Latest Achievements

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

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Marissa Mourer, Raleigh Tomlinson, Emma Hopson, Orientation & Preview Programs

Raleigh Tomlinson, Emma Hopson, and Marissa Mourer just returned from Fresno, California where they presented a session entitled "Building Social Media From The Ground Up" at the Region II Meeting of the Association for Orientation, Retention, and Transition in Higher Education (NODA). The session focused on the successful use of social media to engage and support new students in transition to Humboldt State.

Laura A. Hernandez, Lauren N. Kruger, Ashley Ortiz, Araik Sinanyan, Sara Newell, Jilma Rachel Guinea, Mareike Duffing Romero, Juita Martinez, Yuliana Rowe-Gaddy ,

HSU students Laura A. Hernandez, Lauren N. Kruger, Ashley Ortiz, Araik Sinanyan, Sara Newell, Jilma Rachel Guinea, Mareike Duffing Romero, Juita Martinez, Yuliana Rowe-Gaddy gave presentations at the Emerging Researchers Network (ERN) Conference in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics in Washington, D.C.

- Laura A. Hernandez: “Phage Therapy in Sludge Samples from Wastewater Treatment Plants of the Greater Salt Lake Basin”

- Lauren N. Kruger: “Differences in Prey Items Within Sagebrush and Agricultural Hunting Territories of American Kestrels”

- Ashley Ortiz: “Early Cretaceous Cupressaceae in the Budden Canyon Formation of Northern California”

- Araik Sinanyan: “Chemical Composition and Antimicrobial Activity of Wild- Harvested Achillea millefolium from the Republic of Armenia"

- Sara Newell: “A Survey of Chemical Parameters for the Development of a Water Quality Index for the Ping River”

- Jilma Rachel Guinea: “Forest Attributes of Reproductive Habitat for Harpy Eagles in Darién Province, Panamá”

- Juita Martinez: “Exposure of the Grass Shrimp, Palaemonetes pugio, to Antimicrobial Compounds Affects Associated Vibrio Bacterial Density
and Development of Antibiotic Resistance”

- Yuliana Rowe-Gaddy: “The Effects of Simulated Acid Rain on Web-spinning Spider Assemblages in the Luquillo Experimental Forest”

- Mareike Duffing Romero: “Field Evidence For a Janzen-Connell Effect” (Romero's presentation was accepted, but he did not attend the conference)

The February event, sponsored by National Science Foundation (NSF) and the American Association for the Advancement of Science sponsored, is for college and university undergraduate and graduate students who participate in programs funded by the NSF Division of Human Resources Development.

Tina Nguyen, Keith Parker, Jared Dimson, and Kasondra Rubalcava,

HSU undergraduate students Keith Parker, Jared Dimson, and Kasondra Rubalcava were recognized for their poster presentations in the category of Ecology, Environmental and Earth Sciences at the Emerging Researchers Network (ERN) Conference in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics in Washington, D.C.

- Parker won second place for his presentation, “Freshwater Environmental DNA Sampling of Threatened Pacific Lamprey of the Order Petromyzontiformes.”

- Dimson won third place for his presentation, “Field Advantage on Decomposition in a Tropical Montane Forest.”

- Rubalcava won fourth place for her presentation, “Inter-annual Variations in the Recruitment of Spot (Leiostomus xanthurus) in the Maryland Coastal Bays.”

The February event, sponsored by National Science Foundation (NSF) and the American Association for the Advancement of Science sponsored, is for college and university undergraduate and graduate students who participate in programs funded by the NSF Division of Human Resources Development.

A. Preston Taylor, Wildlife

Wildlife Program graduate A. Preston Taylor successfully published his senior honors thesis in the internationally renowned _Journal of Behaviour_. He collected unique video data on the rubbing behavior of black bears in northern California forests. This paper is available for viewing online at the Brill publisher site (Taylor, Allen and Gunther 2015, DOI: 10.1163/1568539X-00003270).

