News

9th January, 2025

Assistant Professor Dr. Gregory Gondwe has been invited to be a member of the prestigious Board of Advisors for the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University. This year, the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society is focusing community programming and on supporting workstreams led by faculty and guided by staff within our three priority topics: artificial intelligence, social media, and private and public discourse.

 

9th January, 2025

The Coyote Chronicle newspaper has been awarded $72,000 in annual funding from the IRA funding stream (Instructionally Related Activities), meaning that the valuable work that our student journalists do can continue for another year. We are very proud of the long history of The Coyote Chronicle, our students’ independent journalistic voice on campus, and the great work that all who have worked for The Chronicle have done. Dr. Gregory Gondwe is the current faculty supervisor/mentor for The Chronicle and is primarily responsible for the application that won this great funding award. Well done, Greg!

 

22nd December, 2024

Assistant Professor Roberto Oregel and Sarai Maldonado have been working closely with the department’s film students to revive the Film Club. The club is now officially approved as the Yotie Film Club! This accomplishment has been a two-year journey, marked by several impressive milestones:

The club secured a $20,000 donation from independent director/producer Dr. Mohanad Malas.

We also secured $38,700 in funding through the VETI program.

The students participated in this year’s 48-Hour Film Festival and did an incredible job, earning the runner-up position with their film!

The club's motto, "From Dream to Screen," perfectly captures their goals and aspirations. To add to the excitement, we recently received and unboxed our first shipment of new production equipment.

 

10th December, 2024

Comm & Media Full-time Lecturer Donna Gotch has been elected to the position of 'First Vice President' of WSCA (The Western States Communication Association) and will ex officio take on the subsequent roles that follow, including:

President-Elect (and Primary Program Planner) for the WSCA convention in Hollywood in 2027

President for the convention in Salt Lake City 2028

Immediate Past President in 2029

This is an extraordinary achievement and a great honour, and we should all wish Donna many very hearty CONGRATULATIONS on this extremely impressive accolade!

 

30th November, 2024

Dr. Ahlam Muhtaseb and alumnus Naim Aburaddi’s Gaza XR (Phoenix of Gaza) exhibition is to be exhibited at Yale University and Princeton University in the week of 2nd December 2024. The Ida B. Wells Just Data Lab and the Department of African American Studies at Princeton, have also planned a two-day symposium around the exhibition at Princeton.

There is also a community event the 7th December 2024, organized by the Palestinian American Community Center in New Jersey.

Further to this, in Spring, Dr. Muhtaseb and Naim Aburaddi have been invited to Harvard, MIT, The University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and Boston College to show the project and to give talks about it.

 

22nd November, 2024

Assistant Professor Roberto Oregel’s script for his short film PIGS was selected as a finalist in the Wiki Screenplay Contest. The Wiki Screenplay Organization also featured Roberto’s script and the rest of his work in an interview on their website:

https://www.wikiscreenplaycontest.com/roberto-oregel-interview.html?fbclid=IwY2xjawGuENtleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHTXbnntK_FR0xETluhUesPk3bXEzhR11v3A3hq9_ZSWLWEShzMSFb25lqA_aem_sG1bu45l-H1dXg6TYOU9Wg

 

21st November 2024

Dr. Mihaela Popescu has two new articles/chapters accepted for publication:

Baruh, L. & Popescu, M. “Organizational Practices and the Cycle of Resignation.” Chapter accepted for publication with the edited volume Advancing the Study of Privacy Cynicism, Apathy and Resignation in the Digital Society (forthcoming 2025 with Edward Elgar Publishers).

Baruh, L. & Popescu, M. “Privacy”. Chapter accepted for publication in Oxford Bibliographies (forthcoming 2025).

 

15th November, 2024

Lecturer Kevin Lyons, along with support from Pathways to Success hosted the Best of Screening for the 48 Hour Film Project at CSUSB on Friday November 15th. This brought together indie filmmakers throughout the region and featured student projects from both CSUSB and Valley College. It capped off an event that started back in October with the annual kick off at KVCR and a premiere screening at the Ontario Regal Cinemas.

