Latest Achievements

Since completing service as a Peace Corps volunteer teacher-trainer in the Federated States of Micronesia in August 2014, English student Benjamin Ryan Taylor has traveled the country sharing his experiences. In October 2014, he spoke at a Peace Corps recruiting event at his undergraduate alma mater, Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois; and in February, gave two recruiting presentations at Humboldt State. He was also featured on KIEM News Channel 3, Eureka. In March, Taylor presented his work at the TESOL 2015 convention in Toronto, Canada, and in April, he will participate in HSU’s IdeaFest.

Based on their demonstrated potential to contribute to strengthening the vitality of the US science and engineering enterprise, Keith Parker and Anthony Barella of the Indian Natural Resources have been selected to receive 2015 National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) Fellowships.

The award covers $34,000 per 12-month Fellowship Year for Parker's and Barella's pursuit of graduate degrees. The GRFP Fellowship period is 5 years, or less if a student graduates and complete the fellowship before the 5-year period ends. Financial support is provided for a maximum of three years. Humboldt State will receive a $12,000 Cost of Education Allowance in lieu of all required tuition and fees for each of the three years selected by the students for fellowship funding.

Carlrey Delcastillo and Noemi Pacheco have received a College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences award to conduct research on campus this semester on Latin@s and Sustainability at HSU. Professor Sarah Jaquette Ray will present their research at the Association for the Study of Literature and Environment conference, at "Latin@ Environmentalisms: A Pedagogy Workshop" in Moscow, Idaho in June.

Education Professor Marisol Ruiz recently authored a chapter in the book "Immigration and Schooling: Redefining the 21st Century America" edited by Touorizou Hervé Sommé and Pierre Orelus. The chapter is titled: Why are the Spanish Speakers in the Back of the Room in a Dual Immersion Setting?

Alison Holmes, Program Leader of International Studies, has been named a Visiting Scholar to the Roosevelt Study Center in Middelburg, The Netherlands where she will work in the archive on European diplomacy.

Environmental sciences student Brenden Green has received a $1,000 scholarship from the National Ground Water Research and Educational Foundation. Scholarship recipients are entering a field of study that serves, supports, or promotes the groundwater professions.

Master's student Barbara Klessig, and Dr. Isabella von Holstein with Christian Albrechts University, Kiel, Germany will be co-chairing a round table discussion at this year’s EAA conference in Glasgow, Scotland. The session, titled “Integrating Textiles Studies into Mainstream Archaeology/Anthropology Curriculum” brings archaeologists, educators and researchers together to address the lack of textiles studies at the university level and how to better integrate them into the teaching of archaeology and anthropology at universities. Discussion will explore the teaching of textile studies, use of experimental archaeology & making textiles studies relevant.

The Office of Research, Economic and Community Development's Planning Committee for Research, Scholarship and Creative Activities has selected six outstanding student researchers to represent HSU at the 29th Annual California State University Student Research Competition. The annual statewide competition brings outstanding student researchers from the 23 CSU campuses to compete for research awards in discipline-based categories. Following a competitive review of applications, the students selected to represent HSU at CSU San Bernardino May 1-2 are:

Joao Paulo De Sordi Curti, Undergraduate in Forestry & Wildland Resources, “Virtual Interpretive Forest Recreation Project”; faculty advisor – John-Pascal Berrill, Professor, Forestry & Wildland Resources

Haley du Bois, Undergraduate in Biological Sciences, “Dissecting the Role of MAPK Signaling in the Tumor Promoting Properties of Lethal Giant Larvae 1 (Lgl1) in Primary Neural Progenitor/Stem Cells”; faculty advisor – Amy Sprowles, Assistant Professor, Biological Sciences

Nathan A. Graham, Undergraduate in Geology, “Determining Magma Mixing Duration and Dynamics Through Analysis of Reaction Rims on Olivine Crystals in Natural Samples of Black Dacite From the 1915 Eruption of Lassen Peak, CA”; faculty advisor – Brandon Browne, Lecturer, Geology

Jairo Luque Villanueva, Undergraduate in Environmental Resources Engineering, “Forward Osmosis-Direct Contact Membrane Distillation Sewer Mining Waste to Resource System”; faculty advisor – Andrea Achilli, Assistant Professor, Environmental Resources Engineering

Sylvia Nicovich, Graduate candidate in Geology, “Latest Pleistocene to Holocene River Terrace Deformation within the Southeastern Extent of the Little Salmon Fault Zone: Geomorphic Insights to Fault Termination and Rupture History, Van Duzen River, Northern California”; faculty advisor – Mark Hemphill-Haley, Professor and Chair, Geology

Madelinn Schriver, Graduate candidate in Forestry and Wildland Resources, “Establishment and Growth Patterns of Oregon White Oak and California Black Oak Woodlands in Northwestern California”; faculty advisor – Rosemary Sherriff, Associate Professor and Chair, Geography

These students will serve as exemplars of how student research is produced, supported, and promoted at HSU and compete based on their written summaries and oral presentations of their research.

