Latest Achievements

Alison Holmes, leader of the International Studies Program, was awarded a summer fellowship at the University of London where she will be conducting archival research for 'Global Diplomacy,' a textbook for Westview Press.

Three HSU faculty members recently received 2012/13 CSU Quality Online Teaching & Learning (QOLT) awards for creating exemplary hybrid/online courses. Anthropology faculty members Mary Scoggin & Rebecca Robertson were awarded for their online course "Introduction to Cultural Anthropology." Communication faculty member Tasha Souza was awarded for her hybrid course "Intercultural Communication."

The CSU QOLT program was developed to assist faculty, faculty developers, and instructional designers to more effectively design hybrid and online courses.

History majors James Garrison and Sydney Hinton are the 2013 recipients of two $750 William R. Tanner History Scholarships. The scholarship was established in memory of William R. Tanner, professor of history at Humboldt State University from 1970 to 1999; founder of History Day at the university; and author of “A View from the Hill,” a history of Humboldt State University.

History major Adam Hioki was selected by History Department faculty as the 2013 recipient of the Dr. John Hennessey Award, which honors a graduating history major who has demonstrated academic excellence in the study of history. The award was established in memory of Dr. John Hennessey, a professor of History and department chair at Humboldt State University who, after his retirement from the History Department, provided many years of service to the university.

History majors James Garrison, Sean Mitchell, and Nicholas Gunvaldson were awarded first, second and third place, respectively, in the Charles R. Barnum History Contest, with their combined cash prizes totaling $2,500. The Barnum History Awards celebrate original historical research of Humboldt County. The awards were established in 1952 by a grant from Charles Barnum, a realtor and insurance broker in Eureka who was a member of the Humboldt State College Advisory Board from 1946 to his death in 1953.

History-Social Science Education major Victoria Munguia was selected by History Department faculty to receive the 2013 Johnston-Aronoff Award, which is given each year to an outstanding student pursuing a career in teaching history at the K-12 level. The award was established by Guy Aronoff, a lecturer in the HSU History Department, and his wife, Judy Johnston, in memory of Guy’s father, David Aronoff, and Judy’s mother, Aldy Johnston.

Assistant politics professor Stephanie Burkhalter, and politics major Jaycob Bytel presented "Going Public in Advice and Consent" at the annual meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association, April 11-14, in Chicago.

HSU graduate student Leslie Scopes Anderson and Ken Burton have just completed a bird guide entitled "Common Birds of Northwest California – Humboldt, Del Notre & Trinity Counties." Over a year in production, the book is 176 pages and contains over 500 photos, (most by Leslie) as well as habitat charts and informative text about the birds. The guide is published by Redwood Region Audubon Society and will soon be available in local book stores.

Graduate student Leslie Anderson recorded a first-ever sighting of a rare Red-bellied Woodpecker in the state of Nevada. It is also the second western-most sighting in the US of the bird, bested only by one in Idaho in 2003. Leslie noticed the woodpecker in June near the historic Bressman cabin at Ruby Lake National Wildlife Refuge and documented it with high-quality photographs. The first-sighting was later confirmed by local bird expert Ken Burton and the Nevada Bird Records Committee. An article about the find will appear in the April-May issue of Western Birds.

Two teams of Environmental Resources Engineering students recently took high honors in the Consortium for Mathematics and its Applications Mathematical Modeling Contest Jan. 31 to Feb. 4. Both teams worked on the same problem, which required building a mathematical model for an effective, cost-efficient water strategy to meet the United States' projected water needs in 2025. In particular, the model was required to address water storage and movement, desalinization and conservation.

The first team--consisting of Lianna Winkler-Prins, James Courtney and Ryan P. Dunne--earned an honorable mention ranking. The second team--consisting of Kevin Kipp, Britlandt Abney and Andrew Preiksa--was awarded a meritorious ranking. Each team prepared a detailed report that included one of three possible modeling problems.

The manuscript "Medical device compendium for the developing world: a new approach in project and service-based learning for engineering graduate students" by Kathleen Sienko and Amir Sabet Sarvestani of University of Michigan and Lonny Grafman of HSU was published in the Global Journal of Engineering Education.

