Latest Achievements

On Oct. 18, Geography professor Matthew Derrick delivered a featured public lecture, titled “Post-Soviet Central Eurasia’s New Religious Landscapes: A View from Tatarstan," at American University of Central Asia (AUCA) in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, where he is a visiting scholar during his sabbatical for the current academic year.

Nathaniel Alexander Douglass, a student in HSU Geography, won the Best Cartographic Design at the North American Cartographic Information Society's 2017 Student Map and Poster Competition in Montreal, Canada. He received a $500 award and interest from organizations such as National Geographic, Esri Maps and Data, and several grad schools. He poured his heart and soul into the map he presented, depicting a snow-covered Sierra Nevada mountain range.

Dr. Chávez-Argüelles won the Fray Bernardino de Sahagún Award 2017 in the category of Best Dissertation in Ethnology and Social Anthropology, awarded by the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) - the maximum authority in these disciplines in Mexico.

Her dissertation is titled "Beyond Legal Truths: Impunity, Memory, and Maya Autonomous Justice After the Acteal Massacre." The Award Ceremony will take place on November 17, 2017, at the Museo Nacional de Antropología in Mexico City.

On October 14, 2017, Dr. Eugene Novotney, Professor of Music, was presented with the 2017 SUNSHINE Award for Education and the Performing Arts in a ceremony held at the AXA Equitable Theatre in NYC. The Sunshine Awards program recognizes the creators, performers and promoters of art, dance, music, sports and poetry of the various Caribbean cultures in the Americas. The SUNSHINE Awards Program is endorsed by the United Nations and the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, the organization that sponsors the annual Grammy Awards. The SUNSHINE Awards are presented annually, and they represent a milestone of achievement for the promotion of Caribbean culture worldwide.

Leena Dallasheh, professor of History, presented a paper entitled "Claiming Rights in Nazareth: Legal Strategies during Colonial Transition" at a conference organized by Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel. This organization seeks to promote human rights in Israel, particularly for the Palestinian citizens of Israel. The conference sought to expand first-year law students' understanding of law and human rights.

Dr. Brent Duncan, Emeritus Professor of Psychology, has been appointed to a California Commission on Teacher Credentialing task force charged with revising training standards for Pupil Personnel professions (School Psychology, School Counseling and School Social Work) in California.

Kristina Hunt, Career Advisor for the College of Natural Resources & Sciences, was invited to present at The Wildlife Society National Conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Sept.26-28. The presentation included tips on resumes, federal resumes, cover letters, networking and interviews. http://wildlife.org/resume-workshops-teach-students-to-play-up-their-strengths/

Bori Mazzag and Kamila Larripa secured funding through NSF INCLUDES WATCH US/ University of Nebraska to support undergraduate women in mathematics. The funds will help prepare HSU students for the annual Mathematical Contest in Modeling.

INRSEP advisor Lonyx Landry accompanied 8 students in the INRSEP program to the American Indian Science and Engineering Society(AISES) National Conference in Denver last week. These students presented posters on their summer research, many sponsored by the HSU Rroulou'sik REU program supporting Native American students in Science (Directed by Wildlife professor Matt Johnson).

Dr. Stephen St. Onge, Director of Housing and Residence Life and Steve McKenzie, Associate Director for Housing Facilities will present "Designing an Emergency Response Program" at the national Association of College and University Housing Officers International Facilities Conference in Atlanta, GA on October 17, 2017.

Dr. Laura Johnson published an article in the Journal of Rural Studies titled 'Gendering strategies for civic agriculture: The case of Blue Ridge Women in Agriculture and the High Country Farm Tour.' The article can be accessed here: https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1Vecm2eyKFS0m2

Holmes was invited to be a mentor to graduate students and young faculty as part of the 'Pay it Forward' program of the International Studies Association. Designed to encourage women and diversity in the discipline, this was the first time the program took place at a regional conference. Holmes also presented a paper and returned to the Executive of ISA-West.

Katia Karadjova presented two papers at the European Conference on Information Literacy (ECIL) at St-Malò, France, Sept 18-21, 2017: (1) Librarians’ Understanding of Information Literacy in Bulgarian Academic Libraries: A Case Study, (2) Dare to Share the Silence: Tools & Practices of Contemplative Pedagogy in a Library Brain Booth, co-authored with Marissa Mourer. Both papers are accepted for publication in Springer’s Communications in Computer and Information Science.