 

30th October, 2024

Our graduate student Stephanie Rivas has had her paper proposal, titled “Ableism in Higher Education: Platicas Framing Faculty Perception of Student Accommodations and a Call to Action”, accepted for presentation at The International Conference on Arts & Humanities organized by The International Academic Forum (IAFOR) January 3-7, 2025, in Hawaii.

 

30th October, 2024

As part of the ongoing collaboration between our Comm & Media department and the Palm Springs International Film Society (a collaboration led by our very own Dr. Michael Salvador), screenings of four new short-films: 'Storm', 'Robbie Ain't Right No More', 'Abracitos', and 'Milk', will take place for our students, faculty and the general public. ROOM: RG-117, CSUSB Palm Desert Campus - Wednesday 30th October, 2024, - 4pm onwards.

 

24th October, 2024

Assistant Professor Roberto Oregel will be screening his latest documentary film "Operation Foxtrot" on campus on Thursday 14th November, 2024, in the SMSU South Theatre, #107, during Veterans Day week.

 

24th October, 2024

Dr. Thomas ‘T.C.’ Corrigan organized and participated in a panel discussion on misinformation, Wednesday 30th October, 2024 with journalists from Black Voice News, Menifee 24/7, and the Riverside Record.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DBd-Z8XJeBk/ [instagram.com]

 

14th October, 2024

Professor Thomas ‘T.C.’ Corrigan participated in a discussion about his co-edited anthology book Political Economy of Media and Communication: Methodological Approaches (London & New York: Routledge, 2024), on Monday 14th October, 2023, at 9 a.m. The Co-editors and contributors discussed their contributions and the volume as a whole: https://iamcr.org/s-wg/section/poe/book-talk-2024

 

11th October, 2024

The following four students received the Grace Laveryn Schultz Scholarships in Journalism: Stepfanie Alfonso (M.A. Communication); Alyse Deatherage (M.A. English & Writing Studies); Jodi Felder (M.A. English & Writing Studies); and, Tommy McCardle (M.A. Communication).

 

10th October, 2024

Assistant Professor Raisa Alvarado has published the following article,  in September this year, with colleagues, in the prestigious peer-reviewed journal International Journal of Communication:

Alvarado, R. F., Flores, C. A., Moreira, R. (2024, July). Working for the miracle: A critical, visual analysis of Disney's Encanto. International Journal of Communication, 18, 3379-3397. https://doi.org/https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/22189/4679

 

9th October, 2024

Full-time lecturer Amy Wassing and our Supplemental Instruction Student Leader Vanessa Jimenez have been accepted to presrnt a paper, titled “Re-Imaining SI: A Multi-Instructor Approach,” at the 9th Annual West Coast SI Conference, November 8-9, 2024.

 

23rd September, 2024

Dr. Ahlam Muhtaseb’s project The Phoenix of Gaza, will be exhibited at Salt Lake Community College’s Taylorsville Redwood Campus on Thursday 26th September, 2024.

 

21st September, 2024

M.A. in Communication almuna, Ariana Cano was awarded her Ph.D. from the at the Institute of Communication Research, College of Media, at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign on 16th August, 2024. Dr. Cano’s dissertation is titled “Building Creative Digital Resistance: Latinas Engage in Chicana Practices on Social Media Sites.”

 

17th September, 2024

Dr. Ahlam Muhtaseb’s Phoenix of Gaza VR/XR exhibition at the University of Redlands opened on Thursday, September 19th, 2024. The exhibition, which was supported first by the CUSB x-Real lab, under the guidance of its director Dr. Mihaela Popescu and former co-director James Trotter, then more recently by a generous summer fellowship and sponsorship by the Ida B. Wells Just Data Lab Summer Fellowship of Princeton University, under the guidance of Dr. Ruha Benjamin.

 

11th September, 2024

Assistant Professor Roberto Oregel recently completed his feature-length documentary, Foxtrot: Operation Reunification. The film highlights the Navy and Marines who established a life-saving hospital in the extreme conditions of Desert Storm, treating hundreds of casualties while overcoming numerous hardships. Upon their return home, they faced a new battle: dealing with PTSD alongside their families. The camaraderie formed during wartime became their anchor as they confronted these challenges and the haunting memories of war.