Michael S. Bruner & Laura K. Hahn, Communication

Michael S. Bruner and Laura K. Hahn's article, "Irony and Food Politics" has been published in the journal, _Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies._ (Feb. 2015)

Alison Holmes, Politics

International Studies Program Leader Alison Holmes presented a paper to the national International Studies Association Conference in New Orleans entitled, "If Global States beget Global Diplomacy - what does statecraft without the state look like?" She was also elected member at large of the Diplomatic Studies Section Executive.

William Wood, Chemistry

On February 18, William Wood, HSU Chemical Ecologist, gave a lecture to the Humboldt Bay Mycological Society: titled “Hallucinogens – Natures Ultimate Chemical Defense.” This talk covered various methods plants and animals use chemical to keep predators at bay. Hallucinogens were described as an “ultimate” means of chemical defense as it targets animal neurotransmitters in the brain. Animals who ingest plants or mushrooms that contain psychotropic chemicals have a “bad trip” and in the future avoid them.

Students of Humboldt State University, All Campus

Humboldt State University is the recipient of silver-level Student Actions Award from myActions.org, and online, student-powered college network for sharing sustainable and socially-responsible actions. The Student Actions Awards celebrate student leadership, student activity, initiatives, and impact. For more information, visit "http://campus.myactions.org/":http://campus.myactions.org/.

Sarah Ray; ENST 295 Students; ENST 490 Students, Environmental Studies

Approximately twenty Environmental Studies majors attended the March for Real Climate Leadership in Oakland February 7, 2015, to protest against hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in California. As part of Sarah Ray's ENST 295: Power, Privilege, and Environment and ENST 490: Capstone classes, students have the option of using their experience as the basis for research on their final project.
The experience gave students the chance to "do" something in the face of so many classes that teach about environmental injustices. It also gave them insights about the role of political protest in social change.
For more information on the Environmental Studies Program visit: www.humboldt.edu/enst

KRFH, Journalism & Mass Communication

For the second time since 2012, KRFH has been named College Radio Station of the Year by RadioFlag.
RadioFlag is a social media website for all college radio stations from not only around the country but around the world.
KRFH is fully student run, live & local. Student DJs offer diverse programming and innovative new programs such as Talx - a weekly public affairs talk show, live Play-by-Play Sports, and Local Mixx -a live show that showcases local club DJs while teaching students the art of club mixing.
For more on KRFH, visit http://www.krfh.net or listen live at 105.1 FM.

Peter Goetz, Mathematics

Peter Goetz, associate professor of Mathematics, and Andrew Conner, assistant professor of Mathematics at Saint Mary's College of California, have published a paper titled "Some non-Koszul algebras from rational homotopy theory" in The Bulletin of the London Mathematical Society, an international mathematical research journal.

Sing C. Chew, Sociology

Sing C. Chew was the opening keynote speaker at the Conference on Post-Secondary Education for Sustainability in Asia held at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore February 5-6, 2015. His lecture was entitled, My Quarter of a Century Researching and Teaching Environmental Sustainability: Lessons Learned from the Past for the Future.

Tim Miller, Library

Tim Miller, General Instruction/Reference Librarian, conducted a workshop entitled Web Literacy: Using & Sharing Dynamic Tools To Learn & Teach the Web at the Online Northwest Conference (http://onlinenorthwest.org/2015-program/) at Oregon State University on February 13, 2015. Miller’s workshop focused on web literacy (the ability to read, write and participate on the Web) and different tools that educators can use to learn about the Web and teach web literacy (http://www.tinyurl.com/weblit-tools-onw15). Miller also shared his experiences co-teaching the Hour of Code at HSU last December and the currently-running “Learn to Build a Website” workshop series (http://libguides.humboldt.edu/webdev).

Marisol Ruiz, Education

Education Faculty Member Marisol Ruiz will present at the American Education Research Association conference for educational research. She will present, "Bilingual school children can think deeper than developmental theorist predict! Readers theater for critical pedagogical literacy." Her article was also recently published in the edited book "Interrogating critical pedagogy: The voices of educators of color in the movement. New York, NY: Routledge.

