October 29, 2021

In this issue…

• Current News
• Family Updates
• Personnel Updates

Current News

College of Nursing offers COVID testing to Lancer community

The College of Nursing at California Baptist University started providing COVID-19 testing to the Lancer community on Sept. 22. Since then, an average of 40-50 tests a week have been done.

Angel Coaston, executive director of clinical affiliations and academic operations for the College of Nursing, said the idea was proposed to provide testing for nursing students who needed a negative COVID test prior to going to a clinical site. Then other departments asked if they could have students tested, she said.

“The thing about COVID-19 is it’s respiratory spread. Some people are asymptomatic and don’t even know. Or they become symptomatic, but they’ve already infected people. So this is a way to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in our community,” Coaston said.

After receiving approval to become a testing site from the Riverside County Department of Public Health, the county trained nearly 100 students, Coaston said. The testing is open to students, faculty and staff.

The testing site is open three mornings a week behind the Bourns Laboratory, next to the College of Nursing on Adams Street. Those that need a test can walk or drive up. At least one faculty and up to seven nursing students are at the site.

Natalie Becerril, a nursing student, helped with the testing. She previously had COVID-19 and needed to make up her clinical hours. It provided her an opportunity to be on the other side of testing, she said. She has learned about collecting the correct information and having a good workflow.

Muna Abuhijleh, a nursing senior, has had experience with COVID testing at her previous clinicals and wanted to help again.

“I think it’s very convenient, especially for people who live on campus. They could just walk here at any time and get it done instead of having to drive off to a hospital and go through that process,” Abuhijleh said.

Michelle Pearson-LoGiudice, director of clinical affiliations and health records analyst, said the site provides the nursing students clinical hours and an opportunity to interact with the CBU community.

“It also gives them a chance to guide people and walk them through the testing and have that empathy for what they might possibly be going through,” Pearson-LoGiudice said.

The tests are dropped off at the Department of Public Health and the results are usually back in less than 24 hours, Coaston said. There is no cost to the students or CBU.

“There’s such great reciprocity in having a partnership with the Department of Public Health,” Coaston said. Additionally, “the testing supports the Lancer community in multiple ways. If the students are negative, they can get back to class more quickly. If they’re positive, then they can be quarantined.”

The testing site is open 9 a.m.-noon on Monday, Wednesday and Friday on a first come, first served basis. For more information, call 951-552-8940.

 

Midnight Madness ushers in basketball season at CBU 

Karissa Allen, a theatre freshman at California Baptist University, stood with her friends outside the Events Center surrounded by thousands of other attendees for Midnight Madness on Oct. 22. Upbeat music blasted through the courtyard before the official beginning of the event.

The wait “didn’t seem like that much because we were with friends,” Allen said.

Students began lining up hours before the start of the event to obtain the best spots for one of the most popular activities at CBU. When the doors opened, people flooded through, ready to celebrate the beginning of basketball season. Inside, the neon lights, a DJ and Lance the Lancer encouraged cheering and team spirit.

Midnight Madness featured routines by the CBU cheer and dance teams, an introduction to both the men’s and women’s basketball squads, a 3-point shooting contest and a dunk competition.

“There was fog … and the players would come out with sunglasses. it made me think, ‘Woah, they’re so cool,’” Allen said. “It was a good chance to go with friends and be loud.”

The upcoming basketball season will be the Lancers’ final year in its four-year transition to NCAA Division I.

Rick Croy, men’s basketball head coach, spoke excitedly about how it was possible to meet in person to welcome the new season again.

“It is truly great to be back,” he said.

Last season, the women’s team won the Western Athletic Conference regular-season championship, the WAC Tournament Championship and advanced in a postseason tournament, ending the season 26-1. Jarrod Olson, women’s basketball head coach, received the Kay Yow Coach Of the Year Award, which is presented annually to the top coach of women’s Division I college basketball.

The men’s basketball team reached its first-ever WAC Tournament and finished the season at 13-10 overall and 6-6 in conference play. Croy recorded his 300th career win in December—making him one of the youngest coaches in college hoops with that accomplishment.

CBU’s women tip off their season on Nov. 9 at the University of California, Riverside. The men host San Francisco State on Nov. 9 for their first game.

View the entire women’s basketball schedule here.

View the entire men’s basketball schedule here.

 

Aviation science students have opportunity to meet legend

Six students in the aviation program at California Baptist University had the opportunity to meet an aviation legend on Oct. 22.

A donor gave tickets for the students to attend Champions of Flight at the March Field Air Museum, which honored Dick Rutan. The event honors an individual or organization’s significant achievement in support of aviation and/or aerospace, according to the museum website.

