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The primary source of news and information about California State University, Dominguez Hills, its students, faculty, and staff.

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Political Science Students Win Top Honors at Model U.N.

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The Model United Nations (MUN) class at California State University, Dominguez Hills won top honors at the regional Model United Nations Conference, held at Santa Barbara City College from March 31 to Apr. 2. This year 35 students from CSU Dominguez Hills represented 12 countries, including the United States, France, Turkmenistan, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia.

Hamoud Salhi, assistant professor of political science and adviser of the MUN class, led his students to distinguished honors at the conference, including those who were recognized as Best Delegates: Gregory Jacobs, Turkey, UN General Assembly; Gloria Lopez, United States, UN General Assembly; Keith Banks, Saudi Arabia, UN Economic and Social Committee; and Alvin Gutierrez and Amber Ali, Counsels, Serbia and Kosovo, International Court of Justice.

Political science students were honored as Best Delegates at the Model U.N.; pictured with Kulani Walker (Class of '10 B.A., political science, third from left) who served as Secretary General for this year's conference (L-R) Alvin Gutierrez, Counsel, Serbia, International Court of Justice (ICJ); Gloria Lopez, United States, UN General Assembly; Amber Ali, Counsel, Kosovo, ICJ; and Keith Banks, Saudi Arabia, UN Economic and Social Committee. Not pictured: Gregory Jacobs, Turkey, UN General Assembly
 CSUDH alumna Kulani Walker (center), who served as Secretary General for this year’s conference, poses with four of the five CSUDH political science students who were named Best Delegates at the WestMUN conference (L-R) Alvin Gutierrez, Gloria Lopez,  Amber Ali, and Keith Banks. Not pictured: Gregory Jacobs

“Our students incorporate all aspects of political science courses into preparing for this conference and have always exceeded expectations because of their hard work and dedication,” says Salhi. “They dedicated long hours of preparation which was reflected in their strong participation in committees and winning the awards. This group did particularly well because of their passion for CSU Dominguez Hills; they wanted to keep the tradition going.”

Lopez was selected as Under Secretary General position for next year’s MUN conference. She will join CSU Dominguez Hills alumna Kulani Walker (Class of ’10 B.A., political science), who was chosen for to serve again as UN Secretary General at next year’s conference.

“It’s a lot of work during the year,” says Walker, who has been preparing for MUN since the fall semester. “But when you witness the enthusiasm of students and the impact that the conference has on them, it feels good to be a part of it.”

For three days, students from throughout the Western MUN region debated, researched, drafted, and passed resolutions on a variety of topics, including the current crisis in Libya, the unilateral declaration of independence of Kosovo, bridging the digital divide, ownership of the Internet, and violence against women. The delegates participated in five committees: the United Nations Security Council, the International Court of Justice, the General Assembly, the United Nations Economic and Social Committee, and the United Nations Environmental Program. MUN is a regular class offered by the political science department during the spring semester each year, and is designed to train students in the art of diplomacy, including public speaking, debate, negotiation, and consensus building.

CSU Dominguez Hills was the only institution to win five of the 11 awards presented to students with the most outstanding performance at the conference, the third time in the last four years that the university has received this distinction.

Gutierrez says that the MUN experience has inspired him to earn an advanced degree toward a career in policy.

“It’s the closest we can get to being in a real world situation,” he says. “It taught us negotiation and compromising on ideas. All this experience has set me on obtaining my Ph.D. in political science.”

For more information about the political science department at CSU Dominguez Hills, click here.

Sesshu Foster to Deliver Annual Pat Eliet Memorial Lecture

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During National Poetry Month, the Department of English at California State University, Dominguez Hills will host the annual Pat Eliet Lecture featuring poet and novelist Sesshu Foster as the guest speaker on Thursday, April 14, at 7 p.m. in the Loker Student Union Ballroom. The lecture, with a book signing immediately following, is free and open to the public.

Los Angeles author and poet Sesshu Foster will deliver the Annual Pat Eliet Memorial Lecture on April 14.
Los Angeles author and poet Sesshu Foster will deliver the Annual Pat Eliet Memorial Lecture on April 14.

For his work, Foster draws on his experience growing up in East Los Angeles and its ethnic evolution, as well as the influence of his parent’s experiences; his mother was incarcerated in a Japanese-American internment camp during World War II, and his father became engaged in post-war counter-culture philosophies.

