As often happens, the talk turned to careers. Goldberg told the couple (their names turned out to be Chuck and Kim) that she was a longtime music professor at Cal State San Marcos. The couple told Goldberg that they both worked in the cybersecurity field.

When Goldberg’s face betrayed that she knew nothing about cybersecurity, Chuck and Kim launched into a brief introduction. As Goldberg listened to them, it occurred to her that she might have a personal story that at least touched on cybersecurity. She recounted it to them, and after she was done, Chuck and Kim had to pick their jaws up off the floor.

“They were like, ‘Oh my God, you are going to become famous,’ ” Goldberg recalled.  

Within weeks, Goldberg had been introduced to the organizers of the biggest cybersecurity event in the nation, the RSA Conference in San Francisco, and she was invited not just to appear, but to be a keynote speaker. Soon after that, Jen Easterly, then the director of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (commonly known as CISA), approached Goldberg and asked her to join an upcoming lecture circuit.

Goldberg’s life hasn’t been the same since that chance encounter in La Jolla. Now, she’s in the process of achieving an even greater level of exposure.

She turned her amazing tale into her first book (non-textbook category), “Notes of Deception: How a Quartet of American Musicians Outwitted the KGB,” released Aug. 25 by HarperCollins, one of the largest book publishers in the world. The book – co-written with Vince Houghton, director of the National Security Agency’s National Cryptologic Museum – chronicles an almost-too-bizarre-to-be-believed episode from the mid-1980s, years before Goldberg joined the faculty at CSUSM.

“I had been sitting on the story for decades,” she said. “I didn’t realize the extent to which people would be really interested.”

More than four decades ago, Goldberg was a saxophonist for the Klezmer Conservatory Band (KCB), a Boston-based group that played mostly Yiddish music. This was during the height of the Cold War, when the United States and the Soviet Union were locked in a battle of nuclear brinkmanship.

Through a newspaper article, the KCB became aware of a musical group in the Soviet republic of Georgia called the Phantom Orchestra, composed mainly of so-called refuseniks (the term for Jewish people who were denied permission to emigrate by the Soviet government) but also Catholic and human-rights activists and artists. The Phantom Orchestra was using music to circulate their story to the Western world, and the KGB (Soviet state police) increasingly viewed the musicians as a threat.

Urged on by locals in their Boston suburb, Goldberg and three of her bandmates decided to travel to the USSR to meet with the orchestra in a show of solidarity. But there was one big catch.

“The caveat was that this had to be undercover, a secret mission,” Goldberg said. “We couldn't tell anybody about it, except for our parents and if we had a boyfriend or girlfriend. Not only that, but in order to take information in and out, we had to have a secret code because we couldn't walk in with people's names and addresses. They would get in trouble.”

Goldberg had the perfect secret code in mind. As musicians, of course, the KCB would be bringing sheet music to Georgia. What if they were to use that as a cipher – effectively obscure their hidden messages in plain sight?

“So it looks just like piano music, but actually it’s directions on how to get to someone’s apartment because their phones were disconnected,” she said.

Goldberg and her bandmates felt thrilled by their proposed deception, by the notion that they would be acting like real-life spies. After the first in-depth interrogation by the KGB, however, their headiness turned to fear. Yet they made it into the Soviet Union with their code undetected, and once they met the members of the Phantom Orchestra, they grew more emboldened.

“We gained so much confidence from them,” Goldberg said. “We became less afraid of the KGB and more defiant, and that helped our ability to manage a difficult situation and what potentially was a very dangerous situation.”

After spending eight days behind the Iron Curtain, Goldberg and Co. tricked the KGB on their way out as well. Then they went to work, lobbying members of Congress and playing concerts to raise awareness of the refuseniks’ plight. Their advocacy ultimately factored into the negotiations between President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev on easing Cold War tensions, and the USSR finally dissolved in 1991.

“Once people started being able to emigrate, of course, our story faded into the woodwork of history,” Goldberg said.

“Notes of Deception” is her latest, boldest attempt to change that. A self-described “pack rat,” she saved all the archival information – reports, news clippings, photos – from the spy mission, suspecting that it could prove useful someday. But none of it emerged until 2022, when the accidental meeting with Chuck and Kim yielded the cybersecurity conference speaking gig, which in turn yielded an exclusive feature about the saga in Wired magazine that attracted widespread attention.

Goldberg decided that she wanted to tell her story in her own words. She had written much of a manuscript – using a sabbatical to piece it together – but was struggling to find a literary agent.

Enter Houghton, the NSA official who had heard about Goldberg’s speeches and read the Wired article. As a historian of cryptology, he was dumbfounded that the tale of Goldberg’s band was unknown to him. He contacted Goldberg, and they hit it off. After Goldberg described her book project, Houghton told her she might have a better chance of getting it published if she recruited a co-author who could sprinkle in more historical context.