Rutan served in the U.S. Air Force, achieving the rank of lieutenant colonel. He earned a number of accolades including the Silver Star, five Distinguished Flying Crosses, 16 Air Medals and the Purple Heart. He flew 325 combat missions in the Vietnam War. He also made the first nonstop, non-refueling, around-the-world flight in the Voyager aircraft. He did so in nine days in December 1986, and his flight still holds the world record.

Lauren Shelfo, an aviation flight senior, said hearing Rutan’s story reminded her that following one’s dreams requires hard work and perseverance. Rutan and his team spent years in the desert researching, constructing the aircraft and conducting test flights while preparing for the world flight.

“Great accomplishments do not come easy. The path to accomplishment is inevitably paved with trials,” Shelfo said. “One mustn’t assign emotional weight to failure to the point that he or she cannot brush it off and try again. Even after years of preparing and finally taking off, Dick Rutan experienced trials during the flight as well. Every time he almost aborted, he heard his mother’s voice tell him not to quit. The only time you fail is when you give up or don’t try.”

Patrick Shaneck, an aviation management senior, said Rutan’s bravery and determination impacted him.

“One thing that I learned from his story is that no matter the circumstances, even when they appear grim, there is always the possibility of success if you are motivated and down-to-the-bone determined,” Shaneck said.

 

Lecture looks at the challenges the pandemic revealed 

Although the pandemic caused problems in society, it also demonstrated that some issues facing minority and disadvantaged communities are fixable, Damien O’Farrell told an audience at California Baptist University on Oct. 21.

“We make choices to change things or leave them the way they are,” O’Farrell said.

He spoke at the Culture and Justice Lecture Series sponsored by the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences at CBU. O’Farrell is the president and CEO of Parkview Legacy Foundation, which addresses social determinants of health in order to promote wellness in society. He was joined by Kim Saruwatari, director of the Riverside County Department of Public Health, and Corey Jackson, CEO of SBX Youth and Family Services, an organization that works to break the cycle of poverty and violence.

During the lecture, the three discussed the ways in which the COVID-19 pandemic negatively impacted people, such as by shutting down schools, which took away education from children and childcare from many parents who were then unable to work.

“Our economy cannot function without a childcare system,” Jackson said.

Attempting to work and educate kids at home is not the only problem, O’Farrell said. Inflation and wages that are not keeping up are causing hard-working members of society to become poorer.

Additionally, rent and mortgage costs have gone up so high that many families in Riverside have had to choose what necessities to sacrifice, O’Farrell said.

O’Farrell shared several graphs during the lecture showing the differences between incomes and COVID-19 deaths in Black, Latino, white, Native American, Asian American and Pacific Islander communities. The graphs showed worse outcomes for the majority of the non-white population of Riverside.

“I knew about social determinants of health. I knew about disparities. But when you’re watching them being lived out in the middle of a crisis, and you‘re seeing people suffer, and there’s so little that you can do to help people, it’s really hard,” Saruwatari said.

Saruwatari said there was a big increase in people seeking mental health services and not enough providers.

“There’s definitely difficulty coping,” Saruwatari said, adding that there has been an increase in substance abuse and other indicators of declining mental health.

Telehealth for counseling and other forms of mental health treatment was once thought to be impossible, but when the pandemic hit, professionals were proven wrong as they put systems into place to continue to serve their communities, Saruwatari said.

“Our civic infrastructure has a lot to work on,” O’Farrell said.

O’Farrell further discussed how the homeless were put in hotels, something else people claimed could not be done.

The speakers emphasized that the struggles society faces can be fixed if people work together to devise and implement solutions.

“We’re all good people here. We just need to find the courage to step up,” Jackson said.

 

CBU ranked among nation’s fastest-growing colleges in report 

California Baptist University ranked No. 7 among the fastest-growing colleges in the United States in a list published by a leading higher education news organization.

CBU’s top-10 ranking appears in “Almanac 2021-22” published by the Chronicle of Higher Education and reflects the institution’s 10-year enrollment growth from 2009 through 2019.

In 2009, CBU enrollment totaled 4,103 students. A decade later, in 2019, enrollment at CBU was 11,045 students, an increase of 169%.

Dr. Ronald L. Ellis, president of California Baptist University, said the ranking is a significant indicator about the institution’s growth.

“The Chronicle Almanac ranking reflects CBU’s continuing focus on developing and offering educational programs that students are looking for,” Ellis said. “It is an affirmation that our efforts are producing positive results.”

The No. 7 ranking compared CBU with other private nonprofit institutions classified as “Master’s Colleges & Universities” in the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. Among the 347 institutions in that classification, enrollment growth averaged 14.2 percent over the same 10-year period.

In preparing its report, the Chronicle of Higher Education analyzed U.S. Department of Education data “based on a fall head count of full- and part-time undergraduate and graduate students at public and private nonprofit degree-granting institutions with at least 500 students in 2009.”

