Emeritus professor of physics James Susumu Imai died on July 8 of heart failure. He joined the physics faculty at California State University, Dominguez Hills in 1970 and taught classes in physical science, physics within clinical science lab applications, and solid state physics until retiring in 2005. Imai's students remember him best as a humorous, but thorough instructor. Daniel Gutierrez (Class of '86, B.A., physics/mathematics), a senior project engineer at The Aerospace Corporation, says that his former professor used acronyms like “FLT” - which meant, “from last time” - long before text messages were invented, to recap lecture notes from the previous class. “I remember one ... Read More
Archive
It Can Happen Here: CSU Dominguez Hills and Emergency Preparedness
As emergency management and preparedness coordinator of California State University, Dominguez Hills, Gary Singer (Class of '05, B.A., political science) says that the reality of emergencies is not if they happen, but when. He says that “Operation Jump Start,” a functional exercise that took place last month, was very informative in assessing the university's readiness for an emergency. “If you had a drill in which you did everything perfectly, you didn't have a good drill,” he says. “We have a laundry list of things to improve upon–that's the good thing about these drills. Small things... that you don't think about turn out to be very important in an actual emergency.” With the ... Read More
Toro Baseball’s Su’a Represents Toros and MLB’s Urban Youth Academy in Japan
Toro Baseball's head coach Murphy Su'a was selected to serve as head coach in the fifth annual USA-Japan Friendly Series, which took place in Tokyo and Osaka in late June. He led a group of 18 local high school players who regularly train at the Major League Baseball Urban Youth Academy (UYA) in Compton to a four-game series against the citywide Tokyo All-Stars, Akashi Commercial High School, and Osaka Toin High School. Although the UYA team lost all four games, their coach says that it was a winning team on a more personal level. Su'a says that the trip to Japan was for the UYA students was “simply amazing,” and that the UYA team looked forward to playing the Tokyo All-Stars. “The ... Read More
Campus “Crowned” Location of Choice for Hollywood Productions
Local moviegoers and scores of alumni everywhere may recognize one of the supporting cast members in Tom Hanks' latest film, “Larry Crowne.” Standing in for the fictional East Valley Community College is none other than the California State University, Dominguez Hills campus, where shooting of scenes for the film took place a year ago. “Larry Crowne” is one of many productions shot on the campus. Richard Chester, director of Campus Dining and Commercial Services has been working with Jean Ferguson of Ferguson's Location Library for the last decade to market CSU Dominguez Hills as a potential location to filmmakers. “CSU Dominguez Hills provides a broad variety of looks that are not ... Read More
Obama Appoints García to Advisory Commission on Hispanic Education
Dr. Mildred García, president of California State University, Dominguez Hills, has been appointed by President Barack Obama to serve on the President's Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanics. García is one of 19 individuals from the education, business, nonprofit, philanthropic and high-tech sectors nationwide appointed to the commission, which will advise the president and U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan on issues related to improving educational opportunities and outcomes for Hispanics. With Hispanics representing the fastest-growing minority group in the United States yet having the lowest rate of education attainment in the country, the committee's ... Read More
Todd Matsubara: Family History of Perseverance Propels New Graduate
Todd Matsubara (Class of '11, B.S., business administration) is proof positive that one can go home again. After dropping out of California State University, Dominguez Hills in the early 1990s, he returned nearly two decades later to complete his degree. This past May, the 43-year-old graduated cum laude as a McNair Scholar and will begin the Transportation Science Graduate Program at University of California, Irvine this fall with the hopes of eventually earning a doctorate and entering a career in academia–possibly at his alma mater. Matsubara had a personal example to draw from in his journey to complete a college education. As the son and grandson of Japanese and Japanese ... Read More
New desert tortoise species named for former CSUDH biologist
A new species of desert tortoise has been named for the late Dr. David J. Morafka, who taught in the biology department from 1972 to 2002. The discovery was made by researchers at the U.S. Geological Survey Western Ecological Research Center, the Royal Ontario Museum in Ontario, Canada, the California Academy of Science, the University of Arizona, and Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri, after a lengthy study on the historical identification and taxonomy of the desert tortoise found in the Mojave and Sonoran deserts of California, Arizona and Mexico. Since its initial discovery in 1861, the desert tortoise, also known as the Agassiz's land-tortoise or by the scientific name ... Read More
CSU Dominguez Hills Welcomes Young Musicians on College Tour
California State University, Dominguez Hills opened its doors and dorms last week to more than 100 middle and high school students from central Texas, who are on a five-state college and performance tour, after an employee at the university - and a native of Texas - learned the students didn't have adequate accommodations while in California. “When I found out that a group of inner city high school students from Austin, Tex., was traveling all the way to the West Coast to visit local universities and sleeping on gymnasium floors, I knew that we had to do something,” said Tomás A. Aguirre, acting associate director of University Housing at CSU Dominguez Hills. “I'm lucky that I work at ... Read More
University Police Chief Sloan Retires; Campus Welcomes New Chief Velez
Chief Susan Sloan, the first female chief of University Police at California State University, Dominguez Hills, retired this month. Along with a celebration of her 22 years on campus, the swearing-in ceremony of new police chief Carlos Velez was held in the Loker Student Union on June 22. Sloan began her career at CSU Dominguez Hills in 1989 after more than three years as a deputy with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. She worked up the ranks on campus through detective, sergeant, lieutenant, and captain. Upon being named the first female chief of the university in 2004, she took command of a staff of 41 officers, dispatch, parking, and administrative personnel. At last ... Read More
Scott Bigney: Senior Awarded Membership in International Obsidian Studies Society
Senior Scott Bigney was selected for membership in the International Association of Obsidian Studies (IAOS) in recognition of his research on “Characterization of Obsidian from Five Late Postclassic Sites in the Soconusco Region of Chiapas, Mexico.” He presented his findings, which were co-authored by mentors Janine Gasco, associate professor of anthropology, and Dr. Hector Neff, professor of anthropology at CSU Long Beach, at Student Research Day at California State University, Dominguez Hills last February and at the annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology in Sacramento last March. In addition to the two-year membership and access to IAOS's archives and materials, Bigney's ... Read More
