CSUDH News

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

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KABC: Cal State Dominguez Hills Celebrates Grand Opening of New Toro Esports Academy

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Source: KABC

California State University Dominguez Hills celebrated the grand opening of its new Toro Esports Academy, a facility dedicated to the university’s robust Esports program.

According to the school’s website, the academy features a competitive arena for students with 38 gaming stations, three broadcast stations with new equipment, and classroom space that will enable academic courses to be taught on-site.

“We have an academics and research component where we’re pushing curriculum as well,” explained Kevin Buchmiller, the director of Esports at the university. “We have career development opportunities with workshops and seminars.”

School officials said the academy allows students to acquire skills people may not think of, like working in teams.

“They need strategy. What are they going to do in the game? How to strategize. They have to be fast reaction times and they also need analytical thinking because they have to make split second decisions,” said CSUDH Deputy Chief Information Officer Bill Chang.

Students enrolled in the program said they can transfer what they have learned at the academy into future careers.

“Playing with the games, it allows me to have clear communications with my teams because I have to communicate whatever I’m doing something in the game so then we have an understanding of what’s happening in the games,” said student Bryan Diaz.

For more information, visit CSUDH’s website.

KABC: Changing the Stigma of Low Rider Cars and Helping Local Students in the Process

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Source: KABC 7 (video)


Scholars United is an organization that helps formerly incarcerated students turn their lives around. The group put on a first-of-its kind lowrider car show. The event, which was held at CSU Dominguez Hills, is tying spruced-up cars to students in need of a helping hand.

Shiny paint jobs, vintage car models and hydraulics – that’s what you’d find at a lowrider car show called, Uniting Cars, Culture and Education. The event had a specific goal.

“Bring the negative stigma down with lowriding,” said Luke Peck, president of Scholars United. “Back in the ’70s and ’80s, lowriding was known for gangs and violence, but it was also created at that time to bring positivity into the community by having kids stray away from the gangs and get into low riding.”

It’s put on by Scholars United, a campus organization that helps formerly incarcerated students.

“At one point of my life I was facing a prison sentence for some dumb things I did,” said Peck. “But since then I’ve changed my life around and I’m here at CSU Dominguez Hills. I graduate in spring next semester.”

Cynthia Blake, co-founder of Scholars United, was once homeless, addicted to drugs for thirty years, and sent to state prison for felony charges. When she got out – it was tough to get a job.

“I couldn’t get hired nowhere. So I needed money to survive and so I decided to go to school,” said Blake. “Nobody could help me. There was no peer support. We’re here to change our lives, but nobody’s showing us the road.”

So she started Scholars United in 2019 to help students with rough pasts get back on their feet. Now, Blake has a bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Sociology and officially has a job at Cypress College helping formerly incarcerated students. But it’s events like these that show the community stigmas can be broken and mistakes can be fixed if there’s a helping hand.

“It doesn’t mean you can’t change and do better,” said Blake. “It doesn’t mean you can’t be a productive member of society.”

CSUDH Launches New Filipino American Digital Archive

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Historical black and white photo
The 1949 installation of officers of Legionarios Del Trabajo, one of the oldest and most distinguished Filipino-American organizations in the nation.

On Saturday, March 5, leaders of the Filipino community and local dignitaries will join California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH) faculty and representatives of the university’s Gerth Archives and Special Collections to celebrate the launch of the CSUDH Filipino American Digital Archive (FADA). The event, which will take place from 1 to 2 p.m. in the Archives on the fifth floor of the CSUDH University Library, will double as a chance for members of the local Filipino American community to bring in their own materials to add to the archive.

“With Greater Los Angeles home to the third-largest population of Americans with Filipino ancestry in the United States, this new archive will be an important addition to the Gerth Archives’ growing list of special collections that document, preserve, and make accessible the histories of the many cultures and people in the South Bay region of Greater Los Angeles,” says Gerth Archives Director Greg Williams.

CSUDH Assistant Professor of Asian-Pacific Studies Mary Talusan Lacanlale says the community was the impetus behind establishing the new digital archive. “Several years ago, members of Filipino American organizations in Carson approached Greg Williams and I about creating an archive to document the important work of Filipino Americans in our area,” she recalls.

Lacanlale, Williams, and the staff at the Gerth Archives agreed and got to work setting up a database with initial contributions by local Filipino leaders.

Among the first contributors to the archives were Florante Ibanez, author of Filipinos in Carson and the South Bay, and Linda Nietes-Little, founder of the Philippine Expressions Bookshop in San Pedro and an icon of the Filipino American community–both of whom will be featured speakers at the launch event. Ibanez donated boxes of his photos, newsletters, and other collected items, and Nietes-Little is donating memorabilia along with a collectible copy of Carlos Bulosan’s America is in the Heart.

To help grow the archive, organizers of the March 5 event are inviting community members to bring their own photos, videos, meeting notes of organizations, and any other material they would like to submit to be preserved for safekeeping in the archives.

“The Gerth Archives is pleased to coordinate another community history project,” says Williams. “FADA has already allowed the Archives to include local Filipinos in the archives. We will continue to gather source material for this important history that is local, national, and international in scope.”

In addition to Lacanlale, Williams, Nietes-Little, and Ibanez, the launch event will feature an array of guest speakers, including Mayor of Carson Lula Davis-Holmes, Congresswoman Nanette Barragan, Consulate General of the Philippines Edgar B. Badajos, Carson City Councilmembers Arleen Bocatija Rojas and Jim Dear, Representative of Assemblymember Mike Gipson’s office Moises Jun Aglipay, author Roselyn Ibanez, and Donna Nicol, chair of CSUDH Africana Studies.

The Filipino Cultural School Rondalla Ensemble will provide a musical performance of traditional Filipino music.

CSUDH is at 1000 E. Victoria St., Carson, Calif. For directions and a map of campus, visit csudh.edu/visit-us. Parking in campus lots is $9 and can be payable through yellow kiosks in each lot. Lot 7 from the east and Lot 6 from the west are the lots closest to the library.

The Gerth Archives is recognized for its extensive list of individual special collections documenting the people and cultures that make up the South Bay region of Los Angeles.

The CSUDH Filipino American Digital Archive launch will take place on Saturday, March 5, at 1 p.m., at the Gerth Archives and Special Collections office, located on the fifth floor of the University Library. Register for the event here.

Campus events will require attendees to show proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 PCR test taken no more than 48 hours prior to the event date as a condition of entry. This important measure will further increase our ability to safely gather.

Please contact the Gerth Archives and Special Collections for additional event information at (310) 243-3895 or archives@csudh.edu.