NOTE: Faculty, if you are interviewed and quoted by news media, or if your work has been cited, and you have an online link to the article or video, please let us know. Contact us at news@csusb.edu.
Kathleen Devlin named CSUSB’s Outstanding LecturerInlandEmpire.usMay 2, 2018
Kathleen Devlin, a full-time instructor in Cal State San Bernardino’s College of Natural Sciences, has been named the university’s Outstanding Lecturer for 2017-18.
Devlin, who began teaching at CSUSB in 1997, was teaching her class on science, computing and society on Tuesday, May 1, when CSUSB President Tomás D. Morales, accompanied by senior administrators, selection committee members and fellow faculty members, stepped into her classroom to make the surprise announcement that she had won the award.
“She not only is an outstanding teacher who really connects well with her students,” said Morales during the surprise, “but she has taught an incredible range of courses here at CSUSB.”
Read the complete article at “Kathleen Devlin named CSUSB’s Outstanding Lecturer.”
CSUSB professor interviewed about ‘stretch classes’ helping students reach college-level writingEdSourceMay 2, 2018
An article takes a look at “stretch classes” that extends a semester’s or quarter’s worth of college-level material over two or more terms. Such stretch classes are expected to become much more common around the California State University system as it moves to eliminate non-credit remedial classes in the fall on all its 23 campuses and replaces them with alternatives that carry academic credit yet also offer extra help.
At Cal State San Bernardino, the switch to the stretch model was more complicated since the campus remains on the quarter calendar until 2020. So students can go directly into a one-quarter English composition course or take “stretch” versions that last two or three quarters, all for credit. Still, at least 83 percent of new students have completed that requirement within two years.
The stretch composition courses emphasize getting students to write clearly, rather than obsess about grammar rules, according to Karen Rowan, an English professor who is San Bernardino’s composition coordinator. To be sure, faculty correct grammatical mistakes and explain the right phrasing or punctuation. But Rowan said: “I would rather see a very thoughtful, well organized, deeply thought-out essay that has some sentence-level mistakes in it rather than a polished, perfect looking essay that says nothing.”
Read the complete article at “California university students are stretching ... and it is all happening in writing class, not the gym.”
CSUSB professor interviewed for article on problems at the FBITIMEMay 2, 2018
Brian Levin, a professor of criminal justice at California State University, San Bernardino, who has worked with the FBI, was interviewed for an article about the problems the law enforcement agency is facing. Perhaps the easiest problems to address are the internal lapses. Experts say putting assets and management attention back to work on cyber, counterintelligence and traditional crime after former FBI Director Robert Mueller shifted them to counterterrorism after 9/11 would help.
“There’s an overextension of the mission,” says Levin. Most of the pending reports by U.S. Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz include measures the FBI can take to address their problems, including stricter rules for investigating polygraph test failures and training to protect whistle-blowers.
Read the complete article at “The FBI Is in Crisis. It's Worse Than You Think.”
These news clips and others may be found at “In the Headlines” on the Inside CSUSB website.