Latest Achievements

Updates about the latest accomplishments—including latest research, publications, and awards—by students, faculty, and staff

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Maral Attallah, Critical Race, Gender & Sexuality Studies

Maral Attallah, lecturer in Critical Race, Gender, & Sexuality Studies, has been awarded the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) 2016 Jack and Anita Hess Faculty Seminar Follow-Up Grant. The grant provides a fully funded research fellowship at the Mandel Center and Museum in Washington, D.C. The USHMM Fellowship will be the 2nd of two 2016 summer fellowships she has been awarded for her work in genocide studies, and her third fellowship of the year. The USHMM Fellowship will run immediately following her fellowship with the Institute on Genocide Studies and Prevention at Keene State College.

Dept. of Geography Faculty & Students, Geography

A large contingent of HSU faculty, students, and alumni recently attended the American Association of Geographers Annual Meeting in San Francisco. A record 9,000+ attendees from over 80 countries created an intellectual tour-de-force on topics from climate change, to human migration, natural resource exploitation, regional conflicts, the mapping sciences, and much more.

HSU Faculty presenters included:
* Matt Derrick: W(h)ither Post-Soviet Islam?
* Amy Rock: Citizen Participation and Public Funding in Ohio
* Erin Kelly: Re-shaping a regional market: Marijuana cultivation in far northern California at the precipice of legalization
* Laurie Richmond: It's a Trust Thing: Exploring the disconnect between fishermen's perceptions of and impacts from the California North Coast Marine Protected Area Network
* Stephen Cunha: Perestroika to Parkland: Evolving Land Protection in the Pamir Mountains of Tajikistan.

In addition, HSU student Emma Lundberg presented: Using Q-methodology to Understand Social Conflict in Wilderness Fisheries Management of Northern California.

HSU alumni attending included Professors Shannon Cram (Univ. Washington-Bothell) and Aquila Flowers (Western Washington), along with Nathanial Kelso (Mapzen), Kevin Flaherty (PGE), and doctoral students Aghaghia Rahimzadeh (UC Berkeley), and Joel Correia (Fulbright-Hayes Scholar, CU Boulder), among others.

Sarah Fay Philips and Carly Marino, Library

Librarians Sarah Fay Philips and Carly Marino received a Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activities Program Award to hire undergraduate and graduate interns for summer 2016. Students will help process and promote the Lucille Vinyard and Susie Van Kirk Collections, and support the academic and creative programming offered through the Library Lifelong Learning Lounge (L4HSU).

Lori Jones, Environmental Resources Engineering

Lori Jones, a senior student in Environmental Resources Engineering and Applied Mathematics received a 2016 National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP). This fellowship will support her plan to assess the environmental impacts of tidal energy conversion arrays. Jones will be comparing the natural variations in the sedimentary environment and sea-floor characteristics of test sites with the changes that would be caused by a tidal energy converter array. She will use a three-dimensional hybrid modeling approach, validated with a small-scale physical model, capturing near and far field effects of the flow regime and sediment transport.

Ian Kelmartin and Jay Staton, Fisheries Biology

HSU graduate students Ian Kelmartin and Jay Staton presented posters at the COAST-WRPI Student Research Poster Reception at the Chancellor's Office on March 8, 2016. COAST is the CSU system-wide affinity group for marine and coastal related activities.

Joseph Chatham, Rory Eschenbach, Tania Meijia, and Dr. Armeda Reitzel, Communication

Dr. Armeda Reitzel and three Communication majors - Joseph Chatham, Rory Eschenbach, and Tania Meijia - presented their academic papers at the Popular Culture Association Conference in Seattle, WA March 22-25, 2016. The papers were:
Joseph Chatham: A global village complete with global gamers; Rory Eschenbach: Riot Boys: Gendering space in League of Legends;
Tania Mejia: Yoga marketing; Dr. Armeda Reitzel: Power, privilege, and popularity all tied up--in the necktie!

