It’s known as the S4 Conference, and for the first time in 20 years, Cal State San Bernardino will play host to the student symposium, set to take place from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Thursday, May 6, on Zoom.

S4 stands for Social Science Student Symposium. This conference will mark the 46th annual symposium presented by the California State University Social Science Research and Instructional Center (CSU SSRIC), which is the oldest CSU affinity group.

Students, whether undergraduate or graduate, from throughout the 23 CSU campuses were invited to present to their peers their research from all areas of the social sciences.

According to the CSU SSRIC symposium website, “The atmosphere of the S4 is very relaxed, and the emphasis is on meeting and sharing with other CSU students with similar interests.

“Participants will make Zoom presentations (with slides) of about 12-15 minutes in length. Individual and group submissions are welcome.”

Close to 100 students, about one-third of them from CSUSB, will present across 23 sessions.

Opening remarks will begin at 9 a.m., with Billy Wagner, SSRIC chair; followed by Rafik Mohamed, dean of CSUSB’s College of Social and Behavioral Sciences; and Eric Vogelsang, the S4 conference host and CSUSB associate professor of sociology. Join the session at this Zoom link (password is 491011).

Presentations will run from 9:30-10:55 a.m. for Session A (eight concurrent sessions), 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. for Session B (eight concurrent sessions), and 1:30-2:55 p.m. for Session C (seven concurrent sessions). The awards ceremony will take place from 4:30-5 p.m.

In addition, the afternoon will offer a session at 3 p.m. from three professors – Lori Weber (political science, Chico State), Emily Carian (sociology, CSUSB) and Leslie Abell (CSU Channel Islands) – about lessons learned from teaching research methods online during the COVID-19 pandemic. Because of health and safety concerns, almost all instruction since the spring of 2020 has been through remote means, such as Zoom, with a few limited exceptions.

Members of the CSU community can watch the proceedings through Zoom. Links for each of the sessions and their passwords are available through the downloadable conference program.