News

Ask the Expert: A Scientific Perspective on the L.A. Fires

When the hills above Los Angeles exploded in flames early last month, Matt Rahn snapped into action. Rahn, though, isn’t a firefighter who was called into duty to help battle what became one of the biggest and most destructive fires in California history. Rather, he’s a wildfire researcher at Cal State San Marcos who, in 2019, created a unique degree program called Wildfire Science and the Urban Interface. He’s also the executive director of the Wildfire Conservancy, a nonprofit research foundation dedicated to serving the state’s firefighters and protecting its communities. The wildfires that devastated the L.A. area, and even caused minor damage in pockets of San Diego County, have been contained. But the significant problem of grappling with ever larger and more dangerous fires fueled by climate change is only growing worse, and Rahn can be found permanently stationed on the front lines of that fight. Question: What was the nature of the work you were doing during the L.A. fires last month? Matt Rahn: I and my team at the Wildfire Conservancy have been doing research related to firefighter health and safety. Specifically, we have been conducting an exposure study related to the toxic, hazardous and carcinogenic materials firefighters are exposed to in a wildland urban interface fire. We are collecting data on exposures using silicon wrist bands (as a passive sampling device that is extremely good at absorbing all the contaminants firefighters are exposed to). We compare these to urine and blood samples taken from firefighters to track exposure to substances like polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (or PAHs), volatile organic compounds (or VOCs), heavy metals and other compounds. We use a variety of techniques, including micro RNA analysis that can measure the change in gene expression, particularly those responsible for either causing (or suppressing) cancer. Q: What was your reaction when you first heard about the fires? Could you have imagined that it would ever get that bad in the nation’s second-most-populous city? MR: Sadly, I wasn’t shocked. For over 10 years now, we have been saying what is now common vernacular: We no longer have a “fire season,” we have a year-round fire risk. And we no longer have “wildfires” but rather fires in the wildland urban interface (or WUI), which is the area where human development and infrastructure meet undeveloped wildland or natural areas. But this change began much longer ago. In 1991, in a remarkable and singularly cataclysmic event, the Oakland Hills became engulfed by a devastating fire that resulted in 3,280 homes lost, 25 fatalities and 1,520 acres burned. At that time, the loss was unthinkable; by today’s standards, the Oakland Hills fire, while still tragic, is certainly not the largest of its kind. That resulted in renewed recognition of the dangers posed by fires in the WUI and prompted new research and development into improved prevention and suppression methods, policy, and procedure of these kinds of fires. Unfortunately, that focus was short-lived, and over a decade would pass until California experienced another devastating wildfire, this time in San Diego County, that would grab national attention. Engulfing more than 280,000 acres, destroying 3,241 homes and causing the loss of 16 lives, the 2003 Cedar fire surpassed all records and became the most devastating fire in California’s history. With a total economic loss of nearly $2.5 billion, we realized that the devastation was not contained to acres burned; the fiscal impacts to our communities far outweighed the actual cost of fighting this megafire. Even with a peak of 6,635 firefighters battling the blaze, suppression was less than 2% of the total cost of that wildfire incident. For more context, since 1970, the U.S. has witnessed a roughly 300% increase in acres burned each year. Fifty years ago, wildfires would burn about 3 million acres per year across the entire U.S.; today, a single fire in California can consume one-third of that historic national acreage. So, fast forward to the fires in Paradise, California in 2018 and the 2023 fires in Maui, where over 100 people lost their lives. Sadly, we all should have seen this coming. Q: Do you think there’s any merit to the criticism that city officials could have done more to keep the fires from getting so out of control? Or was this strictly a scenario of worst-case environmental conditions? MR: Persistent drought, hot and dry temperatures, and extremely high winds in a community not built to modern standards for wildfire-prone areas were dangerous starting conditions for any fire event. The high winds provided an extremely short opportunity to prevent a conflagration. These winds also prevented the use of aerial attacks in the early stages of the fire. Fire agencies were left with ground resources, battling one of the most difficult and hazardous fire storms in U.S. history. Given the extreme fire behavior and conditions, the ultimate suppression and containment of the fires and prevention of additional losses was due in large part to the remarkable firefighter staffing and surge capacity that was mobilized. It’s easy, if not dangerous, for folks so quickly to criticize agencies and municipalities, and make a tragic incident like this a political talking point. Organizations like Cal Fire, L.A. City and County Fire, and even the National Institute of Standards and Technology are all working to recreate the mobilization of resources and try to understand how response impacted outcomes. This is a very complicated and labor-intensive process that needs to be completed. Q: If I’m remembering correctly, the worst fires in the state over the last decade or so have been in Northern California, including the Camp fire in 2018. Do you think Southern Californians had acquired a false sense of security and complacency? MR: Unfortunately, many communities acquire a false sense of security and complacency. We see this year after year. When there is smoke in the air and a major incident that galvanizes our communities, state and nation, all the attention is given to that fire, with a collective promise that we will not forget and will work to keep our communities safe. But as time passes (and in some cases, not much time can pass), communities become lax in their collective efforts for fuel reduction programs, maintaining defensible space or other factors that can significantly contribute to community resilience. We cannot allow this to occur. In fact, the Wildfire Conservancy along with some of our instructors in the Wildfire Science and the Urban Interface degree at CSUSM have teamed up to address this exact issue. We were awarded a grant from the FEMA Fire Prevention and Safety program in support of community resilience and advanced training support for Maui. Together with the County of Maui and Maui’s fire department, emergency operations and community associations, the Wildfire Conservancy will build on existing programs with the Responding to the Interface (RTI) program (from Cal Fire and the International Association of Fire Fighters) as the foundation for working with high-risk communities to develop a comprehensive and customized WUI firefighter training tailored to Maui and its communities, and create an annual event that is designed to improve community resilience, awareness, outreach and education. We are working to bring this effort to a national stage starting with Maui and continuing to California and beyond. Q: What have you heard from the fire crews that were battling the blazes in L.A.? MR: We have so far connected with hundreds of firefighters from Cal Fire, L.A. Fire Department, L.A. County Fire Department and other departments like Santa Barbara, Ventura, Fillmore, Oxnard and Pasadena. They are just now beginning to catch their collective breath and recover from these incidents. They are keenly aware of the exposures they have experienced in these fires. The success won by those “boots on the ground” may