COMMUNITY NEWS CSUN TOPS IN PREPPING PH.D. PUPILS.

The National Science Foundation recently ranked California State University, Northridge, second in the nation in preparing students to earn doctoral degrees in research fields, particularly sciences, according to a university statement released last week. Only California State University, Long Beach, graduated more students who went on to earn doctoral degrees between 1995 and 2004.

Between 50 and 70 CSUN alumni earned doctoral degrees each year during that span. Furthermore, CSUN ranked first nationwide in preparing psychology doctorate recipients, a title it's held consistently since 1991.

CSUN was fourth in the nation in graduating students who went on to earn doctorates in the social sciences. It also came sixth in preparing science and engineering doctorates and tenth in biological sciences.

To commemorate Hunger Awareness Month, Albertson's Inc. gave $30,000 Wednesday to the Valley Food Bank for food donations to the needy. The donation, raised from Food for All contributions by shoppers, was based on a ``Dash for the Hungry'' at the Albertsons in Granada Hills. The dash competition pitted three teams vying to load the most groceries into carts in five minutes. Participants included two-member teams from Councilwoman Wendy Greuel's office, Valley Food Bank of North Hollywood and the media, including KABC Channel 7 and the Daily News. Valley Food Bank is a member of the Rescue Mission Alliance.

Burbank-based Warner Bros. Studios awarded its employees Scott Derek Gaba and Santo C. Rango Time Warner Inc.'s 25th annual Andrew Heiskell Community Service Award last week. For the last quarter-century, Time Warner has given the award to employees who've made exceptional contributions to public service.

Gaba, a costumer for the studio facilities' corporate archive department, co-founded Fresh Start, a sober-living home in Reseda. Fresh Start has grown from a single house for men to a facility for up to 18 men and 12 women.

Rango, Warner Bros.' travel operations coordinator, co-founded the Creative Planet School for the Arts, a private, nonprofit elementary school in Baldwin Park that offers accelerated academics and an after-school art program for low-income kids.

Each winner gets $5,000, $3,000 of which goes to the nonprofit of his or her choice, and the other $2,000 as a personal honorarium. The award is named after Andrew Heiskell, the late former chairman and CEO of Time Inc.

Actor Tony Danza awarded two scholarships totaling $6,000 last week to Serenity Pelayo and Brian Reynolds, seniors at Taft High School in Woodland Hills. Danza awards the scholarships every year in honor of Lamoun Thames, a Taft student stabbed to death by gang members outside the school in 1992. Thames' family attended the event.

The scholarships have gone each of the past 14 years to two students who wouldn't otherwise get a chance to go to college. Pelayo and Reynolds earned the scholarships for exceeding academically while enduring financial hardship. Pelayo has been accepted at California State University, San Francisco, and Reynolds at Temple University in Philadelphia.