In this issue…
Current News
Lancers earn No. 2 spot in Learfield Directors’ Cup standings
California Baptist University earned its highest placement in the NCAA Division II Learfield Directors’ Cup standings—finishing as the No. 2 athletic program in the nation.
This past academic year, CBU won seven conference championships, three regional championships and crowned an individual D-II wrestling national champion in Jacob Waste. The Lancers were also declared the best program in the PacWest by winning the Commissioner’s Cup for the fifth time.
Read full story here.
Cassidy Mihalko receives Athlete of the Year honor
Cassidy Mihalko finished her California Baptist University basketball career as one of the most decorated players in the program’s history. She can add a new accolade to her growing list from a historic season—“The Press-Enterprise Area College Women’s Athlete of the Year.”
Mihalko was the first women’s basketball player at CBU to be named a NCAA Division II All-American. Mihalko finished her career as the second all-time leading scorer* at CBU and the first in the PacWest Conference with 2,231 points.
This past season Mihalko averaged 19.8 points per game while leading the Lancers to a record-setting 35-3 record, including a perfect 20-0 PacWest record. The Lancers went on to win the PacWest tournament for the first time and advanced to the D-II Final Four.
The season earned Mihalko a PacWest and D-II West Region Player of the Year awards.
Read The Press-Enterprise announcement here.
*Sonja Akkerman (‘88-‘91) is the all-time leading women’s basketball scorer at CBU with 2,373 points.
Graduate student earns recognition for fellowship work
Eduardo Sida, a public health graduate student at California Baptist University, was presented with a proclamation last month from the city of Perris for his “outstanding achievements” in running a successful community garden program.
For the past nine months, Sida worked as a Western Riverside Council of Governments (WRCOG) Public Service Fellow for the city of Perris. WRCOG aims to place students in one of 22 local government agencies to gain high-level experience with a career in the public sector. Fellows work with executive management to learn, develop and create new programs, policy and initiatives in Western Riverside County. CBU is one of two universities selected for students to submit applications for the fellowship program.
Sida said he developed a sustainable community garden, created a volunteer program to recruit community members to upkeep the garden and developed a plan on how to create additional garden sites.
“Everything I learned at CBU, I was able to apply it to the actual workforce,” Sida said.
Graduate students in the public health program at CBU are required to do a practicum; as a result, Sida, who will complete his coursework in August, was searching for an opportunity to gain hands-on experience. Sida was alerted to the WRCOG fellowship by a professor at CBU and received assistance with his resume and preparing for the interview from the Career Center at CBU.
“It was one of the best experiences,” said Sida of his time with the city of Perris. “I dipped my hands into almost every public health aspect.”
The fellowships benefit all of those involved, said Laura Acosta, associate director for CBU’s Career Center.
“The agency wins by having a high level, experienced fellow for nine months,” Acosta said. “The student wins by getting exposure to the public sector and being able to learn how the public sector works. WRCOG wins by providing another resource for its agencies and the students.”
Sida’s role at the city was extended to June 30 to continue working on the community garden project. Additionally, during this extension, Sida will be training Maria Marquez, who is also a CBU public health graduate student and the next fellowship student.
“My purpose is wanting to help the community,” Sida said. “That’s really what I wanted to do—give back to the under-served communities.”
More CBU volunteers depart for global service projects
California Baptist University sent out its third wave of volunteer teams to serve on the International Service Projects (ISP) and Summer of Service programs. Three teams departed CBU between May 30 and June 5 for destinations in Africa and East Asia.
Kris Smith, assistant director of mobilization, said teams serve in particular locations for specific reasons.
“We’re really focusing on the unreached. We’re very intentional to go to those places,” Smith said. “We’re also very intentional about using our gifting, our talents, and our majors in order to learn how to use them overseas.”
The latest group of teams joined 14 others already serving in Southeast Asia, East Asia, Thailand, United Kingdom, Poland, Spain, Portugal and Germany. In all, 36 teams with more than 300 volunteers will serve this summer in 23 countries, assisting with English clubs, university ministry, engineering projects, health care support and sports and children camps.
William Yih, a health care administration senior, recently returned from his ISP trip to Southeast Asia where his team hosted basketball clinics and taught English.
Yih said a highlight from his trip was connecting with the locals and the fieldworkers and learning about their life stories.
“I believe that going on ISP allowed me to have a bigger and broader perspective of God’s people and His world,” Yih said. “It allowed me to grow deeper in my relationship with God and deeper with my understanding of the different cultures and religions in the world.”
Breanna Reyes, who graduated in May with a biology degree, served in Greece with organizations that provided food, clothes and other resources for Middle East immigrants. After the experience, she is reconsidering plans for the future.
“I realized that the plan I had was not the plan God had for me,” Reyes said. “Now I’m taking more time off before graduate school in order to go back to Greece or somewhere else in Europe to help with the immigrants.”
CBU Gallery exhibit celebrates comedian Red Skelton
A new exhibition at the California Baptist University Gallery explores the life and works of Red Skelton, renowned American comedian and entertainer also known for his paintings of clowns.