come at a significant personal and societal cost. The fires resulted in extreme high-level exposures for responding firefighters, at a scale not seen since Sept. 11, 2001. Many of us in the scientific community are speculating that these fires may well constitute an exposure incident that far exceeds that momentous day. The full impact has yet to be realized. Q: How long have you been a scholar and researcher of wildfire science? How did you first get involved in it as a discipline? MR: I began working on wildfire issues shortly after the Cedar fire in 2003 and became more fully engaged in research after the Witch and Guejito fires in 2007. My first projects were focused on things like fire sensors to provide early detection of wildfires in remote areas and economic impact studies related to the Cedar fire. I then moved quickly into research on attack effectiveness, completing the seminal study on wildland firefighter staffing that is still used to this day as the standard for helping advocate for proper state firefighter staffing. We then moved quickly into firefighter health and safety, given the impacts we were seeing related to cardiac events, dehydration and heat illness, and cancer. Since then, my time and effort on wildfire and urban interface fires has increased dramatically, culminating in the new degree program at CSUSM in 2019 and the launch the same year of the Wildfire Conservancy. Q: How has the field evolved over the years as wildfires have gotten bigger and more destructive? MR: We have been ringing the bell on wildfires and the WUI since the early 2000s. Back then, we were using terms like “the new normal.” Today, everyone is keenly aware of the risks, and the number of agencies, organizations and individuals involved in answering the call has increased significantly. Our first symposium on these issues was held a little over a decade ago in Sacramento, in partnership with Cal Fire and Cal Fire Local 2881. Experts from around California and the nation gathered and agreed that wildland firefighting was easily a decade behind structural/urban firefighting. The recommendation was to increase research and education programs in response to this. CSUSM has helped lead that effort with the new degree program, and organizations like the Wildfire Conservancy have formed to prioritize some of the most pressing issues facing our communities and first responders. Q: How would you describe CSUSM’s wildfire science program and what it does? MR: The degree program is unique. It’s focused on the WUI as its primary mission, educating our next generation of firefighters to deal with the unique issues related to these kinds of incidents. Clearly there is a need, and that need is growing. It is no longer just a California issue or something that is particular to the western U.S. Nearly every community in the nation has some kind of risk related to WUI fires. Providing the training and education for that growing risk is critically important. What makes this program unique is that it was designed with firefighters and key agencies, including Cal Fire, the fire departments of San Diego and L.A., the U.S. Forest Service, NIST, and many other departments from around the country. We designed our curriculum based on their input, and it includes coursework in community planning and resilience, firefighter health and safety, wildfire law and economics, kinesiology and fitness, and even emerging tools and technologies. Our program also offers a course in firefighter mental and behavioral health, the first of its kind in the nation. The program is designed for working professionals, is fully online and has the ability to put a pause on coursework for students who may be deployed to major incidents during the semester. And yes, several of our own students were working on the L.A. fires. We are lucky to have some of the foremost experts as instructors for some of the more specialized courses, and several remarkable faculty members at CSUSM also are teaching in this program. One last thing I should mention is that each student, at the end of their last semester, works with us to conduct their own “senior thesis” and research project focused on WUI issues. I’m happy to say that three of our former students will publish their research papers in the new Journal of the Wildfire Conservancy, a new science journal produced through the CSU system. Q: CalMatters did an award-winning investigative series called “Trial by Fire” in 2022 about the traumatic toll of wildfires on firefighters, almost akin to being in war. How concerned are you about that, and what are some steps you’d recommend to deal with it? MR: Modern firefighters are responding to some of the most horrific, toxic, hazardous and carcinogenic incidents ever imagined, working in environments where the human body was never meant to be. They are sleep-deprived and regularly experience potentially traumatic events that can affect their mental health. We are seeing the results of this today through rising rates of cancer (far higher than the general population), increased rates of suicide and suicidal ideations, and high rates of heart attack and stroke. We can and must do better for those who are sacrificing themselves (and their families) in service to our communities. This is why we started the degree program and launched the research foundation. I know this is the thing that motivates so many of our fantastic researchers, faculty, instructors and students who have dedicated their careers to helping. Q: I know funding, and the lack thereof, is a big part of this, but how would you like to see firefighting improve to confront the threat posed by bigger wildfires fueled by climate change? MR: We need to give our fire agencies the resources, staffing and technology they need to respond to these events. We absolutely do need more boots on the ground, air attack resources and access to new tools and technologies. We also need a significant investment in personal protective equipment and advanced technologies that can reduce occupational exposures and risk. Fire prevention is also a big piece of the puzzle. We need to take the commitment to fuel management and defensible space seriously, and dedicate the resources needed to create long-term, large-scale sustainable efforts. We also need to rethink our laws, codes and regulations related to housing, businesses and infrastructure, and invest in programs that can better inform future decision-making, land-use planning and community-wide wildfire protection plans. Q: What lessons are you taking away from the L.A. fires? Should we be rebuilding in these fire-devastated areas? How can we make such communities more resilient? MR: We as humans tend to build in high-risk areas, whether they are fire-prone or at risk from floods, earthquakes, tornadoes or hurricanes. We have made remarkable strides in addressing community resilience and facility-hardening across many of these high-risk areas, including wildfires. We know what can and does work, and considerable investments are being made to develop new materials, designs and strategies to increase protection. However, none of this works if we continue to allow for poor planning and fail to provide for programs to help improve and retrofit existing communities. It will continue to fail if we don’t take our commitment to fuel management and defensible space seriously. And it will fail if we don’t take immediate action finally to fund a full-time, year-round fire service through Cal Fire and provide our struggling fire agencies the staffing and resources they need to do their job. In addition, we desperately need a significant overhaul to California’s insurance laws and regulations. Each of these issues by itself is not a solution and can easily fail when handled alone. However, if we think of each issue as a separate stick, when they are bundled together, they form a stronger and more resilient unit. We are all in this together. Media Contact Brian Hiro, Communications Specialist bhiro@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7306

