During her visit to Cuba this past October, Dale Mueller was surprised by many cultural aspects that belied popular beliefs about the communist nation. While participating in a humanitarian effort administered through a faith-based NGO and approved by the Cuban government, the associate professor of nursing at California State University, Dominguez Hills was continually impressed by an unanticipated spirit of community. She says that in the cities of Havana, Trinidad de Cuba, and Cienfuegos, friendly interactions between everyone from longtime neighbors to foreign visitors was a common thread. “Everyone was extremely open,” Mueller recalls. “People you would meet sitting at a ... Read More
Archive
Patricia Hinchberger: Nursing Professor Sees a New Day for Women in Kenya
Dr. Patricia Hinchberger, director of the master's entry-level professional nursing program (MEPN) at California State University, Dominguez Hills, participated in a humanitarian mission to Africa last fall led by the Worldwide Network for Gender Empowerment (WNGE) at Fielding Graduate University in Santa Barbara. The organization, which Hinchberger has been a core member of since 2007, visited villages in Kenya, including Kibera, the second largest urban slum in Africa. An expert on health promotion, disease prevention, and community health, Hinchberger helped educate children in the village of Kunya about dental hygiene. WNGE, along with financial support from the “Full Circle ... Read More
CSU Dominguez Hills Awarded Carnegie Community Engagement Classification
The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching has selected California State University, Dominguez Hills for its Carnegie Community Engagement Classification. Out of 305 universities that applied nationwide, CSU Dominguez Hills was one of only 115 given this distinction in 2010. Cheryl McKnight, director, Center for Service Learning, Internships, & Civic Engagement (SLICE), says that the university has “been measured against the very best, and we stood up to that standard.” “What this means is that other universities will now use us as a touchstone against which to measure their community engagement,” she says. “We have shown our commitment to the multiple forms of ... Read More
CSU Dominguez Hills Foundation Names Toyota Executive to its Board
Michael Rouse, vice president of philanthropy and community affairs at Toyota Motor Sales (TMS), U.S.A., Inc. has been named to board of directors of the California State University, Dominguez Hills Foundation. “We are fortunate to have the involvement of alumni and local business leaders like Mr. Rouse on the CSU Dominguez Hills Foundation Board,” said university president Mildred García. “By serving his alma mater in this way he will be helping the university prepare our diverse student body to become the knowledgeable, skilled leaders of tomorrow and through their success, ensure the region's economic viability.” In his position at TMS U.S.A., Inc., Rouse is responsible for ... Read More
Joy Harjo Presents Poetry and Music at Native American Heritage Event
Poet Joy Harjo presented an evening of spoken word and music to students and the campus community in the Loker Student Union as part of last month's Native American Heritage celebration. The event was presented by the IDS/PACE Alumni Club, the Multicultural Center, World Cultural Studies, and the CSU Dominguez Hills 50th Anniversary Committee with the additional generosity of donor Dr. Robert Blaine. Gayle Elliott, lecturer of interdisciplinary studies, invited Harjo to speak at CSU Dominguez Hills. “When I think of the ancestors from which Joy comes–the chiefs in her history whose stature is apparent still today, as well as those ancestors whose names are known only to family–I ... Read More
Don Hata: Historian Publishes Fourth Edition of Work on Japanese American Incarceration
A fourth edition of “Japanese Americans and World War II: Mass Removal, Imprisonment, and Redress” (with Dr. Nadine Ishitani Hata; Wheeling, Ill.; Harlan Davidson, 2010) has recently been published by Dr. Don Hata, emeritus professor of history. The introductory summary of the subject, which evolved from a 33-page essay, was originally written in 1974 by Hata and his late wife, who taught history at California State University, Dominguez Hills before becoming a professor of history and emeritus vice president of Academic Affairs at El Camino College. On Dec. 16, Don Hata visited the Albany Civil Rights Institute in Albany, Ga. for a book signing and presented a talk on the ... Read More
Kenneth Brown: Physics Lecturer Named to El Camino College Board of Trustees
His full-time job might be as an engineer and project analyst at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratories (JPL), but Kenneth Brown has a real passion for education. So when opportunities to make a difference in student learning come along he's happy to take on the extra work. Earlier this month, the adjunct professor in the Department of Physics at California State University, Dominguez Hills was appointed to the El Camino College Board of Trustees to fill the seat vacated by longtime trustee Nathanial Jackson, who had been ill much of 2010 and passed away on Nov. 21 at the age of 80. The board selected Brown from a pool of 11 candidates. He will represent Trustee Area One, which includes ... Read More
Robert Keel: Graduate Student, Veteran Receives California Sociological Association Award
Graduate student Robert Keel (Class of '09, B.S., applied studies/public administration cum laude) received an Outstanding Graduate Student Award from the California Sociological Association (CAS) at the organization's annual conference in November. He was recommended by sociology lecturer Susan Fellows and professor of criminal justice Theodore Byrne and received a plaque and a $100 monetary award. Keel, a Long Beach native, joined the Army after taking his GED and retired from the Army in 1998 after a military career that included serving as an operations manager for the Battlefield Coordination Detachment in Korea, ROTC instructor at Oregon State University ,and a drill sergeant at ... Read More
Student Employees in Loker Student Union Provide Aid to Homeless on Skid Row
Student employees in the Loker Student Union at California State University, Dominguez Hills provide a variety of services throughout the 120,000-square-foot facility, from greeting visitors at the information desk to overseeing laptop rentals. This semester, they also extended a helping hand to the homeless through a service project by buying and collecting items from the campus community and delivering more than 100 hygiene packs to the homeless on Town and 4th Streets in downtown Los Angeles. The packs were delivered last month to the area by Damesha McKnight, senior, biology, and Lily Guillen, senior, sociology. The two students accompanied Dr. Sophia Momand, a physician in Student ... Read More
Can’t Buy Me Love: Course Examines Consumer Spending
Despite the economic downturn, holiday spending still happens, with shoppers looking for the perfect gift at a good price. As is often the case, the would-be Santas are also buying presents for themselves, many of which will end up in the backs of closets or otherwise never used. This fall, in Anne Choi's class on “American Consumerism,” students were asked to bring items to class that had caused them to feel buyer's remorse. The session, which was recorded by American Public Media's “Marketplace,” aired on NPR on Dec. 13. Choi says that people often think they can buy happiness “because the media tells us that we can.” “It has become easier to buy things than to do things that ... Read More