The film has been accepted into several festivals, including the American Golden Picture International Film Festival, SoCal Film Awards, and the Latino International Film Expo (LIFE) so far.

 

8th September, 2024

M.A. in Communication Studies alumnus Ramtin Ranjpour has been selected as one of the recipients of the Rising Star Scholarship by the Inland Empire Chapter of the PRSA (Public Relations Society of America).

 

5th September, 2024

Dr. Thomas ‘T.C.’ Corrigan recently did an interview with Alyssa Silva for Education Insight about local news in the IE, including the CSUSB Local Journalism Partnerships Initiative. KVCR 91.9 broadcast the conversation Thursday, 9/5/24 at 2 pm and 6:30 and then again on Saturday 9/7/24 at 4 pm. Listen online: https://www.kvcrnews.org/show/education-insight/2024-09-05/education-insight-9-5-how-educators-are-brinings

 

21st August, 2024

Dr. Jessica Nerren has received a substantial Subaward S1799 from the University of California Riverside (Prime Sponsor: California Office of the Small Business Advocate). This subaward provides $48,000 in support of Dr. Nerren’s program Accelerate InSoCal for the period May 2024 to January 2025.

 

12th August, 2024

Dr. Shafiq Rahman published an article titled “Al Jazeera’s ‘All the President’s Men’: How a Hybrid Regime Deals with Investigative Journalism”, in the Journal of Applied Journalism & Media Studies (Bristol, UK: Intellect Books, 2024).

 

20th June, 2024

Our M.A. in Communication Studies student Stepfanie Alfonso has been awarded a Graduate Equity Fellowship award for the 2024-2025 academic year by the CSUSB Graduate Equity Fellowship Committee and the Office of Financial Aid & Scholarships, in the amount of $2000.

 

12th June 2024

Alumnus Dave Rosas, BA in Communication (conc. Media Studies) has produced a short neo-noir film that has been shown at venues in and around San Bernardino and is set to screen at a few festivals around the country later this year. Dave credited Prof. Rod Metts in the Special Thanks portion of the credits as a thank you for his impact on Dave’s film education.

A low resolution version of the film is available on YouTube: https://youtu.be/tEFhgWhyNI4 [youtu.be]

 

11th June, 2024

Graduate alumnus Tommy McCardle has had his paper "Repackaging the Character: Redefining Race and Gender Roles in Professional Wrestling" accepted for presentation at the NCA 110th Annual Convention, which will take place November 21-24, 2024, in New Orleans. His paper was developed in Dr. Ahlam Muhtaseb’s COMM 6000 class.

 

June 11th 2024

One of our B.A. in Communication (conc. Media Studies) alumni (2023), Ponthakorn Pattayakorn, has been accepted to the MFA in Cinema program at San Francisco State University, starting in Fall 2024.

 

June 11th 2024

Dr. Ahlam Muhtaseb and Naim Aburaddi have been selected to receive the 2024 Ida B. Wells Just Data Lab Summer Fellowship, based in the Department of African American Studies at Princeton University. As well as this highly prestigious honor, they will receive $10,000 each to continue developing The Phoenix of Gaza XR project during the summer of 2024. Ahlam and Naim would like to thank Dr. Mihaela Popescu, Mr. James Trotter and all staff and students at the xReal Lab at CSUSB for their seminal role in making this project a reality.

 

June 4th 2024

Our former graduate student Naim Aburaddi, who is finishing the second year of his doctoral studies at the University of Colorado, Boulder, has been awarded the NCA's Activism and Social Justice Division’s (ASJD) Graduate Student Activist Award for 2024. Naim was our outstanding graduate student at both the department and college levels as well as the outstanding GTA. Dr. Ahlam Muhtaseb was his mentor, and is co-author, and partner in the Gaza XR project (Phoenix of Gaza) with Naim.

 

May 30th 2024

The documentary feature winner of the CAAMFEST 2024 AARP AUDIENCE AWARD for 2024 is 36 Seconds: Portrait of a Hate Crime, directed by Tarek Albaba, produced by Dr. Ahlam Muhtaseb.