Donor's Support, $2.3M Endowment Aid STEM Students

Celebrating Black Excellence Month

In honor of Black Excellence Month, Cal State San Marcos’ Black Student Center is hosting a series of events to celebrate and foster empowerment among the CSUSM Black community through the arts, education, student engagement and community initiatives. The festivities will conclude with the annual Black Excellence Awards Gala on Feb. 27. In addition to the listed events, plans are in the works for events that include a meet-and-greet with the Black Faculty & Staff Association, and Networking with Excellence through the Career Center. Black Excellence Month events are open to all students and the campus community. Black Excellence Month Flag-Raising Ceremony and Lunch Feb. 4, 11:30 a.m., Chavez Circle flagpole/USU Ballroom Start the month of celebration with words of welcome, encouragement and reflections from members of the campus community followed by a celebratory lunch. This event serves as a powerful reminder of the rich cultural heritage and the ongoing pursuit of equity and justice. All are welcome to attend and engage with the BSC community, fostering a deeper understanding and appreciation of Black excellence. Black Brilliance In Motion: A Workshop for Black-Identifying Males With Hip-Hop Artist Quentin Robinson Feb. 4, noon, Arts Building 101/Black Student Center (USU 4200) In collaboration with Arts & Lectures, this workshop will help Black men use movement to connect with who they are and create their own path. Following the workshop, at 1 p.m., attendees are invited to an Q&A session with Robinson in the Black Student Center. The event is open to students, staff and faculty. Creating Our Excellence: A Keynote With Kevon Lee Feb. 11, noon, Black Student Center (USU 4200) Lee, a motivational speaker, will deliver a speech empowering students to chart their path with excellence. Attendees will leave with a greater skill set to navigate the societal context in which we exist. Divine Nine Panel Feb. 13, noon, Black Student Center (USU 4200) All are invited to learn about the National Pan-Hellenic Council and expand their network through the Divine Nine, which represents all nine member NPHC organizations. Carnaval Feb. 13, 5 p.m., USU Ballroom Join this annual collaboration with the Latinx Center to celebrate with cultural games, food and entertainment. Black Student Center Birthday Hour Feb. 18, noon, Black Student Center (USU 4200) Come celebrate the Black Student Center’s eighth birthday! This event is intended to honor the history of the center while continuing to push for progress in the years ahead. Black Excellence Awards Gala Feb. 27, 5:30 p.m., USU Ballroom The Black Student Center is hosting this inaugural event in collaboration with Tukwut Life to celebrate and highlight the Black community. The evening will be a showcase of achievements and inspiring stories from our vibrant community. Guests are encouraged to dress in their finest attire to honor the occasion and the remarkable accomplishments being celebrated. Please RSVP using this form by Feb. 17 Media Contact Eric Breier, Interim Assistant Director of Editorial and External Affairs ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314

