April 1, 2022

In this issue…

• Current News
• Family Updates
• Personnel Updates

Current News

CBU theatre program is off to see the ‘Wizard’

The theatre program at California Baptist University is taking the yellow brick road to “The Wizard of Oz” for its upcoming production.

“I hope the nostalgia of the movie comes through,” said Stacee Willis, adjunct professor of theatre and the musical’s director. “I didn’t know until I got into this script what a beautiful story it really is.”

Willis said she made the Wicked Witch more like Elphaba from “Wicked,” ugly on the inside but not on the outside. Additionally, the four actors who play Tin Man, the Scarecrow, the Lion and Dorothy worked to create a camaraderie the audience would care about, Willis said.  Children from the Inland Empire Musical Arts play the Munchkins, Winkies and monkeys.

“If you’ve seen the movie, don’t think you don’t need to see the stage version,” Willis said. “It stands alone as a musical and brings different elements that aren’t in the movie that will make you fall in love with the story more than you knew you could have.”

The theatre department hired a special crew to set up a fly system in Wallace Theatre and taught the actors how to fly. The actors wear harnesses and are clipped into wires and lifted into the air.

“Learning to fly has been the coolest part of the process,” said Sophia Oliveri, a theatre senior. “Also, playing the Wicked Witch, it is fun having permission to be extravagant—and evil.”

Isaiah Torres, a film senior, plays Scarecrow.

“Being that this is my final show at CBU, playing the role of Scarecrow as well as being in this production I have learned to embrace every moment, make the best of each day, and reminded of the importance of friendship,” Torres said.

Jolene Automo, a theatre senior, plays Dorothy.

“It has been a really fun time getting to know her on a closer level now. She truly sees the best in everyone and is a prime example of having the childlike faith we are all called to encompass,” Automo said. “Her story has taught me is to truly live in the present moment.”

Automo said she wants the audience to enjoy the show.

“I hope the audience is able to learn something new from the same show and story they’ve seen before,” Automo said. “I also think that this show is just really fun and sweet. To be able to put on a production for an audience and let them just rest in nostalgia for two hours before getting back to the busyness life has for them, that would be wonderful.”

When: 7:30 p.m. on April 1-2 and April 7-9; 2 p.m. on April 2 and 9
Where: Wallace Theatre, California Baptist University, 8432 Magnolia Ave., Riverside, CA, 92504
For more information, please visit https://calbaptist.edu/theater/current-production

 

Professor explores gifts from African American Christians

Dr. Walter R. Strickland II shared the importance of the African American Christian tradition with an audience at California Baptist University.

“Every Christian has a unique gift they offer to the body of Christ,” Strickland said. “Cultivating us into the likeness of Jesus and exploring aspects of the African American Christian story is a worthy task.”

Strickland is an assistant professor of systematic and contextual theology at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina. He also serves as the teaching pastor at Imago Dei Church in Raleigh, North Carolina. He has contributed to, edited, and authored several books on theological studies. He spoke as part of the School of Christian Ministries Lecture Series at CBU on March 29.

He discussed the gifts, challenges, trials and victories that mark the African American Christian experience.

“I think oftentimes we read about other people, but we don’t read about them for the sake of sharpening us,” he said. “The idea of sharpening across the lines of difference explains the reality of church history and learning from the past for the sake of the present.”

Christ’s resurrection offered a foretaste of victory over personal sin and all oppression, Strickland discussed. This helped African American believers as they faced hardships.

“They were looking to Jesus, and He was victorious over death,” Strickland said. “Many have died, but only one has risen.”

Seeing Christ strung up on a tree and being disregarded is a characteristic of Christ’s humble descent into the depths of humanity and that also encouraged Black believers, he said.

“It encouraged them to carry on because Jesus walked through sufferings yet emerged victoriously for the purpose of making that victory available to them,” he said.

Strickland emphasized that having faith and trusting that God is going to show up in the midst of a trial is at the core of the African American Christian experience.

“The faith of a mustard seed can move mountains,” Strickland said. “The gift to the African American tradition is that reality, the faith of a mustard seed.”

 

Students pitch ideas at business plan competition

Nine teams of students from California Baptist University pitched ideas for innovative products and services at the annual Bob Goodrich Business Plan Competition on March 28.

During the event, hosted by the Robert K. Jabs School of Business, the teams presented a five-minute pitch to a panel of judges and an audience of over 150 students.

