Breaking Barriers: The Women of Cal State San Bernardino
by Amanda Mattox
Across Cal State San Bernardino and beyond its campus borders are inspiring women who are bending the social norms and creating notable impacts in their field. Whether they are administrators, alumnae, faculty, staff or students, CSUSB is proud to have so many influential women a part of the Coyote pack.
Due to the national and international movements in recent years, empowerment of women has become a hot topic of conversation. These social shifts have not come without controversy, however, one aspect is certain: it has helped influence generations of women to be proud and thrive.
“It’s a great shift … it’s a great movement and we’re going to see a lot of good come from it, particularly in terms of relations,” said Shari McMahan, provost and vice president for academic affairs, who is the first woman at CSUSB to lead the division.
Prior to establishing a key position at the university, McMahan served in several chief leadership roles while at Cal State Fullerton, including interim vice president for Research, Creative Activities and Technology Transfer; dean of the College of Health and Human Development; professor and chair in the health science department; and the university’s deputy provost. McMahan transitioned from Cal State Fullerton’s deputy provost to CSUSB’s provost in 2016.
With an increase in women leadership, several female-focused campus events, and numerous successful women in male-dominated areas, women empowerment has been prevalent on the CSUSB campus.
The university’s student population is now more than 60 percent female, which is ahead of the national trend, according to the U.S. Department of Education, estimating women account for 56 percent of students on college campuses nationwide. The university has also seen an increase in women leaders, and hired five women in faculty leadership positions in the last academic year.
“Here at CSUSB, women hold key positions within our leadership,” said CSUSB President Tomás D. Morales during the university’s inaugural Women’s Leadership Conference held in early February. “These women and others throughout our campus community are essential to the operation, achievement and legacy of this university. They also serve as role models for our students.”
In fact, the female leadership trend has been blazing across all California State University (CSU) campuses.
“We have now gone over the 50 percent mark with university presidents – in women leading the university presidency,” said McMahan. “I am excited that the highest level of leadership in the CSU system acknowledges women’s strength and abilities.”
“This is not about political correctness,” Morales said during the 50/50 Day celebration at CSUSB in late April, a global event that focuses on a more gender-balanced world. “This is about advocating a transformation of how decisions are made, how perceptions are changed, and how supporting such a common-sense effort will benefit all sectors of our society – economics, politics, culture and even the family structure.
“Around the world, there is an urgent need for talented, thoughtful, competent and compassionate leaders. Why should we ignore a rich pool of talent simply because they do not fit some people’s stereotype of what a leader looks like?” Morales continued. “Across this nation and around the globe, we need to break the preponderance of male leadership, going beyond the philosophical to the practical. Most significantly, we need to make visible changes. We need to alter the criteria many people use when depicting leaders.”
To continue the positive influx of women empowerment, in the 2017-18 academic year alone, CSUSB hosted at least 10 events centered on the topic of women, including the annual Latino Education & Advocacy Days (LEAD) Summit with the theme ¡Viva La Mujer! (Long Live the Woman!), which focused on the challenges, issues and accomplishments facing women, and Latina women in particular, in and outside academics. The summit, which usually averages 1,300 attendees, yielded 1,700 people and was seen worldwide on the internet and social media for a combined viewership of more than 480,000.
“At a very early age, I was inspired to be involved in a law enforcement career,” said Jamsen, who had served in the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department beginning in 1988. “Once I moved to the USA from Finland, I couldn’t believe there were so many options within a law enforcement career and nothing was going to stop me from pursuing it.”
And she did.
Throughout her career, Jamsen has been nominated Officer of the Year by the San Bernardino Area Chamber of Commerce, recognized as a female pioneer by the city of San Bernardino, and received the highest recognition from Police Officer Standards and Training by receiving the Executive Development Certificate in 2017.
Despite her enormous successes to date, Jamsen has certainly faced challenges in her field, and often dealt with being the “token female” in many of her early assignments and ranks.
“It has definitely been challenging and difficult at times to receive the same recognition as a male,” Jamsen said. “Still to date, I get asked if I’m really the chief of police and comments such as ‘you don’t look like a chief’ … There is no doubt that over my 30 year career, I have faced many challenges head on and many of those have been gender driven.”
Early in her career as a deputy, with an extensive background in martial arts, Jamsen was selected to be a guest instructor to train deputies and officers in the basic academy in defensive tactics.
“My reputation grew as I was known by my last name,” she said. “Once the person in charge of the training center found out I was a female … suddenly I wasn’t needed.”
Jamsen never let this push her off track.
“I marched on,” she said, “and eventually became the executive officer of the entire training center overseeing it as a whole.”
And Jamsen isn’t the only prominent female on CSUSB’s law enforcement team to have broken these barriers – the 2018 Officer of the Year Award by the San Bernardino Area Chamber of Commerce was given to CSUSB Sgt. Devon Herrington.