Professor Writes Book on History of Sex Scandals in Protestantism

Suzanna Krivulskaya is a Cal State San Marcos history professor who specializes in the history of religion and sexuality. It’s only natural, then, that her first book is about one particular way that those two topics have intersected in American life. Jan. 17 was the publication date of Krivulskaya’s debut book, titled “Disgraced: How Sex Scandals Transformed American Protestantism.” The book is described by its publisher, Oxford University Press, as a “sweeping religious and cultural history of Protestant sex scandals in 19th- and 20th-century America” as Krivulskaya “investigates the cultural consequences of scandal, what demands the public made of religion in response to revelations of pastoral misdeeds and how Protestantism itself changed in the process.” Krivulskaya, who has worked at CSUSM since 2019, says she’s thrilled that the book is out in the world. “The project is the culmination of years of research, draft workshops in communities of deep thinkers, and revisions,” she said. “I hope that the topic will attract a broad readership, and I hope that they learn from the many fascinating stories I tell in the book.” “Disgraced” originated as Krivulskaya’s dissertation during her time as a Ph.D. student at the University of Notre Dame from 2015 to 2019. In the course of her research for the project, she combed newspaper archives from the first half of the 1800s, which witnessed the emergence of human interest journalism. She then traced how the U.S. press covered the stories of ministerial downfalls through the late 1900s. “It turns out that sex scandals have not been mere aberrations in the history of American religion. In fact, they have plagued churches since the birth of the modern press in the 1830s,” Krivulskaya said. “Initially, newspapers were hesitant to report on stories of ministers’ sexual transgressions because they wanted to protect the sanctity of Protestantism, which was the faith of the majority. But ministers kept getting caught up in scandals. “By the end of the century, the press was on a crusade to expose all manner of hypocrisy among the nation’s leaders. Churches and religious institutions, in turn, strategized about addressing the crisis in their midst – to varying degrees of success. Scandals continued to propel newspaper sales and excite public sentiment, ultimately compelling Protestant institutions to attempt to handle matters internally to protect their reputations. “By the late 20th century, a culture of secrecy and the rise of charismatic religious celebrities enabled tremendous abuses of power, as the scandals of multiple televangelists demonstrate. And, at the same time, scandal ceased to shock the public, thereby losing some of its generative potency.” Krivulskaya says her goal is for readers to come away from the book with a deep understanding of the major developments in journalism, religion and sexuality since the 19th century. She also wants readers to feel inspired to hold religious institutions accountable in the wake of scandals. “Finally, I hope readers have fun,” she said. “The stories I tell in this book are fascinating, and the characters are colorful and compelling. I hope my narrative does them justice, and I hope my readers get to know these historical figures in all their messiness and complexity.” “Disgraced” is available for purchase on Amazon. It also can be bought at Oxford University Press for 30% off using the discount code AUFLY30. Media Contact Brian Hiro, Communications Specialist bhiro@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7306

