Latest Achievements

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.

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.

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, 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).

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 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.

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.

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 (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.

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/.

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).

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.

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"

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."

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The HSU River Institute has received research funding from Friends of the Eel River. The project will develop recommendations for blockwater releases from the Potter Valley Project to assist rearing and migration for anadromous salmonids in the Eel River.

Two Humboldt State University students spent the summer of 2014 working on research projects in Woods Hole as part of the multi-institutional Partnership Education Program (PEP). They were among 15 students from around the U.S. who participated in the 10-week program. Calvin Fok is a senior majoring in marine biology, and Dion Kucera graduated in May 2014 with a degree in environmental science and is now at Indiana University pursuing double master's degrees.

Students Tristan Merlaud and Rudy Directo placed fifth in the FLW College Fishing bass tournament Sept. 6 on New Melones Lake. They will now represent HSU in an FLW College Fishing Invitational. The top 10 teams from the Invitational advance to the 2015 FLW College Fishing National Championship.

FLW College Fishing is a national competitive bass-fishing program open to full-time students at four-year colleges and universities. For more information, visit collegefishing.com

Humboldt State University has received $443,614 through the Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs, which helps at-risk students prepare for college and receive the support they need to achieve success in postsecondary education.

Administered by the U.S. Department of Education, the six or seven-year competitive grants target entire grades of students, partner with local organizations and businesses, and include matching local contributions and in-kind services. Grantees serve an entire group of students, usually beginning no later than seventh-grade, and follow them throughout high school.

This year, applicants were encouraged to address how they plan to increase postsecondary success, implement college- and career-ready standards, and work in conjunction with Promise Zones – places where the federal government has partnered with local communities and businesses to create jobs, increase economic security, improve educational opportunities, and reduce violent crime.

The Oregon Zoo Foundation has awarded Humboldt State's Wildlife Department $3,984 to investigate the den-attendance of fishers and the potential impacts of timber harvest on fisher den ecology. The grant is part of the Future for Wildlife program, which protects threatened and endangered species and their ecosystems.

Social Work Professors Marissa O’Neill and Debbie Gonzalez presented their co-authored research project, "Tribal and Non-tribal Agencies: A Comparison of how Social Work with Families is Conceptualized in the United States," at the Joint World Conference on Social Work, Education and Social Development (http://www.swsd2014.org) held in Melbourne, Australia this July. The conference attracted over 1500 social work and social development practitioners, researchers, and educators from all over the world.

Professor O’Neill and Gonzalez’ scholarship was presented alongside the work of members from the ‘University of the Arctic- Thematic Network on Social Work' (http://www.uarctic.org/organization/thematic-networks/social-work/), an international research collaborative consisting of 18 nations with a focus on social work with families.

Physics and Astronomy majors Crystal Cardenas, Andrew C. Harter ('14), and Michael P. Ross published a peer-reviewed paper titled "Experimental Progress on Tests of Gravity at 20 microns" in the Proceedings of the National Conference of Undergraduate Research 2014. The paper describes research done in the Gravitational Research Laboratory, led by Professor C.D. Hoyle.

Sociology Professor Emeritus Sing C. Chew recently published an article, "The Southeast Asian Connection in the First Eurasian World Economy 200BC-AD500," in the "Journal of Globalization Studies," Vol. 5 #1 2014:82-109. A book chapter will also appear in Michael Pearson (ed.), Trade, Circulation and Flows in the Indian Ocean World, New York: Palgrave -Macmillan (in press)

Former graduate student Luke Eberhart-Phillips, Brian Hudgens (adjunct faculty) and Mark Colwell co-authored a paper on the dynamics of the Snowy Plover population that breeds along the U.S. Pacific coast. The plover is listed as threatened under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. Colwell has been studying the local population with his students for 15 years.

John Hokman, a retired staff member who served as an engineer on HSU's research vessel, was awarded the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services Larry Peabody award for his 46 years of volunteer services with local search and rescue efforts. Hokman has assisted on more than 1,500 missions.

English instructor Cyndy Phillips and her fiancé, Peter Jain ('89) have published a collection of photography and poetry titled "Let the Dance Begin: Greetings From Humboldt." The book will be released at Northtown Books during the Sept. 12 Arts! Arcata event.

Professor William Wood made a Science Café presentation “Why are Mushrooms Toxic?” at this month’s “Science on Tap” night at Blondie’s. Science Cafés are events that take place in casual settings such as pubs and coffeehouses, are open to everyone, and feature an engaging conversation with a scientist about a particular topic, according to organizers. Chris Harmon (Chemistry Department) is the organizer for this year's Science On Tap presentations.

Lori Dengler is the co-editor and contributor to the 2nd edition of UNESCO's International Tsunami Survey Team (ITST) Post-Tsunami Survey Field Guide. For more, visit http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0022/002294/229456E.pdf

Environmental Science & Management Professor Steve Martin and Emeritus Math Professor Rob Van Kirk, along with their graduate students Mark Douglas and Kai Ross, have published a paper in the ‘Journal of Park and Recreation Administration’ titled “Computer Simulation Modeling to Determine Trailhead Quotas for Overnight Wilderness Visitor Use.” The paper presents the results of a study done for the National Park Service in Yosemite National Park. Both Douglas and Ross have gone on to Ph.D. programs.

Biological sciences faculty member Jianmin Zhong and students recently published a paper in the scientific journal PLOS ONE examining Rickettsia, antibiotics and ticks. Andre H. Kurlovs, Jinze Li and Du Cheng were co-authors. The paper is titled "Ixodes pacificus Ticks Maintain Embryogenesis and Egg Hatching after Antibiotic Treatment of Rickettsia Endosymbiont."

Humboldt State was recently made "Sierra" magazine's list of most environmentally responsible schools in the country. The eighth annual ranking, compiled by the Sierra Club's magazine, includes schools that lead the way in green programs and initiatives.