Arianna Thobaben, HSU's Supplemental Instruction Coordinator, was just awarded re-certification as a Supplemental Instruction Coordinator by the International Center for Supplemental Instruction at the University of Missouri in Kansas City.

Jeff Dunk coauthored a paper entitled "First-year dispersal of Golden Eagles from natal areas in the southwestern United States and implications for second-year settling" in a special issue (dedicated to Golden Eagle studies) of the Journal of Raptor Research.

The paper can be found at: https://doi.org/10.3356/JRR-16-80.1

The National Geography Society invited geography faculty Mary Beth and Stephen Cunha on a recent five-week voyage to Greenland, Baffin, and Ellesmere Islands. Mary served as a cartographic expert, helping guests utilize a mapping phone app. She also provided interpretation for scores of hard copy historic and electronic maps of this Arctic region. Stephen lectured on glaciers, mountain environments, and the evolution of parks and protected lands across the globe. The ship reached 78°45’ North before pack ice blocked further progress.

Geography professor Matthew Derrick, a Fulbright scholar currently on sabbatical, has been named a visiting scholar at the Central Asian Studies Institute (CASI) of the American University of Central Asia (AUCA). Located in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, AUCA is Central Asia's premier institution of higher education. While there Derrick will conduct field research on the theme "New Religious Landscapes of Kyrgyzstan." For details, see https://auca.kg/en/visiting_scholars/

Dr. Ray has been invited to be the opening keynote at Webster College's Annual Human Rights Conference in October. The theme of the conference is "Environmental Justice and Human Rights," and her talk will address the promises and problems with combining human rights and environmental justice frameworks.

Janelle Adsit (Assistant Professor, English) has recently published two articles in the journal New Writing: The International Journal for the Practice and Theory of Creative Writing. Both articles are on threshold concepts in creative writing. The article "Creative writing and the limits of *Naming What We Know*: threshold concepts from aesthetic theory and creativity studies in the literary writing curriculum" is part of a featured author series and will also appear in a forthcoming collection.

Biological Sciences Professor Jianmin Zhong has published a manuscript on the journal of "Ticks and tick-borne diseases." Although the status of the manuscript is still in press, the online copy has been published.

The article is now published online at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ttbdis.2017.08.001

COMM Professor Michael Bruner was cited on skinny-shaming and constant body judgment in a recent E! News article commemorating the 20th anniversary of the Ally McBeal TV show. Bruner and COMM alumni, Karissa Valine and Bernice Ceja, had previously published a related article on the experience of Rachel Frederickson on the TV show The Biggest Loser. See www.eonline.com/news

Camaray Davalos, a major in Native American Studies, has had her article "Rising Up with Fists" published in the current issue of News from Native California.

Congratulations to HSU students filmmakers who are finalists in the 2017 CSU Media Arts Festival:

Gabriel Haffner's film CHANGE

Derrick Murrietta & Justin Andrew's film ONE IN THE CHAMBER

These films were made in the Filmmaking IV capstone class for the Film major. Many HSU students collaborated on these original creative productions.

Environmental Science & Management Student Mikayla Kia was awarded a $1,500 MapWorks Scholarship for her achievements using the MapWorks program. For more about the program, and Mikayla's achievements, "follow this link.":http://skyfactor.com/news/2017-mapworks-scholarship/

John Meyer's book, Engaging the Everyday: Environmental Social Criticism and the Resonance Dilemma, was selected as the winner of the first annual “Clay Morgan Award for Best Book in Environmental Political Theory.” The selection was announced at the American Political Science Association annual meeting in San Francisco on August 31, 2017.

Christina Accomando, Professor of English and Critical Race, Gender and Sexuality Studies, has had her article "Troubling the Beat Inevitable: Brooks, Ellison, and the 'Cultural Logic' of Lynching" accepted for publication in the journal MELUS. The essay will appear in the upcoming special issue "Teaching Multi-Ethnic Literatures of the United States: Pedagogy in Anxious Times."

On August 26th, William Wood, HSU Chemical Ecologist, gave a lecture to the Humboldt County Mensa Organization's lunch meeting: titled “Skunk Solutions.” This talk covered Wood’s research on 4 species of North American skunk species, how to clean animals sprayed by skunks, the history of skunk spray research, and his anecdotal experiences with skunks.