“I was like, ‘Hey, Vince, how about you? Do you want to take this on with me?’ ” Goldberg said.

Houghton agreed, and with him on board as an experienced writer (one of his colorful titles is “Nuking the Moon: And Other Intelligence Schemes and Military Plots Left on the Drawing Board”) a bidding war ensued to publish the book.

Now it’s here, and the reception has been enthusiastic. People magazine published an extended excerpt last month, and the Wall Street Journal reviewed the book (among many other outlets). Goldberg already has been interviewed by multiple podcasts and TV stations, and she spoke on a panel at the recent KPBS book festival in San Diego. She also has embarked on a national book tour that will extend through May (she’s able to do it because she has entered the Faculty Early Retirement Program, having taught her final class last spring).

Asked what she hopes readers take away from the book, Goldberg said: “What we did was a little over the top in terms of making a difference in people's lives, but advocacy absolutely makes a difference. Every single day there's something that you can do to change someone's life in a little way. Also, music is a very powerful language in terms of communicating, but also self-empowerment. It's really important for people to have music or the arts or even sports, to have something that they can hold on to that takes them out of their brains to reconnect, recharge and be mindful.”

Media Contact

Brian Hiro, Communications Specialist

bhiro@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7306

This season boasts a diverse selection of eight events as the university hosts renowned guest speakers and performances.

Attendees can reserve tickets online via the Arts & Lectures website now.

Movement Mystics: Alchemy, Resilience and Transformation

Sept. 18, 7 p.m., Arts Building 111

This captivating dance performance celebrates the richness of Brazilian culture through timeless feminine stories and symbols. Inspired by Brazil's many dance traditions, it explores themes of strength, transformation and the wisdom carried within the body.

Drawing from world mythology, Yoruba beliefs, Jungian psychology, Clarissa Pinkola Estés' “Wild Woman” archetype and the vibrant rhythms of Brazil, the performance uses movement to honor the past, express the present and connect with something deeper.

More than a celebration of culture, this work is a personal journey. It explores how dance can help us navigate life's biggest challenges and reconnect with our inner strength.

CSUSM students: Free

Faculty/staff/alumni: $5

Community: $10

CHABSS Networking Night: Transformative Leadership and Social Change

Oct. 7, 5 p.m., USU Ballroom

Join CSUSM students, alumni, artists and community leaders for an evening of ideas, creativity and connection. The event will highlight how leadership emerges through the arts, media, public service and civic engagement.

Enjoy appetizers, drinks, live music and an inspiring panel of alumni and community leaders sharing how their work creates meaningful social impact. The evening will conclude with structured networking designed to foster meaningful conversations, explore career paths and build lasting connections.

Whether you’re seeking mentorship, expanding your professional network or discovering new opportunities, this event offers an engaging space to learn, connect and be inspired by those shaping the future of our communities.

CSUSM students: Free

Faculty/staff/alumni: Free

Community: Free

‘The Canary Code’: Designing Workplaces Where Different Minds Thrive

Oct. 12, 6 p.m., USU Ballroom

Our ability to thrive in the workplace is highly dependent on how we relate to one another. Ludmila Praslova, author of “The Canary Code: A Guide to Neurodiversity, Dignity and Intersectional Belonging at Work,” shares insights on how we can prioritize neuroinclusivity in the workplace to foster connection and a sense of belonging.

Praslova draws from her perspective as a first-generation academic and a neurodivergent woman. She is a professor of industrial-organizational psychology at Vanguard University in Orange County and a regular contributor to Harvard Business Review, Fast Company, Psychology Today and Forbes.

CSUSM students: Free

Faculty/staff/alumni: $5

Community: $10

‘You’re No Indian’

Oct. 26, 6 p.m., USU Ballroom

Come attend a screening of “You’re No Indian,” which is not just a film – it’s a call to action. At the heart of this 2025 documentary lies a battle for identity and justice, where militias storm casinos, graves are pillaged for DNA evidence and even proven lineage cannot save individuals from disenrollment.

More than 10,000 people have been disenrolled from their tribes in recent years, eviscerated from their communities and families. Research confirms disenrollment’s relationship to tribal gaming and even the corruption of tribal politicians. Not only does it result in financial ruin for the disenrolled, but immeasurable psychological harm when they are now told “you’re no Indian.”

This film exposes the dark intersection of power, greed and cultural erasure. It’s a powerful stand for those whose voices have been silenced, urging viewers to join a growing movement for truth and accountability.