The manuscript documents the work establishing the Global Health Medical Devices Compendium, a new open-source platform for presenting available medical devices designed for, or implemented in, the developing world at http://www.appropedia.org/Portal:Medical_Devices.

Society of Professional Journalists Mark of Excellence awarded to _The Lumberjack_, _Osprey_ and KRFH Radio News

At a 4-state journalism contest April 13 in Las Vegas, Journalism Major Colleen Chalmers won First Place for Non-Fiction Magazine Articles for “Hazing Kills A Soccer Season.” Journalism Majors Connor Jepson, Lashay Wesley, Karel Vega & Xavion Bond won second place for Best Radio News Reporting for KRFH’s coverage of the California elections. _The Lumberjack_, _Osprey_ and KRFH Radio News walked away with second place awards for Best All-Around Non Daily Student Newspaper; Best Student Magazine; and Best All-Around Radio Newscast.

The Department of Forestry and Wildland Resources presented 22 of its students with nearly $28,000 in scholarships at its 15th annual Spring Awards banquet in April. Three graduating seniors were recognized at the ceremony: Zachary Carter, Academic Excellence Award; Noah Coonen, Professional Promise Award, and Celina Weeg, Most Outstanding Student Award in Rangeland Resources and Wildland Soils. Department Chair Kenneth (K.O.) Fulgham reported that faculty have gained more than $1.37 million in grant research awards in the past 18 months. He recognized retiring Professor John Stuart for his 30 years of service to the department. For the third year running, Stuart was voted “Outstanding Professor of the Year” by the department’s students.

Biology graduate student Rachael Olliff recently received a 2013 conservation grant from the Sequoia Park Zoo of Eureka. Olliff will use the grant to monitor the relationship between the native but seldom-studied dune silver bee and flowering plants on the North Spit of Humboldt Bay and publish informational pamphlets.

Oceanography faculty member Christine Cass recently received a 2013-14 California Sea Grant Focus Award. Cass will spend 18 months studying seasonal changes in the fat and protein content of zooplankton in northern California and southern Oregon. California Sea Grant is funded by the National Sea Grant College Program, which is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Noah Zerbe, Chair of the Department of Politics, presented a paper entitled "Engaging Students and Promoting Learning through Semester-long Simulations in International Relations" at the International Studies Association. The paper, which followed the implementation of a simulation in his Introduction to International Relations course, demonstrated that active learning strategies can have different but lasting impacts on student retention and engagement.

Isral Konopa, Environmental Resources Engineering undergraduate student, and Britany MacFarlane, Environmental Resources Engineering graduate student, have each received a 2013/14 scholarship from the California branch of the American Council of Engineering Companies.

ACEC invited scholarship applications from full-time students enrolled in California colleges and universities with an ABET-approved engineering program. From all the pplicants, only 5 undergraduate students and 3 graduate students were chosen to receive scholarships.

The Schatz Energy Research Center conference room has been named after SERC founding director Peter Lehman. A professor of environmental resources engineering, Lehman served as SERC's director from 1989 to 2012 and as faculty advisor to the Campus Center for Appropriate Technology from 1979 to 2000. The newly-dedicated room will also include a portrait of Lehman.

Edward Nuhfer, director of Educational Effectiveness at Humboldt State, in collaboration with emeritus professor of economics Dennis Muraoka (CSU Channel Islands), are founding editors of the newly announced peer-reviewed open access journal "_Student Learning through Mentored Scholarship (SLMS)_,":http://www.sagepub.com/press/2013/february/SAGE_publishesStudentLearnin… produced by SAGE Publications of Thousand Oaks, Calif.

The journal disseminates research on the successful experiences of higher-education faculty in support of innovative research and scholarship with peers and students.

Nuhfer and Muraoka collaborated for two years with support from SAGE in constructing concept documents, designing reviewers' rubrics and assembling a diverse and well-qualified national inaugural board of reviewers.

Campuses of the California State University are especially well known for supporting undergraduate research, civic engagement, and service learning done both through formal classes and through co-curricular projects in student academic clubs. These require a substantial investment of faculty time in one-on-one mentoring that is not widely recognized for its true value. Muraoka notes: "SLMS provides a much needed vehicle that will allow educators to convey mentoring ideas and models to other educators."