Noemi Pacheco and Ivan Soto, Environmental Studies Program

On April 23 at San Jose State, Environmental Studies Program undergraduates Noemi Pacheco and Ivan Soto will be attending the California Forum for Diversity in Graduate Education, which brings together approximately 1,000 pre-selected, high-achieving undergraduate and master's students from underrepresented communities to explore graduate opportunities and resources.

Sarah Jaquette Ray, Environmental Studies Program

Dr. Ray received a Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activities Program Award in part to hire undergraduate research assistants (ENST majors Drew Andrew and Ciera Townsley McCormick) to work with her on a book project, Disability Studies and the Environmental Humanities: A Reader, which has been accepted for publication by University of Nebraska Press, slated for printing in Spring 2017.

Connie Stewart, California Center for Rural Policy

HSU’s Connie Stewart, who runs the California Center for Rural Policy, was a featured speaker on state initiatives needed to close the digital divide in rural communities at CENIC’s (Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California) annual conference at UC Davis March 21st. CENIC connects California to the world and provides broadband to the California K-12 system, California Community Colleges, the California State University system, California’s Public Libraries, the University of California system, Stanford, Caltech, and USC.

Melanie Michalak, Geology

Melanie Michalak, Assistant Professor of Geology, recently published a paper with co-authors in the peer-reviewed, Geological Society of America journal "Lithosphere." The paper, entitled "(U-Th)/He thermochronology records late Miocene accelerated cooling in the north-central Peruvian Andes," investigates the relationship between large-scale tectonics and long-term climate changes reflected in the morphology and rock uplift of the Peruvian Andes Mountains. doi:10.1130/L485.1

Shannon Murphy, Daniel Barton, Wildlife

Wildlife graduate student Shannon Murphy won best overall student presentation for her talk "Parental care behaviors in Brandt's cormorant (Phalacrocorax pencillatus): effects on reproductive success and use as indicators of the marine environment" at The Wildlife Society - Western Section meeting in Pomona, California, with co-authors Stephanie Schneider, Richard Golightly, and Daniel Barton.

Alison O'Dowd, Environmental Science & Management

Alison O'Dowd recently published an article in the journal "Hydrobiologia" entitled, "Do bio-physical attributes of steps and pools differ in high-gradient mountain streams?" The research for this paper was done on three tributaries of the Smith River in Del Norte County. The article can be found by searching the DOI 10.1007/s10750-016-2735-5

Andrea Calleros, Laura Gorman, Thomas King, Amanda Lagasca, Ciera Townsley-McCormick, Jessica Citti, Writing Studio / Learning Center

Writing Studio Peer Writing Consultants Andrea Calleros (Biology), Laura Gorman (English), Thomas King (English), Amanda Lagasca (Environmental Resources Engineering), and Ciera Townsley-McCormick (Environmental Studies), accompanied by Dr. Jessica Citti (Writing Studio/Learning Center), will be leading a workshop at the Northern California Writing Centers Association Annual Conference in Santa Clara, Calif., on April 1-2, 2016. The workshop, called "Metaphors We Tutor By: Using Metaphors to Increase Writing Self-Efficacy," draws on research and their experiences as peer tutors to examine the benefits and pitfalls of metaphors as teaching tools in writing centers.

Christina Accomando, English

Christina Accomando, Professor of English and Critical Race, Gender and Sexuality Studies, recently presented the paper "Troubling the Beat Inevitable: Point of View and Representations of Lynching" in Charleston, SC, at the 30th Annual Conference of MELUS (Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literature of the US), for a panel titled "What kind of poem / Would you make out of that?: Literature and Violence." The paper links literary works by Ellison and Brooks to contemporary efforts to grapple with racial violence, including the recent Equal Justice Initiative report "Lynching in America: Confronting the Legacy of Racial Terror" (eji.org/lynchinginamerica).

Alison Holmes, Politics

Dr Alison Holmes, International Studies Program Leader, attended the International Studies Association national conference in Atlanta over break and presented a paper: "European State-System split: Three models of diplomacy in a globalizing world". She was also on a professional development round table for Ph.D. students and new faculty talking about the role of service at a teaching institution.