CSUSM students: Free

Faculty/staff/alumni: $5

Community: $10

The Power of Transformation: From Gang Life to Community Leadership

Nov. 3, 6 p.m., USU Ballroom

Luis J. Rodriguez – an award-winning poet, acclaimed author and community activist – draws from his own life and shares how he overcame gang involvement to become a leading voice for hope, healing and social justice. His inspiring story reminds us that people can change, communities can heal and everyone deserves the chance to build a better future.

CSUSM students: Free

Faculty/staff/alumni: $5

Community: $10

Pasifika in Entertainment: Navigating Culture, Language and Performing Arts in Disney’s Live-Action ‘Moana’

Nov. 16, 6 p.m., USU Ballroom

The release of Disney’s live-action “Moana” film this summer involved local expertise and talent from CSUSM and the surrounding area. Attendees will learn about the making of the film through the perspectives of the Oceanic Cultural Trust, a group created by the film company to serve as cultural consultants on Oceanic language and performing arts. 

CSUSM professor Grant Muāgututi'a served as the lead cultural consultant for the film. His work focuses on the need for Oceanic language conservation efforts through mainstream popular media, independent documentary film, community partnership programming and higher education institutions both locally and abroad. He and others involved in the film will reflect on their roles in making the live-action film. 

Members of the Oceanic Cultural Trust and actors from the film will engage the audience with behind-the-scenes stories and live musical and dance performances to inspire everyone to reimagine how grassroots cultural arts education can shape more inclusive experiences of higher education and impact popular media representations.

CSUSM students: Free

Faculty/staff/alumni: $5

Community: $10

Capturing Complexity: Theater as a Means of Self-Exploration and Reconciliation

Nov. 17, 6 p.m., Arts 111

Join us for a staged-reading presentation of “Pride: Mortal BEINGS part 1,” a one-person play written and performed by Terrell Donnell Sledge, a San Diego actor, writer, director, advocate, empowerment coach and CSUSM theatre arts lecturer. The story is an alternative telling of the fall of Lucifer – from Lucifer's perspective – hinging on the questions of free will, love, loyalty, suffering, suicide, forgiveness and redemption.

After the performance, Sledge will be joined by Stephanie Sledge – an artist, associate clinical social worker and CSUSM alumna – for a conversation about narrative representation and creative expression for self-exploration and healing. Stephanie will interview Terrell about the process of writing the play as a form of self-preservation when he was navigating academic environments prone to stereotyping and erasure of Black male identity. Guests will depart with the building blocks for harnessing their own creativity as a therapeutic tool.

CSUSM students: Free

Faculty/staff/alumni: $5

Community: $10

Serenades, Fantasies and Songs: Camarada With Aaron Humble, Tenor

Nov. 19, noon, Arts 111

Camarada, a resident ensemble at The Conrad in La Jolla, will present a unique concert spotlighting the remarkable tenor of CSUSM professor Aaron Humble. This diverse and engaging program takes audiences on a journey through the history of music, spanning from the Baroque era to the 20th century.

The instrumental portion includes works by Baroque master Telemann, Romantic composer Robert Fuchs and contemporary composer Ian Clarke. Vocal selections will highlight lyrical and expressive works by Benjamin Britten, Italian opera composers Gaetano Donizetti and Ruggero Leoncavallo, and an exquisite French masterpiece by Georges Hüe. Performers include Beth Ross Buckley, flute; David Buckley, violin; Travis Maril, viola; and Dana Burnett, piano.

Join us for an inspiring midday concert as we explore the world of vocal chamber music and more.

CSUSM students: Free

Faculty/staff/alumni: $5

Community: $10

Media Contact

Brian Hiro, Communications Specialist

bhiro@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7306

“[DIS]COMFORT” is a multidisciplinary exhibition featuring student work that explores the shifting boundaries between comfort and discomfort as they relate to identity, culture and current events. The exhibit celebrates emerging artists as they approach graduation and step into the next phase of their creative careers.

The free exhibition is open to the public and will offer a space for reflection, contemplation and dialogue on the ways we navigate instability, how we comfort ourselves and how discomfort can be a catalyst for growth and transformation.

Visit the exhibition website for more information.

Media Contact

Eric Breier, Interim assistant director of editorial and external affairs
ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314

At Cal State San Marcos, President Ellen Neufeldt has turned that conviction into a tradition, hosting her fourth annual student exhibition in her residence. 

Each showing has been curated by professional artist and CSUSM alumna Sarah Bricke, whose continued involvement has helped shape the series into a meaningful space for student expression. 

This year’s showcase, “Forms of Growth,” explores the intricate forms, textures and patterns found in plant life. Through sculpture, photography and drawing, the artists use botanical subjects to reflect on personal and social experiences. 

More than 800 CSUSM students major or minor in the arts within the College of Humanities, Arts, Behavioral and Social Sciences, and this exhibition highlights the range of its creative community. 