SAGE'S international reputation as a publisher of high quality journals provides a tremendous opportunity for collaborating mentors to co-author with one another and with their students on the exceptional kinds of learning experiences that are signature to campuses known for providing top-notch undergraduate education.

Penelope Shaw, study abroad coordinator, and Alison Holmes, International Studies program leader, presented a paper: "Developing International Studies on the Lost Coast" to the International Studies Association Annual Conference in San Francisco in April.

Biology graduate students John Mola and Rachael Olliff and Botany/Biology-Ecology undergraduate student Christopher Steenbock received the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship on March 29th.

Biological sciences professor Amy Sprowles recently won an elevator pitch contest summarizing her research on stem cells. The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine's Elevator Pitch Challenge asked scientific researchers to explain what they do, why it’s important and why the public should care in 30 seconds or less. Sprowles and her students are studying how cancer genes may turn on stem cell like properties in normal adult cells. Their research is supported by CIRM's Bridges to Stem Cell Research Awards program. You can see the speeches on YouTube at #SciencePitch.

Nursing professor Marshelle Thobaben recently published an article and textbook chapter. The article, "Psychiatric Home Health Skilled Nursing Services," was published in the February 2013 issue of Home Health Care Management & Practice Journal: Vol. 25, Issue 1, February 2013, Pg. 32-34.

The textbook chapter, titled "People of Turkish Heritage" was published in Transcultural Health Care: A Culturally Competent Approach, 4th ed. Editor: Larry D. Purnell; 2013; F.A. Davis Publisher.

Professor Sing C. Chew was recently invited to an international conference in Singapore, "Plural Coexistence and Sustainability: Asian Experiences in Interdisciplinary Perspectives," sponsored by Nanyang Technological University and Kyoto University, Japan. He presented a paper entitled: Socioeconomic Structural Transformations, Climate, Ecological Changes, and Mobilizations in an Era of Global Crisis.

Dr. Sharon N. Kahara and Steven R. Chipps' paper "Wetland Hydrodynamics and Long-term Use of Spring Migration Areas by Lesser Scaup in Eastern South Dakota," published in the journal Great Plains Research (2012), was selected to receive the Charles E. Bessey award for the best paper in natural resources.

Sociology faculty member Ronald L. Mize's book "Consuming Mexican Labor: From the Bracero Program to NAFTA" has received glowing reviews from a number of recognized scholars. Comparative race historian Neil Foley provided a flattering assessment in the Pacific Historical Review, saying "the real strength of this work ... is the attention given to the growing dispersal of Mexican laborers in the last few decades from the American West to the Midwest ‘‘heartland’’ (Iowa, Nebraska, Illinois, Kansas, and so on), the hinterlands of the Northeast (especially non-metropolitan New York), the Northwest, and, most importantly, the South, where the greatest demographic changes have taken place. Mize's book, co-authored with Alicia C.S. Swords, is available on Amazon.

Matthew Derrick, assistant professor of Geography, was the featured guest on the most recent "Research on Religion" podcast. The hour-long discussion focused on Derrick's latest article, "Containing the Umma?: Islam and Territorial Question," which appeared last month in the Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Religion. The podcast, which has 5,000 subscribers, can be accessed at http://www.researchonreligion.org/.

The most recent issue of The California Geographer, a peer-reviewed journal, includes two articles by HSU Geography majors. The first, by junior Sara Matthews, is titled "How Space and Place Influence Transportation Trends at Humboldt State University." The second, by Kirsten Ray ('12), is titled "Cultural Clash in the Netherlands? Exploring Dutch College Students' Attitudes Toward Muslim Immigrants." Both articles started as projects within the Geography Department's research and writing courses.

Lauren Wendt ('09, Wildlife) received the "Torch Award" by the North American Wildlife Enforcement Officers Association. The award honors top young officers in the U.S. and Canada. Lauren works as a conservation officer for the Idaho Department of Fish & Game.

