On April 18, CSUDH honored five faculty members during the 2023 Faculty Awards Reception. They were recognized for their excellence in teaching and research, their contributions to university governance and development, and for the role non-tenure track faculty play in student achievement. Presidential Outstanding Professor AwardLaura TalamanteHistoryRead Dr. Talamante’s Story Lyle E. Gibson Dominguez Hills Distinguished Teacher AwardHorace CrogmanPhysicsRead Dr. Crogman’s Story Catherine H. Jacobs Outstanding Faculty Lecturer AwardBarbara BelmontChemistry and BiochemistryRead Ms. Belmont's Story Excellence in Research, Scholarship and Creative Activity ... Read More
Chemistry
Barbara Belmont Named 2023 Catherine H. Jacobs Outstanding Faculty Lecturer
After more than twenty years of being a faculty member at CSUDH, chemistry lecturer Barbara Belmont says she is still “wiggly” every day with the excitement of teaching. “My first career goal was to be a teacher, and it was a long road to get here,” Belmont explains. “I was a first-generation college student. I had nearly 25 years of industrial experience before beginning my teaching career, and I’m not a Ph.D. or tenure track. However, my non-traditional path to higher education instruction makes me exceptionally confident about teaching. My experiences inform my approach in the classroom.” Belmont has every reason to be confident, as her enthusiasm and dedication have earned ... Read More
Chemistry Lecturer Barbara Belmont Named LGBTQ+ Trailblazer
Chemistry Lecturer Barbara Belmont has been recognized as an LGBTQ+ Trailblazer in Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), the newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society. Belmont, an analytical chemist from Pasadena, is “thrilled and humbled” by the accolade, which recognizes her excellence in teaching, as well as activism with Out to Innovate, a professional society dedicated to LGBTQ+ visibility in the sciences, mentoring, and scholarships for students. Having taught at CSUDH since 2002, Belmont is passionate about sparking students’ curiosity in the sciences and adopting pedagogical best practices in her lectures and laboratories. She is also a firm believer in the value of ... Read More
Chemistry Lab “Bootcamps” Help Get Students Up to Speed
Among the many unfortunate side effects of the COVID-19 pandemic was the loss of in-person instruction for most courses at CSUDH. Some fields of study were impacted more than others by this loss, but for students in the chemistry department it was especially troublesome. Because so much chemistry education relies on in-person lab work, most students missed out on vital hands-on experience. This summer, faculty members of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry decided to do something about it. They created and held a pair of “Chemistry Lab Bootcamps” that were designed to get students up to speed—teaching them all the valuable lab skills they missed during their many months of ... Read More
CSUDH Alumna Gracie Ann Dinkins Impacts Lives at Home and Abroad
From an early age, CSUDH alumna Gracie Ann Dinkins (’87, BA, Chemistry) was taught the value of giving back to the community. “My mother instilled the importance of service and sacrifice very early in all of her children,” she says. These days, Dinkins is living out those lessons, working as a trauma and acute care surgeon at a pair of Southern California hospitals while also helping rescue an elementary school in Liberia. Dinkins, who grew up in Liberia, was attending the University of Liberia in 1984 when political and social upheaval that would devolve into a 14-year civil war in the country disrupted her educational journey “The country experienced serious civil unrest and student-led ... Read More