Students Ivan de Soto and Paradise Martinez Graff have been chosen to attend the California Forum for Diversity in Graduate Education at Sonoma State on April 18-20, where they'll learn about the challenges and opportunities of pursuing grad school. They also received a competitive CAHSS research award to attend the Association for the Study of Literature and Environment Conference in Idaho in June with ENST Program Leader Sarah Jaquette Ray, where they'll be participating in "Latin@ Environmentalisms: A Pedagogy Workshop." Ivan has also been elected co-director of CCAT.

HSU's Business Internship program will be honored at the Arcata Economic Development Corporation's Spotlight on Success event Tuesday, March 31 at the Arcata Theater Lounge. The free event includes an opportunity to learn about small businesses that the local economy, and organizations that provide business support to local entrepreneurs.

The HSU Social Work Student Association (SWSA) recently participated in the 32nd annual Bowl for Kids' Sake "Jungle Bowl" event, which took place March 6-7, 2015 at Harbor Lanes in Eureka.

The SWSA was one of 134 funding teams and raised $650 (of the $100,000 raised at the event this year) that will go to help with the year’s operating costs at Big Brothers Big Sisters of the North Coast.

Disguised as bananas, the SWSA also won a trophy for costumes and enthusiasm.

Politics Professor John Meyer's book, "Engaging the Everyday: Environmental Social Criticism and the Resonance Dilemma," has been published by MIT Press. http://mitpress.mit.edu/books/engaging-everyday

In the book, he argues that an environmental agenda that emerges from everyday concerns would resonate more deeply with ordinary citizens.He will be giving a talk based on the book as part of the Sustainable Futures speaker series, Thursday, April 9th, 5:30pm, BSS 166.

An article titled, _The Western Thatching Ant,_ his photographs, and artworks were published in the Spring 2015 issue [Volume 34(1): 6-7] of _Dunesberry_, a publication of Friends of the Dunes. The western thatching ant (_Formica obscuripes_) gets its name from the mound of plant material at the top of its nests. In Humboldt County coastal areas, these ants are keystone species and have a large effect on its coastal dune environment. Wood has previously published research on the formic acid defensive spray of this ant.

The HSU Range Plant Identification Team competed in the 2015 Society for Range Management plant identification exam located in Sacramento, Calif., in February. The competition involves the sight identification of 200 grasses, forbs, shrubs and trees to species. The HSU Plant Team placed 6th out of 23 schools hailing from Canada, Mexico and United States. The University of Alberta placed first, followed by Texas A&M, Universidad Autonoma Agraria Antonio Narro, Utah State University, Universidad Autonoma de Chihuahua, and HSU, respectively. Advanced Rangeland Plants (RRS 475) prepares students for the annual exam and in preparation for related field work.

Social Work student Sophia Gang-Halvorsen has won the HSU Book of the Year Essay Award. The writing contest celebrates the HSU/CR Book of the Year, "War Dances" by Sherman Alexie. Sophia explains, "My writing piece is a series of haikus that speak of Indigenous People in an environment that has been drastically altered over time. This destruction has changed the balance of nature's gifts to life for indigenous people in their upriver homes of spirituality and physicality. The salmon is a community member struggling for survival today." To view her award winning piece, please visit: http://www2.humboldt.edu/socialwork/about/news.

Fisheries Biology Professor Darren Ward has received a 2015 Special Focus Award from California Sea Grant to study state and federally endangered Coho salmon. Ward will work with graduate student Molly Gorman to track the fate of large numbers of juveniles who disappear.

Humboldt State's Society of Women Engineers took home four awards at this year's SWE Region A conference at the University of Pacific February 21-22. SWE members won awards for the Best Outreach Event, Best Professional Development Event, Best Inclusion and Diversity Event, and Greatest Membership Retention. The Region A conference provides attendees the opportunity to participate in a career fair and professional development workshops, as well as network with professional engineers and SWE leaders.

The El Leñador student newspaper took three second place prizes at a competition of California student newspapers held by the California College Media Association. Student Manuel Orbegozo won for Best Features Photograph and Best Photo Series while Jefferson Posadas won for Best Infographic. El Leñador Editor Manuel Orbegozo accepted the awards at an awards banquet at the Sheraton Universal in Los Angeles Feb. 28.

The Lumberjack newspaper took top prizes at a competition of California student newspapers held by the California College Media Association. The Lumberjack staff beat out publications in all divisions for first place in Best Use of Social Media. It also took first place in the weekly division for Best News Series. The staff won second place for Best Special Issue for its coverage of last year’s Spring Break bus tragedy. Students Sebastian Hedberg and Manuel Orbegozo won third place for Best Photo Series and Best Features Photograph respectively. Finally, student Nicole Willared took an honorable mention for Best Feature story for her profile of Art Professor Don Anton.

Matt Brinkmann and Stephanie Leja received first and third place, respectively, in the student competition for best oral papers at the Western Section of The Wildlife Society meeting in Santa Rosa in late January 2015. Stephanie also received third place in the poster competitions. Both students work with Dr. Mark Colwell on Snowy Plovers.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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/.

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

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, 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 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, 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).

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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, 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, 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, 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

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."

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.

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, 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.

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).

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.

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.