Latest Achievements

Dr. Gabi Kirk has two new publications out on political ecology and agrarian issues in Palestine. The first is co-authored with Dr. Paul Kohlbry, "Situating the Transnational in Agrarian Palestine," in the edited volume Resisting Domination in Palestine: Mechanisms and Techniques of Control, Coloniality and Settler Colonialism (IB Taurus/Bloomsbury). https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/resisting-domination-in-palestine-9780755…; The second, "Trains, Trees, and Terraces: Infrastructures of Settler Colonialism and Resistance in the Refaim Valley, Palestine-Israel," is in the edited volume Gendered Infrastructures: Space, Scale, and Identity (West Virginia University Press). https://wvupressonline.com/gendered-infrastructures Both chapters look critically at settler colonial dispossession in rural parts of the Occupied West Bank.

 

 

Justin Luong (FFRM) and colleagues recently published a paper in Functional Ecology on how plant geographic distribution influences chemical defenses in native and introduced Plantago lanceolata populations. Populations from introduced ranges were characterized by an increase in anti-herbivory chemical defense compounds without compromising plant productivity.  A link to the manuscript is here.  

Kenia Gomez, Gabriel Abundis & (graduate student) Ernesto Chavez-Velasco received research grants from the California Native Grassland Association to examine pressing issues on various California rangelands. Kenia will explore how drought and woody debris affect a local threatened species, North Coast Semaphore Grass; Gabriel will explore how local photovoltaic grids affect rangeland plant communities; Ernesto will work to develop field methods for selecting plants that will match with environmental characteristics for context-specific management to promote biodiversity and drought resilience on rangelands.

Drs. Rouhollah Aghasaleh and Tristan Gleason have been named the Journal of Curriculum Theorizing (JCT) Editors and Presidents of the Foundation for Curriculum Theory for 2025-2030.  JCT is recognized as one of the most prestigious journals in the field of Curriculum Studies. Notably, JCT is closely associated with the Bergamo Conference on Curriculum Theory and Classroom Practice, a gathering that has fostered dialogues among theorists, practitioners, scholars, and cultural workers since 1969. Both the journal and the conference operate under the Foundation for Curriculum Theory, reinforcing their commitment to diverse perspectives and innovative approaches in curriculum theory.  

George Washington University in Washington DC has decided to make their course on Subnational Diplomacy a permanent feature of their Executive Education/Professional development offering. As part of a 2-day pilot last summer, Professor Alison Holmes (PSCI) was invited to deliver a lecture about her research on the international affairs of the state of California to participants from across the country. She has now been asked to join scholars and practitioners from around the world as an ongoing faculty member in the new week-long course that will be offered online.

Dr. Armeda Reitzel (Professor, Communication), Julia Kurtz (Student, Communication), and Josué Valdez (Student, Communication) gave a 60-minute presentation titled “The Magazine Cover Story: LibreTexts Engages Students’ Interests and Insights through Snippets and Snapshots” on March 7, 2024 at the LibreTexts Open Education Week 2024 Conference. The three co-presenters shared their perspectives on the use of LibreTexts open educational resources as the foundation for creative semester-long projects in two different courses: interpersonal communication and intercultural communication. The talk focused on the use of open pedagogy in undergraduate education.  

Dr. Roberto Mónico recently published an article entitled "Reflections of Right-Wing Leadership in the United States: From LAPD Chief William Parker to Donald Trump" in Resistance and Abolition in the Borderlands: Confronting Trump's Reign of Terror by the University of Arizona Press. The book is a collection of essays that examines the impact of Donald Trump's rhetoric and policies on migrant communities. 

Vincent Biondo is co-editor of Islam in North America: An Introduction.    

Congratulations to AJ Bealum, Team Flora, Library and everyone supporting the 3D Digital Herbarium for winning the Reference & User Services Association (in ALA) Best Emerging Technology Award in recognition of a technology application that directly benefits library users. The committee found 3D Digital Herbarium to be an innovative method for advancing the work of herbariums through 3D imaging. The committee found the site easy to use and accessible, and most importantly, engaging for the viewer, but also the students involved . Great timing as National Library Week is April 7-13.