“By and large, East L.A. has an untold history and unrecognized stories. In a city where movies and entertainment play a major role in the imagination of its citizens, a great deal of daily life goes ignored. A lot of my work deals with that,” said the Japanese-American writer, who also identifies with the Chicano population of fellow Los Angelenos.

Foster was recommended for the lecture series by Dr. Randolph Cauthen, associate professor of English and poet-in-residence, because of the author’s urban and cross-cultural sensibilities.

“Sesshu’s work is deeply rooted in the landscapes of Southern California and in particular East L.A. He finds tremendous beauty and meaning in that landscape without ignoring the fact that it’s also a locus of the worst problems of our wounded, divided society. And he calls out the ones who inflict the wounds. He has a great eye, great ear, and great heart,” said Cauthen.

During the lecture, Foster will be reading from and discussing his books, “World Ball Notebook” and “Atomik Aztex.” Copies of his books will be available for purchase before and after the lecture.

Foster has taught composition and literature in East L.A. schools and universities for 20 years, and has taught at the University of Iowa Writer’s Workshop, where he received his MFA, and at the California Institute for the Arts. He is currently a visiting assistant professor of creative writing at the University of California, Santa Cruz. His work has been published in “The Oxford Anthology of Modern American Poetry,” “Language for a New Century: Poetry from the Middle East, Asia and Beyond,” and “State of the Union: 50 Political Poems.”

The lecture series honors former CSU Dominguez Hills professor of English Patricia Eliet, who taught at the university from 1969 to 1990.

This year’s lecture is sponsored by the College of Arts and Humanities, the Department of English, Associated Students Incorporated, and through a grant from the 50th Anniversary Golden Toro Program.

For more information about the lecture, email rhernandez@csudh.edu or call (310) 243-3322.

For information about the Department of English, click here.

CSU Dominguez Hills Announces Honorary Doctorate Candidates for 2011

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California State University, Dominguez Hills will present honorary doctorates to Janet Murguía, president and chief executive officer of the National Council of La Raza, and Dr. John Tracy, an alumnus of CSU Dominguez Hills and chief technology officer and senior vice president of engineering, operations and technology at The Boeing Company, during commencement exercises scheduled for Friday, May 20, at the Home Depot Center Tennis Stadium on campus.

John Tracy
John Tracy

Tracy will receive an honorary Doctor of Science at the College of Natural and Behavioral Sciences/College of Extended and International Education ceremony at 11:30 a.m. that day. Murguía will receive an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters at the College of Business Administration and Public Policy ceremony taking place at 6 p.m.

A southern California native, Tracy began his career at McDonnell Douglas–now Boeing–in 1981 as a stress analyst. Since then, he has held a wide variety of leadership roles in world’s largest aerospace company. As a top executive at Boeing, he is responsible for the strategic direction of the company’s engineering, operations and technology functions.

Tracy last walked in commencement exercises at CSU Dominguez Hills in 1976, when he received his bachelor’s in physics. He went on to earn a master’s in physics from CSU Los Angeles and a Ph.D. in engineering from UC Irvine.

Janet Murguía
Janet Murguía

As head of the largest Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the nation, Murguía is one of the most prominent voices on issues concerning Latinos in the United States. She has been recognized for her leadership in the Latino community and the nonprofit world by numerous publications, including being named in Hispanic Business as one of the “100 Most Influential Hispanics,” and featured in Newsweek’s “Women in Leadership” issue. Murguía began her career in public service as legislative counsel for a Kansas congressman and later in the Clinton White House. A native of Kansas, she earned two bachelor’s degrees and a law degree from the University of Kansas.

“Both Dr. Tracy and Ms. Murguía have had impressive careers and serve as fine examples to our students of what they too can achieve with a college education,” said Mildred García, president of CSU Dominguez Hills. “We are honored to bestow these degrees on them.”

The tradition of granting honorary degrees from the CSU system began in 1963 when then-San Diego State College, now CSU San Diego, bestowed such a degree to President John F. Kennedy. The degrees are given in recognition of an individual’s contributions to society. All honorary degrees awarded by CSU Dominguez Hills are conferred by the CSU Board of Trustees. A complete list of honorary doctorate recipients is available at www.calstate.edu/honorarydegrees.

For further biographical information on Murguía and Tracy, and more information on Commencement 2011 at CSU Dominguez Hills, visit www.csudh.edu/commencement.

