President Tomás D. Morales regularly engages with the local community, university partners, legislative representatives and educational leaders worldwide to champion CSUSB and its mission.
In six words, the first phrase of our university mission spells out our highest priority: CSUSB ensures student learning and success.
For our spring edition of CSUSB Magazine, we train our eye on the heroes among us who made certain Cal State San Bernardino lived out our mission during the unpredictable pandemic period — and positioned us for a successful return to campus in the fall.
In our cover story, you’ll read how faculty funneled creativity, zeal and resourcefulness into reinventing courses with little notice starting last March, when a majority of campus activity went remote. In an inspired maneuver, assistant professor of kinesiology Wagner Prado — in partnership with academic colleagues, students and professionals in our Academic Technology and Innovation department — recorded a 360-degree virtual tour of the Human Performance Lab. The interactive tour lets students move around the lab, clicking on images of its gym-style equipment and tools plus mini lessons on how to use them. Add to the “academically adaptable” list Megan Carroll, a sociology assistant professor who took to heart CSUSB diversity training tips. She quickly adjusted class policies and scheduling to make it easier for marginalized students, including those with full-time jobs and children, to balance their studies and personal time.
Our student-athletes, too, picked up the academic ball and sprinted with it, as director of Athletics Shawn Chin-Farrell reports. Despite unprecedented challenges in 2020-21 that kept them from competing in their sports, as a pack Yotes still couldn’t be beat, earning the best fall term GPA in CSUSB Athletics history.
Over 30 percent of them achieved conference all-academic honors and three — soccer players Jeronimo Valdepena and Carly Luna and baseball’s Tyler Williams — were named finalists for the prestigious Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholar Award, given to the top male and female student-athlete of color nationwide. As of this writing, practices are resuming in anticipation of a return to campus and athletic competition for fall. Turn to Shawn’s update for more Athletics news worth cheering!
The impulse to help others is active in the CSUSB ethos, as evidenced by the nearly 100,000 hours of volunteer work service donated annually by students. When the need was greatest over the past year, Coyotes continued putting the pack’s needs above their own. Students, staff and faculty volunteered as citizen scientists, passed out COVID-19 test kits, sewed masks, handed out toiletries for those without homes, delivered meals to hungry seniors, grew and donated mounds of vegetables to the community and acted as a translator go-between for patients and physicians. Read on to meet these selfless CSUSB figures, including assistant professor of criminal justice Reveka Shteynberg, who volunteered analytical and research services to a Minnesota-based nonprofit serving foster care youth. Find out how her work contributed to policy shifts, plus $1,500 checks, that gave young people real help during the national health crisis.
Most importantly, in this issue you’ll hear directly from our 2020-21 Outstanding Graduate and Undergraduate Students, who excelled under trying circumstances and continue setting ever-higher goals. The words of Liliana Orellana Ojeda, who will graduate this spring with a bachelor’s degree in business administration, embody this spirit: “I think of CSUSB as an opportunity, as a trampoline that is making me jump higher.”
We hope this and every issue of CSUSB Magazine reminds and encourages all Coyotes to always jump higher
Tomás D. Morales
President
President Morales is special guest for premiere episode of radio show
University President Morales was a special guest on the premiere episode of Education Insight, a radio program and podcast focusing on education in the Inland Empire produced by Growing Inland Achievement.
“It’s an exciting time,” Morales said on the show. “Putting the pandemic aside for a second, it’s really an exciting time to be a member of the Cal State San Bernardino community, to be its president, to work with just an extraordinary number of faculty and staff and students and student leaders, to move the institution forward, to ensure that the institution is meeting the needs of the community that we serve.”
During the program, which aired initially on 91.9 KVCR FM on May 1 and was rebroadcasted on May 3, Morales also shared the challenges of guiding 20,000 students through and out of the COVID-19 pandemic.
CSU virtual Super Sunday presentations promote higher education
The critical importance of higher education, especially as students and their families deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, was one of the themes of the California State University’s 16th annual Super Sunday virtual outreach to African American churches throughout the state.
This year, the Super Sunday outreach by CSU leaders, which included CSUSB President Morales, was done virtually on Feb. 28 due to COVID-19 safety measures and travel restrictions.
Morales shared video messages to Allen Chapel Church in Riverside and the Juniper Avenue Seventh-Day Adventist Church in Fontana, which played during the churches’ online services.
The Super Sunday outreach enables the CSU’s continued connection with nearly 100 faith-based communities and organizations throughout the state. The program fosters the university’s commitment to access and opportunity for underrepresented students throughout California, providing important information about college entry and the upward mobility afforded by a CSU degree.
President Morales interviewed for ACPA’s President2President series
In mid-January, CSUSB President Morales talked about his experiences in leading the university as part of a conversation series with university presidents from throughout the country conducted by the American College Personnel Association (ACPA).
The President2President Special Series featured ACPA President Vernon A. Wall conversing with fellow presidents about their professional journeys and experiences within student affairs and higher education, along with their greatest challenges, how they feel about higher education today, and their personal and professional passions.
Morales shared his experiences in higher education that included both as a student in the Educational Opportunity Program (EOP) and later as a program advisor and administrator; serving in various administrative roles at the State University of New York at New Paltz and Cal Poly Pomona; and as president of Cal State San Bernardino, where he talked about the CSUSB students and the two-county Inland Empire region the university serves.