Alison Holmes, Politics

Dr Alison Holmes, International Studies Program Leader, has published a textbook, "Global Diplomacy: Theories, Types and Models," with Westview Press. It was launched at the national International Studies Association Conference in Atlanta last week and was sold out by day two.

Tyler Stumpf, Business

Tyler Stumpf, Assistant Professor of Management, recently published a paper entitled “Institutional conformance and tourism performance: An efficiency analysis in developing Pacific Island countries” in the journal "Tourism Planning & Development.” By investigating how conformity mechanisms are related to efficiency in tourism development, the results of this research suggest how destinations may develop sustainable tourism models by achieving the best use of resources based on individual country profiles.

Maral Attallah, Kerri Malloy, Critical Race, Gender & Sexual; Native American Studies

Maral Attallah and Kerri Malloy have been selected as two of 18 faculty from over 60 very well-qualified instructors/scholars from all over the world as fellows in the inaugural 2016 Summer Institute on Genocide Studies and Prevention at Keene State College. Both were selected based their work and their potential to strengthen the capacity to develop additional coursework and curricular programming in genocide studies and prevention.

Attallah is a lecturer in Critical Race, Gender & Sexuality Studies.
Malloy is a lecturer in Native American Studies.

Marie Campfield, Art + Film

A painting by Marie Campfield, a senior undergraduate student in the Department of Art, was accepted into the Society of Illustrators Student Scholarship Exhibition. The exhibition will be held in the galleries of the Museum of American Illustration at the Society of Illustrators in New York City. Marie is the first HSU student to have a work accepted into this prestigious competition. Approximately 300 works from over 8700 entries were chosen for inclusion. Her work, Child’s Skull, Kandahar Province, is part of a larger series of paintings and drawings informed by her experiences in Afghanistan while serving as an Air Force Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technician (EOD, military bomb squad).

Rosemary Sherriff, Geography

Rosemary Sherriff, Associate Professor and Chair, Department of Geography, published a viewpoint paper with co-authors titled "Toward a more ecologically informed view of severe forest fires" in Ecosphere. February 2016. "http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ecs2.1255/full":http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ecs2.1255/full.

Yuliana Rowe, Angelica Munoz, Thien Crisanto and Laura Hernandez, Wildlife

Yuliana, Thien, Laura, and Angelica were invited to present independent research at Washington D.C. at the ERN Conference in STEM (Emerging Researcher's National Conference in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) in late February. Yuliana Rowe was awarded 2nd place in Ecology, Environment, and Earth Sciences for her presentation on "The effects of climate-induced forest disturbances on spiders in Michigan."

Susan Marshall, Forestry, Fire & Rangeland Management

Professor Susan Marshall, Forestry & Wildland Resources attended the 2016 Society for Range Management Annual Meeting in Corpus Christi, TX. Susan served as 2015 President of the Range Science Education Council and 2016 Past President. She is also an Associate Editor or the Range Ecology & Management Journal and a member of the SRM Professional Accreditation Committee. While there she attended a special workshop looking at the federal Office of Personnel Management 454-Series for Rangeland Specialists with members of the OPM, RSEC and PAC groups. Susan also serves on the Certification Panel for California Certified Range Management specialist.

Kenneth Fulgham, Forestry, Fire & Rangeland Management

Emeritus Professor Kenneth Fulgham, Forestry & Wildland Resources, attended the 2016 Society for Range Management Annual Meeting in Corpus Christi, TX. Ken recently served a three-year term as a national Director on the SRM Board and has been nominated for the SRM 2nd Vice President position with the election held this fall. Ken is also the SRM Membership Services & Meeting Registration Task Force Chair, plus a member of the SRM Bylaws Revision Task Force.