AJ Bealum, Programmer & Project Manager for the Library's 3D Digital Herbarium, and Cyril Oberlander, Library Dean, presented the 3D Digital Herbarium & 3D Exhibits4Learning to the Coalition for Networked Information in San Diego on March 26, 2024. CNI promotes use of information technology to advance scholarship and education, and is an organization of higher education, publishing, information technology, scholarly organizations, libraries and foundations. To learn more about the 3D Digital Herbarium, please visit the Library website.

Emma Held was awarded a research fellowship from California Sea Grant to support her work on the life history of threatened Chinook salmon in the Mattole River. Emma's work will provide information to support ongoing conservation efforts by collaborators at the Mattole Salmon Group.

Nicolette Amann, Lecturer in English, who coordinates the Redwood Writing Project for local Humboldt teachers, and Anne Hartline from the School of Education facilitated a year-long professional development program on the untold local histories of Humboldt County and California. This project resulted in multiple sharable lessons that have been published at the National Writing Project site. Various CAHSS faculty presented as part of the program:

• Ryder Dschida (History)
• Loren Cannon (CRGS/Philosophy)
• Sarah Ray (Env Studies)
• Nicolette Amann (English)
• Dominic Corva (Sociology)
• Suzanne Pastor (History)

 

Humboldt's First Year Composition Program Faculty has received the CCCC's Certificate of Writing Program Excellence. They are recognized for their long-term dedication to co-create the program around research and best practices for first-year writing instruction and to provide professional development leadership across campus. CCCC will present our program with a certificate at the award presentation of the 2024 CCCC Annual Convention in Spokane, Washington, on Friday, April 4, at 6 p.m. 

Sarah Ben-Zvi has worked to support local high school teachers in developing meaningful writing and literacy curricula, coordinated the annual Redwood Writing Contest for students in grades 3-12, and dedicated herself to first-year composition students. Sarah has been invited to accept the 2024 Classroom Excellence Award from the California Association of Teachers of English at the annual CATE convention in Los Angeles. 

Dr. Sara K. Sterner, along with colleagues from Weber State University and Minneapolis College of Art and Design, successfully presented at the 2024 American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education annual conference. The interactive scenario planning session entitled, "Using Nudge Theory to Explore Teacher Educator Practices That Prioritize DEI in Ideologically Diverse Contexts" took place on February 16 in Denver, CO. 

Dr. Stephen Cunha’s paper, Field Notes: Visualizing the Record 2022-23 Record Snowpack in the Southern Sierra Nevada, California (The California Geographer 62: 65-86) combines snow survey data from eight Sierran watersheds, NASA Landsat and NOAA imagery, and his own annotated photographs from skis, aerial outings, and roads, to portray the record snowpack in the Eastern and Southern Sierra from Yosemite south to Mt. Whitney. Every watershed exceeded 250 percent of normal, with the Kern River (326 percent) leading the Western Sierra and the Owens River (318 percent) foremost on the Eastside. Below-average spring temperatures partially mitigated high-water flooding.

Professor Alison Holmes (Politics) has been accepted to the Summer Intensive Creative Writing Program at Oxford University in the UK. A three-week residential program, the course is led by recognized authors, poets, editors, and publishers who guide a small cohort of students in the development of their writing. The course has both an intermediate and advanced level with a selection process based on a project proposal as well as a portfolio of existing work in two separate writing tracks. Holmes has been admitted to the Advanced Level course for both creative non-fiction and poetry.   