“We style it as a ‘Dolphin Tank’ style event,” Dr. Gramling, dean of the School of Business, said, making a reference to the TV show “Shark Tank.” “It is not intended to harm or to be mean-spirited, but to give students feedback and to nudge them in the right direction, like a dolphin would.”

The competition resulted in the top three teams each receiving scholarship money intended to fund the start of the business proposed by each team. The prize money given to the first-, second- and third-placed teams was $7,500, $5,000 and $2,500 respectively. The judges’ opinions as well as a survey of the audience members’ opinions determined the winners.

The winning team, WaiSmart, pitched a mechanical-electrical engineering mechanism that controls shower temperature and water flow. GeoChat received second place for a geo-smart app that would allow for communication in a college community within a geographic area. SafeSuds, which offered a sustainable and clean approach to washing cars, earned third place.

Carson Merrill, Jared Prewett, Jack Lee, Josh Bromby and Austin Esquerra, all mechanical engineering juniors, made up WaiSmart. They originally began to develop their idea in an engineering design class. Then, they decided to submit it to the Business Plan Competition.

Throughout the process, the team received advice from professors such as Dr. Phil van Haaster, dean of the Gordan and Jill Bourns College of Engineering.

“I (learned through) going to other sources and other people to get help on the stuff,” Lee said. “We are engineers. We do the math, we do the science. We don’t know the business. It showed to me that you don’t just do it by yourself.”

The team enjoyed participating in the fast-pitch event and seeing their hard work pay off.

“Even if we didn’t win, I had total calm over me,” Merrill said. “[The judges] thought it was such an incredible idea, but it was so challenging and complicated that they acknowledged all the work we put into it. I think that was the highlight for me.”

In the weeks prior to the event, School of Business faculty met with the groups to discuss their business plans and products and share real-world knowledge. Then, nine finalists were chosen to present.

Dr. Marina Girju, associate dean of the School of Business, said that the format of the Business Plan Competition allows for students to gain valuable insight from the experience, regardless of whether they win or lose.

“There was a lot that the students and the groups overall actually learned, so if you are thinking about the benefit of the competition, it is not only winning, but it is the learning that they actually went through in the entire process,” Girju said.

During the event, the teams give a five-minute pitch for their product or service, and then the judges asked questions.

Nolan Gouveia, the department lead for entrepreneurship, said he enjoyed seeing the increased involvement of students from across CBU this year and witnessing the development of interdisciplinary teams.

“This year more than any other year, it was cool to see how many other majors were represented,” Gouveia said. “In years past, it was very heavily business students, but my goal has always been to get it across the whole campus. We saw students from engineering, CAVAD, health sciences, kinesiology, the life sciences and a lot from business. That’s what makes it robust.”

Gramling said he was impressed by the innovation and diversity of the products presented at this year’s competition.

“The main thing for us is to inspire entrepreneurship among our student body and have those ideas turn into actual businesses,” Gramling said. “We have had that happen where students come through the competition, they win prize money, and then several of them take that money and turn it into businesses. That really was the goal from the beginning, and we saw some great opportunities for the students in this year’s competition.”

 

CBU students celebrate Indian culture with colorful event

California Baptist University hosted the Festival of Color on March 25 to celebrate Indian culture. During the event, students received free T-shirts and visited booths featuring different aspects of Indian culture, including henna and food. The event also featured dance performances by Indian students as well as the traditional tossing of color.

The event is a collaboration between Community Life and the International Center.

Mia Tamayo, a biomedical sciences sophomore, is one of the Community Life interns who began planning the event at the beginning of the semester.

“When we started planning the event, we started with our why. It’s to intentionally create a space for our Indian students to showcase their culture and also for all students on CBU campus to just learn and grow and celebrate cultural diversity,” Tamayo said.

Reuella Jacob, a software engineering senior from India and International Center intern, worked with Community Life to plan the event. They incorporated day-to-day things from life in India such as the booths and the bartering, she said.

“All of that mimics going to a market in India and trying to get snacks or something. Henna is super popular for (events) like weddings, so we try to incorporate a lot of those things,” Jacob said.

Festival of Color has not taken place since March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Maxine Auer, a Christian behavioral science senior and Community Life intern, said she has witnessed more participation and eagerness from the student body at events this year. She said she was excited to watch students experience Festival of Color, especially those who were doing so for the first time.

“I think it has been really special to have the privilege of planning the event that was kind of the last event before COVID hit and we lost a lot of our community,” Auer said. “It has been really cool getting to relive the memories of that year and we just (wanted) to replicate the excitement of that Festival of Color and just try to make it even bigger.”