The CAAMFest AARP Audience Award gives members of our audience the honor of selecting their favorite film of the Festival.

The film explores a four-year quest for justice after the death of three young, innocent Muslim American students on February 10th, 2015.

 

May 31st 2024

Dr. Ahlam Muhtaseb has been awarded one the most prestigious awards of the largest communication association in the world, the National Communication Association (NCA), by their Activism and Social Justice Division (ASJD): the Activism and Social Justice Scholarly Influence Award. Dr. Amy Aldridge Sanford, NCA-ASJD Chair said “Thank you for your incredible contributions and dedication to the work of social justice in the field of communication studies.”

1. Faculty Highlights / Accomplishments:

 

Dr. Ahlam Muhtaseb’s film “36 Seconds: Portrait of a Hate Crime” has been selected as a finalist at the 2024 Arab Film Festival, at the Arab American National Museum.

 

Dr. Mihaela Popescu has a co-authored article (with Lemi Baruh and Sam Sudhakar) titled ‘Role-based privacy cynicism and local privacy activism: How data stewards navigate privacy in higher education’, was published in the journal Big Data & Society in April, 2024. SCImago ranks the journal 11/493 in Communication.

 

Dr. Raisa Alvarado and Dr. Debora Pérez Torres are among eight faculty presenters at this year’s CSUSB Annual Latin American Studies Conference, titled "Study of the Americas", on Thursday April 25th, 2024, in person and live-streaming at PL-5005 and PDC Rancho Mirage Student Center (RG 111), 9 a.m. to 5:45 p.m.

 

Stepfanie Alfonso (M.A. Communication Studies) and Dr. Thomas 'T.C.' Corrigan were invited to present at the Local Journalism Researchers Workshop in March at Duke University. The workshop was organized by The DeWitt Wallace Center for Media & Democracy at Duke University and the Center for Sustainability and Innovation in Local Media at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and was funded by The Knight Foundation. This event brought together researchers across the academic, industry, non-profit, and government sectors whose work addresses contemporary issues confronting local journalism. Stepfanie and Dr. Corrigan's presentation was titled, “Building a Regional Coalition to Address the News Mirage in California’s Inland Empire.” 

 

Dr. Ece Algan has been awarded a Professor Across Borders grant in early April 2024, to develop her professional practice and research to internationalize her work.

 

Also, Dr. Algan has published a new journal article: Algan, E. & Kaptan, Y. (2023), ‘Content is Power: Cultural Engineering and Political Control over Transnational Television’, The International Communication Gazette, #85(4): 325-344. https://doi.org/10.1177/17480485231152879

 

Also, Dr. Algan presented a paper titled, ‘Cultural Weapons of the AKP Regime: Stigmatizing Culture Industries through the Targeting of TV Dramas in Turkey’, at The Politics of Stigmatization and Human Insecurities in Hybrid Regimes: Actors, Mechanisms, and Responses Conference, at Northwestern University, April 8-9, 2024.

 

And Dr. Algan Co-chaired the Television in the Global South Online Conference organized by Istanbul University and Connectist: Journal of Communication Sciences on March 14-15, 2024.

 

CSUSB’s Communication Studies department was amply represented at the WSCA (Western States Communication Association annual conference in February, 2024, Reno, Nevada. Donna Gotch served as Parliamentarian for the WSCA Legislative Assembly and is the Immediate Past President of the Executives Club. Dr. Brian Heisterkamp, chaired a panel titled, “New Possibilities in Interpersonal and Family Communication Theory Research”, and served as a panelist for a panel titled, “Conversation Analysis”, and another titled, “Teaching Language and Social Interaction in Communication Courses.”

 

Dr. Julie Taylor served as a respondent for the Top Four Papers in Organizational Communication and is the Immediate Past Chair of the Organizational Communication Interest Group.