Mariah Aguiar, Tyler Hanson, Kaelie Pena, Matt Prendergast, Rosa Sanchez, and Deedee Soto, Forestry, Fire & Rangeland Management

The HSU Range Plant Team recently competed in the 2016 Society for Range Management plant identification exam in Corpus Christi, Texas. The competition involved the identification of 200 grasses, forbs, shrubs and trees. The Plant Team placed 9th out of 23 schools from Canada, Mexico and United States. In addition, HSU students also participating in the Undergraduate Range Management Exam and the Student Booth Display Contest. The students attending these competitions were: Mariah Aguiar, Tyler Hanson, Kaelie Pena, Matt Prendergast, Rosa Sanchez, and Deedee Soto.
Kaelie Pena, Range Management Science major, was elected Secretary to the SRM Student Conclave and she received a summer Pathways Science Technician job with the Forest Service in Bridgeport, California.

Chelsea Teale, Geography

Chelsea Teale was accepted to attend an NSF-funded summer program on assimilating long-term data into ecosystem models, hosted by the University of Notre Dame and the Paleoecological Observatory Network.

Eric Jennings, Micaela Szykman Gunther, Wildlife

Eric Jennings, past undergraduate in the Department of Wildlife, had his honors thesis published in Northwest Science, coauthored with his mentor, Micaela Gunther. His work examined the "Effects of high temperatures and sun exposure on Sherman trap internal temperatures."

Tyler Stumpf, Business

Tyler Stumpf, Assistant Professor of Management, recently published a paper entitled “Bridging the Gap: Grounded theory method, theory development, and sustainable tourism research” in the "Journal of Sustainable Tourism." Taking the perspective that advancing knowledge on sustainability phenomena is optimized when theoretical and practical developments work in concert rather than in isolation, this research aims to help bridge the gap between sustainable tourism research, practice, and theory by ameliorating the process and outcomes of grounded theory method research in the field. This research was completed with colleagues from the Carson College of Business at Washington State University.

Joshua Frye, Communication

Joshua Frye, Associate Professor of Communication, recently published a peer-reviewed academic journal article in the "Journal of Social Justice." The article, entitled, “Re-conceptualizing the Global Fair Trade Movement” examines the fair trade movement using structuration theory and inductive rhetorical analysis. The essay argues that the global fair trade movement is unique in the pursuit of sustainability and social justice within the food system. As such, it reveals communication reflexivity as potentially a collective process of transformation and is reshaping the values and conditions for labor equity and environmental sustainability through a new market paradigm of partnership.

Josh Meisel, Sociology

A contribution written by Josh Meisel, Associate Professor of Sociology, to a chapter on "Teaching Rural Criminology – Topics and Issues" has been published in the "The Routledge International Handbook of Rural Criminology."

Josh Meisel, Sociology

Josh Meisel, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, had his book review of "KILLER WEED: Marijuana, Grow Ops, Media, and Justice," by Susan C. Boyd and Connie I. Carter published in the November 2015 issue of "Contemporary Sociology."

Michael S. Bruner, Communication

Michael S. Bruner, Professor, Department of Communication, had his book review of "WORD OF MOUTH: What We Talk About When We Talk About Food," by sociologist Priscilla Parkhurst Ferguson, published in "Food, Culture, and Society," online 18 February 2016.

Hunter Fine, Communication

Published a chapter in a book titled “Postmodern Theory and Hip-Hop Cultural Discourse.” Ed. Kathleen Roberts. Communication Theory and Millennial Popular Culture: Essays and Applications. New York: Peter Lang Publishing, 2016.

Rosemary Sherriff, Geography

A study by Rosemary Sherriff, Associate Professor and Chair Geography Department, was recently highlighted in an article on PLOS, a nonprofit open access scientific publishing project. Read the full text at https://ecologyfieldreports.plos.org/mountain-ecosystems-respond-to-a-changing-climate-the-plos-ecological-impacts-of-climate-change-7c58598a6382#.b3ebc5qi7

Andrew Slack, Nicholas Zeibig-Kichas, Forestry, Fire & Rangeland Management

Andrew Slack, a graduate student, Nicholas Zeibig-Kichas, an undergraduate student, and Dr. Jeff Kane recently published an article in Forest Ecology and Management entitled "Contingent resistance in longleaf pine (Pinus paulustris) growth and defense 10 years following smoldering fires".