Associate Professor Paul Cummings, Department of Music, authored an article in volume nine of the series entitled "Teaching Music Through Performance in Band," published in January 2013 by GIA. Cummings wrote about a work for wind band by Dwayne Milburn called "Meditation." The research required for this article included a thorough analysis of the piece, direct communication with the composer, and scrutiny of related sources. The "Teaching Music Through Performance" series is widely used by music educators throughout the world.

Communication Professor Michael S. Bruner's book review of "White Kids: Language, Race, and Styles of Youth Identity" appears in the March 2013 issue of the Journal of Language and Social Psychology (Vol. 32, No. 1). The review grew out of Bruner's research as a Visiting Scholar at UC Berkeley in Fall 2010, and is part of the Communication Department's critical studies on language and identity.

Vaughn Hutchins, darkroom Tech for the Art Department, is having a one-person show of his photographs in Gallery 1401 at the University of the Arts in Philadephia, Feb. 15 through March 15, 2013. Vaughn will show carbon and platinum prints of the redwoods and Yosemite Valley. He will also give a workshop at the University of the Arts on carbon printing, a 19th Century photographic process. Vaughn is internationally recognized for his work in carbon printing.

Professor Barbara Brinson Curiel of the Departments of English and Critical Race, Gender and Sexuality Studies has been named the 2012 winner of the Levine Prize in Poetry for her book, "Mexican Jenny and Other Poems." The award includes publication by Anhinga Press and a $2,000 prize.

Robin Price recently began an overseas teaching position at the American School of Kosova this August. The American School of Kosova is located in Prishtina. She currently teaches 2nd grade.

The California Forestry Association awarded Lisa Perry the Educator of the Year award at its January 31 annual meeting in Napa, CA. The award is given for outstanding work in public education. Lisa is an outreach specialist in the College of Natural Resources and Sciences.

Wildlife Professor Mark Colwell was named 'Outstanding Mentor' at the 2013 Annual Conference of the Western Section of The Wildlife Society in Sacramento in January.

HSU Wildlife Master's students Kelly Weintraub and Dana Herman received best poster awards at the 2013 Annual Conference of the Western Section of The Wildlife Society in Sacramento in January. Kelly's presentation summarized her research on the nesting ecology of tri-colored blackbirds in the San Joaquin Valley and Dana's presentation reported the results of her work on the reproductive success of the threatened snowy plover in Humboldt County.

Bethany Baibak (MSc, Biological Sciences) has been named a 2013 California Sea Grant State Fellows. Since 2010, Baibak has held positions as a wildlife biologist at the National Council on Air and Stream Improvement in Arcata and as a wildlife technician at Stanislaus National Forest. As a state fellow, Baibak will work closely with California Department of Parks and Recreation's division chief to develop strategies and policies that protect coastal parks from sea level rise and other climate impacts.

Physics majors Holly Leopardi and Crystal Cardenas attended the 8th Annual Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics at the California Institute of Technology January 18-20th. Leopardi presented a poster at the conference describing her ongoing research efforts in the HSU Gravitational Research Laboratory.

Drs. Tasha R. Howe and Howard Friedman -- along with HSU students Esperanza Alcazar, Edwin Vazquez, Rebekah Becker, and Sarah Murphy -- have had a presentation accepted at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development.

Their study, entitled "Heavy Metal Enthusiasts at Mid-Life: Developmental Trajectories and Functioning Three Decades Later" examined the life-histories and current functioning of middle aged 1980s heavy metal groupies, band members, and fans, in comparison to a middle-aged comparison group and another group of HSU students.

Dr. Alison Holmes, leader of the International Studies Program and lecturer in Politics, has published a book co-edited with Dr. J. Simon Rofe of the University of London. The book, published by Palgrave Macmillan, is entitled - The Embassy in Grosvenor Square: American Ambassadors to the United Kingdom 1938-2008 - and is based, in part, on research supported by her 2008 Winston Churchill Memorial Trust History Fellowship.

The National Association of Veterans Program Administrators recently name Kim Hall as Vice President and Region VIII Delegate to its Board of Directors. Hall is director of Veterans Enrollment and Transition Services at HSU. Founded in 1975, NAVPA works to ensure that student veterans at colleges, universities, trade schools and apprenticeship programs across the nation receive the best access to their GI benefits. For more information, visit navpa.org.