 

Dr Debora Pérez Torres has published a co-authored article, with Robin L. Nabi, Christopher M.Dobmeier, Chris L. Robbins, and Nathan Walter, titled, "Effects of Scanning Health News Headlines on Trust in Science: An Emotional Framing Perspective," in the highly prestigious Journal of Health Communication, in April 2024. The research study examines: "how hope, fear, and annoyance are evoked through health news headline scanning, and how these emotions influence perceptions of news and medical science institutions as well as health behavioral intentions."

 

Dr. Raisa Alvarado has a paper accepted to the ICA (International Communication Association) annual conference in Brisbane, Australia, in June 2024.

 

Dr. Debora Pérez Torres has a paper accepted to the ICA (International Communication Association) annual conference in Brisbane, Australia, in June 2024.

 

Dr. Ahlam Muhtaseb’s documentary film 36 Seconds: Portrait of a Hate Crime, has been accepted to the following film festivals and has achieved several prestigious awards:

Festivals/Awards:

• DOC NYC 2023 - U.S. Competition, Subject Matter Award
• Santa Barbara International Film Festival 2024 - West Coast Premiere
• Dubai International Cine Carnival - 2024 Award Winner
• Swedish Academy Award for Best Documentary Film - 2024
• Sarasota Film Festival - 2024 Official Selection
• CAAMFest -  2024 Official Selection

The film will also have its first West Coast academic screening on March 5th at Sacramento State. Dr. Muhtaseb is also in the process of arranging a screening at CSUSB soon.

 

Dr. Ahlam Muhtaseb has been chosen as the Distinguished Woman of the Year 2024, by the Women Support Organization (WSO) - https://wsoca.org/ - in recognition of her outstanding contributions and leadership in the field of women's diversity. She has also been invited to be the Keynote Speaker at the upcoming WSO International Women's Day event on Saturday, March 2nd, 2024, 11am to 4pm - https://wsoca.org/all-events/.

 

Dr. Thomas Corrigan, Dr. Mariam Betlemidze, Dr. Gregory Gondwe, and Dr. Mihaela Popescu received a Provost’s CiRiS Grant for the founding and developing of their Inland Empire News Research Center. They received $30K approx. as seed funding.

 

Dr. Thomas Corrigan published a major anthology contributing to field of communication political economy studies, titled, Political Economy of Media and Communication Methodological Approaches, eds. Joan Pedro-Carañana, Rodrigo Gómez, Thomas F. Corrigan, Francisco Sierra Caballero (Taylor & Francis, Feb 1, 2024. This is the first book dedicated specifically to research methods in the political economy of media and communication, it provides a methodological toolkit to investigate the functioning of media, technology, and cultural industries in their historical, institutional, structural, and systemic contexts.

 

Dr. Angie Otiniano Verissimo (CSUSB, Health Science and Human Ecology) and Dr. Lilliana Conlisk Gallegos (CSUSB, Communication Studies) have been awarded a CSU state-wide grant - theSTEM-NET Faculty Interdisciplinary Collaborative Research SEED Grant Award - for their project titled, “Decolonial Media Art and Technology as Healing: An Anti-Discrimination Substance Use Intervention”.

 

Lecturer Lacey Kendall has been hired as a contract employee for WNYC New York and The History Channel to over see engineering of inter views for a collaborative WNYC/History Channel series called "Blindspot - Mourning In America" on New York public radio and podcast. The series focuses on the early days of the AIDS out break in New York, in an effort to get the American government and insurance industries to respond to the need for services to those with AIDS in the 1970's. Professor Kendall has engineered California-based interviews for the series, including the first episode, which can be heard
here: https//www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/blindspot/articles/mourning-in-america.

 

On Thursday, September 28th, Assistant Professor Roberto Oregel held a screening on campus of his new documentary titled "Dominance & Terror: A Discussion with Noam Chomsky". Dr. Thomas 'T.C.' Corrigan served as the moderator and attendees got to see clips from the interview with Noam Chomsky titled "Seeds of Revolution".

 

Dr. Ahlam Muhtaseb is to be honored by the National Communication Association (NCA) having been invited to serve as a respondent for the 2023 NCA Presidential Address given by Dr. Walid Afifi (UCSB) in November. She will be receiving the prestigious "NCA Presidential Citation" for her significant contributions to the field of communication studies in making the discipline a more community-centered and culturally-centered discipline. Dr. Muhtaseb will give a portion of her address in Arabic. 