Steve Martin, Environmental Science & Management

Dr. Martin has received the U.S. Forest Service Chief's 2015 National Award for Excellence in Wilderness Stewardship Research.

The award committee provided the following statement about Professor Martin's award:
Dr. Martin has collaborated with the Leopold Institute, as well as Forest Service and National Park Service units in the Sierra Nevada, to support management and planning decisions by employing science in a diversity of areas including: bear-proof containers and visitor safety, the use of technology in wilderness by visitors, quota decisions based on visitor travel simulation and visitor attitudes about intervention to adapt to climate change, and ecological restoration to fix problems caused by past human behavior. He remains focused on management solutions applied to wilderness stewardship issues relevant across the National Wilderness Preservation System.

Armeda Reitzel, Communication

The National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment (NILOA) will be conducting their fourth Assignment Charrette on Saturday, February 20, 2016 in New Orleans, La. Dr. Armeda Reitzel is one of the faculty members selected to participate in this event. She will engage in a collaborative assignment-design process with 40 or so faculty members chosen from across the country and from a myriad of disciplines.

Michael Le, Institutional Research and Planning

Le’s presentation at the 2015 CAIR Conference, “Visual Analytics: Exposing the Past, Understanding the Present, and Looking to the Future,” was selected as the most outstanding example of a significant contribution to the practice and understanding of institutional research. Le has been invited do his presentation at to the 2016 Association for Institutional Research (AIR) Forum, which will take place from May 29 to June 3, 2016, in New Orleans, Louisiana. AIR is the world's largest professional organization for institutional researchers.

Robert W. Zoellner, Annette A. Tabares, and Essene L. Waters, Chemistry

Chemistry Professor Robert Zollner and two of his undergraduate students, Annette A. Tabares and Essene L. Waters, and have recently published the results of our research in the peer-reviewed journal Heteroatom Chemistry. The complete citation for the article is as follows: Annette A. Tabares, Essene L. Waters, Robert W. Zoellner; "Beryllepin, C6H6Be, and 'beryllium-inserted benzenes,'C6H6Ben, n = 2-6: A density functional investigation"; Heteroatom Chemistry 27(1), 37-43 (2016).

Janelle Adsit, English

Janelle Adsit co-wrote an article for the journal Feminist Formations on "Affective Activism." It is out in the December 2015 issue.

Ian Guerrero, Physics & Astronomy

Physics & Astronomy major Ian Guerrero has been selected by the CSU Nuclear and Particle Physics Consortium (NUPAC) for one of 10 prestigious summer 2016 internships. Ian will be working with the ATLAS experiment collaboration which is part of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at the CERN European particle physics laboratory near Geneva, Switzerland. Congratulations!

Rachelle Howard, Environmental Studies Program

Rachelle Howard, a senior ENST major, had a paper, "Migration toward Intersectional Leadership:" accepted in the Animals and Society Institute journal, an undergraduate peer-reviewed journal. Howard is also coordinating a Critical Animal Studies symposium at HSU from April 25-29, where Carol Adams, author of "Sexual Politics of Meat," and Aimee Breeze Harper, author of "Sistah Vegan," will be keynotes. ENST faculty and students will also present, and the event will be open to the community.

Paul Cummings, Music

Music professor Paul Cummings presented a session at the national conference of the College Orchestra Directors Association on January 15 at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. The presentation, entitled "The Legacy of Hans Richter, 1843-1916," focused on the landmark accomplishments of Richter during his long career as a conductor of opera and orchestral music in Vienna and England. An article by Cummings is in press with the "Musical Quarterly."

John Meyer, Politics

Publication of co-edited The Oxford Handbook of Environmental Political Theory: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-oxford-handbook-of-environmental-political-theory-9780199685271?cc=us&lang=en&

Tasha Howe, Christopher Aberson, Howard Friedman, Sarah Murphy, Esperanza Alcazar, Edwin Vazquez & Rebekah Becker, Psychology

An article by Tasha Howe, Christopher Aberson, Howard Friedman, Sarah Murphy, Esperanza Alcazar, Edwin Vazquez & Rebekah Becker "Three Decades Later: The Life Experiences and Mid-Life Functioning of 1980s Heavy Metal Groupies, Musicians, and Fans," has won the 2015 International Society for Self and Identity (ISSI) Best Paper.