“There will always be people who think women aren’t fit for this job, but I believe women bring with them a different perspective to police work,” said Herrington, who was promoted to the rank of detective in 2012 and then to sergeant in 2018. “It’s always been my experience that women have a different way of talking to and empathizing with people in a way that men sometimes don’t.
“Overall,” she said, “my experience as a female in law enforcement has been a positive one.”
CSUSB is also making efforts to lead more women into a field notoriously known for gender imbalances: STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics).
To date, only 33 percent of the STEM faculty at CSUSB are women. This representation gap is not evident in non-STEM departments in which 49 percent are women. A further breakdown shows that only 2.5 percent of female STEM faculty members are from underrepresented minority ethnic groups.
And these numbers are congruent with national data; according to a 2017 report by the Economics & Statistics Administration in the Department of Commerce, women remain underrepresented in STEM jobs and among STEM degree holders. In fact, women filled 47 percent of all U.S. jobs in 2015 (the latest data) but held only 24 percent of STEM jobs. Similarly, women constitute slightly more than half of college educated workers, but only 25 percent of college educated STEM workers.
To address the matter at CSUSB, the university formed the Diversity and Equity in Promotion, Tenure, and Hiring (DEPTH) task force to identify the nature and source of faculty inequities in STEM, and propose evidence-based strategies to mitigate the imbalances. With a nearly $1 million grant awarded for this cause, CSUSB will use the funds to facilitate a culture of equity and diversity within STEM faculty.
One of these faculty members is Kimberley Cousins, professor in the CSUSB chemistry and biochemistry department, who has experienced firsthand the difficulties of being a woman in STEM, which she says often begins in childhood.
“Starting at a fairly young age, girls receive different messaging than boys,” said Cousins, who notes that young boys are more often given toys for building things or toys with moving parts, while girls are more likely to receive household toys, such as kitchen playsets and dolls.
“In middle and high school, peer pressure probably plays a role as STEM-oriented girls tend to be characterized in an unpopular way,” she continued. “Even if a woman enters college as a potential STEM major, she still has to navigate college classrooms and attitudes of older male professors, who have not yet learned inclusive methods of instruction and mentoring.”
Cousins admits to have suffered from “imposter syndrome” throughout her career, often working harder than her male colleagues to prove she is worthy of being taken seriously. Likewise, Haiyan Qiao, professor of computer science and engineering, a field that often sees the least amount of women, has had a similar experience.
“In general, I feel sometimes that I have to work twice as hard as my male peers so that I could receive the same acknowledgment. Sometimes women’s accomplishments are not as easy to be recognized as those of males,” said Qiao. “As a woman, if you are too forceful or assertive, you will not be viewed positively, and if you are too quiet or considerate, you will be viewed as too weak. Besides doing your work and doing it very well, you have to be constantly mindful how you present it. People in male-dominated environments tend to be judgmental based on factors that have nothing to do with the quality of your work.”
Despite these obstacles, both Cousins and Qiao have not only become female professors in STEM, but have also become key leaders within their departments. Cousins and Qiao are both in their second year as chair – Cousins for the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and Qiao for the School of Computer Science and Engineering.
CSUSB continues to focus on the important topic of women in STEM, and hosted three talks in the last academic year, including one about the underrepresentation of women in computer science and engineering, one about the experiences of women in undergraduate engineering programs at public universities, and another about the effects of cultural representations on women in STEM.
Within the last five academic years, out of the STEM undergraduates and graduates, 41 percent were women, graduating with a degree in biology, chemistry/biochemistry, computer science/computer engineering, geological sciences, mathematics or physics.
One of these STEM graduates was Sarah Ruddle, 2017 biology alumna, who was a recipient of the prestigious National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship and was also named the CSUSB Richard Fehn Memorial Scholarship winner.
“It’s a huge honor. I’m really excited, especially to get recognized by my own department at San Bernardino,” Ruddle said when she received the scholarship, who ultimately inspired fellow female biology student Janelle Doyle to follow in her footsteps.
“I just remember being so impressed,” Doyle said of Ruddle’s scholarship, which was created to help meet the cost of education for CSUSB biology students who have demonstrated a commitment to biological research.
Enthused, Doyle became determined to earn the same scholarship – and she did the following year. Both Ruddle and Doyle have moved on to STEM programs at Stanford University – Ruddle for microbiology and immunology, and Doyle for neuroscience.
CSUSB has plenty of inspirational female faculty leading STEM research as well. For instance, Claudia Davis, an associate professor in nursing, was one of only 20 faculty scholars from across the country to be named a recipient of the 2018 Minority and Minority-Serving Institution Faculty Scholar in Cancer Research Award from the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR).
Davis, who joined CSUSB in 2012, was honored for her research on the role of biological predictors and the impact of breast cancer among African-American women.