The featured artists this year are Amber Miller, Charlotte Dumbeck, Destiny Kirchner and Rodas Alonzo. 

Amber Miller  

Miller creates sculptures and photos that embody intimacy and proximity to counteract cultures of abuse. Relating Mother Nature with the human body as a shared essence of the soul, she demonstrates the art of connection brought from Mother Nature herself. By relating to nature in this way, her practice seeks to illustrate ways of being that exist outside of structures determined by oppressors. 

Charlotte Dumbeck  

Dumbeck creates art that critiques a global economy sustained by overconsumption and investigates its cultural and environmental consequences. She often experiments with material reversals that embody tensions between organic and inorganic items. Through acts of material transformation, the work invites viewers to reflect on the consequences of everyday consumption and our fractured relationship with the natural world. 

Destiny Kirchner  

Kirchner explores how the structures of plant life can shape the composition of visual art. By casting molds of real plants and pairing them with artworks of botanical studies, she translates plant morphology into both physical relief and visual inquiry. The plaster molds capture the exact imprint of each plant, preserving tiny details that might otherwise be overlooked. These impressions sit alongside illustrated botanicals of native plants in California. Together, they create a conversation between scientific observation and artistic interpretation.  

Rodas Alonzo  

Alonzo uses sculpture to reclaim ancestral Indigenous knowledge related to agriculture, identity, spirituality, gastronomy and ecology. She constructs sculptural forms with colorful patterns using materials such as plaster, wire, cardboard, leavesand clay, allowing organic and industrial elements to interact and reveal the tensions between the living and the inert. These materials trace ecological systems and connect them to ancestral teachings on land management and sustainability in Indigenous communities in Guatemala. 

Across all four artists, plant life becomes a way of asking larger questions about identity, consumption, memory and belonging. The result is a thoughtful exploration of how we connect and grow. 

Media Contact

Brian Hiro, Communications Specialist

bhiro@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7306

The production, which was directed by “Manai” Alleluia Panis, featured six performances between April 17 and April 26.

“Burden of Proof” is inspired by the true story of Perez’s mother, Leonora, who – along with a second Filipina nurse named Filipina Narciso – was wrongfully convicted and incarcerated for the 1975 deaths of patients at a Veterans Administration hospital in Michigan. A judge later ordered their release due to the prosecutor’s “overwhelming prejudice.”

According to the website, the production “delves into the generational trauma inflicted by the American justice system and how traumatic experiences blur the line between memory and nightmare, told through the lens of the fictional Calinao immigrant family.”

The original score includes text drawn from the diary of Leonora Perez and the writings of Jason.

Perez has been on the faculty at CSUSM since 2019. In 2023-24, he served a two-year appointment as the poet laureate for the City of San Diego.  

Media Contact

Brian Hiro, Communications Specialist
bhiro@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7306

Fyall will host a stepping dance workshop and artist Q&A from 6-7:30 p.m. on Feb. 24 in the Black Student Center. He’ll be returning to campus on March 3 for an Afro-contemporary dance workshop in ARTS 101 from 1:30-2:45 p.m.

Dance Studies is hosting additional workshops and guest artists throughout the spring, including:

• An artist meet and greet with Safos Dance Theatre from noon-1:30 p.m. on March 10 in the Cross-Cultural Center.
• Safos Dance Theatre with an artist talk from 2:30-3:45 p.m. on March 11 in ARTS 111.
• "Stories From Home" performance by Safos Dance Theatre at 7 p.m., March 13 in ARTS 111.
• K.J. Holmes for a body-mind centering improvisation from 10 a.m.-noon on March 16 in ARTS 101.
• A Dance Studies youth reception at 5:30 p.m., April 29 in ARTS 111.
• The annual spring dance concert at 7:30 p.m. on April 30 and May 1 in ARTS 111.

For more information or to RSVP, visit the Dance Studies Guest Artists webpage.

Media Contact

Eric Breier, Interim assistant director of editorial and external affairs
ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314

Kevane Coleman, an administrative support coordinator for the College of Humanities, Arts, Behavioral and Social Sciences, has been nominated for his role in “The Hot Wing King” at the Cygnet Theatre. Zack King, a lecturer in the School of Arts, has been nominated for his role in “To My Girls” at the Divisionary Theatre.  

“Several years ago, I made a conscious shift to center my work more fully in Blackness/Brownness and Queerness,” Coleman said. “I knew that choice might come with risk. I wondered if I would work less, if narrowing my focus would somehow limit my opportunities. Instead, the opposite has been true. I have continued to work just as consistently as I did when I was primarily performing in white-centered stories, if not more, and my heart is full because the art that I am making now is so much fuller and richer for me.” 

