“Does anyone have a cardiac pacemaker or medical device implants? How about keys, a mobile phone, or even a wallet? We wouldn't want anything to get damaged or erased.” These are questions Patrick Still, assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry at California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH), gingerly asks people who venture into the new campus Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Facility and approach the new JEOL 400 MHz NMR spectrometer, which the Still Lab uses for cancer research. Still uses the NMR spectrometer to conduct his research on plant extracts he procured from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Active Repository Program. The extracts were prepared from ... Read More
Archive
CSUDH Heeds the Call for More Dual-Language Teachers
In 1996, California reduced the number of students per classroom from 30 to 20, creating thousands of teaching jobs throughout the state, only to have many disappear a decade later during the economic downturn, including progressive dual-language teaching positions. That has changed in recent years with the state's economic boom, and the passage of the California Non-English Languages Allowed in Public Education Act (Proposition 58) in November 2016. Today, there is a bilingual teacher shortage, and California State University, Dominguez Hills' (CSUDH) College of Education heeded the call with the creation of its two-week, Spanish immersion Dual-Language Institute in June 2016. “This ... Read More
Governor Brown Hosts Transportation Work Forum on Campus
California Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. and Sen. Steven Bradford (D-Gardena) hosted a forum at California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH) June 30 to discuss the Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017 and its potential for increasing transportation job and construction contracts for large and small businesses in the state. The forum consisted of two roundtables that took place in CSUDH's University Library that included Brown, Bradford, and transportation officials, and was attended by education leaders and other elected officials. Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de León, Carson Mayor Albert Robles, CSUDH President Willie J. Hagan, and California State University Chancellor ... Read More
Gov. Jerry Brown doubles down on California measure changing recall process, calling it ’eminently reasonable
The partisan volleys have continued this week in the effort to recall state Sen. Josh Newman (D-Fullerton) over his vote to pass an increase in the gas tax. Those seeking to recall Newman submitted more than enough signatures needed to qualify the measure for the ballot, if they're all deemed valid. Newman supporters looking to halt the recall filed a lawsuit Thursday, claiming signature gatherers had misled voters. And Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill that makes changes to long-standing recall rules, an effort that Republicans have decried as an attempt by Democrats to "rig the system" to protect one of their own. Brown seemed to double down on that measure Friday at a press conference ... Read More
Gov. Jerry Brown touts minority business benefits from gas tax hike at Carson meeting
Putting a positive spin on a gas tax increase that has been widely unpopular in California, Gov. Jerry Brown and other state leaders came to Carson on Friday to tout the benefits to minority- and women-owned businesses once billions of dollars are spent on badly needed transportation projects. The governor, joined by South Bay Sen. Steve Bradford and other legislative leaders, discussed the state's recently passed $52”‰billion transportation bill during a roundtable at Cal State Dominguez Hills. The bill will allow the state to tackle transportation infrastructure projects such as highways and bridges and, in the process, bolster businesses owned by minorities, women and veterans, they ... Read More
California colleges transform remedial courses to raise graduation rates
Before Aida Tseggai could major in biology at Cal State Dominguez Hills, she had to catch up in math. She passed a non-credit remedial math class in the fall and then was offered a new pathway - a for-credit course in college-level algebra that provided extra class time, tutoring and review of more fundamental material. Such combination classes - known as co-requisites, bridges or hybrids - are seen as a crucial tool to help hundreds of thousands of CSU students climb out of the remedial education hole in which some feel trapped. Part of a national reform movement, such courses also are aimed at helping students graduate faster. “It saved me time and money,” said Tseggai. Nervous ... Read More
Student Researcher Dhanushka Kumarasinghe Takes 1st Place, Twice
For Dhanushka Kumarasinghe, winning 1st place at the 31st Annual CSU Student Research Competition at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (SLO) in late April 2017 was “surreal,” in part because he almost didn't present at California State University, Dominguez Hills' (CSUDH) 12th Annual Student Research Day in February, where he needed to win to compete at SLO. Two days before Kumarasinghe was to give his talk, “Come Catch Pokémon at the Celadon City Department Store!: Player Perceptions Toward Businesses Within Pokémon Go Hotspots,” at the university's research day, his father had a stroke and he rushed him to the hospital. “There was a lot on my mind. I thought, 'I have no time for this. There ... Read More
Faculty Highlights: May 2017
Our faculty members participate in conferences around the world, conduct groundbreaking research, and publish books and journal papers that contribute to their field and highlight their expertise. We feature those accomplishments and more in this section. College of Arts and Humanities Doris Ressl, associate professor and chair of dance, has been elected to the national board of directors of the American College Dance Association for the Baja region. Acosta's three-year term extends from July 1, 2017 to June 30, 2020. The association's primary focus is to support and promote the “wealth of talent and creativity” that is prominent throughout college and university dance ... Read More
Library Archives Receives $100K to Expand Japanese American Digitalization Project
California State University, Dominguez Hills' (CSUDH) Library Archives and Special Collections has received a $100,000 archival grant from the California Civil Liberties Public Education Program (CCLPEP) to continue its work on the CSU Japanese American Digitization Project (CSUJAD). The CCLPEP grant will help fund CSUJAD projects and the digitalization of more than 6,500 additional records related to Japanese Americans during the mid-20th century, including oral histories from California State University, Fullerton's (CSUF) Center for Oral and Public History, and collections from Claremont Colleges Libraries. “The CSUJAD project has allowed us to develop a functional and useful ... Read More
Homeless Student Turned Graduate Gets By with a Little Help from Her Friends
Exhausted and fast asleep in the backseat of her car following a long day of classes, Esther Cruz springs up after University Police Officer Juan Perez lights up her vehicle with his cruiser's spotlight. “He started asking questions–wanting to know why I was there and what I was doing,” she recalls. That was in fall 2015, Cruz's first semester on campus. Driving up from her home in San Diego to begin classes and hoping to secure campus housing, Cruz was instead placed on the waiting list and couldn't afford the off-campus housing options offered to her. She decided to try living out of her car. She first parked on surface streets, but after an attempted break-in of her car, she felt ... Read More