April Alexander, Rebekah Bailey and Sarah Goodman, Social Work

On Feb. 7, several BASW students including April Alexander, Rebekah Bailey, and Sarah Goodman participated in the Saint Joseph Health, Wellness and Resource Fair at the Bayshore Mall in Eureka.

April Alexander and field instructor Linda Rasmussen, Nurse Manager, of the Cancer Care Program at St. Joe's tabled to provide healthy cancer preventative foods. Rebekah Bailey tabled with DHHS Alcohol and Other Drugs (AOD) Prevention and in the afternoon for Big Brothers Big Sisters. Sarah Goodman tabled with Faith Center Foursquare Church's Celebrate Recovery group providing information about open-share groups the church offers such as Celebrate Recovery, GriefShare, and DivorceCare. Sarah also provided information about the organization's upcoming single mom's support group.

Student Health Center Staff, HSU Student Health Center Laboratory

The Humboldt State University Student Health Center Laboratory has met all criteria for Laboratory Accreditation by COLA, a national healthcare accreditation organization. Accreditation is given only to laboratories that apply rigid standards of quality in day-to-day operations, demonstrate continued accuracy in the performance of proficiency testing, and pass a rigorous on-site laboratory survey. The HSU SHC Laboratory has earned COLA accreditation as a result of a long-term commitment to provide quality service to its patients.

COLA is a nonprofit, physician-directed organization promoting quality and excellence in medicine and patient care through programs of voluntary education, achievement, and accreditation.

COLA is approved by the federal government and sponsored by the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Medical Association, and the American College of Physicians-American Society of Internal Medicine.

Darren Ward, Fisheries Biology

Faculty member Darren Ward has received a 2015 “Core Award" from California Sea Grant, which funds research, education and outreach throughout California. Ward will track juvenile Coho salmon to discover what happens to young-of-year when warmer water temperatures force them to leave their spawning grounds prematurely from Feb. 1, 2015 – January 31, 2016.

Patty Chang, Julian Davlin, Rhonda Holmes and Heather King, Social Work

With funding assistance from HSU’s College of Professional Studies and HSU Presidential Travel, students from the Department of Social Work were able to accept a personal invitation to attend and present at the inaugural California Higher Education Food Summit, Jan. 16-18, at UCSB. Students included BASW students Patty Chang and Julian Davlin, and MSW students Rhonda Holmes and Heather King.

The three-day summit, held under the umbrella of the broader UC Global Food Initiative (UCGFI), included workshops, speakers, and activities aimed to forge collaborations and conversations about food justice across the state’s college communities. HSU Social Work students, led by Professor Jen Maguire, presented a workshop entitled: Beyond ‘Poverty Pimping’ and ‘Hand-Outs’: A Case Study of Campus Food Systems Change Through Community Engagement. The workshop explored the engagement of community partners, and proposed informational and destigmatizing programs to support food security for students. For more information about the summit visit: www.cafoodsummit.as.ucsb.edu.

Students, faculty and staff, Center for Service Learning & Academic Internships

Humboldt State has been named to the National President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll. The HSU Center for Service Learning & Academic Internships (CSLAI) applies each year for the national award, which recognizes a collaboration of students, faculty, staff and community partners. HSU has been named to the list 7 out of the past 8 years. The annual award "highlights the role colleges and universities play in solving community problems and placing more students on a lifelong path of civic engagement by recognizing institutions that achieve meaningful, measurable outcomes in the communities they serve." For more information, go to www.nationalservice.gov/HonorRoll, or contact the CSLAI at x4963.

Brittani Orona, History

History graduate, Brittani Orona was selected to be part of the 2014-2015 class of Capital Fellows. The Capital Fellows Programs are administered by the Center for California Studies at California State University, Sacramento. Fellows work 10-11 months as full-time staff members in the California State Assembly, California State Senate, California Executive Branch or the California Judiciary. They participate in policymaking, program development, and program implementation. Fellows gain first-hand experience in the governance and leadership of the most diverse, complex state in the nation.