SDTCC is a nonprofit organization of professional writers in San Diego County. The Craig Noel Awards, named in honor of the late artistic director of the San Diego Old Globe Theatre and a champion of the arts nationwide, highlight the excellence of professionals in San Diego theater. Nominees were chosen by an all-volunteer membership of professional critics who write year-round for San Diego newspapers, magazines and online publications.

Media Contact

Eric Breier, Interim assistant director of editorial and external affairs
ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314

Last year, Ellis was a student in AMD 409: Advanced Graphic Design and Visual Arts, an upper-division class taught by Ghazal Foroutan. The assignment: Using only typography, create a promotional poster for a hypothetical California architecture conference being hosted by CSUSM.

The twist: Some of the posters that resulted would be displayed as part of a new student art gallery in Kellogg Library. Ellis made a poster about acclaimed Israeli-Canadian-American architect Moshe Safdie, and hers was one of 19 selected for the exhibit.

“I was thrilled and honored to have my work chosen to be displayed in the library and kept in the archive,” said Ellis, an art, media and design major who’s scheduled to graduate this spring. “It gave a greater sense of purpose to the project.”

The 19 posters compose the first installment of the Cougar Gallery, which is located on the library’s second floor, occupying the wall space between the Makery’s entrance and the stairwell down the hall. Foroutan said the idea came from a conversation with fellow art, media and design professor Kristin Moss, and it was brought to fruition through a collaboration with multiple employees of the library: associate dean Char Booth, outreach librarian Irma Ramos Arreaga, arts and humanities librarian Torie Quiñonez, and administrative coordinator Arely Ayala.

The initial exhibit has adorned the library’s walls since the start of the fall semester.

“Seeing the students’ work displayed in a prominent campus space has been incredibly meaningful,” Foroutan said. “As a professor, I am proud to share their work with the broader campus community and to see it recognized by the department and the library.

“For students, the exhibition validates their efforts beyond the classroom. Many have already photographed their posters and plan to list the show as a group exhibition on their CVs, as well as include the work in their portfolios.”

The Cougar Gallery, Booth said, fulfills a longstanding desire to increase the presence and visibility of student art in the library. As a prominent display of creative student work, it joins the Data Stacks on the library’s fourth floor.

"By establishing this new gallery, we are showcasing the creative talents of CSUSM student artists and designers and dedicating a highly visible area of the library to School of Arts students and faculty as a much-needed supplementary gallery space,” Booth said.

Once she was assigned Safdie as her subject (other famous architects featured include Frank Lloyd Wright and Frank Gehry), Ellis set out to make a poster that would promote a hypothetical discussion with the architect at the conference while also channeling the style and philosophy of that architect. In researching Safdie’s life and work, Ellis was drawn to his design theory, “For Everyone a Garden.”

“He envisions architecture as a living, evolving environment, integrating gardens and green space into almost all of his designs,” she said. “That phrase became my guiding concept and tagline for the poster, inspiring my color palette and imagery.”

Ellis incorporated both physical art and digital design in the creation of her poster. She also designed an accompanying booklet in the same style as the poster to round out the promotional material.

“Over the weeks of working on the project, we all watched each other's concepts evolve in the studio, so seeing them printed professionally and displayed in a space where so many students pass through was very meaningful,” said Ellis, who plans to apply for the CSUSM teaching credential program, with a goal of becoming an art educator.

Foroutan hopes to work with the library to rotate the exhibition at least once a year to showcase as many as much student artwork as possible.

“While the overall framework of the project will remain consistent, I plan to subtly revise the assignment each year to introduce new constraints, tones or conceptual directions, allowing the exhibition to evolve over time,” she said.

Media Contact

Brian Hiro, Communications Specialist

bhiro@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7306

Ching-Ming and Friends Chamber Concert

Jan. 27, noon-1 p.m., Arts 111

Joined by CSUSM music professor Ching-Ming Cheng, the 11th annual Villa-Lobos International Chamber Music Festival will take place on campus to bring music composed entirely by Latin American composers. The program aims to celebrate Latin American chamber music across Southern California.

CSUSM students: Free 

Faculty/staff/alumni: $5 

Community: $10

Sponsored by the Funes Fund

Gila Goldstein Piano

March 10, noon-1 p.m., Arts 111

Internationally acclaimed pianist Gila Goldstein will perform a lunch-time recital on campus. The performance will include works by Vivaldi, Bach, Mendelssohn, Guastavino, Villa-Lobos, Lecuona, Ronn Yedidia and Gershwin. Before the event, there will be a piano master class on March 9 at noon in Academic Hall 104.