Dr. Joshua Frye and Macy Suchan (student) recently published an article entitled "Nobel Peace Speech" in a special issue of the French/English international ESSACHESS Journal for Communication Studies. The special issue focuses on rhetorics of peace in public and civil discourse in contemporary global cultures. They analyze the discourse of Nobel peace speech inductively and argue that the organizing principle of the Nobel peace speech genre is the repetitive form of normative liberal principles and values that function as rhetorical topoi. These topoi include freedom and justice and appeal to the inviolable, inborn right of human beings to exercise certain political and civil liberties.

Environmental Science and Management senior Meredith Garrett was chosen to serve as an intern for U.S. Congresswoman Nanette Barragan this past summer in Washington, D.C. through the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute's highly competitive Congressional Internship Program. http://chci.org/alumni/internships/2017/Summer/meredith_garrett/. For more information about (and to apply to) this program, visit this link ... http://chci.org/programs/internships/

Drs. Kathleen Doty and Mark Wicklund are the co-authors of a chapter in "Binomials in the History of English: Fixed and Flexible", just published by Cambridge University Press. Their chapter, "Shee gave Selfe both Soule and body to the Devill: The use of binomials in the Salem witchcraft trials," expands upon some of Dr. Doty's earlier work on the discourse of the Salem trial records from 1692.

Eugene Novotney has been featured, along with the HSU Calypso Band, in an article published in the national newspaper of Trinidad & Tobago, The Trinidad Guardian, documenting his legacy of contributions to the steel band movement in the United States and internationally. The article can be found by following this link: http://www.guardian.co.tt/life-lead/2017-08-23/eugene-novotney-30-years-pan-redwood-forest

Holmes completed her fellowship at the Center for International Studies and Diplomacy in London this summer and presented two papers at the Transatlantic Studies Association (TSA) in Cork, Ireland. The first was an invited roundtable talk, 'Trump and Brexit: the new reality of transatlantic relations' and the second was a paper, 'The return of states systems and world views: the horizontal and vertical axes of global diplomacy'. The second is part of her new book project on California as a global diplomatic actor, under contract with Palgave Macmillan in London. She was also reelected to the Management Committee of the TSA.

Melanie Michalak was awarded a American Chemical Society- Petroleum Research Fund grant toward her proposed research, "Reconstructing Neogene Paleogeography and Forearc Basin Evolution of Southern Cascadia using Detrital Mineral Geochronology." The grant of $55,000 is awarded over a two year period and will support original research by PI Michalak, a MSc student and a team of undergraduates. Their work in the coastal deposits along the north coast seeks to characterize paleogeography and forearc development over the past several million years using quantitative dating techniques.

On July 21st 2017, Humboldt State University’s Student CTA (SCTA) president, Tina Llopis, was the first local SCTA president to receive a grant and attend the annual CTA President's Conference in San Jose, California. This conference is held annually for the leaders of the California Teacher’s Association to build their leadership skills, hold professional development workshops, inspire member engagement, and unite to overcome challenges that are faced by educators. Llopis, a senior at HSU and newly elected president of the SCTA chapter, received a grant by the Community College Association (CCA), thus being able to foster a connection between CTA and our future educators.

Kerri J. Malloy, Lecturer in Native American Studies, presented his paper “Candle Light: Memorialization in Absence of a Memorial”” as part of the Performance and Activism Working Group at the Large-Scale Violence and Its Aftermath Summer Institute (June 25-29, 2017) at Kean University in Union, New Jersey. The Institute’s purpose was twofold: to clarify the anemic performance by state actors in managing atrocity and large-scale violence and restoring confidence in social stability and security; and to consider non-state, civil-society alternatives that, in the aggregate, could move progressively forward toward securing, if not transforming, successor societies.

Mark Colwell and former students Lizzie Feucht, Sean McAllister, and Amber Transou published a paper in the August issue of Wader Study, an international journal dedicated to understanding the ecology and promoting the conservation of shorebirds. Their paper details the longevity record for a Snowy Plover that they've studied for the past 16 years! Mark will present this story in an EcoSeries lecture on August 31 in the Wildlife Department.

Dr. Brandon Browne, Associate Professor of Geology, and four undergraduate thesis students, including Raul Becerra ('16), recently published their study titled "Quaternary basaltic volcanism in the Golden Trout Volcanic Field, southern Sierra Nevada, California" in the Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research. The study uses results from geologic mapping and geochemical analyses of rocks and minerals to interpret the eruption styles and geologic evolution of the volcanic field - the only one of its age in the High Sierra.