 

On the 3rd October Dr. Gregory Gondwe presented at the “Empowering African AI: Enhancing Journalism Excellence in the Digital Era” conference, held in South Africa.

 

Lecturer Lacey Kendall was invited to host the "Toward A Shared Vision" Education Conference October 25th & 26th at the Riverside Convention Center. This two-county regional event unites Inland Empire professionals from K-12 and postsecondary education, business, government, and nonprofit sectors. Event participants work together in sessions, workshops, and team breakouts to discuss collaborative strategies and solutions to accelerate equitable educational opportunities and pathways for student success in San Bernardino and Riverside Counties.

 

Dr. Thomas 'T.C.' Corrigan presented a paper at the Union for Democratic Communication annual conference in Philadelphia.

 

2. Student and Alumni Highlights / Accomplishments:

May 2024

Dr. Luis Esparza and his mentee Diego Rentería received the Raza Excellence Award each from El Centro De La Raza for their dedication to their community as a result of all the work they put into reviving the University of New Mexico’s MEChA, a ChicanX organization that went defunct in 2018. Together, they organized protests, community workshops, and events to revive it. Congratulations to both mentor and mentee!

 

Our graduate alumna and current adjunct professor Leslie Leach accepted a full-time teaching position at Victor Valley College up in the high desert. Congratulations dear Leslie and good luck with the new adventure!

 

I am absolutely thrilled to share the exciting news of Luis Esparza's graduation from the UNM Chicana and Chicano Studies PhD Program where he was also declared the 2024 Most Outstanding Graduate Student. He has been recognized as most outstanding three times in a row at undergraduate, master’s, and Ph.D. levels!! Not only has Luis achieved these incredible milestones, but he has also made history as the program's very first Ph.D. graduate.

 

But wait, there's more! A LOT more! I am beyond delighted and so proud to announce that Luis will be embarking on his academic journey as an Assistant Professor of Chicanx Studies and Queer Studies at CSU Northridge starting Fall 2024!

 

M.A. Communication Studies student Ramtin Ranjpour was accepted into the following Ph.D. programs with full ride each:

1. University of Oregon (Ramtin’s choice)

2. University of Tennessee - Knoxville

3. University of Central Florida

4. University of Kentucky

 

Our alumna Loydie Burmah was accepted into the very competitive Ph.D. program in Communication at UCSD

 

The following undergraduates from our department were all admitted to our MA program in Communication Studies:

• Castrodale, Anthony
• Neff, Denise
• Paredes, Gladys
• Epps, John

 

M.A. in Communication Studies student Yussif Kanbar was part of the CSUSB Model United Nations team that won the Outstanding Delegation Award in April 2024, the highest award given by the National Model United Nations Conference in New York City. Please see details below and online at this link.

 

M.A. in Communication Studies alumna, Malika Bratton, was invited to deliver the keynote talk on 26th April, 2024, at the Student Equity Planning Institute, which took place in Ontario, CA. The title of Malika’s talk was: “Black Women Advancing Racial Equity: Utilizing Voice and Silence as Strategy to Navigate Positional Power”. Malika was also our outstanding GTA in 2022.

 

At the 13th annual “Meeting of the Minds” symposium in April 2024, B.A. in Communication student Perri Williams won the joint-award for CAL Best Poster Presentation. The presentation was titled “Race, Neurodiversity and Advocacy: What Patients and Practitioners must do in Healthcare Settings.” Perri’s mentor is Dr. Jessica Nerren. Also, M.A. in Communication Studies student Alberto Rendon won best oral presentation in session 3 with his paper titled “The Social and Educational Impacts of Anime on Fans” (mentor, Dr. Mihaela Popescu). And, M.A. in Communication Studies student Stepfanie Alfonso won best oral presentation in session 13 with her paper titled “Community Media Coalitions: Best Practices to Support a Healthy Local News Ecosystem” (mentor, Dr. Thomas Corrigan).