Heather King, Social Work

Heather King, MSW student in the Department of Social Work and Oh SNAP! MSW Intern, has been selected to attend the 2015 USDA Agricultural Outlook Forum through the Student Diversity Program. She is one of 30 students who will attend and participate at the Forum and in Student Diversity Program activities taking place February 17 – 20, 2015 in Crystal City, VA. The USDA Agricultural Outlook Forum Student Diversity Program is designed to expose students to contemporary agribusiness, future trends, scientific research, and agricultural policy in today's real world environment. For more information about the Forum, visit: www.usda.gov/oce/forum/.

Matthew Derrick, Geography

Matthew Derrick, assistant professor of Geography, published an article titled "The Muslim Spiritual Board of Tatarstan, Political-Territorial Transformation, and the Changing Character of Tatar Islam" in the December 2014 issue of The Journal of Central Asian and Caucasian Studies, an international scholarly journal.

Paul Cummings, Music

Paul Cummings, associate professor of music, authored an article in the book series called "Teaching Music Through Performance in Band," a widely used resource for wind band directors throughout the world. The article contains a comprehensive analysis of a band arrangement of composer Paul Creston's "Five Little Dances" and is included in volume 10 of the series which was published in December, 2014, by GIA Publications. More info at: http://www.giamusic.com/search_details.cfm?title_id=26426

Sarah Jaquette Ray, Geography

Ray was recently elected Vice President of the Association for the Study of Literature and Environment for a two-year term beginning January 2015. Also this past month, her article, "Rub trees, Crittercams, and GIS: The Wired Wilderness of Jeremy Mendes and Leanne Alison's Bear 71" was published in the scholarly journal, "Green Letters."

Alison Holmes and Loren Collins, Politics

Loren Collins of the Career Center and Alison Holmes, Program Leader for International Studies, gave a joint presentation on 'Faculty/Staff Collaboration in Career Curriculum' at the Mountain Pacific Association of Colleges and Employers in San Francisco on December 11. The paper was based on various collaborations that have provided the foundation for the CAHSS-wide initiative on career education currently underway.

Ricardo Febre, Art + Film

The Art Department's brochure, designed by Assistant Professor Ricardo Febre, received an American Graphic Design Award. Writer: Professor Teresa Stanley. Photographs: Kellie Jo Brown. http://gdusa.com/contests/agda14/winners/winner.php?i=5430

Laurie A. Pinkert, English

Laurie A. Pinkert, Assistant Professor of English and Coordinator of Composition, was invited to lead writing-focused sessions at Innovative Teaching Through Transitions: A High School-Institutions of Higher Education Symposium on Transitional Math and English. The statewide symposium was sponsored by University of Texas-Pan American. Pinkert's workshop "Writing For Real: Engaging Student Writers Through Effective Assignment Design" was attended by math and English teachers from a range of high schools, two-year colleges, and four year institutions.

Michael S. Bruner, Communication

Communication Professor Michael S. Bruner's study, "Images of Food Insecurity in Nigeria," was the lead article in the October 2014 issue of the Journal of Communication and Media Research (Vol. 6, No. 2, pp. 1-20).

Joyce Lopes, Administrative Affairs

Leadership California has selected Humboldt State Vice President of Administrative Affairs Joyce Lopes as a member of the Class of 2015 for its California Issues & Trends Program (CIT). This is a prestigious, yearlong program for 60 women leaders from across the state of California.

The California Issues & Trends Program provides focused programming for women leaders, exposing them to critical public and private sector issues and enhancing their competitive knowledge on California from state, national and global perspectives. It connects women leaders from across the state with each other and with top decision-makers, thought leaders and practitioners. It promotes creativity and innovation through the sharing of ideas and best practices. The 1,300 Alumnae of the CIT are empowered to contribute more fully to California’s vision for the future and to the communities and companies in which they live and work.

Marcy Burstiner, Journalism & Mass Communication

Journalism Professor Marcy Burstiner was one of four people recognized by The First Amendment Coalition as an "outstanding nominee" in its 2014 FAC Free Speech and Open Government Award for her "tireless work to protect the people's right to know." The Coalition received 30 nominations this year. They included attorneys, journalists and community organizers. The Coalition is a public interest organization dedicated to advancing free speech, and more open and accountable government. Burstiner was recognized for having co-founded the Humboldt Center for Constitutional Rights and her column in the North Coast Journal, which focuses on free speech issues.

