Following a national search, Parastou Feizzaringhalam, Cal State San Bernardino English professor, has been appointed associate dean for the university’s College of Arts and Letters.

Feizzaringhalam, also known as Dr. Feiz, will officially begin her appointment starting July 1. She will oversee implementation of the college’s strategic plans, lead its assessment initiatives, manage its IT team, coordinate advising efforts with the Office of Undergraduate Studies, troubleshoot students’ concerns, chair the Humanities Program, among other responsibilities.

“I am looking forward to the opportunity to work with the outstanding College of Arts and Letters to promote the disciplines in arts and humanities, and to bring awareness to the essential significance of our disciplines in whole-person approaches to education,” said Feizzaringhalam, who has served as interim associate dean for the college in the 2020-21 academic year. “The pandemic has made it increasingly clear that arts and humanities have profound impacts on how we collectively understand and respond to crises, and how our disciplines can lead us into the future with new and more enlightened perspectives on equity, justice, activism and building community.”

“Dr. Feiz has been doing a fantastic job as the interim associate dean of our college in this academic year,” said Rueyling Chuang, dean of the College of Arts and Letters, in an email making the announcement.

Feizzaringhalam, who specializes in linguistics, immigrated to the United States as a graduate student from Iran in 2000. She received her Ph.D. in applied linguistics from Penn State University in 2007 and joined CSUSB’s English department that same year. 

She is co-author of two books, both published by Routledge. The first, “Discourse Analysis: Putting Our Worlds into Words” (2014), provides a fresh approach to linguistics and is aimed at scholars and students in various disciplines across social sciences and humanities. She is currently working on the second edition. The second book, “Grammar, Meaning, and Concepts: A Discourse-Based Approach to English Grammar” (2018), has been adopted as an innovative grammar-based textbook in multiple universities across the country. Feizzaringhalam has also published a number of articles, all with a cross-linguistic and cross-cultural focus. 

A dedicated educator, Feizzaringhalam was the recipient of the 2019-20 Golden Apple Award, CSUSB’s highest award for teaching excellence. Her service at CSUSB spans membership on multiple committees that have had major curricular impact, including the Q2S (quarter to semester) Transformation and College Curriculum committees. She has also served as the associate graduate coordinator in the Department of English.  

For more information about the college, visit the College of Arts and Letters website.