 

M.A. in Communication Studies student Ramtin Ranjpour was voted the CAL Outstanding Graduate Student for AY 2023-24.

 

M.A. in Communication Studies student Yussif Kanbar presented his paper “Cross Cultural Adaption and Third Culture Building Among Muslim University Students” at the 3rd Arab Studies Quarterly Conference, held at CSUSB (Jack H. Brown College) on 19th April, 2024. Yussif developed his research project and collected data (IRB approved) in COMM 6003 last Spring with Dr. Ahlam Muhtaseb.

 

On 20th April, our graduate alumnus Naim Aburaddi presented on his Gaza VR project ‘The Phoenix of Gaza’ (with Dr. Muhtaseb), at the same conference.

 

Our former graduate student, Jessica Vierra, who is a current employee of our Strategic Communication Department, was admitted to the Ph.D. program in Education at the esteemed Claremont Graduate University with a full ride! In addition, Jessica was hired as a senior public affairs officer at Norco College.

 

Comm Studies B.A. Alumnus, Giacomo Thillet, directed a documentary in 2020 about the San Bernardino City Unified School District, called “Berdoo”, which is screening at the Regal Cinema in San Bernardino on April 20th, 2024 at 4pm. Many CSUSB communications studies alumni worked on the film with Giacomo, including Adam Ghossein, Ryan Garcia, and Cesar Morales.

https://inlandfilmfest.ticketleap.com/docs2/dates/Apr-20-2024_at_0400PM [inlandfilmfest.ticketleap.com]

 

Stepfanie Alfonso (M.A. Communication Studies) and Dr. Thomas 'T.C.' Corrigan were invited to present at the Local Journalism Researchers Workshop in March at Duke University. The workshop was organized by The DeWitt Wallace Center for Media & Democracy at Duke University and the Center for Sustainability and Innovation in Local Media at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and was funded by The Knight Foundation. This event brought together researchers across the academic, industry, non-profit, and government sectors whose work addresses contemporary issues confronting local journalism. Stepfanie and Dr. Corrigan's presentation was titled, “Building a Regional Coalition to Address the News Mirage in California’s Inland Empire.” 

 

CSUSB’s Communication Studies department was amply represented at the WSCA (Western States Communication Association annual conference in February, 2024, Reno, Nevada, by faculty and students. B.A. Communication Student Deaquinta Hill presented a research paper titled, “Examining the Intersectionality of Women of Color in Feminism: A Study of Accommodation at the USRC (Undergraduate Scholars Research Conference)”.

 

M.A. in Communication student Fernando Martinez has a paper titled "Punk's Not Dead, You Are" accepted to the 2024 PunkCon Conference, “Do They Owe Us A Living?: Punk, Nihilism, and Going Analog in the End of Times,” at CSUF, May 4th, 2024.

 

M.A. in Communication student Ramtin Ranjpour has now been accepted to six different Ph.D. programs across the USA. What a nice class of problem to have!

 

M.A. in Communication student Cherae Hunt has a presentation accepted to the ICA (International Communication Association) annual conference in Brisbane, Australia, in June 2024.

 

Malika Bratton – alumna of the B.A. in Communication and the M.A. in Communication Studies has been accepted to the Aspiring Radical Leaders Institute (ARLI), a state-wide two-year professional development program, in recognition of her excellence in her duties at Riverside Community College. The ARLI fosters transformative leadership and aims to boost diversity among faculty and staff in the community college system. You can read more about this wonderful opportunity for Malika here: https://www.rcc.edu/about/news/malika_success.html

 

Our alumnus Walker Beverly (M.A. Communication Studies, 2018) was profiled in a news story by CSUSB strategic communication team for his constant work towards providing formerly incarcerated people second opportunity after prison and helping them integrate back into society. The article highlights how Walker was able to transform his MA project into a thriving social justice-based, life-long project to help others transform their lives the way he did. I want to highlight these paragraphs from the article: https://www.csusb.edu/inside/article/579235/alumnus-creates-nonprofit-serve-formerly-incarcerated-breaking-barriers-and