CBU enrollment has continued to grow. In 2021, fall enrollment at CBU totaled 11,491 students.

 

CBU campus media earn multiple national awards

California Baptist University’s Lancer Media Group kicked off another award-winning season by earning 10 Pinnacle Awards from the College Media Association and four Pacemaker Awards from the Associated Collegiate Press on Oct. 14 and 15.

At the Pacemaker Awards, the 2021 yearbook cover for Angelos yearbook, created by Eunice Hahn and Hannah Siefkes with the theme of “Adapt,” won first place for Best Yearbook Cover. The yearbook team also took home a first-place design award for its COVID-19 coverage, and Hahn earned first place for Best Yearbook Division Spread for a divider page featuring the College of Architecture, Visual Arts and Design. The Banner was a finalist for Newspaper of the Year, a highly competitive category.

At the Pinnacle Awards, Pursuit magazine finished in third place for Four-Year Feature Magazine of the Year, as well as third place for Best Magazine Entertainment Spread for an illustration of the artist Selena designed by Emilie Thomas. Sofia Eneqvist and Luc Stringer each took home second place awards for Best Photo Illustration and Best Portrait, respectively, for their work in Pursuit and Angelos.

CBU TV’s Ivania Montes and Wyatt Mitchison won honorable mentions at the Pinnacle Awards for Best Video Entertainment Program and Best Video Sportscast. CBU TV also took home fourth place in the Best of Show Awards for Best Broadcast News Program.

Dr. Mary Ann Pearson, interim director of student publications, said the group never fails to take home high honors at national conferences. Lancer Media Group consists of more than 70 students producing multiple publications.

“We are so proud of the team’s hard work,” Pearson said. “Lancer Media Group continues to excel, and we could not be prouder.”

Elijah Tronti won fifth place for his comic strip “Lancer Life” in The Banner and Elijah Hickman won first place in photojournalism during the Best of Show Awards for his photo “CBU welcomes students back in person.” Phillip Ndowu’s “A Call for Justice” photo took home second place in the best general news photo category.

The awards were announced during the Fall National College Media Convention, which was held virtually.

“Working throughout the pandemic presented challenges, and the students met those challenges with hard work, dedication and diligence,” Pearson said.

 

Family Updates

Dr. Virgo Handojo, professor of psychology, presented a national webinar hosted by the Maranatha Christian University, Bandung, Indonesia on Sept. 8. It was titled Building child and Parent Attachment during Pandemic Covid 19. He also presented a webinar organized by Lembaga Konseling Keluarga Kreative (Creative Family Counseling Institute) on Sept 27. It was titled Assessment and Treatment of Sexual Disorders.

 

 

 

The College of Behavioral and Social Sciences participated in a partnership with Habitat for Humanity to do a wall raising for the Mulberry Village project in Riverside on Oct. 2. Ten faculty participated: Dr. Jacqueline Gustafson, dean of the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences; Dr. Charles Lee-Johnson, associate professor social work; Adrienne Knabb, visiting professor of psychology; Dr. Veola Vazquez, professor of psychology; Dr. Nathan Iverson, associate professor of psychology; Dr. Antonio Mejico Jr., assistant professor of social work; Dr. Doug Wallace, associate professor of sociology; Dr. Josh Fuller, assistant professor of industrial-organizational psychology; Dr. Viola Lindsey, associate professor social work; and Dr. Aine Bergin, assistant professor of psychology. Three houses were frame finished. The following weekend, 20 social work students continued the efforts.

 

 

The College of Engineering hosted the SoCal Society of Automotive Engineers Student Workshop on Oct. 9. Alongside CBU’s own SAE team, the workshop brought in teams from Santa Barbara to San Diego to hear from speakers in preparation for next year’s competition.

 

 

 

Russell Meek, adjunct professor of Christian Studies for Online and Professional Studies, had several papers published. “Was This Not My Concern?”: Jonah and (Anti-)Theodicy was published in the Journal of Language, Culture, and Religion (2021). Journeying toward Justice was published in Pace (2021). Sputtering at the Start Line? Examining Trends in Theological Interpretation of Scripture through Three Theological Commentaries on Ecclesiastes was published in Bulletin for Biblical Research (2021).

 

 

Dr. Dennis K. Bideshi, professor of biology, has been elected to serve on the editorial committee of the journal Current Trends on Biotechnology and Microbiology.

 

 

 

 

Philip Breitenbucher, assistant professor of social work, and Russ Bermejo, lecturer of social work, presented virtually at the National Association of Social Workers, California Chapter on Oct. 15.  The title of the presentation was Improving equity and inclusion for families of color in community-based programs. The session featured their research published in the Journal for Advancing Justice. Additionally, Breitenbucher and Krystal Sapien, Master of Social Work ’21, presented a workshop, Applying lessons from past national disasters and students and staff return to school.

