CSUSB Graduate Student Innovators

“Don’t count yourself out,” Innovator Marlena Brown advises. When she first stepped foot on the CSUSB campus, her end goal was a bachelor’s degree and a steady administrative position.  Today, she’s in the first year of her master’s program and a Ph.D. is on the horizon. But before she could imagine a future as a professor, researcher, and mentor, she first had to change her thinking about what was possible.

A San Bernardino native and first-generation college student, Brown entered CSUSB as an undergraduate eager to get a bachelor’s degree and enter the workforce. Yet she was unsure of what degree to pursue, and after taking time off from her studies and changing majors, she settled on communication studies and a career in training and development. 

“I took some classes that really got me interested in thinking about a bigger world than what I’d just imagined,” Brown said. “A class on intercultural communication completely changed my outlook.  And the professor, Dr. Mary Fong, really encouraged me to think about becoming a professor. And at the time I thought that was strange. But she's like, ‘I think you'll be really good at it. You are bright, and you have more potential than you even realize in yourself.’ I was amazed.”

Encouragement from other faculty eventually convinced Brown that a doctoral degree may be in her future.  

“Many professors in my department have just seen more in me than I've seen in myself, and that's changed my outlook on myself, and what I'm capable of.” 

A life-changing course on relational communication helped cement her decision to continue her education.

“It was just mind-blowing, because I'm like, this is the missing piece of my life, this is what I really needed to find confidence in myself, just being able to communicate, build those relationships, and repair the relationships that I've had.”

Eager to turn theory into real-world applications, Brown served as a mentor and program manager at the Help a Brotha Out Foundation, a San Bernardino non-profit dedicated to empowering young men to pursue their academic and career goals. She now offers college and career-readiness mentoring through her own business, Mentoring with Marlee. 

Her other endeavors include a full-time position as Administrative Analyst at the campus SAIL office, and raising her nine-year-old son, Jahmir. “He’s my study buddy,” she says. She’s also working on publishing in academic journals and exploring research opportunities. She says she owes her ability to take on so much to the time management skills she learned while an undergraduate in the SAIL program, and support from family members. 

“Time management has been my best friend. And I have a great support system. My family is just amazing, helping with my son and just encouraging me and giving me time to decompress.  So just finding those little moments of joy has really fueled me through.”

Brown’s outstanding academic and community contributions have not gone unnoticed. This year she was awarded two fellowships: the Laveryn Grace Shultz Fellowship, which focuses on community journalism, and the California Pre-Doctoral Program, which focuses on preparing promising scholars for careers in academia.  

“I feel like I’m just getting started,” Brown says, reflecting on her decision to continue her studies.  “I would love to become a professor within the CSU system, so I decided to just go ahead and go for it. There was a lot of back and forth, deciding, but I think this is where I belong.”