Two of Doris Namala’s greatest thrills are experiencing students’ enthusiasm about her lessons that challenge European-centered perspectives of Mexican history, and knowing her former students who now teach are relishing the same experience in local schools. Namala, a colonial Latin American historian, is well respected in California State University, Dominguez Hills’ (CSUDH) History Department for her bold and creative approach to integrating her research into student learning. That admiration has garnered her the 2018 Catherine H. Jacobs Outstanding Faculty Lecturer Award, an honor that acknowledges non-tenure track lecturers who have “demonstrated excellence in teaching effectiveness ... Read More
Features
Bianca Murillo Radically Rethinks Global Capitalism
Associate Professor of History Bianca Murillo’s first book, “Market Encounters: Consumer Cultures in Twentieth Century Ghana” (Ohio University Press, 2017), provides an expansive perspective of global capitalism that examines how race, gender, and power are created through commercial networks, and offers a radical rethinking of how economies and markets function. Funded by the Fulbright Hays Program and the Woodrow Wilson Foundation, Murillo conducted extensive research in the U.K., Europe, and West Africa to trace the evolution of consumerism in the colonial Gold Coast and independent Ghana as far back as the late 19th Century. But while much of the research for her book was spent ... Read More
Donna Nicol: An Agent of Change for Africana Studies
Donna Nicol, associate professor and chair of Africana Studies, arrived at CSUDH in fall 2017. As a faculty member, she teaches Comparative Ethnic and Global Societies. As chair, Nicol is working with her colleagues and the university administration to strengthen the program’s curriculum and bolster its presence on campus and in the region. A fourth-generation “Comptonite,” Nicol’s deep local roots and unique upbringing in a community-focused family has had a profound effect on her as a researcher and educator. She briefly left South Los Angeles for Ohio State University where she earned a Ph.D. in Social and Cultural Foundations of Education with a specialization in African American ... Read More
Trailblazing African American Alumni Share Career Insights and Advice
California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH) enrolls and graduates the largest number of African American students of any California State University campus. As Black History Month puts a spotlight on the achievements and accomplishments of African Americans throughout this nation, CSUDH pauses to share the great successes and insights of its alumni. Towalame Austin (’04, B.A., Interdisciplinary Studies) has forged a path in the non-profit sector that one might call a quintessential Los Angeles success story. In 1998 she began her career as a receptionist with the Magic Johnson Foundation, often being “the first to arrive and last to leave” both then and seven years later ... Read More
Beverly Palmer’s New Book Offers ‘Love Demystified’ for Would-Be Valentines
Valentine’s Day is just around the corner. For the very young, it’s a curious yet cheerful day when often illegible sentiments scribbled on adoring cards, accompanied by pastel-colored candy hearts, pile by the dozens on their school desks. As adults, love becomes much more challenging, and often as hard to decipher as a note from a 2nd grader. Many turn to the web for advice, only to become more frustrated, according to psychologist Beverly Palmer, emeritus professor of psychology at California State University, Dominguez Hills. She noticed that much of the information about love and relationships on the Internet is misleading opinions, so she decided to write “Love Demystified: ... Read More