 

 

Dr. Cammy Purper, professor of education, and Dr. Yvonne Thai, associate professor of sociology, both for Online and Professional Studies, presented at the National Association for the Education of Young Children Annual Conference on Oct. 15. The presentation was titled Understanding and Responding to the Challenges of Early Childhood Teachers’ Emotional Labor With Mindfulness Strategies.

 

 

 

Seven CBU photography students and alumni have been awarded Honorable Mentions in the 2021 edition of the International Photography Awards. The awards conduct an annual competition for professional, amateur and student photographers on a global scale. An international jury of photography experts judged 13,000 entries from 120 countries. The students and alumni are Raymond Alva, David Ardill, Cassandra Behrendt, Alicia Berardelli, Ashley Chruszcz, Marina Griffin and McKenna Watson.

 

 

Dr. Mark Kling, associate professor of criminal justice, and Dr. Linda-Marie Sundstrom, associate professor of public administration, both for Online and Professional Studies, had an article published in the PA Times on Oct. 9. It was titled Rising Crime: The Consequence of No Consequences.

 

 

 

Dr. Daniel Prather, professor of aviation science, made three presentations at the University Aviation Association Conference held in Memphis, Tennessee, on Oct. 6-8. They were titled UAA 2021 Employment Survey Results; Creating Industry Engagement Opportunities for Students; and Business Aviation Wrestles with a COVID Vaccine Mandate.

 

 

 

Dr. Jeff McNair, professor of education, provided a training in disability/disability ministry/biblical perspectives on disability at Bethel Church in North Platte, Nebraska, on Oct. 16. He also gave the sermon the following day.

 

 

 

 

Dr. Viola Lindsey, associate professor of social work, was appointed to the First 5 Children and Families Advisory Committee for Riverside County District 1. Her term ends August 2023.

 

 

 

 

Dr. Marc Weniger, professor of business, and Dr. Joel Bigley, associate professor of business, were selected to present at the Best of Regions ACBSP (Accreditation Counsel for Business Schools and Programs) virtual fall conference on Oct. 14. The title of the presentation was Experiential Case Study Optimization through Engagement.

 

 

 

Mary Ann Stahovich, assistant professor of physician assistant studies, took part in a podcast on Sept. 13. It was titled Using Aquifer Cases in Women’s Health and Behavioral Medicine.

 

 

 

 

Adrian White, adjunct professor of photography, is curator of an exhibit at the Creative Exchange in Los Angeles. It is titled Remembering Together. The exhibit includes work by Marina Griffin (’21).

 

 

 

 

Amanda Madrid, assistant professor of nursing, and Dr. Ogbochi McKinney, associate professor of public health for Online and Professional Studies, were panelists for a virtual fireside chat for myCovidMD on Sept. 25. The panel addressed the topic How to talk with friends and family about getting vaccinated.

 

 

 

Dr. Effat Zeidan Hatoum, assistant professor of general education for Online and Professional Studies, was invited to be a panelist at a joint event hosted by Emerging Scholars Network, Women in the Academy and Professions, and Christian Women in Science on Oct. 2. The panelists shared experiences and advice as women called by God into science. Additionally, Hatoum presented at the 43rd Annual Association for Interdisciplinary Studies Virtual Conference on Oct. 14. The presentation was titled Nanotechnology at the Forefront of Combatting the COVID-19 Pandemic.

 

 

Tyler Powell, flight instructor II, received his Master Certified Flight Instructor Accreditation by the National Association of Flight Instructors. The accreditation is a national accreditation that may be earned by aviation instructors and educators based upon a system of advanced professional standards and peer review.

 

 

 

Dr. Jennifer Cruz, assistant professor of music, published an article in the California Music Teacher (Fall 2021). The title was Can You Hear Me Now: Helping Music Students Overcome Distraction.

 

 

 

 

Dr. Mary Ann Pearson, professor of communication studies, presented research at the University of New Mexico Mentoring Conference on Oct. 19. The presentation title was Mentoring in a Hybrid, Pandemic Environment with the Adversity Quotient.

 

 

 

 

Dr. Bryan Ness, professor of communication sciences and disorders, Dr. Akua Amankwaah, associate professor of nutrition and food sciences, and Cathy Chang Letherer, associate professor of physician assistant studies, provided a forum at the virtual Mt. San Antonio Gardens Virtual Health Fair on Oct. 16. Students from CBU and Keck Graduate Institute participated.

 

 

 

Dr. Jack Ballard, adjunct professor of music, won the Festival Fresco’s Composition Competition for his composition Agitation for piano trio. He also was named one of the top three finalist in the Robin Johnson Composition Competition (Manchester, United Kingdom) for his choral piece Bemist, Enmist.

 

Personnel Updates