New Play Explores Misconceptions of Latino Voting

For most of her life, Patrice Amon has bristled at the popular notion that Latino people vote as one monolithic bloc. So when she came across a script last year that delves into that very subject, she knew she had to make it her next stage production. The result is “The Hispanic/Latino/Latina/Latinx/Latine Vote,” a play that will be performed at Cal State San Marcos on Wednesday night. Directed by Amon, the chair of CSUSM’s theater department, the show will take place at 7 p.m. in Room 111 of the Arts Building. Tickets are free. “There’s often an assumption that different parts of the Latino community will all act the same,” Amon said. “There is an abundance of diversity within the community. There’s a variety of languages that are spoken, a wide array of racial identities that we hold, a diversity of religions we practice. In that way, it is overly simplistic to imagine that all Latinos vote in a single bloc. There’s such diversity within the community that our voting practices are often just as diverse as we are.” “The Hispanic/Latino/Latina/Latinx/Latine Vote” centers on Paola Aguilar, a university professor who’s an expert in Latinx studies and who’s in debt from years of fertility treatments. Facing financial strain, she accepts a lucrative offer from a political party seeking to decode and capture the titular vote ahead of an impending election. As Paola navigates the party’s often superficial understanding of her community, the play satirizes the oversimplification of Latino identities. The script was written by Bernardo Cubria, a Mexican playwright who lives in Los Angeles. Cubria based the story on his own experiences of volunteering for the Democratic Party and going through in vitro fertilization with his wife. Amon saw an early reading last January at The Old Globe’s Powers New Voices Festival and decided to produce it through TuYo Theatre, a San Diego company that specializes in Latinx narratives and for which she is co-artistic director. The play opened on Jan. 3 at a high school in Chula Vista, and after the show at CSUSM, it also will be staged at High Tech High and San Diego State. The 90-minute comedy features a cast of six, including Kevane Coleman, the administrative coordinator for the CSUSM art, media and design department who’s also a professional actor, singer and dancer. Coleman plays the role of Bernard, a political adviser who works with three other advisers to recruit Paola to help bolster the party's share of the Latino vote. Bernard and his partner have been on their own IVF journey, and he uses that as a way to befriend Paola after she has a miscarriage. “When audiences, especially our students, come to see this play, I know many of them will see themselves reflected on stage,” Coleman said. “That representation is powerful and vital to the work we do as artists, but also the work that we do within each of our communities. As the president of the Black Faculty and Staff Association on campus, this production has also been an extraordinary learning experience for me. To be immersed in the Latin community by doing this show, it has broadened my understanding of critical issues facing this community.” Besides faculty in Amon and staff in Coleman, “The Hispanic Vote” also has CSUSM representation in the crew from Abby Chacon, a senior theater major who’s serving as assistant stage manager. About 40 tickets for the show are available. To reserve a seat, email info@tuyotheatre.org. “I think this play will resonate with our students and the larger campus community,” Amon said, “because we all want to live in a world where we spend more time thinking about the nuances of our world.” Media Contact Brian Hiro, Communications Specialist bhiro@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7306