Chris Aberson was recently appointed Editor-in-Chief of Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy (ASAP) for 2018-2021. ASAP is published by the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI). At the core of SPSSI's mission is a desire to bring empirically sound research findings to bear on public policy. Dr. Aberson joins ASAP after completing terms as an Associate Editor of the journals Group Processes and Intergroup Relations and Journal of Applied Social Psychology.

Psychology students Natasha La Vogue and Ally Jaurique will deliver an oral presentation at an international conference (the International Society for Political Psychology) in Edinburgh in June.

The presentations were:
Gaffney, A. M., Hackett, J. D., Jaurique*, A. & La Vogue*, N. (2017, July). The state of political identity post-Trump. Oral paper presentation at the annual meeting of the International Society of Political Psychology, Edinburgh, Scotland.

Gaffney, A. M., Hackett, J. D., La Vogue*, N., & Jaurique*, A. (2017, July). From group-based anger to populism: Implications for collective action and protest. Poster presentation at the annual meeting of the International Society of Political Psychology, Edinburgh, Scotland.

La Vogue*, N., Jaurique*, A., Gaffney, A. M., & Hackett, J. D. (2017, July). Is 2016 a diversity backlash? Political identity norms and the future of democratic elections. Oral paper presentation at the annual meeting of the International Society of Political Psychology, Edinburgh, Scotland.

Abstract:
Far-right leaders such as Trump, Le Pen, Farage, and Wilders might threaten liberal and democratic ideals of diversity acceptance, which their nations have purported to embrace. Indeed, the United States Presidential election ended in the loss of the nation’s first major woman nominee to a man who campaigned on what was (arguably) an anti-diversity platform, targeting Americans’ uncertainties. In response to uncertainty, people are change-resistant and embrace conservative ideology (Jost et al., 2003). Uncertainty can also lead to endorsement of group norms through social identification (Hogg, 2012) and may cause people to advocate the very issues on which they feel uncertain (Cheatham & Tormala, 2017). This research examines how uncertainty over the election of Trump affects liberals and conservatives’ desires to vote for future diverse presidential candidates. We sampled 328 American Democrats and Republicans before and after the 2016 election. Republicans reported a decrease in uncertainty compared to Democrats after the election. Whereas Republicans’ uncertainty was unrelated to willingness to vote for diverse presidential candidates, among Democrats, uncertainty was related to increasing desire to vote for women, ethnic minorities, LGBT candidates, and candidates who are not Christian. These results suggest that in the direct aftermath of the election of Trump, liberals appear to use their uncertainty as a base for holding to liberal diversity norms, whereas for conservatives, whose candidate won the election, uncertainty and future voting preference were unnrelated. Results highlight the strength of political norms, even in the face of uncertainty, in guiding voting and political behavior.

Michael Le, Research Associate in the Office of Institutional Effectiveness is an invited panelist at the 57th annual conference for the Association for Institutional Research held May 30 to June 2, 2017 in Washington, D.C. The Forum is the world’s largest gathering of higher education professionals in institutional research, effectiveness, assessment, planning and related fields. Learn more at: http://forum.airweb.org/2017

Dr. Dallasheh was invited to present a paper at UC Berkeley, entitled "Early Encounters, Future Possibilities." Dallasheh's paper explored the ways Palestinians continue to negotiate their status with the Israeli State based on their experience during the early years of their incorporation with the state. This panel was a part of a series of panels organized contemporaneously at the Centers for Middle Eastern Studies at UC Berkeley, UCLA, and UC Santa Barbara on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the 1967 Middle East war, “6 Days, 50 Years: 1967 and the Politics of Time.”

During each Spring semester, the HSU Emeritus & Retired Faculty Association issues a Call for Applications for cash awards to support the professional development of junior faculty—lecturers and tenure track—who have demonstrated outstanding promise. This year’s winners of this award are:

Brandon Browne, Associate Professor of Geology, is doing research on cone volcanoes in California’s Sierra Nevada. He will use his award to cover the cost of gathering and chemically analyzing rock samples. An undergraduate student will use these samples to write his undergraduate thesis and they will also form a part of a grant proposal that Brown is submitting to the National Science Foundation.