Laurie A. Pinkert, English

Laurie A. Pinkert, Assistant Professor of English and Coordinator of Composition, was recently selected as one of three rhetoric and composition scholars invited to lead written communication sessions at the WASC-Senior College and University Commission Retreat on Core Competencies, which was held November 13-14, 2014 in Pomona, CA. Professor Pinkert presented on "Innovative Writing Pedagogies Sensitive to Local Context" and mentored faculty teams from the U.S., Mexico, and Peru on best practices in pedagogy, program design, and assessment.

Armeda Reitzel, Communication

Communication professor Armeda Reitzel is the Chair of the Undergraduate College and University Section of the National Communication Association. She is on the legislative assembly and the nominating committee for the organization. This is the 100th year of the National Communication Association.

Lori Jones, Environmental Resources Engineering

Lori Jones, a senior undergraduate in the Environmental Resources Engineering department, recently received funding through the CSU’s Water Resources and Policy Initiatives (WRPI) and US Department of Agriculture to investigate osmotic membrane processes as a Watershed Management Intern. Under the guidance of her advisor Andrea Achilli, she will develop three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models and investigate membrane fouling for two different osmotic hybrid systems – RO-PRO and FO-RO. These systems, which employ reuse of wastewater effluent, are designed to reduce the energy requirement of desalination through renewable power generation (RO-PRO) or osmotic dilution (FO-RO).

Sing C. Chew, Sociology

Sociology Professor Sing C. Chew and former graduate student, Associate Professor Daniel Sarabia, now the Department Chair of Sociology at Roanoke College, in Roanoke, Virginia presented a paper, Early Globalization in World History: Global Climate Change and the End Bronze Age World System 1200-700BC, at the Annual Conference of the Social Science History Association in Toronto, Canada, November 8, 2014. The paper reported on their collaborative research efforts to understand macro-historical dynamics in world history.

Connie Stewart, California Center for Rural Policy

Connie Stewart has received the 2014 Nonprofit Leader Achievement Award from the Northern California Association of Nonprofits.

Stewart was cited for her long history of serving on nonprofit boards and committees, and serving as a mentor for people throughout the region. Stewart started her local nonprofit career with the North Coast Environmental Center in the late ‘80s before being recruited by Assemblywoman Patty Berg to work for the state legislature covering one of the largest rural districts in the lower 48. She is currently director of the California Center for Rural Policy.

Stewart was also presented with a Congressional Record Statement on behalf of Congressman Jared Huffman, and a joint resolution on behalf of Senator Noreen Evans and Assemblyman Wesley Chesbro.

The Northern California Association of Nonprofits is assists nonprofit organizations achieve their goals through collective action. The group is supported by the Humboldt Area Foundation, the Mel & Grace McLean Foundation, and its members.

Sara Downey, Biological Sciences

Last week a CSU team made public comments in support of the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) Bridges program. Former HSU Biology Major/CIRM Bridges Scholar, Sara Downey’s presence at last week’s meeting was electric because most everyone in the room knew she’s on a team developing an embryonic stem cell-derived product as a treatment for type 1 diabetes. After four years on the job, Sara has transformed from a fresh biological sciences graduate with academic research experience into a biotech professional comfortable talking about Six Sigma, cGMPs, regulatory affairs, biotech business cycles, & process engineering. The CIRM board has extended the program for one year.

Mary Sue Savage and Maxwell Schnurer, Communication and Health Education

Two members of HSU's Sexual Assault Prevention Committee have been recognized by the Humboldt County Domestic Violence Coordinating Council. They are: Mary Sue Savage, Prevention Coordinator, and co-founder of the CHECK IT! program, a unique effort working on transforming the university culture with particular attention to promoting bystander intervention, and Maxwell Schnurer, Professor and Chair of the Communications Department and co-chair of the committee. The Humboldt County Domestic Violence Coordinating Council is a partnership of public and private agencies and individuals who are committed to a constant and coordinated county-wide response to domestic violence.

