Leadership Team - The Honors College
Dean of Graduate Studies, Dean of the Honors College, Professor of English
Dr. Caroline Vickers
cvickers@csusb.edu
About: Dr. Caroline Vickers is CSUSB Dean of Graduate Studies, Dean of the Honors College, and Professor of English with a specialization in Applied Linguistics. In addition, she has served as the chair of the CSUSB Institutional Review Board and as a graduate coordinator for the M.A. in English Composition.
Link to Faculty Page at CSUSB (teaching, research, publications): https://www.csusb.edu/profile/cvickers
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/caroline-h-vickers-a4ba35264/
Education
Ph.D. University of Arizona, 2004 M.S. Georgetown University, 1997 B.A. University of Georgia, 1994
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Interim Director of the Honors College
Dr. Yolonda Youngs
About: Dr. Youngs is a Professor of Environmental Studies & Geography and the Interim Director of The Honors College at CSUSB. As the Interim Director of the Honors College, Dr. Youngs oversees the day-to-day operations and develops the larger strategic vision for the Honors College. Together, the director, staff, faculty, and students collaborate to make the Honors College an engaging, collaborative, inclusive, and distinguished community of scholars. Dr. Youngs’ goal is to guide the Honors College as a place of belonging, collaboration, student engagement, research excellence, interdisciplinary scholarship, and personal growth, ultimately helping to shape future generations of leaders, professionals, and scholars.
Dr. Youngs' research expertise is in Long Term Environmental Monitoring (LTEM), national parks and international UNESCO protected areas, habitat monitoring and restoration, water resources (rivers, lakes), coastal and island environments, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), conservation of natural resources, environmental policy, and field methods. Her regional specialties are the U.S. West and Europe. Her teaching includes Environmental Sustainability, National Parks & Public Lands, Conservation and Natural Resources, GIS, Field Methods, and Professional Conferences.
Her teaching and research mutually reinforce each other. She is dedicated to student success through innovative and engaging field-based research and experiential learning opportunities. Her publications appear in national, international, and regional journals including the Annals of the American Association of Geographers, Geographical Review, and Society and Natural Resources: An International Journal. Dr. Youngs has over 30 publications in refereed journal articles, books, book chapters and academic book reviews, scientific technical reports, and scholarly essays. Her second book, Framing Nature: The Creation of an American Icon at the Grand Canyon, received the prestigious 2025 J.B. Jackson Book Award from the American Association of Geographers (AAG), one of the highest honors in her discipline.
She is a frequent presenter at invited keynote talks, university colloquiums, public speaking venues, and media interviews (podcasts, radio, webinars). She won the 2024-2025 Outstanding Faculty Research & Scholarly Activities Award (CSUSB College of Social and Behavioral Sciences), 2018 Outstanding Researcher at Idaho State University, the Apple, Inc. Distinguished Educator Award, and the International Geographical Union Scholar award from the Association of American Geographers.
Link to Faculty Page at CSUSB (teaching, research, publications): https://www.csusb.edu/profile/yyoungs
Education
Ph.D. 2009, Arizona State University (Geography); M.S. 2004, Montana State University (Earth Sciences – Geography); B.A. 1993, Florida State University (Anthropology, Archaeology)
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Faculty Director, Honors College (On Leave AY 2026 - 2027)
Dr. Jacob Jones
Dr. Jones' scholarly interests focus on neuropsychiatric symptoms among individuals with Parkinson’s disease and other neurodegenerative disorders. He has over 45 published articles and chapters in high quality journals; many with student co-authors. His research has been funded by the National Institute of Health (NIH). One project examined the association between gut-microbiome disruptions and cognitive impairment among individuals with Parkinson’s disease. The second project investigated risk factors of Alzheimer’s disease among Native elders living in urban areas. He also served as the associate director for the NIH-funded Undergraduate Research Training Initiative for Student Enhancement (U-RISE) program at CSUSB. This program aimed to increase the diversity of the biomedical research workforce by providing mentoring and training to undergraduate students from underrepresented populations. Prior to joining the CSUSB community in 2018, Dr. Jones earned his bachelor’s degree from CSU Channel Islands. He earned his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Florida in 2016. He completed an internship in Neuropsychology at Brown University in 2016, and a NIH funded T32 post-doctoral fellowship in Neuropsychology at UCLA in 2018.
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Assistant Faculty Director - Palm Desert Campus
Dr. Kevin Grisham
About: I am a proud first-generation student who had the privilege of graduating from CSUSB in 1997 with my BA in Criminal Justice. I then completed coursework for my MA in Interdisciplinary Studies at CSUSB. After working overseas in Yemen, I returned to the Inland Empire and began teaching in 2000. Since 2000, I have been privileged to teach students from the Inland Empire at Victor Valley Community College, the University of California, Riverside, and California State University, San Bernardino (CSUSB). I returned to CSUSB in 2007 teaching at the San Bernardino and Palm Desert campuses. In 2021, I became the Associate Dean of the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, and in 2022, I was appointed Interim Associate Provost of Faculty Affairs and Development. In August 2024, when I decided to return to my passion—teaching and mentoring students. I am now a Professor of Global Studies and the Assistant Faculty Director for the Honors College at the Palm Desert Campus of CSUSB, Faculty Adviser for the PDC Chapter of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Fellows Program, and the Co-Coordinator of the CSUSB Model United Nations Program.