Auer said this year, they focused on creating an event that would be both fun and educational for students.

“I think it is really rare that students get to encounter and experience other cultures,” Auer said. “I just hope the students are able to appreciate all of the work that goes on to plan events like this, and just be able to take away something they learned about Indian culture they probably otherwise wouldn’t have.”

Jacob said that through this event, she and the International Center aimed to create more community and facilitate connections among those from different backgrounds and cultures.

“For us as the International Center, our why was to help the international students integrate, and the hope around that is that it opens conversations up for our students to ask domestic students where they’re coming from and the domestic students to do the same for international students,” Jacob said. “It builds community. That can be a bonding moment for them, to help communities integrate better with each other.”

 

Leadership series shares career advice for emerging leaders

A panel of diverse men and women with years of experience in the private and public sectors shared their career advice for emerging leaders at California Baptist University on March 22.

The event, titled “What I Wish I Knew in My Career,” was part of the Dr. Paul and Annie Kienel Leadership Institute’s Leadership Seminar Series, co-hosted by the CBU Leadership Society. The panel consisted of Dr. Heather Williams, executive director of personnel services at the Riverside County Office of Education; Brent Corbett (‘20), mental health practitioner at UCLA Health; Dex Alexander (’21), founder of Black Roses, a brand strategy firm; and Dr. Amy Stumpf, professor of society and religion at CBU. The panel discussion was moderated by Dr. Gaynell Vanderslice, assistant professor of business management.

The seminar explored perspectives on the power of resilience, the value of networks, vision casting, leaning in with confidence and more.

When someone is a leader, all eyes are on them, and it is important to have qualities that others can look up to, Williams said.

“You have to be resourceful, have grit, be resilient and calm,” Williams said. “But if you have a spirit of power, love, self-control and serving others—that makes a great leader.”

Alexander discussed the importance of vision casting in leadership, and that it really means to establish the vision of one’s values. He used Patagonia, an outdoor clothing company, as an example of a brand that promotes their values rather than just advertising products.

“If you’ve ever received a mailer from Patagonia, there’s really nothing in there about the products,” Alexander said. “Instead, they are reinforcing their values over and over again. Vision is very important when it is influenced, informed and inspired by values.”

Corbett said that networking is a key element in being a successful leader and leaning on others is essential for success.

“When I look at an individual, I look at what they’ve been through first,” Corbett said. “I’m not too big on the trophies, but I am looking to see what they went through as a person. I don’t want the spotlight on me, I want it to be on my team and the ones who have helped me get to this position in my life.”

When asked about leading with confidence, Stumpf said that she wished she was not asked that question because she has struggled with her own confidence over the years.

“I might look confident, but it’s a fight for me every day to say, ‘I can do this,’” Stumpf said. “I find that I need a reality checker. I have people in my life who I can call and ask if my insecurities and lack of confidence is clouding how I’m perceiving something. They can double check me and let me know if I’m way off base.”

To be an effective leader, panel members said failure is part of success, and that students should not be afraid to take risks.

“Don’t be afraid to fail in your endeavors,” Corbett said. “Failure creates successes. People might look at me and say, ‘You’re doing great in your life,’ but I want people to look at my failures and the things that challenged me first. That’s where I get my success from.”

 

Lancer Media Group earns multiple national awards

Students from the Lancer Media Group at California Baptist University took home top honors from two organizations in college media in a span of a couple weeks.

Students in the journalism and new media program received nine awards from the California College Media Association at a conference in Long Beach on March 3-5. The Banner Newspaper’s Claire Grimes and Marharyta Smirnova took home first place for Best Photo Series for their photography coverage of Midnight Madness. The Banner also won third place in Best Overall Newspaper Design. Lauren Brooks and Ignacio Dominguez were awarded third place in the Best Multimedia Package category for their multimedia news coverage of an incident at John W. North High School in Riverside.

Students Lauren Sawdey, Kelsie Stevens and Camille Grochowski of Pursuit Magazine won three first-place awards for Best Inside Page/Spread Design, Best Magazine Cover Design and Best Magazine Photo. Pursuit Magazine’s Zachary Cleek and Grochowski took home second place for Best Magazine Photo Series.

CBU TV’s Ivania Montes was awarded first place for Best News Video for “The Academy Award Museum Opening” and Wyatt Mitchison took third for Best Non-News Video “A Practice with CBU Stunt.”