Cathy Sandeen, Communication

Cathy Sandeen (Speech, ‘76) has been selected chancellor of the University of Wisconsin Colleges and UW-Extension.

The move is another in Sandeen’s already esteemed service to education. She most recently was vice president for education, attainment and innovation at the American Council on Education, and has also served as an administrator on three public campuses in California.

The HSU alumna was dean of continuing education at UCLA Extension from 2006-2012, and worked as vice provost and dean of university extension and summer session at UC Santa Cruz for six years. Sandeen also held leadership positions at UC San Francisco.

Maxwell Schnurer and Mary Sue Savage, Communication

Professor Maxwell Schnurer, Chair of the Dept. of Communication, and Mary Sue Savage, prevention coordinator and co-founder of the Check It! program, are among those honored by the Humboldt County Domestic Violence Coordinating Council during Domestic Violence Awareness Month. The awards recognize individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the prevention of domestic violence.

Schnurer and Savage will be honored at the Humboldt Area Foundation at noon on Wednesday, Oct. 29. The event is free and open to the public. Lunch will be served.

The Humboldt County Domestic Violence Coordinating Council is a partnership of public and private agencies and individuals who are committed to a constant and coordinated county-wide response to domestic violence.

To learn more about HSU’s Check It! program, visit http://now.humboldt.edu/news/hsu-students-launch-check-it-to-reduce-power-based-personal-violence/.

Richard A. Paselk, Chemistry

Professor Richard A. Paselk's Display of Twentieth-Century Scientific Instruments at Humboldt State University is featured in Silke Ackerman, Richard Kremer & Mara Miniati (Eds.) Scientific Instruments on Display [History of Science and Medicine Library, Volume 46 / Scientific Instruments and Collections, Volume 4] (pp 148–158). Brill Academic Pub, Leiden (2014).

Lucas Reyes, Hailey Lang, Conor Handley, Jared Whear, Jenny Zorn & Stephen Cunha, Geography

Six Geography students, alumni, and faculty represented HSU at the 77th Annual Meeting of the Association of Pacific Coast Geographers at the University of Arizona, in Tuscon.

Senior Lucas Reyes took home the top undergraduate research prize for his paper and presentation on “The Dawn of the Greenhouse on Rural Tibetan Landscapes.”

Hailey Lang (’14, Geography), a graduate student at San Jose State University, won the top Masters of Arts award for “Analyzing the Foreclosure and Crime Burden of Stockton, California.”

HSU Senior Rangeland Resource Science student Conor Handley won the Indigenous Peoples Travel Grant. He presented his paper on The Role of Indigenous Fire Ecology and Culturally Based Prescribed Fire in the Reintroduction of the California Condor.

Jared Whear (’13, Geography), a graduate student at the University of Missouri, presented “Rural Protest, Environmental Activism, and ‘Sacred Water’: A Case Study of the Las Vegas/Snake Valley Rural-Urban Water War.”

HSU Interim Provost and former CSU San Bernardino Geography professor Jenny Zorn presented her research on Internationalization Programs in U.S. Higher Education.

Finally, Professor Stephen Cunha was elected APCG’s Vice-President. Cunha will be the organization's 79th President.

Sarah Fay Philips, Library

Faculty Librarian Sarah Fay Philips co-authored the chapter "Collaborating with local high schools: your senior will be my first year student" in the book "The slow book revolution: creating a new culture of reading on college campuses and beyond". The book is an "inspiring guide shows how to implement the principles of the Slow Book movement in high schools, public libraries, and college campuses, with the ultimate goals of encouraging pensive reading habits and creating a lifelong enjoyment of books"

Stephen St. Onge, Housing and Residence Life

Director of Housing and Residence Life Stephen St. Onge has been appointed to the Association of College and University Housing Officers (ACUHO) I Commission on Assessment, and the ACUHO I Commission on Research. Onge, Ph.D, has also been asked to write an article for the ACUHO I Talking Stick on "The American Adolescent."

