Editor's Note: Interviews for this article took place in late 2019. It’s 9 a.m. on a school day, but Paola Gonzalez isn’t in a lecture hall. She’s leading a rapt circle of four-year-olds in a rousing rendition of “Slippery Fish” at the YWCA preschool in Compton. “Slippery fish, slippery fish, gulp gulp gulp,” she sings, wriggling her hands as the children squeal with delight. Gonzalez, a fourth-year theatre arts major at CSUDH, is well experienced in putting on a show. As a team leader for Jumpstart, she has ample opportunity to put those creative skills to good use. Each week, Gonzalez and her team of fellow Jumpstart volunteers plan and deliver an engaging curriculum for local ... Read More
Service Learning
Katy Pinto Helps Students Turn Research into New Knowledge
When she was a graduate student, Katy Pinto didn’t feel that her professors understood her research interests. Worse yet, she felt that she had to convince them that the populations she wanted to study—Latinx immigrants and ethnic minority groups—mattered enough to be considered as research topics. Now, as a professor of sociology at California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH), she lets her students decide what matters most. “I don’t want my students to feel the same way. I want them to know that their questions and ideas are important,” said Pinto, who has been teaching at CSUDH since 2007. “Instead of dismissing students’ research ideas outright, we work together to make ... Read More
Cal State Dominguez Hills Wins Federal Grant for HIV-Infection Prevention Pilot Program
Cal State Dominguez Hills, in Carson, has received a $656,000 federal grant to set up a program to improve the access young gay African American men have to an anti-viral drug treatment program that can help prevent HIV infection. The National Institutes of Health awarded the grant to sociology professor Matt Mutchler this week to address the disproportionate rate of new HIV infections among young black men. A daily drug protocol called PrEP can reduce the risk of contracting HIV by as much as 99%, research has shown. Mutchler, the director of the CSUDH Urban Community Research Center, will develop a pilot program called PrEP-Talk that pairs friends with a counselor to discuss the ... Read More
2019 President’s Student Leadership and Service Awards
Highlighting their exemplary leadership, commitment to inclusion and student support, and the impact they have had on the campus community, California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH) honored five students with the Presidential Award for Outstanding Student during the 2019 President’s Student Leadership and Service Awards Ceremony on May 7. The annual event also celebrates and showcases co-curricular experiences through student organizations, and recognizes outstanding faculty and staff who support them. The university is home to 115 student organizations with more than 2,300 students involved in various clubs. Presidential Award for Outstanding Student Alejandro Campos, ... Read More
Arbor Day Foundation Honors CSUDH with 2018 Tree Campus USA Recognition
(Carson, Calif.) – California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH) was honored with 2018 Tree Campus USA recognition by the Arbor Day Foundation for its commitment to effective urban forest management. The Tree Campus USA program honors colleges and universities for excellent campus forest management and for engaging staff and students in conservation goals. Currently, there are 364 campuses across the United States with this recognition. CSUDH achieved the recognition by meeting Tree Campus USA’s five standards: maintaining a tree advisory committee; developing a campus tree-care plan; dedicating annual expenditures for its campus tree program; hosting an Arbor Day observance; ... Read More