At the College Media Association’s convention on March 9-12 in New York City, the Lancer Media Group was awarded two prestigious Apple Awards. One first-place award for Best Yearbook Cover for Angelos: Adapt: 2020-2021 and an honorable mention for Pursuit Magazine in the NYC22 Design Contest.

Dr. Mary Ann Pearson, interim director of Lancer Media Group, said she and Sonya Singh, assistant director of student publications, were delighted with the work students produced.

“We are so proud of Lancer Media Group. Their commitment to excellence is incredible. They are diligent and consistent,” Pearson said.

 

Family Updates

Dr. Mary Ann Pearson, professor of communication, and Dr. Victoria Brodie, assistant professor of public relations presented a seminar on the Leadership Quotient at the County of San Bernardino probation training session on March 3. The seminar was part of a series given by the Paul and Annie Kienel Leadership Institute.

 

 

 

Dr. Daniel Prather, professor of aviation science, taught an eight-hour course at the Heli-Expo in Dallas on March 7. The event is the annual convention of the Helicopter Association International. The title was Effective Leadership in Business Aviation.

 

 

 

Dr. Erin Smith, associate professor of psychology, co-authored sections in a new publication, TheoPsych: A Psychological Science Primer for Theologians, written by Justin Barrett (Blueprint 1543). She co-authored the sections on social psychology and critical periods in developmental psychology.

 

 

 

Dr. Mark Kling, associate professor of criminal justice, and Dr. Linda-Marie Sundstrom, professor of public administration, had an article published in the PA Times on March 11. It was titled Ukraine: Russian Invasion or Liberation?

 

 

 

Dr. Riste Simnjanovski, associate professor of public administration, had an article published in Bitcoin Magazine (March 5). It was titled Big Bank Musical Chairs: Examining Bitcoin Through A Lens of Price Manipulation.

 

 

 

 

Dr. Sangmin Kim, professor of public health sciences, co-authored an article published in the International Journal of Public Health Science (March 5). It was titled Healthcare Workers’ Stress and Health Behaviors: Utilization of the Stages of Change Model.

 

 

 

Dr. Keanon Alderson, professor of management, presented at the Kingdom Advisors 2022 Annual Conference in Orlando, Florida, on Feb. 23-25. It was titled Understanding the Decision-Making Process of the Family Business Owner.”

 

 

 

 

Stefani Plummer, director of academic operations for the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences, was awarded the National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association (NIRSA) Juliette Moore Distinguished Leadership Award by the Founders People of Color Planning Committee on Feb. 3. The award strives to honor those who have helped further the goal of building a diverse and inclusive culture in the NIRSA.

 

 

 

Michael Berger, professor of graphic design and visual experience, received four Gold Addys and a Special Judges Award from the American Advertising Awards Inland Empire competition on March 11. His work for LIFT Coffee Roasters—branding elements including logo, website and video—and his design and production for Mt. San Jacinto College’s Annual Report earned the awards.

 

 

 

CBU students Gordon Cooper, Mason Steele, Sophia Walski, Ashley Morales attended Kingdom Advisors conference in Orlando, Florida, on Feb. 22-25. They participated in a round-table discussion regarding peer-to-peer financial coaching.

 

 

 

 

Dr. Tim Gramling, dean of the Dr. Robert K. Jabs School of Business, was the keynote speaker for the Society of Extraordinary Women’s annual awards ceremony in Riverside on March 6. He spoke on Choices, Courage, and Community. Additionally, he taught a seminar at Catholic Charities of San Bernardino and Riverside Counties on March 2. It was titled Planning for Small Businesses.

 

 

 

Dr. Mike Patterson, adjunct professor of organizational leadership, launched a new podcast on March 10. On the podcast—Mission First People Always: Great Leaders Great Teams—he interviews scholars and leaders to discover what it takes to be a great leader and builder of a great team. Dr. Jeannette Guignard, associate professor of organizational leadership, was a guest, speaking on Mindful Leadership.

 

 

Dr. Sophia S. Mun, assistant professor of behavioral science, and Russ Bermejo, lecturer of social work, presented at the Christian Association for Psychological Studies Virtual Conference on March 19. The presentation was titled Faith Integration in Classrooms: Why Effectiveness and Faithfulness Matter.

