at multiple conferences and now has her eye on publication.

Aayushi was awarded the Delphine Ulibarri Lucero Scholarship from the Department of Linguistics and TESL, established and served as president of the CSUN Latin Club, assisted on multiple research projects, continues to work as a student mentor, was selected as the Dean’s Scholar in the College of Humanities, and is already working towards her master’s degree at CSUN. When asked to reflect on Aayushi’s accomplishments, one of her professors said, “I am confident that Aayushi will go on to make significant contributions to her academic field and will proudly represent CSUN’s excellence.”

Forever a proud Matador, Aayushi is a shining example of promises kept.