Since 1997, I have studied hate and violent extremism both in the United States and globally. My research focuses on the reasons why violent political movements (including hate groups) transform over time into other entities, including mainstream political parties, criminal organizations, and terrorist organizations. I served as the Associate Director for the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at CSUSB.
Link to Faculty Page at CSUSB (with additional information on teaching, research, publications): https://www.csusb.edu/profile/kgrisham
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/profkevingrisham/
Education
Ph.D. (2009) Political Science, University of California, Riverside; M.A. (2005), Political Science, University of California, Riverside; B.A. (1997), Criminal Justice, California State Univ., San Bernardino
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Staff - Honors College
Advisor & Student Engagement Coordinator
Brandon Landrum
About: Brandon is the Advisor and Student Engagement Coordinator for the CSUSB Honors College. Reach out to Brandon for personalized advising and questions about courses, class schedule, or upcoming events and activities with the Honors College.
Administrative Support Coordinator II
Juan Salcedo
Phone: (909) 537-7474
About: Juan is the Administrative Support Coordinator II for the Honors College. Reach out to Juan with questions about Honors College spaces and facilities, student assistant schedules, and the current class schedule for Honors College courses.
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About the Honors College
Founded in 1989, the Honors College (formerly University Honors Program pre-2025) is home to approximately 1,380 of CSUSB’s students. Our faculty and staff work collaboratively to govern the college with a student leadership team that shares responsibility for decision making in the life of the program. In 2018, The Honors College opened its facility, located in Cajon Hall, part of CSUSB’s newest residence facility, Coyote Village. There you can find classrooms, administrative offices, a computer lab, and student study and lounge spaces.
Mission, Goals, and Outcomes
Mission
The California State University San Bernardino University Honors College develops public scholars and artists who embrace inquiry and exploration as ways to understand the complexities of the world. As a community of curiosity, the Honors College strives to empower CSUSB students to identify and pursue opportunities for educational, social, and professional development that will contribute to successful and impactful futures.
Goals
1. The University Honors College cultivates individuals who identify their own beliefs and values within an ethical framework.
2. The University Honors College fosters life-long learners who pursue knowledge through inquiry, exploration, and application;
3. The University Honors College nurtures citizens who engage with a community and work towards its success.
The program’s staff works in collaboration with students and campus personnel to develop these goals through three distinct program components: the curriculum, co-curricular programs , and a residential program.
Outcomes
Collaboration: Work collaboratively with persons from different fields of specialization in diverse, cross-disciplinary teams to analyze and/or solve applied issues and problems.
Scholarship (breadth): Demonstrate an understanding of the diverse nature of scholarship in the university by applying the tools (methodologies/content/skills) of multiple disciplines to analyze and/or solve complex issues and problems.
Inquiry (depth): Design, plan, and execute an original research or creative project in a particular discipline or interdisciplinary field that would meet professional standards in that discipline or field.
Civic Engagement: Demonstrate social consciousness, community building, and engaged civic responsibility through participation in campus and community activities and service.
Personal Development: Synthesize academic, professional, and community involvement into an action plan for post-baccalaureate aspirations, revealing personal strengths, weaknesses, and significantly changed perspectives about life experience.
Instructors & Faculty
First Year Experience Faculty
The Honors College's core curriculum for lower division students is taught by exceptional faculty with special expertise in the fields in which they teach. With graduate degrees in Rhetoric & Composition, Philosophy, and Communication & Media, the First Year Experience faculty devise experiences for students that provide a foundation for future learning in the Honors College.
Dustin Shepherd
-San Bernardino Campus
I typically teach Writing Rhetorically (HON 1100) and Constructing Knowledge (HON 1000). I have been researching film reboots and sequels in order to analyze senses of ownership and critical engagement with these properties. In addition to my academic interests/pursuits, I am also an avid bowler.
What to expect joining their class: Students should expect to engage with the material. I try to make my classroom a relaxing environment in order to help students develop and express their own ideas in a comfortable setting. Expect to challenge, expand, and question ideas about composition.
Tabitha Zarate
-San Bernardino Campus
I work in the Honors Department, teaching Honors 1100 Writing Rhetorically and 1000 Constructing Knowledge. I research pop culture, comics and graphic novels, visual rhetoric, feminist and gender studies, and dabble in a few other interests. A fun fact about me is that I play a lot of D&D and video games when I am not grading papers or petting cats.
What to expect joining their class: Students should expect a warm welcome in my classes, and to help build a community dedicated to bettering themselves as writers and rhetoricians, and constructors of knowledge!
Pamela Escarcega
-San Bernardino Campus. More information will post soon!
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