Veterans Sharing Oral Histories Highlight Spring Arts & Lectures

Looking Back on Successes of 2024

As the end of the year approaches, many are already looking ahead to 2025. But before putting the finishing touches on your list of New Year’s resolutions, let’s take a look back at some of the most-talked-about stories of 2024. CSUSM Receives Two Gifts Totaling $20 Million, Largest in 35-Year History In a historic moment, Cal State San Marcos received two philanthropic donations totaling $20 million – the largest gifts in its 35-year history. $10 million from Price Philanthropies Foundation will create a first-of-its-kind, three-year accelerated bachelor's degree and workforce pipeline for behavioral and mental health. The other $10 million came from Daniel J. Epstein – a director of the CSUSM Foundation Board – and his wife, Phyllis. Their contribution will serve as a unique dollar-for-dollar matching gift opportunity for all CSUSM donors to double their impact across campus. Balancing Act: Master's Grad Perseveres Through Challenges A master’s of biological sciences student, Jocelyne Dates was selected last spring as the recipient of the 2024 President's Outstanding Graduate Award, the highest honor a graduating student can receive. She also received the Dean’s Award for Graduate Studies, which recognizes the accomplishments of one master’s student. Jocelyne is continuing her education by pursuing her Ph.D. at Vanderbilt. 'I Just Want to Make Him Proud and My Life to Count' Last spring, at 76 years old, Kathryn Cook walked across the graduation stage as the oldest graduate of Cal State San Marcos' class of 2024. Her path to this accomplishment was not one of a traditional four-year-and-done experience. In fact, it was 50 years in the making, with monumental life transitions and rocky hardships in between. The passing of Cook’s husband in 2019 led her to continue her education at CSUSM and graduate with a sociology degree. From the Baseball Diamond to 'The Bachelorette' Austin Ott had never watched an episode of “The Bachelorette” when he received a DM on Instagram from the show encouraging him to apply. While nervous, his communication and media studies degree from Cal State San Marcos gave him a foundation to build on. Ott’s first speech in COMM 100 gave him an idea of what being in the public eye might look like. “My time at Cal State San Marcos was probably the best years of my life,” said Ott, who graduated in 2019. “There’s nothing better than playing the game you love and being around your best friends.” American Indian Student Follows Passion for Animals, Environment Aiden Valverde, an American Indian Studies major from the Iipay Nation of Santa Ysabel, has made significant contributions through his engagement with the California Indian Culture and Sovereignty Center. As an intern for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Valverde was able to connect more with his culture, and his passion for animals and the environment. “Aiden exemplifies everything we strive to achieve in American Indian Studies and at the California Indian Culture and Sovereignty Center,” said Joely Proudfit, the department chair of American Indian Studies. Computers a Lifelong Passion for Trustees' Award Winner In 2009, Minh Tran’s family moved to Escondido from Vietnam, the only home that he, his parents and his two older siblings had ever known. Now, the fourth-year student who’s on track to graduate in May, was honored as CSUSM’s recipient of the 2024 CSU Trustees’ Award for Outstanding Achievement, the California State University’s highest recognition of student accomplishment. Students are selected based on academic achievements, financial need, excellence in community service and personal hardship. Awardees have all demonstrated inspirational resolve along the path to college success, and many are the first in their families to attend college. Graduate Crafting Career on Helping Children A child and adolescent development major at Cal State San Marcos, Tania Arceo spent the last year and a half working with Voices for Children, a nonprofit organization where volunteers are trained to become court-appointed special advocates. Volunteers like Arceo represent juvenile dependency cases in San Diego County. Since graduating last spring with her bachelor’s, Arceo has started her Master of Social Work program at CSUSM this fall. Alumnus Seeks Better Mental Health Through Better Cuts John Edwards was only 12 years old when he taught himself how to cut his own hair. By the time Edwards enrolled at Cal State San Marcos as a transfer student returning to higher education in 2021, he was close to completing barber school. Now a licensed barber and a recent CSUSM graduate, he operates a small studio in San Diego, rotating about 25 clients through his single chair. Edwards studied psychology at CSUSM, and it was at the university that he dreamed up the idea of melding his longtime practice of barbering with his fledgling research on mental health treatment. CSUSM Earns Prestigious Seal for Serving Latinx Students Cal State San Marcos has earned the prestigious Seal of Excelencia, a national certification for institutions that strive to go beyond enrollment and more intentionally serve Latinx students. CSUSM is one of only 17 colleges and universities to earn the Seal of Excelencia in 2024. In 2018, Excelencia introduced the seal to certify colleges and universities for their efforts to become learning environments where Latinx, and all, students thrive. This year marks the organization’s 20th year of service to accelerate Latinx student success in higher education. Surfer Makes School History With National Title Tanner Vodraska, a Cal State San Marcos business student, became the first surfer in university history to win an individual national title. The junior competed in the college men’s division of the 2024 National Scholastic Surfing Association interscholastic national championships at Salt Creek Beach in Dana Point. Vodraska dominated the field. He posted a two-wave score of 17.5 points in the final, far outdistancing his closest competitor. “I feel really proud of myself because I set a goal to win the national title before I graduate, and I accomplished it,” Vodraska said. Incredible Mulk: Class Project Becomes Thriving Business Melissa Finestone remembers the assignment in her business marketing class that started it all. Each student was required to develop a business plan based on a product they conceived. Finestone decided to curate a product that combined her passion for cooking with a childhood love of chocolate milk. But Finestone wanted to develop a healthy alternative to other chocolate milks on the market. When Finestone couldn’t find a product on the market that met her requirements, she chose to make her own. Using her Vitamix blender to grind almonds in her kitchen at home, Finestone crafted samples of chocolate- and strawberry-flavored, plant-based almond milk. She served it to each student in the class while presenting her product. The overwhelming support from her peers inspired Finestone to launch The Mulk Co. in June 2018, only one year after she graduated from Cal State San Marcos with a bachelor’s degree in global business management. Media Contact Eric Breier, Interim Assistant Director of Editorial and External Affairs ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314

