Student and Alumni Highlights / Accomplishments:
Stephanie Rivas (M.A. Communication) 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 in Hawaii. She has also been selected to receive the Grace Laveryn Schultz Scholarship in Journalism.
Tommy McCardle submission, "Repackaging the Character: Redefining Race and Gender Roles in Professional Wrestling" has been accepted for presentation at the NCA 110th Annual Convention, which will take place from November 21-24, 2024, in New Orleans. He has also been selected to receive the Grace Laveryn Schultz Scholarship in Journalism
At the 13th annual “Meeting of the Minds” symposium in April 2024, 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 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).
Ramtin Ranjpour was voted the Departments and College’s Outstanding Graduate Student for AY 2023-24.
This is the third year in a row that our outstanding graduate student wins the college award as well: Naim Aburaddi, Dia Poole, and Ramtin Ranjpour. In the past, other former graduate students also won the college award like our own lecturer Professor Loydie Burmah and Professor Luis Esparaza (Lecturer at Central New Mexico Community College and graduate assistant at the University of New Mexico) who is finishing his Ph.D. from the University of New Mexico and walking next month.
Also, Ramtin was admitted to 4 different Ph.D. programs with a full ride each. Those are:
- University of Oregon (Ramtin’s choice)
- University of Tennessee - Knoxville
- University of Central Florida
- University of Kentucky
Our graduate students Alberto Rendon and Ramtin Ranjpour did an amazing job presenting their theses in three minutes at the grad slam on April 12.
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.
Stepfanie Alfonso 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. Stepfanie and Dr. Corrigan's presentation was titled, “Building a Regional Coalition to Address the News Mirage in California’s Inland Empire.”
Fernando Martinez had 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.
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". Her paper was developed in Dr. Muhtseb’s Qualitative Research Methods class.
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.
Stepfanie Alfonso represented our college at the 38th CSU Student Research Competition that took place at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo April 26-27. Stepfanie’s paper is titled: “Community Media Coalitions: How CMCs Can Bolster Democracy in the I.E. Communities.” Her mentor is Dr. Corrigan.
Ranjpour presented his paper “Achieving Communication Excellence: Applying the Excellence Theory to Small E-Commerce Businesses” at the 76th Annual Public Relations Society of America Conference in Nashville, TN last October. It won the Betsy Plank top graduate student paper award.
Amanda Reigle's (working with Dr. Robert 'Bob' Leo, Comm Studies Lecturer at PDC) project "Sages and Seekers" has expanded its reach connecting seniors in the Osher Lifelong learning Institute at the PDC with CSUSB communication studies students to develop intergenerational learning opportunities. The project was featured in CSUSB's Daily News. Amanda is the Sages & Seekers student program coordinator and lead researcher.
Stepfanie Alfonso and Jocelin Monge (our almuna) presented their respective papers at the Union for Democratic Communication annual conference in Philadelphia.
Alumni News
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, The Phoenix of Gaza, with Naim.
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.
On 20th April, our graduate alumnus Naim Aburaddi presented on his Gaza VR project ‘The Phoenix of Gaza’ (with Dr. Muhtaseb), at Arab Studies Quarterly Conference at CSUSB.
Janella Eshiet has won the award for top debut paper, titled “Real Me Versus Social Media Me: Filters, Dysmorphia, and Beaty Perceptions Among Young Women”,
Loydie Burmah, who was our outstanding graduate student (department and college levels) upon graduation, was admitted to the competitive Ph.D. program in Communication at the University of California, San Diego with a full ride.
Malika Bratton, was invited to deliver the keynote talk on 26th April, 2024, at the Student Equity Planning Institute and has been accepted to the Aspiring Radical Leaders Institute (ARLI), a state-wide two-year professional development program
Walker Beverly (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
The talk took place at the TedxMSJC event on Oct. 23 at Mt. San Jacinto College
The event is organized by the International Palestinian Creativity Organization