When Cristina Rose (Smith) is teaching, she doesn’t just lecture while students jot down notes. Rather, Rose acts as an active and engaging facilitator of conversation – letting students take the lead in their own discoveries. Rose, who has taught in the CSUDH Women’s Studies program since 2014, describes herself as relational and feminist in her teaching approach. Her pedagogy is “less about having the answers, and more about asking the questions that will bring us into fuller lives,” she says. “I share my life and who I am with students. It feels like I am actively part of this community. I think from here, I am from here, and this is my home.” That passion for connection has ... Read More
English
Faculty Highlights: July-August 2020
Our faculty members participate in conferences around the world, conduct groundbreaking research, and publish books and journal papers that contribute to their field and highlight their expertise. We feature those accomplishments and more in this section. To share faculty news, email ucpa@csudh.edu. College of Natural and Behavioral Sciences Professor Matthew Jones, chair of the Mathematics Department, and mathematics lecturer Sharon Lanaghan have co-written the article “Building and Sustaining Success in Precalculus: A Multi-Pronged Approach" for the journal Primus. Their paper describes the rationale, implementation, and impact of the redesign of precalculus at ... Read More
CSUDH Professor’s New Book Set to Trigger Conversations on Race, Trauma
The use of trigger warnings—brief statements informing students of potentially distressing or re-traumatizing content—in education have grown in popularity over the last decade, as educators attempt to engage students in controversial or sensitive topics without causing undue stress or anxiety. But do they really work? That's the question that Mara Lee Grayson, CSUDH assistant professor of English, asks in her new book, “Race Talk in the Age of the Trigger Warning: Recognizing and Challenging Classroom Cultures of Silence.” The conclusions she reaches may be surprising to some. “Most of the empirical psychological research demonstrates that it doesn't help students deal with trauma or ... Read More
Anne Garrett Honored with Catherine H. Jacobs Outstanding Faculty Lecturer Award
For Anne Garrett, there is one skill that college graduates simply can not do without. “No matter what career someone goes into, it's important that they be able to write competently,” she says. That's why the former composition professor in the interdisciplinary studies program at California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH) devoted her career to developing those skills in her students. “Working on writing can be a vulnerable and delicate issue, but I've been continually amazed by my students' receptivity. I feel my greatest strength is my ability to get through to students, which is drawn from my sensitivity to their backgrounds and needs.” Garrett, who retired at the ... Read More
From Monsters to Romance, Outstanding Professor Award Winner Debra Best Brings Literature to Life
Whether it is medieval romance or monsters, Professor of English Debra Best has an uncanny ability to find just the right stories and plays to successfully integrate students intellectually and artistically into the study of challenging literature. Best specializes in medieval literature and Shakespeare, and creatively incorporates high-impact teaching into her literature and composition courses, including student research, group and performance projects, and imaginative assignments. Her teaching style has turned her students into fixtures at conferences, in the pages of academic journals, and at CSUDH’s Student Research Day awards ceremonies. This ability to bring student learning to ... Read More