CSUSM students: Free

Faculty/staff/alumni: $5

Community: $10

Sponsored by the Funes Fund 

Stories From Home

March 13, 6:30-8 p.m., Arts 111

“Stories From Home” is a series of dances embodying the oral traditions of Nuevomexicano, Chicano and Mexican American communities in the American Southwest. Choreographer Yvonne Montoya and a diverse cast of dancers draw upon personal histories as well as ancestral knowledge. The performance is a vessel for personal and specific tales, while also offering a broader look at various cultural traditions throughout the Southwest. 

An artist meet-and-greet will take place March 10 from noon to 1:30 p.m. at the Cross-Cultural Center.

CSUSM students: Free

Faculty/staff/alumni: $5

Community: $10

A Marriage of Art and Science: Entwined Research in a Nuclear Family

March 23, 10:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m., USU Ballroom 

Art and science intersect with elin O’Hara slavick’s art, which maps radioactive residuum, and David Richardson’s epidemiological studies of radiation’s human impact.

Slavick, who wrote “Bomb After Bomb: A Violent Cartography and After Hiroshima,” is an internationally exhibiting artist who captures the lingering effects of radiation with audiographs and creates contact prints of tree rubbings and architecture exposed to atomic bombings of Hiroshima, Nagasaki and Fukushima. Richardson, an epidemiologist who’s conducted studies of cancer among U.S. federal nuclear workers and Japanese survivors of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, is the lead writer on the United Nations Committee of Epidemiological Studies of Radiation and Cancer (UNSCEAR).

CSUSM students: Free

Faculty/staff/alumni: $5

Community: $10

Co-sponsors: Center ARTES STEAM ambassadors

Peter Sprague Group Featuring Allison Adams Tucker

March 24, 7-8:30 p.m., Arts 111

Masterclass 2:30-3:45 p.m. in Arts 111, open to the public

Guitarist Peter Sprague loves jazz, but he also dips deep into musical history and unearths some sonic gems from the Beatles, Jimmy Webb and Antonio Carlos Jobim. For this concert, he connects with vocalist Allison Adams Tucker, pianist Danny Green, drummer Duncan Moore and bassist Mack Leighton for an evening of good sounds, good vibes and good times. The group recently released three albums: “All You Need Is Love” (Beatles), “Christmas Time Is Here” and “Peter Sprague Plays Jobim.”

CSUSM students: Free

Faculty/staff/alumni: $5

Community: $10

Veterans History Project II: The Journey Continues

April 8, 5-8 p.m., USU Ballroom

This event, which showcases recorded oral histories of military veterans, offers an intimate look into the personal experiences, challenges and triumphs of veterans from diverse backgrounds. Stories shared will be archived at CSUSM’s Kellogg Library and the U.S. Library of Congress, preserving their legacies for future generations. The keynote speaker will be Jim Gruny, a retired colonel in the Marine Corps. The formal program begins at 6 p.m., preceded by a reception and veteran resources and career fair.

CSUM students/military-affiliated guests: Free

Faculty/staff/alumni: $5

Community: $10

For more information, including ticket information, visit the Arts & Lectures series website.

Media Contact

Eric Breier, Interim Assistant Director of Editorial and External Affairs

ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314

As it often goes, he didn’t hear back from one of the groups he reached out to – True Concord Voices and Orchestra based out of Tucson, Ariz.

On a gig months later in Santa Fe, N.M., the Cal State San Marcos associate professor of music was approached by a fellow tenor explaining how a group in Tucson needed another tenor for an upcoming project. Humble booked the trip and enjoyed a week of recording and camaraderie.

“The first conversation I had with the conductor was him sort of sheepishly saying, ‘Hey, I’m really sorry that I never responded, but I do really like your audition materials and we’d love to have you sing with the group,' ” said Humble, who is co-chair of the music department and also filling the role of director of the dance studies program.

About six years later, a weeklong recording session with True Concord resulted in “A Dream So Bright: Choral Music of Jake Runestad,” which debuted in August 2024 at No. 2 on Billboard’s Classical Albums chart. Three months later, the recording was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance, a realization of a lifelong dream for Humble.

True Concord didn't win when the Grammys were held last February. But the experience of recording and, months later, riding the wave of the highest nomination for a recording artist is one that Humble puts high on his list of career accomplishments.

And it came with the group that previously had ignored his inquiries.

“It’s up there in the top for sure,” said Humble, who has performed at such iconic venues as the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center and the Library of Congress. “It’s not something you can will to happen because you’re relying on democracy. You’re relying on the members of the (Recording) Academy, the majority of whom I don’t know. And so it does feel like this sort of grassroots recognition of an accomplishment.”

In his career as a solo artist, Humble has performed in opera, recital, concert and chamber music venues, enjoying solo appearances with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and the Boston Pops. During his tenure singing with Cantus out of Minneapolis, he sang more than 800 concerts and recorded 10 albums with one of the nation’s premier vocal ensembles.

CSUSM's School of Arts is making a concerted effort to hire and encourage its faculty to stay active in their respective industries.