Professional Society Lends a Hand to Occupational Therapy Students

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The Hand Therapy Society of Greater Los Angeles (HTSGLA) has pledged its support for an annual scholarship for students enrolled in the Master of Science in Occupational Therapy Program (MSOT) at California State University, Dominguez Hills. A gift of $20,000 will create the Hand Therapy Society Scholarship, which will award $1,000 scholarship to one student annually.

Patricia Quan and Mayuri Mody (L-R, seated), hope to grow a new generation of hand therapists with a gift for scholarships from the Hand Therapy Society of Greater Los Angeles. Pictured with Terry Peralta-Catipon, director, Master of Science in Occupational Therapy Program, and Greg Saks, vice president, University Advancement.
Patricia Quan and Mayuri Mody (L-R, seated), hope to grow a new generation of hand therapists with a gift for scholarships from the Hand Therapy Society of Greater Los Angeles. Pictured with Terry Peralta-Catipon, director, Master of Science in Occupational Therapy Program, and Greg Saks, vice president, University Advancement.

Patricia Quan, vice president, HTSGLA, says that the organization hopes to grow a new generation of therapists specializing in hand and upper extremity injuries.

“We want to mold the occupational therapists going into the field of hand therapy, and this is one of the ways [we can] encourage interest in this specialization and keep as many OTs interested as possible,” she says.

Terry Peralta-Catipon, MSOT program director, says that many students explore hand therapy in their general studies, but she would like to see more of them commit to the field.

“A lot of students are interested in hand therapy, but some feel that it’s quite challenging to  become certified,” she says. “Hopefully, this award can motivate them to really pursue this specialty practice.”

The first scholarship will be awarded at the beginning of the fall semester. Applicants must be in good academic standing, with an interest in hand and upper extremity injuries. The application process includes a written essay of 500 words about the applicant’s career goals and a statement of what prompted his or her interest in hand therapy specialization.

Mayuri Mody, HTSGLA’s president, is a clinical specialist at Torrance Memorial Hospital. She says that she has been impressed with the quality of Dominguez Hills students who do their clinical observations at the hospital and wanted to give back to the university, which is the only CSU in Southern California with an occupational therapy program.

“Employment of occupational therapists is expected to increase by 26 percent between 2008 and 2018,” says Peralta-Catipon. “OT students from CSU Dominguez Hills have demonstrated excellent performance in their fieldwork placements at actual clinical sites, which has given our program a great reputation in the community. As a matter of fact, the feedback that we have been getting from many clinical educators is that our students are able to bridge theory and practice and come to fieldwork ready to hit the ground running.”

For more information on the Master of Science in Occupational Therapy program at CSU Dominguez Hills, click here.

For more information on scholarships at CSU Dominguez Hills, click here.

Toros at Home, Abroad Experience Impact of Japan’s Tsunami and Earthquake

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As the headlines keep the world informed of the disaster unfolding in Japan for the last two weeks – a 9.0 earthquake, followed by a tsunami that caused extensive damage to a nuclear power plant – students at California State University, Dominguez Hills took charge. Members of the Association of Political Science Students (APSS), the Student Health and Environmental League (SHEL), and the Department of Political Science held a fundraiser March 14-16. In the three days they were stationed at the East Walkway in front of the Loker Student Union, students raised $2,000 for Direct Relief International, a nonprofit based in Santa Barbara that uses 100 percent of donations for medical equipment and supplies.

“APSS wanted to make sure that we got out there to help [the Japanese] rebuild their country,” says Rochelle Tunstall, a senior who serves as chief of staff of APSS and vice president of SHEL. “For the two [organizations] that are involved, it’s the essence of who we are.”

While students on campus worked to help Japan, others who are actually living and working there shared their first-hand accounts of coping with the disasters. Kevin Maher is a current student in the online Post-Master’s Certificate on Conflict Analysis and Resolution in the Negotiation, Conflict Resolution, and Peace Building program. For the last three years, he has been teaching English at a small college near Niigata City, where he was living at the time of the earthquake. He has since moved to the southern prefecture of Osaka for a new teaching position.

Kevin Maher, a student in the online Post-Master's Certificate on Conflict Analysis and Resolution program, has witnessed the effects of the tsunami, earthquake, and threat of radiation in Japan.
Kevin Maher, a student in the online Post-Master’s Certificate on Conflict Analysis and Resolution program, has witnessed the effects of the tsunami, earthquake, and threat of radiation in Japan.