Lucy Kerhoulas, Assistant Professor in the Forestry and Wildland Resources Department. She is studying the Sonoma tree vole at the Schatz Tree Farm in Maple Creek. She will use her award for canopy research equipment—for special harnesses and ropes that will enable her to climb the Douglas fir trees where these small mammals live.

Marissa Ramsier, Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology, who will use her award to purchase materials for a bioarchaeology project in Poland. The aim of the project is to learn more about the diet, migration, and health in an early Medieval Prussian population in Poland. She will use her funds to purchase disposable materials and for the processing of isotope samples.

Tessa Pitre, lecturer in two departments: English and Critical Race, Gender & Sexuality Studies. She received an award to enable her to present a paper at the American Educational Research Association in San Antonio.

Dr. Armeda Reitzel, Professor of Communication had her “Capstone Manuscript Speech” assignment published by the National Institute on Learning Outcomes Assessment at https://www.assignmentlibrary.org/assignments/5894ee23ce45f3e600000004. Materials in the assignment library go through a three-stage review process. The first stage is undertaken by the NILOA project team. Those selected for a second stage of review are shared with faculty peers who have experience with assignment design. They provide feedback for revision. After making revisions, authors resubmit their materials to NILOA, where they pass through a final review. The finished materials are then published to the site.

Su Karl, Learning Center Director, presented "Create a Conference Model for Tutor Training" at the Association of Colleges for Tutoring & Learning Assistance (ACTLA)Conference, April 27-29.

Graduate student Irene Vasquez was chosen as a Switzer Environmental Fellow for the 2017-18 academic year. The national fellowships are highly competitive. Each year, 20 promising environmental leaders are awarded $15,000 each to complete master’s and doctoral degrees in New England and California to advance their skills and develop their expertise to address critical environmental challenges.Vasquez's research seeks to implement a management regime for restoring plants important for cultural preservation in Yosemite National Park. More details are available "here":http://users.humboldt.edu/steve.martin/graduateStudents_IreneVasquez.ht….

Dr. Armeda Reitzel and her undergraduate research assistant, Kyra Vollger, presented their paper entitled "“The Rhetoric of Official and ‘Unofficial’ National Anthems” on April 15th at the 2017 national conference of the Popular Culture Association/ American Culture Associations which was held in San Diego, CA.

After a long but fun road trip down to San Diego, Humboldt came home with several top awards from the 71st Annual California Geographical Society meeting in San Diego. The 16 current students, along with alumni, who attended represented HSU Geography with strong enthusiasm and professionalism.

We had three first-place student awardees. Nathaniel Douglass won first place for the McKnight Professional Paper Award. Russ Walls won first place for the Geosystems Professional Paper Award. And Torrie Brickley won first place for the Student Cartography Competition. Douglass also won the David Lantis Scholarship, and several of our students landed Student Travel Awards. Well done!

Our faculty got in on the action, too. Professor Matthew Derrick was awarded the Friend of Geography Award, and he was elected CGS Vice President. Dr. Nick Perdue was elected to the organization’s board, as was Merien Townsel, our recent graduate and current Administrative Support Assistant.

The Department of English is pleased to announce its first recipients of the English Scholarship for 2017-18. These scholarships, the result of a generous donation by an anonymous donor, will be awarded in the spring of each academic year for the following year. The first scholarships are being given to Emily Bushta and Lydia Leonard-Rhodes, who will each receive an award of $1000 for the upcoming academic year. This year’s scholarship awards will be presented at the English Department Commencement Reception on Saturday, May 13 at 2:30 p.m. in the Green and Gold Room of Founders Hall.

On April 13, 2017, Ramona j.j. Bell,Assistant Professor in CRGS, presented the paper "Teaching Django and Other Hollywood Slave Narratives: Problems and Possibilities" for the panel Rearticulating Racism, Resistance and Citizenship in the Age of Neoliberalism, at the Popular Culture Association / American Culture Association (PCA/ACA) Annual Conference in San Diego, CA.

On April 13, 2017, Christina Accomando, Professor of English and CRGS, presented the paper "Patriotism, Protest, and Dog Whistling the National Anthem" for the panel Rearticulating Racism, Resistance and Citizenship in the Age of Neoliberalism, at the Popular Culture Association / American Culture Association (PCA/ACA) Annual Conference in San Diego, CA.