Ching-Ming Cheng, music co-chair, gives piano concerts both solo and with renowned performers routinely. She just completed a fall series of concerts with cellist Paul Tseng and harpist Vanessa Fountain throughout San Diego County, including on campus and at the California Center for the Arts, Escondido.

“Part of it is to feed my artistic soul and sort of keep that fire burning,” Humble said. “Creative activity is part of our scholarship as applied faulty in the arts, so that’s part of it. But in terms of teaching, it also helps me stay relevant. I’m teaching students how to practice, how to perform, and if I stop doing it, I won’t be as good at teaching that.”

Originally from northeast Ohio, Humble was the director of choral activities at Minnesota State University, Mankato before coming to CSUSM. A graduate of Millikin University in Illinois, he has a Doctor of Music degree in vocal performance and literature from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.

Humble and his husband, Xu Zou, have a home in New York primarily for Zou’s work there. Their main residence is in South Park with their two cats, Chopstick and Toothpick.

Humble and Cheng are in the process of proposing a music recording and production degree program in the music department. Music technology is currently a minor.

“I think that will bring a whole different set of students here as well,” Humble said. “And for the students who are really looking for that ramp into a vocation, into a career, that’s a great degree for them.”

His dream is to host a music therapy program at CSUSM. There are no such programs in San Diego, an area rich with the therapeutic power of music.

Humble directs the university choir, which is an SATB (soprano, alto, tenor and bass) ensemble that is open to students of all majors and other members of the campus community. The choir does not require an audition.

Humble slowly has been building small group opportunities for students who are looking for more advanced repertoire. That’s innovation.

For him, it’s about finding the right pace and fit while pushing the students to discover new opportunities within themselves. That’s acceleration and cultivation, the key tenets behind CSUSM’s Blueprint for the Future fundraising campaign, in which the College of Humanities, Arts, Behavioral and Social Sciences lists “Anchoring the Arts” as one of its two initiatives.

“I don’t know if we’re quite there yet, but we’re close,” he said. “It’s just nice to give those students who want that extra challenge with harder repertoire, with things that are a little more on the art music side of things and might challenge students in a way that those kids want but other students don’t want. To have space for them to do that.”

The concert that the music department is working on this semester is about belonging and unity.

Earlier this semester, Humble wasn’t feeling well at choir rehearsal while recovering from getting vaccinated. He ended up having a great rehearsal and left feeling much better.

It reminded him that he hears the same from students often. They may arrive to campus in a bad mood but leave their interactions upbeat and ready to go on with their day.

Being on the receiving end of that community of care is a gentle reminder that he and other faculty often provide the same.

“People need those safe spaces more than ever and those moments of community,” Humble said. “I feel really fortunate that I get to teach in a place that wants that for all of our students. And that I get to make music and build that community in an artistic environment with my students as well.”

Media Contact

Eric Breier, Interim Assistant Director of Editorial and External Affairs

ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314

The play, written by Pulitzer Prize finalist Sarah DeLappe, is a coming-of-age tale that follows a high school girls soccer team as players navigate degrees of adolescence, identity and growing up. Performances of “The Wolves” will take place in Arts 111 from Nov. 12-15 at 7 p.m. Tickets for students cost $10, while general admission tickets are $15. 

Through their interactions, rivalries and moments of vulnerability, the girls grapple with the nuances of teenage girlhood and the unspoken bonds that form within the team.

Set entirely during pregame warmups, the performance captures the chaotic, overlapping conversations between players as they discuss everything from global politics to personal anxieties.

To perfect the soccer moves in these moments, the actresses are being coached by Emily Mahmoud, a senior midfielder on the CSUSM women's soccer team.

Media Contact

Eric Breier, Interim assistant director of editorial and external affairs
ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314

“Become an Arts Teacher Day” will take place on Saturday, Nov. 8 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Arts Building on campus. The free event will bring together students and community members to participate in arts activities and listen to guest educators speak about arts teaching. They also will learn more about the steps needed to apply to the multiple subject credential program.

The workshop is part of the Arts Credential Pathway Project, a collaboration among CSUSM’s School of Arts, School of Education and Center ARTES. Founded in 2023, the project was developed to address the shortage of visual and performing arts teachers in California, and to provide an arts credential pathway at CSUSM that can be duplicated on other campuses. CSUSM professors in music; dance; art, media and design; and education have worked for multiple years to build and implement arts credential opportunities for CSUSM students.

Students wanting to pursue this pathway though CSUSM can apply to the School of Education’s multiple subject credential program. Once accepted, students who want to teach in the arts can apply to the CREATE Teacher Residency Program. The program supplies a stipend and financial support, hands-on experience, arts mentorship, a consistent cohort of peers, professional development and networking, priority job interviews, and more.

