Thalia Gomez says that when she began attending California State University, Dominguez Hills, she had no idea what a Ph.D. was. Today, as president of Associated Students, Inc., she is working to ensure that students have access to the guidance and support she has received during her education at CSU Dominguez Hills that has empowered her to become a scholar and leader. “I’m a first generation college student,” says the Chicana/o studies major. “My first language wasn’t even English. I wanted to go to college but I didn’t really know too much about anything else. I didn’t have anybody to guide to me.” Gomez prepared for her first semester by participating in Summer Bridge, a ... Read More
College of Arts and Humanities
History – and Ageless Storytelling – Repeat Themselves with Reinterpretation of “Macbeth”
For alumna Naomi Buckley (Class of '00, B.A., theatre arts), necessity has proven to be the mother of invention. The director of this month’s production of “Macbeth” at California State University, Dominguez Hills says that the decision to set the play amid the contemporary drug cartels of Juarez, Mexico, was an economically driven one. “We have no money to set this in Scotland in 1040,” she notes. “Present time is always cheaper than setting it in a time period, so we tried to think of something in... the present day that was close to the sort of violence and dark themes that ‘Macbeth’ has.” Buckley drew inspiration for herself and her stage crew from stories on the Internet about the ... Read More
Daniel Terrazas: Music Student Performs with Award-Winning Latina Songstress
California State University, Dominguez Hills music major Daniel Terrazas, who plans to become a music educator, worked with Mexican singer and gold- and platinum-record winner Graciela Beltrán during a recent three-day tour in Oklahoma. Terrazas works part time around the Los Angeles area playing the tuba for Mexican Folk groups in music styles including banda sinaloence, sirreno, and norteños. One of the promoters for these groups offered Terrazas the opportunity to play for the widely popular Latina singer Beltrán, who has performed corridos, romanticas, and baladas for at least a decade. Terrazas took the job to get a higher level of professional experience under his belt. “The ... Read More
Salim Faraji: Professor of Africana Studies Attends Gathering of Scholars of Nubian Studies at British Museum
Salim Faraji, assistant professor of Africana studies at California State University, Dominguez Hills, attended the 12th Annual International Conference for Nubian Studies in August at the British Museum and presented his findings on “Africana Nubiology: Examining Classical Sudanese Traditions in West Africa.” “Ancient Sudanic civilization extended as far as West Africa,” says Faraji. “You can still see some of these cultural traditions in West Africa today. One is the building of sacred mounds on the palaces of royalty. I’ve seen these mounds in northern Ghana and other traditions that I can pinpoint as emerging in both ancient Nubia and West Africa.” As one of only two ... Read More
Music Department Earns Full Term of Accreditation from NASM
The music department at California State University, Dominguez Hills has recently been given another full ten-year accreditation by the National Association of Music Schools (NASM). Richard Kravchak, professor of music and the department’s chair, says that CSU Dominguez Hills is one of only nine music departments in all of California to hold accreditation from both NASM and the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, an achievement he is proud of in the face of the state’s budget reductions in higher education and that he credits “the degree of personal involvement of all of our faculty in the education of every music student.” “All of our music professors are practicing creative ... Read More