Jeff Black & Will Goldenberg, Wildlife

Natural Born Hustlers, a new series co-produced by the BBC and PBS features research by HSU Wildlife Professor Jeff Black and alumnus Will Goldenberg. Black and Goldenberg are featured in a segment about Steller's jays. For 17 years, Black has led a study into the jay populations on campus and their deceptive behavior. The birds are known to mimic predator sounds like red-shouldered and red-tail hawk calls. Goldenberg, who currently lectures in HSU's film progrma, helped the BBC film the birds in action.

Natural Born Hustlers is a three part series, and begins on Wednesday, Jan., 13 at 8 p.m. on PBS. Check local listings for more information. Episode 2, the Hunger Games, which features the Steller's jays, airs January 20.

More information is available at http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/natural-born-hustlers-about/13389/.

T. Luke George, Wildlife

Dr. Luke George, emeritus faculty in Wildlife, along with other authors published an article describing how the disease West Nile Virus is affecting bird populations. "Persistent impacts of West Nile virus on North American bird populations" was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of the Sciences (PNAS). Read the abstract online at http://www.pnas.org/content/112/46/14290.short.

It is also worth noting that some of the data in the paper came from bird banding operations at the Wright Wildlife Refuge, a small refuge on the edge of Eureka where many HSU students have worked over the years. Numerous graduate students have run bird banding operations there, and they and faculty have trained scores of undergraduates to handle and measure birds using standardized bird netting and monitoring processes. It's one of many sites in a network of field research sites called MAPS (monitoring avian productivity and survivorship).

Paul Cummings, Music

Music professor Paul Cummings conducted the Anne Arundel College Symphony Orchestra in a performance in Arnold, Md., on November 20, 2015. The program featured works by Mozart, Dal Porto, and Rimsky-Korsakov. An enthusiastic audience in the Pascal Center for Fine Arts rewarded the musicians with a standing ovation following Rimsky-Korsakov's Symphony No. 1.

Marcy Burstiner, Journalism & Mass Communication

The research journal _Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly_ has published a book review by Assoc. Prof. Marcy Burstiner in its winter 2015 edition. Burstiner reviewed the book The First Amendment Bubble: How privacy and paparazzi threaten a free press_ by Amy Gajda.

Lisa Castellino, Michael Le, and Kaitlyn Stormes (Student),

It has been a busy year for the Office of Institutional Research and Planning (IRP). In November, the Office traveled to San Francisco for the 40th California Association for Institutional Research Annual Conference (www.cair.org/). Director Lisa Castellino Ph.D. gave two presentations: "Seeing the Forest through the Trees: How Humboldt State University Leveraged Decision Trees in Communicating Results" and "Don’t Put the Horse Before the Cart: A Decomposition Study to Identify Target Student Populations for High Impact Practices."

Research Analyst Michael Le M.A. delivered two presentations: "Visual Analytics: Exposing the Past, Understanding the Present," and "Looking to the Future and Sexual Violence: IR’s Role in a Safer Campus."

Institutional Research Graduate Certificate student and IRP Intern, Kaitlyn Stormes won the first Samuel Agronow Institutional Research Scholarship from CAIR for $1,000.

Since CAIR, Lisa Castellino along Vice Provost Jená Burges have been accepted to present at the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) Annual Meeting. Their presentation is on "Asking Better Questions: Moving from “Disaggregating Data” to “Producing Actionable Intelligence”. Michael Le was featured by the Association for Institutional Research (AIR) for his visual display of HSU’s graduation rate targets.

Take Back the Tap, Waste Reduction & Resource Awareness Program

Take Back the Tap helped HSU win 1st place in its division in the Social Awareness category of the Kill the Cup challenge. The award includes a $500 grant.