The display includes 35 Skelton works donated to CBU by the Jim and Edna White family. Dr. Ronald L. Ellis, CBU president, joined the Whites along with comedian Dick Hardwick and Lothian Skelton, the entertainer’s widow, at an opening reception on May 30.
“I’m so glad I could do something for the university,” said Lothian Skelton. “The fact that Red is honored here, I’m very proud of that.”
Red Skelton was the star of national programs on radio and television for more than three decades. The exhibit, which runs through Aug. 31, includes brief written summaries of his contributions as an entertainer and displays memorabilia including a trumpet that he used in his TV sketches as the “Mean Widdle Kid” character. Additionally, the exhibit features original art that Skelton created including books, musical scores and paintings of clowns.
John Pate, assistant professor of communication at CBU and a stand-up comedian for 40 years, recalled opening for Skelton for six years until his death in 1997.
“He was incredible. I would quiz him and ask him questions and just learn stuff from him,” Pate said. “He had the best guidance and was so willing to help and compliment you.”
“The exhibit is going to be an exhibition of his whole career,” Pate added. “We’re trying to give people a little bit of an insight into what he was all about.”
The Skelton exhibit is a unique experience at the CBU Gallery, said Duncan Simcoe, professor of visual arts.
“It is truly a first for us to exhibit works by such a pioneering comedian and TV and movie celebrity,” Simcoe said. “It also means that our programming range has been enlarged in a dynamic way, introducing a different art-viewing public to the gallery.”
The CBU Gallery is located at 3737 Main Street, Suite 101, Riverside.
Courtyard Shakespeare Festival returns to CBU
The “Taming of the Shrew” is one of two productions scheduled at California Baptist University’s Courtyard Shakespeare Festival during June. The play will have an updated setting—the 1950s.
The Bard returned to the outdoor stage at California Baptist University in June for the second annual Courtyard Shakespeare Festival.
The festival is building on its successful inaugural season last year, said Frank Mihelich, assistant professor of theatre and director of “Taming of the Shrew” in this season’s schedule. In addition to offering more performances and more seats, the festival also will feature a high school Shakespeare day camp during its final week.
“For so many people to show up last year, that was a huge victory and it made us go, ‘Oh, there’s an audience,’” Mihelich said. “Because the casts are made of CBU [students], CBU alumni and then the wider theatre community, we get a lot of people in the courtyard that aren’t usually part of the CBU community.”
The festival will host in repertory “Julius Caesar” and “Taming of the Shrew.” The former is set in Rome during the historical time of 44 B.C.; the latter is set in a completely different era—1950s.
Garret Replogle, CBU theatre shop foreman, is directing “Julius Caesar.” He said actors have to be larger than life in outdoor theatre, and that brings to life a famous Shakespeare line: “All the world’s a stage.”
“In a dark theater, you rarely see the audience. In outdoor theatre, a lot of times the actors are wanting to connect with the audience,” Replogle said. “For the audience, instead of sitting back and watching something it feels like they’re actually a part of something.”
Maddison Rickard, a CBU theatre senior, plays Bianca in “Taming of the Shrew.” This is her first time performing Shakespeare.
“It’s a lot harder to memorize than anything else,” Rickard said. “With Shakespeare the text is so important and that’s been my biggest struggle—figuring out how to memorize the text and then not only memorize it but bring it to life.”
Mihelich is excited that the festival is growing. The event benefits the area and the actors, he said.
“If there’s a region and it has a theatre community, for that theatre community to be healthy there needs to be at least one organization serving the classics,” Mihelich said. “[The classics] demand every ounce of your talent, as a director and as a performer.”
“Taming of the Shrew”
8 p.m. June 8, 10, 14 and 16
“Julius Caesar”
8 p.m. June 9, 11, 15 and 17
The Courtyard Theatre opens at 7:30 p.m. Performances begin at 8 p.m.
Where: Smith Courtyard, California Baptist University, 8432 Magnolia Ave., Riverside, CA, 92504
Tickets: $12
Tickets or questions? Call the theatre box office at 951-343-4319 or email: mhyde@calbaptist.edu
New Radiologic Sciences program at CBU will launch fall 2017
Radiologic Sciences at California Baptist University is set to bring a new experience on campus come this fall—the ability to perform diagnostic x-ray exams on patients.
Mark DeHaro, director, said the program will be licensed to perform diagnostic radiology exams and procedures such as radiographs and fluoroscopic procedures. In the future, DeHaro said, the program also will be able to offer additional radiology procedures such as a CT, MRI, ultrasound, nuclear medicine, mammography, and many others.
DeHaro said the investment in radiology technology at CBU will give students an advantage with hands-on training with the latest technology.
“It’s important for CBU graduates to start their new careers acquainted with the technology used in medical industries,” DeHaro said. “CBU students will be educated on the equipment that is most utilized by the medical facilities that they will be employed by.”
DeHaro said that employers in the radiologic science field are seeking turnkey employees.