Nursing Graduate Knows All About Performance

When Cal State San Marcos holds its annual fall commencement on Sunday, many nontraditional students will cross the stage in their caps and gowns. A nontraditional student, in general parlance, is one who goes or returns to college later in life rather than right after high school. Jonathan Jennings, one of those hundreds of fall 2024 graduates, likes to call himself a “nontraditional nontraditional” student. Not only is he 37 years old and pursuing his second degree, but unlike nearly all of the 50-odd students in his Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing (ABSN) program cohort, he does not have an educational background in science. Jennings, rather, graduated from UCLA 15 years ago with a degree in world arts and cultures, which is one of the only academic programs of its type in U.S. higher education. He describes it as a unorthodox fusion of dance and anthropology. “I took everything from ballet to postmodern to African war dances to tai chi – you name it,” Jennings said. “If a culture moves in a certain way, I studied why they move that way, how it affects the way they interact with other people in their culture and how you can respectfully create your own work as an artist without disrespecting the culture.” It's how Jennings applied his first bachelor’s and the path he took toward this second one, however, that elevates his story beyond a mere curiosity. After leaving UCLA, he fulfilled his lifelong ambition of becoming a professional dancer. One of his first jobs was as a performer on a Disney cruise ship for nine months, providing on-board entertainment through a medley of shows. Jennings parlayed that opportunity into one that was significantly longer and somehow even more exotic. He worked for much of the next eight years as a dancer at Tokyo Disneyland. Assigned to the wildly popular, Tokyo-specific stage show “One Man’s Dream II: The Magic Lives On,” which featured humans performing alongside Mickey Mouse and many other classic Disney characters, Jennings danced five times a day, five days a week for a total of more than 8,000 shows. “It made for a great icebreaker in the ABSN program,” he said. “Day one of orientation, tell us something interesting about yourself: ‘I used to perform with Mickey and his friends in a show called “One Man’s Dream II.” ’ It’s a unique experience. Not many people have gotten the opportunity to do that.” During his tenure at the theme park, Jennings earned a promotion to line captain, a role that’s responsible for leading rehearsals on days when the director and production team aren’t available, as well as mitigating conflicts between cast members. Away from the job, he enjoyed the minor celebrity status that accompanied being a Disney performer in Japan, while finding time to travel to countries throughout Asia. Asked if he still misses that chapter of his life, Jennings said: “Every day, though I think it’s mostly nostalgia now. I was young. I was making good money. The world was my oyster.” Dancing is often a young person’s profession, and when Jennings reached his early 30s, he realized that he would need to discover his second act. In December 2019, he took part in the final staging ever of “One Man’s Dream,” returned to his hometown of Spring Valley and retired as a dancer. As he began to contemplate what would come next, he thought about things that brought him joy. He thought about his love of babies, shaped by a formative experience helping to care for a newborn cousin who lived with his family when he was just 10 years old. He thought about his exposure to caretaking through poor health suffered by his stepfather and grandfather. He thought, in other words, that nursing – especially pediatric nursing – might be a good fit. So early in the pandemic, he spent a year at Cuyamaca College knocking out the science prerequisites required for him to attend nursing school. Once those were complete, he applied to CSUSM and began studying in its ABSN program in spring 2023. While he battled feelings of imposter syndrome in the classroom from his lack of science training, Jennings sought out any and all chances he could uncover to gain nursing-adjacent seasoning. One such opportunity came through CSUSM’s Mobile Wellness Initiative, which engages students from the seven disciplines of the College of Education, Health and Human Services (including nursing) in community-based health education and promotion events. Starting in February, Jennings volunteered for about seven events in the community, doing things like blood pressure screenings for adults and healthy eating activities for kids. “Recognizing my own ignorance, the fact that I don't have health care experience, I wanted to expose myself to as many scenarios where health care is provided and communities to which is provided as possible,” he said. “It put a very human face on health care for me, in a way that's not in a hospital room where everything's beeping.” Matt Mincey, a nursing lecturer who established the Mobile Wellness Initiative, has witnessed Jennings in action at several community health events and seen how the outsized personality and stage presence that Jennings brought to his dancing career translate to the field of nursing. “One of the things that nursing students struggle with is confidence, especially when it comes to speaking with others,” Mincey said. “Most students find a way to break through that barrier, but it comes at different times for everyone. Jonathan just had this ability from the get-go. He is humble, but he is also confident in what he knows and he is eager to share with anyone who will listen. “I am excited to see where he goes after graduation but already feel the loss in our operations that will be hard to replace.” For his final semester this fall, Jennings worked an externship in the cardiothoracic ICU at Rady Children’s Hospital (one of the top such units in the country) and also did clinical rotations in telehealth at UC San Diego and as a school nurse. He has interviewed for a full-time job at Rady and hopes to have received a job offer by early next year. If he gets the position, he won’t be dressing up in costumes and dancing for patients. But he perceives almost daily the ways in which his previous life benefits him in his new life. “Other than actual textbook content, I don't think there's a corner of nursing that my old career doesn't apply to, which was surprising to me,” he said. “It's being versed in a lot of soft skills that I didn't recognize were skills until I had to apply them in a field where that's not the dominant thing that we're using to create value. If something's going wrong and the doctor has to run out and get a new piece of equipment, I can stand in that room and hold the audience and distract them from pain or whatever they're feeling, as opposed to freezing and standing there awkwardly or leaving the room. I didn't see that as a marketable skill in nursing, but now I do.” Media Contact Brian Hiro, Communications Specialist bhiro@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7306