Lucy Kerhoulas, Rosemary Sherriff, Erik Jules, and Michael Kauffmann were awarded a $1.1 million grant to complete extensive vegetation mapping in the Klamath Mountains Ecoregion. Project vegetation surveys will be compared to vegetation surveys from the 1960s, 1980s, and 2010s to evaluate the influences of fire and climate change on high elevation plant communities. The work will support three graduate students and numerous undergraduate students and will contribute substantially to the Cal Poly Humboldt Vascular Plant Herbarium; Robin Bencie and the California Native Plant Society are also project collaborators. Funding comes from the CA Department of Fish & Wildlife.

Dr. Gabi Kirk was awarded the 2023 Eric Wolf Prize of the Political Ecology Society (PESO). This annual award is given to an article-length paper based in substantive field research that make an innovative contribution to political ecology to authors within two years of receiving their Ph.D. She will deliver a keynote address, “ ‘A fairly good crop for white men’: The political ecology of agricultural science and settler colonialism between the US and Palestine” on March 28 at the Society for Applied Anthropology Conference in Santa Fe. Additionally her article is under review at the Journal of Political Ecology.

Oceanography faculty Jeffrey Abell, Tamara Barriquand, and Christine Cass presented their research at the international Ocean Sciences Meeting (New Orleans, LA) in February. This ~6,000 person conference brings together marine scientists from across disciplines. Undergraduate students Malcolm Edwards-Silva, Marcos Moreno, Carla Villanueva, Ethan Wadsworth, and Kenneth Mathe (Fall '23) also attended to present a poster on their capstone research project.

Professors Pedro Peloso (Biological Sciences) and Brandice Guerra received a grant from the Maxwell/Hanrahan Foundation (www.maxwell-hanrahan.org) to support an illustration internship at Cal Poly Humboldt. An international student will visit our community this spring to work in a project that aims to raise awareness about amphibian extinctions globally. You can read more about the internship here: https://now.humboldt.edu/news/new-scientific-illustration-internship-gi…      

Dr. Troy Lescher recently gave an invited presentation, titled "Building & Strengthening the Ensemble: Applying Social Emotional Learning to Theatre-making," at an Arts Educator Professional Development event hosted by the Humboldt County Office of Education.

Dr. Rouhollah Aghasaleh is engaged in collaboration as a co-PI alongside Katie Whiteside (PI), within the scope of a recently awarded Leonardo Da Vinci grant totaling $15,000. This collaboration involves partnerships with Redwood Empire Public Television, Kinetic Universe, the Redwood Discovery Museum, Humboldt County Library, and Hoopa Nation. The project is centered around the facilitation of workshops tailored for educators and communities, aimed at providing avenues for the promotion of hands-on activities. These workshops seek to cultivate creativity and innovation specifically targeting rural youth.

Kjirsten Wayman (Chemistry Department), Maralyn Renner (M.S. Biology, 1980), Alexander Wright (Washington State U.), Aaron Floden (Missouri Botanical Garden), Jayne Lampley (U. Alabama), Susan Farmer, Edward Schilling (U. Tennessee, Knoxville) published a peer-reviewed article titled “New insights into systematics of the Trillium ovatum complex” in Madroño, a journal focusing on research of the Western American flora.  The article highlights Trillium oettingeri, an endemic plant to the Klamath Mountains and Cascade Range, and can be accessed at the following link: https://doi.org/10.3120/0024-9637-70.3.158

Rama Rawal received a grant to support a two-day convening of local school districts that will leverage reporting from CaliforniaColleges.edu to inform strategic outreach to CSU-eligible students, strengthening the pipeline of students enrolling in CSUs after leaving high school. CaliforniaColleges.edu is California’s official college planning and application platform, which maintains data on 6th-12th grade student progress towards meeting baseline eligibility for admission to a CSU campus. Some of the collaborators will include K-16 Collaborative, Cal Poly Admissions, College of the Redwoods, and TRIO Programs. Funding comes from the Foundation for California Community Colleges.

