Professor Donna L. Friess, Ph.D.
Department of Speech Communication

Donna Friess enjoys her teaching career at Cypress College. As a community college graduate herself she understands the needs of her students. She teaches Speech 100, Interpersonal Communication, Speech 105, and Intercultural Communication, Speech 120. She believes that each student's education is a personal concern. Dr. Friess takes her teaching very seriously and strives to create a safe, risk-free environment for her students.

She was honored by California State University at Fullerton in April of 2001 as one of seven outstanding community college faculty in Southern California who has inspired their Master's level graduates. Cypress College honored her in 1996 as one of its Outstanding Faculty during its 30 year anniversary celebration. Dr. Friess' biography appears in Who's Who in America and Who's Who in the World.

Dr. Friess has been a consistent member on campus and district committees as well as a frequent speaker on campus and off. She has appeared on Oprah, Leeza, Sally Jessy and many more radio and television talk shows, including those in Europe. She lectures across the country to mental health workers and childhood abuse survivors. She often presents her work at professional conferences and publishes in journals and scholarly publications. She earned her Ph.D. in Human Behavior in 1993, the same year that her first book, Cry The Darkness arrived in bookstores across the country. She is proud that Cry The Darkness is in its third printing in Holland and has been published in Germany, Korea, Norway, Switzerland and Denmark.

An activist for childrens' rights, Donna Friess was nominated for the U.S. President's Service Award and was recognized by the U.S. Justice Department for her work to protect children in 1995. She was a panelist at Governor Wilson's 1994 Crime Summit and a 2002 delegate to the U. S. Justice Department's Crime Victims Rountable. Her current project is the passage of a national bill of rights to protect children. She is also a member of TTAC, a U.S. Deptment Victims Rights Advisory board.

She has authored three more books, Just Between Us, a relationship text used in her interpersonal communication courses, Circle of Love, and Whispering Waters: Historic Weecha and the Settling of Southern California (HH Publishing, 1998). In addition to her scholarly life, Dr. Friess started the teen group at Laura's House Shelter for Women where she worked as a peer crisis counselor. Donna is an enthusiastic dog lover, hiker, jogger and portrait artist. Her paintings can be seen in art magazines and shows.

Beyond the thrill she obtains from watching her students as they open themselves up to new possibilities, is the joy she finds with her husband Ken, as they have taken the next big step into the wild and noisy world of grand-parenthood which Donna describes as "the best yet." She truly is very proud to be a part of Cypress College and to be a grandma to nine little ones!