ACE, Son Inspire Sociology Student on Path to Graduation

“Once in ACE, always in ACE.” Those were the words said by Leigh Quijada, director of ACE Scholars Services, that helped welcome Deborah Hawkins back to Cal State San Marcos. A sociology major, Hawkins began her college journey at Mt. San Jacinto College before transferring to CSUSM where she was part of ACE, which supports former foster youth. However, Hawkins withdrew from CSUSM in 2017 feeling like she wasn’t ready and it was too much to handle. But in 2022, she was inspired to return by her 3-year-old son, Zion. “When I had my son, I was like, ‘No, I have to go back to where I started,’ ” Hawkins said. “I have to go back to my goals and I need my son to see that I can graduate. I need to have a career that I know I want, so I decided to buckle down and bear through the hardships.” Hawkins was born into foster care and remained in the system until she was 18. Much about her past remained unknown to her. For example, she recently found her biological mom and nine siblings. Being in foster care put Hawkins through plenty of ups and downs. “I actually got a placement when I was 7 that was pretty stable so I was in that home for a long time,” Hawkins said. “However, there were a lot of things that went on inside that home that no one knew about, not even the social workers that came in. It was hidden. Social workers have a lot on their plate, and so growing up, I just knew that I wanted somebody to pay attention.” Hawkins plans to be the person who pays attention toward people with stories like hers. She understood from a young age that school was the way out of the system, and the way to open a better future for herself and others. “I didn't know what the next steps looked like for me when I turned 18,” said Hawkins, “but I knew I wanted somewhere stable to live. My goal was to finish high school and then go live at college. It didn't work out that way, but I think that one of my main motives to go to college was stable housing, because that was the only thing I knew would make me stable.” Hawkins had almost no choice to attend school, and no choice to do so on her own timeline. “On graduation day in high school, I went home and my bags were packed outside of the house,” Hawkins said. “So it was ‘go time.’ I had no choice but to sink or swim. I was just trying to go to school and be stable. I didn't know I would graduate.” When Hawkins, a first-generation student, reapplied to CSUSM after her son was born, Quijada was the first person to reach out to her, leaving Hawkins in shock. “Leigh has been following me since day one, just walking with me. So I'm so grateful for that.” Hawkins said. “I didn't even know I still qualified. I'm older, so I didn't know I still qualified for the services. They were like, ‘No, once in ACE, always in ACE.’ ” This support from Quijada and Laurie Orr, an ACE counselor, helped give Hawkins the extra support and push to graduate this fall. Hawkins works as a social worker assistant in Riverside County, and her graduation this fall will open the opportunity for her to become a full-time social worker. Eventually, Hawkins’ goal is to open her own nonprofit helping foster youth. Specifically, she wants to help those who are about to age out of the system. “I remember that when I turned 16 in foster care it's when your wheels start spinning and you realize you’re going to be 18 in two years,” Hawkins said. “You don’t know where you’re gonna go. You don't have solid advice or people to help you. “So I would want to start with helping kids who are about to be former foster youth, and then help transitioning and former foster youth as well.” Although Hawkins has gone through challenges, she is determined to make her son proud. “He was the main motivator, because it seemed daunting, especially having to withdraw and the weight of it all just felt bad,” Hawkins said. “But I knew I had to go back, so I reapplied.” Zion will be attending commencement on Dec. 15 and will grow up to recognize how big of an accomplishment graduation is for his mom. “I'm still in shock,” she said. “I'm graduating. It sounds crazy to me, I still haven't processed it all yet, but I know it's gonna mean a lot. “I am so grateful for my village that has become family that have helped me along the way. I couldn't have done this with out their support as well as the support of ACE.” Media Contact Eric Breier, Interim Assistant Director of Editorial and External Affairs ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314

University Shatters Giving Day Record, Raises Nearly $750K

Cal State San Marcos celebrated its 10^th anniversary of Giving Day with a record-shattering day that saw the university raise $748,362 from 2,143 donors in just 24 hours. “This record-breaking achievement will empower our students to excel in their academics and beyond,” said Jessica Berger, vice president of University Advancement. “From hundreds of social media posts to ambassadors advocating for their programs and gifts of all sizes, your collective support is a testament to the strength of our dedicated community.” Giving Day is part of Giving Tuesday, an international day focused on philanthropy. The Giving Day highlights included: · A number of matches were met, including $200,000 from the Epstein Family, $15,000 from SchoolsFirst Federal Credit Union, and over $100,000 in individual area frontline matches that impacted the results for 132 campus programs. 79 ambassadors spread the word, bringing in a collective 238 gifts. 258 students donated. Nearly one in five gifts were made by alumni. “Even more impressive than the total amount raised was the number of people who made it possible,” Berger said. “From students and employees to friends, parents, alumni, and community members, everyone came together to make this day a phenomenal success. “Your support will have an immediate and lasting effect on our campus community. We couldn't do this important work without you. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you!” Did you miss your chance to donate on Giving Day? You can still make a meaningful impact on the program you love. Give today! Media Contact Eric Breier, Interim Assistant Director of Editorial and External Affairs ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314