“I have a deep sense of gratitude to the AACR and Minorities in Cancer Research selection committee for recognizing my contribution to science and the communities that I serve,” said Davis, who was a participant in CSUSB’s Women of Color in Academia panel discussion held in spring quarter, another women-centered event at the university.
The Women of Color in Academia panel brought together CSUSB women of color who have successfully established their careers in academia, despite the ongoing issue of recruiting and retaining women of color across universities throughout the U.S. The mission of the group is to converge teaching, research and social action, as well as to create a space in which women-of-color faculty can discuss these aspects of their professional careers through an intersectional perspective.
“Being a part of the Women of Color in Academia is important to me because it creates an opportunity to be part of a support system for women-of-color faculty and staff,” said Yvette Saavedra, assistant professor of history and co-chair of the organization. “It is an opportunity to be part of a group that actively works to create, promote and support a diverse and inclusive campus environment.”
Claudia Davis, CSUSB associate professor in nursing
And speaking of powerful women of color – Paulette Brown-Hinds, CSUSB alumna, was named president-elect of the California News Publishers Association, the first African-American to serve in this role in the organization’s 130 year history.
“I am a newspaper publisher who believes in the mission of the organization and have devoted my time as a member of the board for over six years,” said Brown-Hinds, who is not only the publisher of The Black Voice News and founder of Voice Media Ventures, a multimedia and communications firm, but also participates in 10 civic leadership positions, including serving as a member for the James Irvine Foundation board of directors.
Brown-Hinds has taken on leadership roles since childhood, and even started a club in middle school to help female students who were facing a variety of struggles. “I’ve been groomed for civic leadership my entire life,” she said.
Her robust leadership mentality guided her to become the founder of Voice Media Ventures, a re-envisioning of her family’s business. Voice Media Ventures publishes The Black Voice News, and under Brown-Hinds’ direction, the online publication has made significant advances.
“We can proudly say we were the first Black-owned newspaper on the West Coast to launch a website,” she said.
Brown-Hinds continues to be a female trailblazer, and will be published in a book about women in the GIS field, for her project “Mapping Black California,” which, in partnership with global geospatial technology giant Esri, brings data on African-Americans in California in a digital format.
She has also successfully dabbled in the film industry, with Voice Media Ventures producing its first indie film, “My Name is Myeisha,” based on a 1998 incident of a Riverside teen who was shot and killed by the city’s police. Since its release in early 2018, the movie has been touring film festivals and has won national and international awards, including Best Feature by North Bend Film Festival, Charlotte Film Festival and Boston Underground.
Brown-Hinds isn’t the only female Coyote to have effectively dipped her hands into the world of film; former communication studies professor Lane Shefter Bishop, a Hollywood director and producer, who finished her final year of teaching at CSUSB in the 2017-18 academic year, has made considerable strides in the directing industry, where according to The Guardian, for every one female director, there are 22 men. In fact, since its inception in 1929, only five women have been nominated for a best director Oscar, and only one has won – Kathryn Bigelow for the movie “The Hurt Locker” in 2010.
“It has always been a boys club,” said Shefter Bishop, who is CEO of Vast Entertainment.
Earlier this year, Shefter Bishop was interviewed on a podcast by Manny “Manny on the Streets” Guevara, an on-air personality with the Ryan Seacrest radio morning show on 102.7 KIIS-FM.
Guevara, the host of the podcast Manny & Friends, called Shefter Bishop “a pioneer for female directors,” noting that she always had a way of making everyone feel calm on the set while they worked on a TV movie together earlier this year.
When she first started in the industry, Shefter Bishop claims she was lucky and credits her gender-neutral name for giving her the opportunity to pitch ideas, recalling the many surprised looks she’d receive when first entering a room for a meeting.
“That helped me because I got into doors that a lot of women weren’t getting into … There is a glass ceiling in this industry,” she said during the podcast. “It is very difficult as a female.”
During the podcast, Shefter Bishop acknowledged the recent social movements involving women, expressing her hope that they will have a lasting positive effect. “I’m hoping that it really will change things in the industry,” she said. “I’m hoping that now, suddenly, the industry will finally start giving female directors more of an opportunity, because it really was so, so hard for so long.”
Despite the struggles of being a female in the film industry, Shefter Bishop has made her mark with an Emmy, six Telly Awards, three Communicator Awards, a Sherril C. Corwin Award, and a host of others.
These women of CSUSB are just a few examples of those who encourage women empowerment, particularly in male-dominated fields. And to continue inspiring the female campus community, with the success of the first event, CSUSB has scheduled the second annual Women’s Leadership Conference for early 2019, for another day of enrichment and encouragement to break down barriers.
“The bottom line is that we as females face many, many challenges,” said Chief Jamsen. “Barriers are broken by persistency, perseverance and never, ever giving up just because someone attempts to block the path.”
And women Coyotes have done – and will continue to do – just that.