Photo Courtesy Rehabilitation Counseling Program/The Collegian

A professor of Fresno State’s nationally ranked rehabilitation counseling program was awarded $10,000 and an annual award.

Charles Arokiasamy, a professor and former redemptorist monk, received the 2010 President’s Award of Excellence.

The award is given to recognize a faculty or staff member who demonstrates integrity, leadership and a commitment to the university and the community, according to the university’s Web site.

Michael Botwin, the chair of the Academic Senate, said that Arokiasamy is deserving of the award because he has greatly expanded the rehab counseling program.

In 1994, two years before Arokiasamy came to the program, rehab counseling had only one student. This year, the program has 128 students.

“I think that [the program] serves a very important niche in society,” Botwin said.

People wrongly assume that rehab counseling deals with only drug users, Arokiasamy said. The program works with individuals who have any kind of disability and help them get into the workplace.

“What we do is try to get people back into the mainstream of life,” Arokiasamy said.

The aim, he said, is to aid individuals in the pursuit of life goals. Human beings need structure and interaction to feel like they belong, Arokiasamy said.

“Work does all kinds of interesting things for us,” he said. “The worst punishment you can give somebody is excommunication or isolation.”

Arokiasamy said that the problem lies within the agencies that are designed to help those with disabilities. The agencies often do not treat clients with the respect that is due, he said.

“That is our passion,” Arokiasamy said. “It’s those attitudes that keep people with disabilities off the job.”

The rehab counseling program aims to change “the face of human service,” according to its vision statement. The program focuses on building character and teaching selflessness to its students, Arokiasamy said.

Arokiasamy’s desire to “break bread for poorest of the poor” came from his time in the redemptorist order of monks in Malaysia, he said.

Arokiasamy studied at Southern Illinois University and spent some time at the Louisiana State University Medical Center before moving to Fresno.

Erica Ananian-Eastes, director of workability IV for rehab counseling, has worked for Arokiasamy for four years. She said that everyone in the program feeds off of his ability to be motivated and put others’ needs before his own, something his program stresses.

“He goes above and beyond,” Ananian-Eastes said. “He’s here working all night long, weekends [and] holidays.”

Arokiasamy embodies the mission statement of the program, said a student in the program Natalie Hardy.

“He brings a uniqueness to the program, in that he takes the learning to heart,” Hardy said.