“As I’ve met with various medical administrators across our region, I’ve heard some common themes that employers are looking for,” DeHaro said. “A main concern employers have is they have to spend countless amount of time on training new employees to operate their systems before they can even work.”
Radiologic Sciences, a major within the College of Health Science, will begin in the fall 2017. The program will prepare practitioners to perform a wide variety of diagnostic imaging exams and procedures within a radiology (X-ray) department. The program emphasizes the knowledge in the principles of anatomy, physiology, pathology, radiographic imaging, radiation safety, radiology leadership, computerized equipment, and the professional care and handling of patients.
By the end of the year, DeHaro anticipates having approximately 60 students working toward their degree in Radiologic Sciences.
“Future graduates will take their education on the whole-person philosophy we teach within the College of Health Science and seek to edify the patients they treat in the community,” DeHaro said.
For more information on the Radiologic Sciences program, please click here.
Family Updates
From left: Jessica Norwood, Beatriz Thomas, Dr. Anne-Marie Larsen, Stephanie Butler, Anyssa Llerena, Randall Howard, Elisabeth Knopp, April Cetina and Vincent Fuentes.
Dr. Anne-Marie Larsen, associate professor of psychology, and graduate students in forensic psychology—Stephanie Butler, April Cetina, Vincent Fuentes, Randall Howard, Elisabeth Knopp, Anyssa Llerena, Jessica Norwood and Beatriz Thomas—presented at the Western Psychological Association’s annual conference in Sacramento on April 26-30. They presented a symposium of papers, Psychopathy, a New Look at an Old Issue. Butler also presented a poster of her thesis on post-traumatic stress disorder and substance use among veterans.
From left: Kandis Snowball, graduate student, Dr. Robert LaChauuse, Jessica Folmer and Taylor Vandenbossche
Dr. Robert G. LaChausse, associate professor of public health sciences, presented a paper at the 2017 National Innovative Communities Conference in Ontario, California, on May 23. The paper, Changing Health Behaviors, was on research that examines the factors that shape the health behaviors of children and adolescents. Jessica Folmer, research associate for the College of Health Science, and Taylor Vandenbossche, graduate student research assistant, also presented, A Case Study: Teen Substance Abuse and Availability.
From left: Dr. Erin Smith, Samantha Houston and Cody Moberg
Dr. Erin Smith, assistant professor of psychology, presented two posters at the 29th Annual Convention of the Association for Psychological Science in Boston on May 25-28. One poster, Understanding science rejection: Using memory to investigate implicit biases about scientists, was presented with Dr. Robert G. Crosby, assistant professor of psychology for Online and Professional Studies, and recent graduate Jake Love. The other poster was presented with recent graduates Samantha Houston and Cody Moberg. The title was Is neuroscience equally seductive? The role of individual difference variables in predicting when the presence of brain scans influence argument acceptance.
Dr. Jessica Miller
Dr. Jessica Miller, adjunct professor of public health, gave a teaching demonstration for the faculty of Hangzhou Medical College in Hangzhou, China, on the topic of public health nutrition on May 10. The lecture, prepared for a class of freshman students, explored contemporary health issues related to nutrition. Miller spent four weeks in Hangzhou as a visiting professor, teaching two courses in the medical school’s department of public health.
Dr. Ogbochi McKinney
Dr. Ogbochi McKinney, assistant professor of public health for Online and Professional Studies, gave a lecture to resident doctors at Mercy Medical Center in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on May 23. The lecture was titled Vaccines Preventable Diseases. She also had an article published in the journal HIV: Current Research. The article was titled Evaluation of Pill Counts Adherence with Self-Reported Adherence in Assessing Antiretroviral Therapy Behavior of Women living with HIV at a Faith-based Clinic in Malawi.
Shawn Wilhite
Shawn Wilhite, assistant professor of Christian studies for Online and Professional Studies, presented a paper at the North American Patristics Society in Chicago on May 25-27. The title of the paper was “A Psalm Implies Serenity of Soul”: Basil of Caesarea’s Virtue Reading of Psalm 1 and Christian Appropriation of a Jewish Two Ways Metaphor.
Amy Leonard
Amy Leonard, director of development for University Advancement, was recently named for a second year as one of Corona’s “40 under 40” by the Corona Chamber of Commerce. The list honors the city’s best and brightest young leaders in the region. Honorees are nominated by their peers and friends and selected by a panel of independent judges.
Dr. Ronald L. Ellis
Dr. Ronald L. Ellis, CBU president, was elected vice chair and president-elect of the International Association of Baptist Colleges and Universities at the group’s annual meeting in Memphis, Tennessee, on June 4-6.
Emma Hope
Julie Goodman-Bowling, assistant professor of anthropology, and her husband, David, welcomed their second daughter on May 21. Emma Hope weighed 7 pounds, 4 ounces and measured 19 inches. Her older sister is Elizabeth, 2½ years.
Austin and Shannon Cary
Shannon Kearns, sales and merchandise coordinator for the campus store, and Austin Cary, adjunct professor for ASL, were married May 20 at the Secret Garden in Oak Glen, California.
Personnel Updates