Assistant geography professor Matthew Derrick's article "Containing the Umma?: Islam and the Territorial Question" was recently published in the Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Religion. A second article by Derrick, "Territory and the Changing Shape of Tatar Islam in Tsarist and Soviet Russia," was published in the most recent edition of the International Journal of Russian Studies, while his book review of "Nation, Language, Islam: Tatarstan's Sovereignty Movement" appears in the forthcoming issue of Central Asian Survey.

At its recent meeting in Boston, the Linguistic Society of America presented the 2013 Leonard Bloomfield Book Award to HSU Professor of Anthropology Victor Golla for his book, "California Indian Languages" (University of California Press, 2011). The annual award is granted to the foremost volume that contributes to our understanding of language and linguistics, through its “exemplary scholarship, enduring value, novelty, empirical import, conceptual significance, and clarity.” In announcing the award to Golla, the selection committee called "California Indian," a remarkable piece of documentary linguistics, and "the reference of first resort” for neophytes and experts on indigenous California languages.

Golla’s book is only the fourteenth publication to have been honored with a Bloomfield award since its creation in 1990. The award commemorates the eminent linguist Leonard Bloomfield, a founding member of the LSA and the author of Language (1934), one of the most influential books in American structural linguistics.Although Golla was unable to attend the Boston meeting and received the award in absentia, arrangements are being made for a representative of the LSA to present it to him in person in California this spring.

Sharyn Marks published a paper in the journal "Molecular Ecology" on the phylogeography and historical demography of Black Salamanders. This manuscript was based in part on data collected by Sean Reilly as part of his master's thesis under the supervision of professors Marks and Bryan Jennings. Reilly is now a Ph.D. student in the Department of Integrative Biology at UC Berkeley and Jennings is a Visiting Professor at the Museo Nacional in Rio de Janeiro.

Sean B. Reilly, Sharyn B. Marks and W. Bryan Jennings. 2012. "Defining evolutionary boundaries across parapatric ecomorphs of Black Salamanders (_Aneides flavipunctatus_) with conservation implications. Molecular Ecology 21: 5745–5761.

KRFH recently earned the title of college radio "Station of the Year" by RadioFlag, a social network for radio listeners. The panel of judges included radio industry professionals, RadioStar Blog writers, and RadioFlag interns. Out of a pool of finalists, KRFH demonstrated the best unified effort to grow its audience and connect with listeners. "Maybe it's living in the most Northern part of California, amongst the oldest and tallest trees, whose biomass per acre is higher than any forest on earth, that makes Humboldt State University's college radio station so special," they wrote.

A group of HSU faculty from the School of Business, the department of Environmental Resources Engineering and the Office of Sustainability presented, "Sustainability in the classroom: Creative ways to embed environmental and social responsibility into classroom content." The faculty members were Michelle Lane, Nancy Vizenor, David Sleeth-Keppler, Kate Lancaster, Lonny Grafman and T.C. Comet.

The presentation was part of the United States Association of Small Business and Entrepreneurship's (USASBE) 2013 conference in San Francisco January 10th. See more at http://www.appropedia.org/USASBE_Sustainability_in_the_Classroom.

T. Luke George, graduate student Joe LaManna and scientists at the Institute for Bird Populations published a paper in the Auk (October 2012) examining factors influencing the annual survival of Swianson’s Thrushes in the Pacific Northwest. Using mark-recapture data collected at bird banding stations throughout the region (including a station near Eureka where many HSU students have been trained to band birds) they found that the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is an important driver of annual survival in Swainson's Thrushes.

Anthropology students Alyssa Haggard and Matthew Price were awarded the Undergraduate Research/Creative Activity Fellowship by the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. Their proposal is titled "3-D Virtual Curation Project: Faunal Remains” supervised by Dr. Cortes-Rincon.

Anthropology students Melissa Rivera and Erik Marinkovich were awarded the Undergraduate Research/Creative Activity Fellowship by the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. Their proposal is titled "Maya Fortification Database: A Case Study Petexbatun Region” supervised by Dr. Cortes-Rincon.