Tucked away on the third floor of Leo F. Cain Library, the Veterans Resource Center (VRC) may be small, but it exerts an outsized influence on the lives of students making the challenging transition from military service to academic life. “The Veterans Resource Center is the reason I'm here today and about to graduate with my bachelor's degree in business administration in December,” says Luigi Torres, 30, a former artillery cannoneer in the U.S. Marines. “It's the family that you don't think you need and that you don't know you have.” The VRC currently serves about 350 student veterans at CSUDH -250 who attend using the GI Bill, and another 100 who get support through the Cal-Vet ... Read More
CSUDH is Changing the Face of Sustainability
Sustainability is about more than just greenhouse gas reduction and better waste management, says Jenney Hall, lecturer in environmental studies at CSUDH. “Sustainability is ultimately about perpetuating systems. When you perpetuate systems, you must ask if those systems are serving everyone,” Hall says. “I think that our unique perspective is incorporating social justice, environmental justice, and climate justice into that transition.” Integrating sustainability with social and educational inequities is critical to CSUDH's approach, says Ellie Perry, manager of the university's Office of Sustainability. “We're a small, under-resourced institution that caters predominantly to ... Read More
Toros Attend FBI Diversity Recruitment Event
Emanuel Prince stood behind a throng of other college students and watched intently as two FBI agents behind a booth marked “Evidence Response Team” demonstrated how to test fabric for traces of blood. Prince, a senior sociology major and Presidential Scholar at CSUDH, was one of a couple hundred students from 11 CSU and UC campuses across Southern California who were invited to learn about potential career paths at the FBI. Agents, analysts, and support staff explained how their accounting majors, foreign language skills, and even their passion for undersea diving could be put to good use to protect the nation. The recruitment open house is part of a broad national initiative called ... Read More
New Solar Panels Reduce CSUDH’s Carbon Footprint
Within the past year, five of CSUDH's largest buildings have gone from merely consuming energy to generating it. Approximately 2,400 solar panels now adorn the rooftops of the Torodome gymnasium, the Science and Innovation building, the Leo F. Cain Library, the Social and Behavioral Sciences building, and Welch Hall. The installations, which were completed between December 2021 and February 2022, officially came online in June as part of a broader campaign by Facilities Services and the Office of Sustainability to find more ways to increase renewable energy resources on campus to further reduce the university's considerable carbon footprint. Central Plant Manager Kenneth Seeton ... Read More
Returning Toros Get Fresh Start on Graduation
Stephanie Esquivel enrolled at CSUDH in 2007 straight out of high school. She remembers the excitement she felt as a first-generation college student, eager to graduate and make a positive impact on the lives of others. However, her optimism soon gave way to an overwhelming sense of displacement. “I remember feeling lonely, undeserving, and even guilty for abandoning my family to focus on my own goals,” she said. “I stopped attending classes and quickly found myself in a downward spiral.” Esquivel never completely lost the ambition that initially inspired her. Through fifteen years of personal and economic challenges, she took classes when she could at several community colleges, ... Read More