Matthew Derrick, Geography

Geography faculty member Matthew Derrick was awarded a Kennan Institute grant, a division of the Woodrow Wilson International Center in Washington, DC, that will support archival research in the Library of Congress on "Territory, Islam, and the Muslim Spiritual Boards of Russia: A Comparative Study of Four Muslim-Majority Regions.” He also served as editor for and published research in the Humboldt Journal of Social Relations edition on Perspectives on the State of Jefferson, in addition to publishing “Islam as a Source of Unity and Division in Eurasia” in the edited book Corridor of Interconnections: Eurasia from South China to the Caspian Sea.

Jeffrey Black and Frank Shaughnessy, Wildlife

Two Humboldt State University faculty members recently spoke at the Humboldt Bay Eelgrass Management Workshop Oct. 6 and 7 at the Humboldt Bay Aquatic Center in Eureka.

The free, public event was intended to improve understanding of marine eelgrass ecology, management, restoration, and regulations in Humboldt Bay and elsewhere. Eelgrass plays an important role in coastal ecosystems, where it helps build and provide habitat for a variety of species.

HSU Wildlife Professor Jeffrey Black discussed the role of Humboldt Bay and eelgrass as part of the Pacific Flyway, the north-south route for migratory birds. Botany Professor Frank Shaughnessy discussed eelgrass, water quality and its upland uses. Shaughnessy and his students are currently conducting numerous research projects related to eelgrass in Humboldt Bay.

Other workshop speakers included representatives from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation, and Conservation District, and H.T. Harvey & Associates, an ecological consulting firm hosting the event.

Michael Bruner, Laura Hahn, Nicole Sheldon, Communication

Communication Professors Michael Bruner and Laura Hahn and alumna Nicole Sheldon have published their essay, "Unhappy with your Food? Communicate!" in Vol. 9 Issue 5 of Communication Currents.

The essay is translated from the scholarly article: Bruner, M., Hahn, L., & Sheldon, N. (2014). _The petition clause and food advocacy. First Amendment Studies, 48, 61-76._

The essay is available "online at the National Communication Association website":http://www.natcom.org/CommCurrentsArticle.aspx?id=5382.

Margi Waller, Social Work

Professor of Social Work Margi Waller is the Principle Investigator at HSU and two other Social Work Departments on CSU campuses for a “Writing Skills for Child Welfare Workers” online pilot course.

This pilot course was developed by the California Social Work Education Center (CalSWEC), together with Title IV-E staff at Universities and public child welfare agencies throughout California. Five CSU Schools of Social Work (Fresno, Humboldt, San Bernardino, San Jose, Stanislaus) are collaborating with CalSWEC to pilot the course. Participating students represent a mix of undergrad and graduate students, part-time and full-time students, current child welfare workers, Title IV-E and non-title IV-E students. Each student in this pilot course is assigned a Writing Coach who will facilitate his/her progress.

One of the goals of this pilot course is to gather student feedback to gain insight from their experience and therefore improve the educational material within the course as needed. In 2015, the online course will be provided to all Title IV-E Universities, Public Child Welfare Agencies and Regional Training Academies throughout the state.

Micaela Szykman Gunther, former graduate student Shannon Murphie and colleagues, Wildlife

Wildlife Faculty member Micaela Szykman Gunther has co-authored a paper with her former graduate student Shannon Murphie and colleages Rob McCoy and Brian Murphie from Makah Tribal Forestry and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. The paper entitled "Influence of hair loss syndrome on black-tailed deer fawn survival' was part of Murhpie's Master's thesis and will be published in the upcoming issue of the Journal of Wildlife Management.

Justus Ortega, School of Applied Health

Kinesiology & Recreation Professor Justus Ortega has published a research article in the Journal of Electromyography and Kinesiology. The article is titled "Effects of aging on mechanical efficiency and muscle activation during level and uphill walking" and can be read online at sciencedirect.com.

Rosemary Sherriff, Geography

Geography Professor Rosemary Sherriff has co-authored a peer-reviewed research article in the online journal PLOS ONE examining the severity of wildfires along Colorado's Front Range. The paper is titled "Historical, Observed, and Modeled Wildfire Severity in Montane Forests of the Colorado Front Range" and can be read online at plosone.org.