Dr. Alana Chin received a grant to support research looking into factors impacting redwood tree fog-uptake. Redwood trees absorb water from fog, making it a key provider of water in the summer months. However, as the climate changes, so have fog characteristics, increasing the need to understand how redwoods are acclimating to changes in fog. The project will assess and monitor fog absorption capacity in redwoods, and is a critical next step in our ability to predict the impacts of climate change on redwoods and select nursery stock for restoration. Funding comes from the Save the Redwoods League.

John Meyer published a journal article titled, "The People" and Climate Justice: Reconceptualizing Populism and Pluralism within Climate Politics in the journal Polity. Available to all as an open access article, it will be included in the April 2024 issue of the journal. The article explores connections between influential conceptions of political populism and climate justice organizing. 

Eight students travelled to Spokane, Washington for the Region 7 Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival. Students entered scholarly competitions, auditions for professional companies and graduate programs, attended workshops with working professionals, and spent five days of intense training and scholarship. Theatre major David Fisher submitted and won the George R Caldwell Undergraduate Scholarly Paper Meritorious Achievement for his dramaturgical research paper.

Dan Barton (Associate Professor and Department Chair, Wildlife) was elected chair of the Pacific Seabird Group, a role in which he will serve for the next three years. Pacific Seabird Group is a society of professional seabird researchers and managers that was formed in 1972 out of a need for increased communication among academic and government seabird researchers, and currently has over 500 members from around the world. The society also publishes the journal Pacific Seabirds.

Dr. Alison Holmes (Politics) presented her chapter, "UK-US Relations: Can Subnational Diplomacy Save the 'Special Relationship?" via zoom to a Special Symposium of the Transatlantic Studies Association in the UK, organized to launch the book Locating the Transatlantic in Twentieth Century Politics, Diplomacy and Culture. The volume was edited by Dr. Gaynor Johnson (University of Kent) and published this month by Bloomsbury Press in London: https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/locating-the-transatlantic-in-twentiethce….

Dr. Cutcha Risling Baldy, co-director of the Rou Dalgurr Food Sovereignty Lab and Associate Professor of Native American Studies will serve as co-PI on a California Sea Grant project led by the Tolowa Dee-ni' Nation. The recent decline of California’s ghvtlh-k’vsh (kelp) forests directly affects the cultural lifeways and thus health of the Tolowa Dee-ni' Nation. This project will train and certify up to ten Natural Resources Staff and Tribal Citizens of the Tolowa Dee-ni' Nation to conduct both kelp monitoring and restoration efforts, including establishing kelp nurseries and grow-out sites.

Dr. Troy Lescher recently gave a presentation, titled "Taking the Show on the Road: An Adventure in Program Outreach and Student-Learning," at the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival in Spokane, WA. The presentation was based on the Cal Poly Humboldt Theatre Arts' Spring 2023 pilot program to develop and tour a student production to public schools throughout Humboldt County. 

Dr. Amy Rock was invited to participate in a panel discussion on DEI in the geospatial industry, entitled "The Geospatial Inclusion Imperative: Diverse Leadership Shaping Tomorrow" hosted by the World Geospatial Industry Council at GeoWeek 2024 in Denver, CO.  The panel discussed the critical importance of fostering a diverse and inclusive geospatial industry, and included academic and industry speakers to explore insights and best practices for implementing DEI initiatives and overcoming challenges, following on WGIC's policy report on leadership diversity in the geospatial industry.   

How can educators help mitigate the decline in journalism studies to support a healthy democracy? Professors Jessie Cretser-Hartenstein and Gregg J. Gold, along with student researcher Kelli Grace Belt, recently published a paper answering this pressing question. Media skepticism may play a role in discouraging CSU students from studying journalism. For journalism majors, their focus on social justice is a key motivating factor. Using these findings, CSU journalism departments can create programs that draw more students to the major. Look for the paper in the newest edition of Journalism and Mass Communication Educator.