Beverly’s research resulted in his thesis project, "I Just Got Out. I Need a Place to Live: A Business Plan for Transitional Housing." This project reveals the challenges faced by individuals reentering society after incarceration and has been downloaded more than 6,400 times. “The appendix is actually a business plan to start a transitional housing as a nonprofit,” Beverly said. “I've gotten calls from New York, Illinois, Georgia. I have a friend in Connecticut who read it and called, ‘Hey man, come out here. Help me try to open something up out here.’” In Desert Hot Springs, Beverly applied his business plan to create Advancing Steps, which gained nonprofit status in November 2019. But the COVID-19 pandemic posed a significant hurdle, delaying the organization's progress. During that time, Beverly focused on building a network of partnerships with other organizations and government agencies, he said. The nonprofit is still working toward creating transitional housing. "We have a grant of over $750,000 to do reentry work," Beverly explained. "Our budget is around $300,000 a year right now. But we hope to raise that and be a million-dollar organization in the next couple of years."

 

Ramtin Ranjpour (M.A. in Communication Studies), was accepted (full ride) into two prestigious doctoral programs by the University of Oregon (School of Journalism & Communication) and the University of Central Florida (Nicholson School of Communication & Media). The acceptance letters explain that Ramtin will receive full tuition waiver by the two institutions and will be hired as a graduate teaching assistant/graduate employee with a monthly stipend and benefits for four years. In addition, The University of Oregon selected Ramtin to receive their Colombia Scholarship of $1000 during each of his four years of funding.

 

M.A. Communication Studies student, Cherae Hunt, has an In-Person Individual Poster Submission accepted to the 74th International Communication Association (ICA) annual conference, to be held 20th - 24th  June, 2024, in Broadbeach, Queensland, Australia. Cherae's presentation is titled "Taking Control of My Journey: The Impact of Structural Racism in the American Healthcare System on Black Women’s Mistrust in Terms of Perinatal Decisions".

 

M.A. in Communication Studies alumna Janella Eshiet has won the award for top debut paper from the Western States Communication Association (WSCA) for her conference paper, titled “Real Me Versus Social Media Me: Filters, Dysmorphia, and Beaty Perceptions Among Young Women”, which was competitively selected for presentation by the Media Studies Division of WSCA. This paper is based on Janella’s MA thesis which she finished in our program in 2020, and I am Dr. Ahlam Muhtaseb served as her chair. Janella is now finishing the second year of her doctoral studies at Chapman University.

 

M.A. Communication Studies student Stepfanie Alfonso has been selected to represent California State University, San Bernardino, at the 38th Annual CSU Student Research Competition, taking place at California State University San Luis Obispo on April 26-27, 2024.

 

M.A. in Communication Studies student Ramtin Ranjour presented at the PRSA's annual conference and won the best graduate student paper award.

 

M.A. in Communication Studies students Stepfanie Alfonso and Jocelin Monge presented their respective papers at the Union for Democratic Communication annual conference in Philadelphia.

September 2022

Lecturer Robert Leo (PDC) has been reappointed to another four-year term as member of the Finance Committee for the City of Palm Desert. Currently he serves as Chair. The purpose of the Committee is to review and advise the City Council on auditing and internal controls, financial reporting, investments, municipal debt and refunding, and other functions.

 

August 2022

Under the supervision of Professor Michael Salvador, our Palm Desert Campus (PDC) Communications Studies students have been volunteering at the following organisations: Find Food Bank, South Valley Hospice, Alzheimer’s Association, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Catholic Charities, Autism Society of the Inland Empire, Martha’s Village and Kitchen, Working Dogs for Warriors, House of Ruth, The Believe Center - Foster Care, VA Center for Development and Civic Engagement, Hanson House Palm Springs, Royalty Fastpitch Apple Valley, Corona Public Library, Imperial Valley LGBT Resource Center, MindPath Health, Glendale Parks and Rec Afterschool Program, Desert Thunder Softball, PAWS Radio, Rancho Mirage High School, Cathedral City High School, Pachappa Elementary School (Riverside), Tawhid community center, Kingdom Hall, Living Water Church, Church of LDS.