 

 

 

Dr. Melissa Croteau, professor of film studies, presented a paper at the Asian Studies Development Program’s National Conference in San Diego on March 3. The title was Makoto Shinkai’s your name: Celestial Destiny and Transcendent Love in the Space-Time of Disaster. Additionally, her scholarly review of Cowboy Hamlets and Zombie Romeos: Shakespeare in Genre Film by Kinga Földváry (2020) was published last month in the Oxford University Press journal Adaptation (vol. 15, no. 1).

 

 

Dr. Ogbochi McKinney, associate professor of public health, Dr. Dominick Sturz, professor of public health, Dr. Janet Bonome, associate professor of public health, and Victoria Joubi (CBU alumna) published an article in the Journal of Public Health and Epidemiology (March 2022). The article was titled Assessment of factors contributing to Californians’ perceptions of COVID-19 information dissemination.

 

 

Dr. John Park, assistant professor of psychology, co-authored a paper published in the Journal of Behavioral and Social Sciences (Fall 2021). It was titled Provision of mental health services of faith based organizations in Hidalgo County, Texas.

 

 

 

 

Dr. Scott Dunbar, associate professor of human resource management, co-authored an article published in the 2021 ATMAE (Association of Technology, Management and Applied Engineering) conference proceedings. It is titled Employee burnout and worklife in the concrete industry: Maslach Burnout Inventory and Areas of Worklife Survey.

 

 

 

Rhonda Clement, industry liaison for the College of Engineering, and Larry Clement, assistant professor of computing, software and data sciences, participated in a site visit to Valencia, Spain, in February, visiting Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV) alongside faculty from George Fox University and Veritas Christian Study Abroad. The group met with UPV engineering staff and faculty, observed classes and evaluated UPV programs with the goal of setting up a faith-based, international study abroad program for engineering students to take courses in their field and pursue internships with local Spanish companies.

 

 

 

 

Dr. Soung Hwa Walker, adjunct professor of psychology, and Dr. Deron Walker, professor of English, published an article in the Asian Journal of Contemporary Education (Vol. 6, No. 1). It is titled Perceived academic social influence from parents, peers, and teachers across gender groups: Scale development.

 

 

 

Gabriel Estrada, visiting professor of Old Testament, presented a paper at the Society of Biblical Literature Pacific Coast conference in Brea, California, on Feb.27. The paper was titled Shepherding Students through Assessments for Transformation: Using Pre-post Assessments and Effect Size to Determine Learning and Intervention. He also presented virtually at the Society of Biblical Literature Eastern Great Lakes Biblical Society Annual Meeting on March 18. The presentation was titled Israel’s Story in the Songs of Ascents: Toward a Missional Hermeneutic.

 

 

Dr. Jennifer Cruz, assistant professor of piano, and Dr. Angela Deulen, associate professor of psychology, presented at the annual Empowering Young Women Conference in Riverside on March 12. The title was Music: Empowering the Soul of a Woman. They also participated in the conference’s career panel discussion.

 

 

 

 

 

Dr. Noemi Hernandez Alexander, assistant professor of political science and public administration, presented research at Western Political Science Association in Portland, Oregon, on March 10. It was titled Fear and Suspicion: Pervasive Anti-Asian Rhetoric and Its Consequences on Society and Policy.

 

 

 

 

Dr. Austin Braunwalder (a CBU Doctor of Business Administration alumus) and Dr. Henry Petersen, associate professor of management, presented at the Western Academy of Management Annual Meeting on March 19. The title of the paper was To Diversify or Not to Diversify: Fundraising for the Non-Profit.

 

 

 

The CBU Speech and Debate team competed in the National Christian College Forensics Invitational in Lynchburg, Virginia, on March 18-20. CBU won the Division 2 Debate Team national championship. Dylan Jacobs, an applied theology sophomore, won national championships in Homiletics (biblical public speaking) and with his debate partner Talia Marreiros, a public relations junior, won the national championship in Parliamentary Debate. Marreiros also won the national championship for junior division Lincoln/Douglas debate. Ryza Corcino, a public health senior, and debate partner Marlene Buitron, a political science junior, won second place in novice division Parliamentary Debate. Jacobs also won third in varsity Extemporaneous Speaking, and Marreiros won third in novice Extemporaneous Speaking. Taalyn Kanaan, an accounting junior, won third place in Homiletics and fourth in Interpretation of Literature.

 

Elizabeth Brandt Flater, collection development librarian, and her husband, Drew Flater, welcomed a son on Dec. 6. Harry Brandt Flater weighed 7 pounds, 14 ounces and measured 20.5 inches. He is welcomed by siblings Louise, 4, and Elliot, 2.

 

 

 

 

Personnel Updates