Drs. Kerry Byrne and Catalina Cuellar-Gempeler received a grant to support a study on Applegate’s milkvetch, a federally endangered plant species found only in the lower Klamath Basin of southern Oregon. The project will investigate alternative management practices that may better promote Applegate's milkvetch recovery, and ultimately provide managers with a roadmap for optimal management of this species. Collaborators will include Oregon Parks and Recreation Department, US Fish and Wildlife Service, ODA, and the City of Klamath Falls, OR.

Cal Poly Humboldt’s Range Plant Identification team placed 5th in a contest during the Society for Range Management Meetings in Sparks, Nevada on January 30. Coached by lecturer/NRCS Rangeland Specialist Todd Golder, team members include: JJ Madrigal Garcia, Celeste Orrick, Jennifer Salguero, Mikhela Aiken, Logan Holey, Forrest Horrobin, Hunter Mortensen, SRM President Barry Perryman. Students practice plant identification skills in RRS 475 Advanced Study of Range Plants. Most plant species on this test were grasses and many consisted of mere fragments of material.  The team owes much to Humboldt’s excellent Range and Botany courses.

How do educators help their students navigate a climate-changed world? What should a climate-justice, trauma-informed pedagogy look like for the world students desire, not just fear? Dr. Sarah Jaquette Ray and UW-Bothell colleague Dr. Jennifer Atkinson address these topics in the intro to their forthcoming book, The Existential Toolkit for Climate Justice Educators, which has been published on Climate Psychology Alliance's website. You can read it here: https://www.climatepsychology.us/blog/introduction-to-the-existential-t…

We just published a paper on diversity of non-volant small mammals (marsupials and rodents) from Parque Nacional del Río Abiseo (PNRA), a poorly known site located in the eastern Andean slopes in Peru. We report the highest ever recorded diversity for high Andes, and through DNA barcoding we reveal several putative new species of small mammals that are uniquely known form PNRA. The paper is a result of an expedition in 2018, funded by National Geographic, and had the collaboration of a diverse team of researchers including myself as first author and Cal Poly colleague Pedro Peloso as senior author.

Dr. Paul Michael Leonardo Atienza, assistant professor of Asian American Studies (CRGS) received a Digital Ethnic Futures Consortium (DEFCon) Teaching Fellowship. Funded through a generous grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the fellowship includes $2500 to support the development of new courses at the intersections of ethnic studies fields and digital humanities. Dr. Atienza will be assigned a mentor to guide the creation of a syllabus and assignment materials. This document will be deposited in Humanities Commons with a Creative Commons license to permit reuse with attribution. DEFCon is a national consortium of digital ethnic studies practitioners.    

Melanie Michalak (Faculty- Geology) with co-authors Susan Cashman (Emeritus Geology Professor), Taylor Team (Humboldt Geology MS ’21), Dana Christensen (Humboldt Geology MS ’21) and Victoria Langenheim (USGS Geophysicist) published their work in the open access journal Geosphere. This publication is a long format research paper investigating Neogene tectonics and mountain building of the southern Klamath Mountains Province, a geologic province that records millions of years of faulting, magmatism, and deformation due to its position on the upper plate of tectonic plate subduction. Download the paper here: https://doi.org/10.1130/GES02612.1

Dr. Rafael Cuevas Uribe received a grant to support a collaborative project between Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, San Diego State University, and Cal Poly Humboldt. The project will involve building and testing a novel technology system for developing new and profitable seaweed strains for commercial, land-based aquaculture production. The system will contribute to a more diverse domestic seaweed production and larger networks of local seaweed sources, as well as aquaculture education and training through use at education institutions. Funding comes as a subaward from University of California, San Diego, with the original funding source being SeaGrant.

Music Senior, Danyelle Allen, has received the Presser Foundation Undergraduate Music Scholar Award.  This national-level award is given to graduating seniors who have achieved a high level of music and academic excellence, demonstrated leadership, and contributed to an inclusive community. Danyelle is a tenor saxophonist who has been a Honors recital and Concerto Competition winner, and a member of the Ghost Ryder Saxophone quartet.  This year she is organizing the first Music program Black History Month concert.  