Niigata is near both Fukushima-ken prefecture and Sendai, Miyagi-ken prefecture, the areas most affected by disasters. Maher shares his observations of the Japanese and their efforts to recover and rebuild while still finding more casualties from the earthquake and tsunami.

“In Niigata, I [noticed] that internally, the Japanese people I know are very stressed,” he says. “However, they also have a sense of order or desire to pretend as if everything is normal. People seem to be working harder, doing everything they would ordinarily do. They believe that this work ethic will restore order more than panic or overreaction. However, they are very saddened with everything that has occurred.”

Maher notes that the threat of radiation is more of a concern to populations outside of Japan than to the Japanese.

“They seem to have more accurate information on radiation, and with Nagasaki and Hiroshima as part of their history, I tend to believe more of their data than the scare of foreign media outlets,” he says. “That being said, I am still adhering to western media outlets, and I don’t want to risk any radiation exposure if I can help it. Personally, I have been recommended by a lot of Japanese people to eat a lot of seaweed which contains iodine. The people who survived Hiroshima and Nagasaki were apparently the people who ate large amounts of seaweed at that time.”

Rob Singh, another online student in the NCRP master’s program, lives near Tokyo and teaches English through the Japan Exchange and Teaching Programme (JET). He says that the March 11 earthquake was much worse than the 1994 Northridge earthquake, which he also experienced.

“We were spared because we are closer to Tokyo than we are to Sendai or Fukushima,” Singh says. “The junior high school that I work at has an exchange program with a school in Iwate. I am so glad that the students [don’t visit until the summer] every year. The damage and devastation has stuck a chord with all of us. It is especially unnerving because of the consistent updates on the nuclear power plant explosions in Fukushima.”

Singh has made a contribution to JEN, a Japanese nonprofit that supports earthquake victims worldwide. He suggests giving to the International Committee of the Red Cross, Peace Winds Japan, or Good Neighbors International.

Maher says that the experience has taught him about the core values of overcoming obstacles and working toward the greater good in Japanese culture.

The Japanese Garden at CSU Dominguez Hills – as well as recent efforts to assist victims of the March 11 tsunami and earthquake – represent the university’s link to Japanese and Japanese American communities.

“They are a very resilient people with a very practical and logical approach to how to act and react in such a situation,” he says. “They are community-oriented and tend to want to work through a problem even on such a large scale. It seems to be in contrast to my own western opinion that each individual needs to seek refuge or escape. It seems that in Japan, people bond together more in such a situation and work together.”

Other clubs and organizations at CSU Dominguez Hills have established drives and fundraising activities to provide aid and support for Japan’s disaster victims. The Office of Student Life (OSL), the Office of Service Learning, Internships & Civic Engagement (SLICE), Benefiting the Education of Latinas in Leadership, Academic and Sisterhood (BELLAS), Omega Delta Phi, and the UNV 289-Leadership Development class have partnered to collect donations of food, clothes shoes, personal hygiene items, water, and financial assistance. All monetary donations will be forwarded to the Japanese Business Association of Southern California (JBA)  to distribute. Kurt Miyamoto, a member of JBA and a member of the College of Business Administration and Public Policy Dean’s Advisory Board, is a member of JBA and has facilitated several networking and project opportunities for MBA students with a number of JBA businesses.

OSL has also launched an Origami Crane Making Campaign. The tradition of creating cranes from origami paper has a long cultural history in Japan and in Japanese communities in the United States, and is symbolic of world peace, healing, and hope. OSL hopes to have 2,000 cranes to send to Japan via the JBA by April 28.

Several Greek fraternities and sororities on campus have also organized activities for fundraising and support. The Tau Chapter of Sigma Lambda Beta fraternity along with Alpha Zeta Chapter of Sigma Iota Alpha sorority co- hosted “Together For Japan,” with chapters from CSU Los Angeles and USC at the Fatburger in Carson. Tau Chapter also set up a PayPal account for members of Sigma Lambda Beta and Sigma Iota Alpha to donate nationwide, and is holding a car wash on March 25. In addition, the Alpha Epsilon Chapter of Phi Iota Alpha Latino fraternity held a Shakey’s Night at the restaurant’s Carson location on March 22 to raise money to donate to the Red Cross, with the participation of Tau Chapter.

For more information on the NCRP program at CSU Dominguez Hills, click here.

For more information on APSS or SHEL, contact Dr. Hamoud Salhi  at (310) 243-3982.