On February 11 in Sacramento, Cindy Moyer, received the Distinguished Service Award from the California Orchestra Director's Association.  The award was presented during the California All-State Music Education Conference, and honors "individuals who selflessly served the California Orchestra Directors Association, and its activities, including continuous support of California Music Education, of CASMEC and it's affiliated organizations, and of other Music Educators in the state."

https://newsfromnativecalifornia.com/review-sowing-seeds-racial-justice-and-the-environmental-movement/ “Sowing Seeds is a new docu-series on YouTube produced, written and hosted by Aerin Monroe (Environmental studies scholar at Cal Poly Humboldt) in partnership with Save California Salmon. Filmed and edited by Valentina Dimas, each episode offers insight into different aspects of environmental justice by centering Black and Indigenous scientists, educators, and activists all working to bring about positive change within Humboldt County.” Co-founder of Pathways and Purpose, alongside his wife, Dr. Susanne Sarley. Pathways of Purpose is an organization dedicated to empowering underserved youth and communities with “asset-based, STEAM educational and vocational programs.”

Dr. Loren Cannon of CPH Philosophy presented his essay, “Boundaries of Expression: Belief, Faith ... and Gender” at the Eastern Conference of the American Philosophical Association. This was a requested presentation, on the topic of "Fighting Anti-Transgender Legislation." This new essay from Dr. Cannon engages in a critical analysis of recent court decisions that seem to have widened the scope of religious freedom (including speech) and considers the resulting impacts on the limit of non-religious expression. The conference was held in NYC, January 15th - 18th 2024.

Jeff Dunk (ESM) and colleagues recently published a paper on predicting the spatial distribution of wintering Golden Eagles in Wyoming (including parts of surrounding states).  Much of the existing work on Golden Eagles pertains to their breeding season habitat use.  A link to the manuscript is here.  

Dr. Loren Cannon's essay, "The Politicization of Trans Identities: Dog Whistling and Virtue Signaling" has been included in the 12th edition of "Race, Class, and Gender in the United States, An Intersectional Study." This is the third essay that has become anthologized into a college level textbook, and he is grateful that his work is having an increasingly broad reach. This newest volume is edited by Cal Poly Humboldt's own Professor Christina Hsu Accomando (CRGS and English) along with Professor Paula S. Rothenberg. 

Kjirsten Wayman (Chemistry), Matthew Reilly (USDA Forest Service), and Alaina Petlewski (B.S. Botany, 2017) published a peer-reviewed article in the American Journal of Botany (2023) titled "Taxonomic insights from floral scents of western North American sessile-flowered Trillium".  The article can be found here:  https://doi.org/10.1002/ajb2.16255

Faculty William Wood, Chemistry, and David Largent, Biological Science Emeritus Professors William Wood and David Largent recently published an article in the Austrian Academy of Sciences journal Biosystematics and Ecology on the crustacean-like odor of the mushroom Russula xerampelina. This mushroom has a cooked shrimp odor that gives it the common name the “shrimp mushroom.” They and mycologist Darvin DeShazer of the Sonoma County Mycological Association, identified the chemicals that are responsible for this mushroom’s odor. Contact Information William.Wood@humboldt.edu Phone 707 832 2931

Sara K. Sterner, along with colleagues from The Ohio State University and Lesley University, successfully organized, presented at, and facilitated the 30th annual Children's Literature Assembly (CLA) Annual Expert Class: Nodes of Literary Connection: How Culturally Diverse Imprints are Building Pathways for More Inclusive and Representative Children’s Literature. The session took place at the National Council of Teachers of English annual conference in Columbus, OH, on November 18. The Expert Class featured experts from the field of children's publishing and explored how culturally diverse publishers and imprints are changing the landscape of inclusive representation in children’s literature. https://www.childrensliteratureassembly.org/blog/the-cla-expert-class-2…;