To learn more, students can contact their art discipline’s Arts Credential Pathway Project representative or visit the teaching credential program website.

Media Contact

Brian Hiro, Communications Specialist
bhiro@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7306

It was the continuation of a two-decade career turn toward venturing to – both physically and emotionally – some of the coldest, most remote places on Earth and exploring the fascinating ways that art and science intersect.

Hersko, a longtime Cal State San Marcos professor who’s chair of the art, media and design (AMD) department, is back on campus this semester as she digests the discoveries she made on her summer sojourn to Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago between mainland Norway and the North Pole. How far-flung is it? After traveling the 5,400 miles from San Diego to Oslo, you’re still about 1,300 miles from your destination.

In Svalbard, Hersko boarded a sailing ship called the Rembrandt van Rijn (named for the famous Dutch painter) that was chartered by The Arctic Circle, an annual expeditionary residency program for artists and scientists from around the world. With 29 other people – a mix of visual artists, writers, composers and science communicators – Hersko sailed down the west coast of Svalbard before the ship left the land behind and pointed northwest into the thick ice of the Arctic Ocean.

“That was really exciting because it was a real North Pole feeling,” Hersko said. “The captain discovered this really large chunk of ice that was 20 kilometers. We moored to it, and it was sort of like mooring to land, except it moved.”

During her time at sea and on the ice, Hersko gathered material that she will use for her unique brand of artwork that she calls performance lectures. These are tightly timed presentations of narratives grounded in historical and scientific research that are accompanied by visual images, including the artworks that she creates – her specialties are sculpture and installation that also incorporate photography and collage.

“I build complex narratives that are basically true to life, except that I weave in a fictitious character who helps hold the story together,” she said.

It’s an approach to art that was born of Hersko’s early years at CSUSM, and a life-changing trip to the globe’s opposite pole. In 2003, when she was hired at CSUSM, she sent a letter to colleagues on the science faculty telling them that she was interested in collaborating on projects. One of the most enthusiastic responses came from Victoria Fabry, a biological sciences professor whose scholarly work explored the effects of ocean acidification.

Hersko and Fabry teamed up on an exhibit titled “Shifting Baselines” that translated the scientist’s research into visual art (it proved so impactful that it has been exhibited multiple times nationally, most recently last year in the San Diego Central Library). In 2006, Fabry went on a scientific trip to Antarctica and she came back raving about it, urging Hersko to apply for a program that brought artists there.

Hersko did just that two years later. On a completely funded expedition as part of the extremely competitive National Science Foundation Antarctic Artists and Writers grant program, she spent six weeks in Antarctica, where she watched penguins hatching at her feet, studied planktonic snails and assembled the research material that guided her work for many years, exhibitions, presentations and book chapters to come.

Specifically, she crafted narratives that centered around a fictitious, unknown female explorer, Anna Schwartz, who travels to Antarctica disguised as a man on the 1939 expedition led by American naval officer Richard E. Byrd.

Though her protagonist is invented, Hersko said, “my work builds on meticulous research, and I place her in real historical events. These layered stories present the complex history of science highlighting the absence of women from the narratives of exploration as well as science.”

Hersko isn’t the only School of Arts faculty member who has been to the frigid poles on a research excursion. In 2023, AMD professor Lucy HG Solomon received a prestigious Fulbright scholarship and did part of her research on Svalbard, where she furthered her ongoing studies of microorganisms and how they connect to the world.

Solomon’s experience in the Arctic, in turn, led to a rare opportunity for one of her students. Last year, she connected AMD student Leobardo Moreno Villanueva with an ecologist at a Svalbard university, and Villanueva worked with the scientist on a graphic design project in which he helped make technical signage describing the scientific equipment used for research in the Arctic.

Villanueva, a former foster youth from Mexico for whom English is his third language, graduated from CSUSM last spring.

“Designing for the far north was an unforgettable challenge that expanded my perspective on how art and science meet in unexpected places," Villanueva said.

As for Hersko, she knows several people in the small circle of polar researchers who have traveled with The Arctic Circle program, but she could never find the right time until this year. On July 4, she landed in Longyearbyen, a small town known for coal mining (though the last mine closed a few days before her arrival) and its views of the Northern Lights. After a few days to acclimate, she boarded the Rembrandt van Rijn to begin the two-week voyage.

Among the highlights of her time at sea was up-close viewings of two polar bears, the tragic sight (and thunderous sound) of ice falling from stunning glaciers, and the discovery of tiny flowers and lichens that she thinks she will incorporate into her next output of art that results from this latest trip of a lifetime.

“When I get fascinated by something, often it turns out that things come together in a weird, magical way where it has relevance,” Hersko said. “It’s all still percolating, and I think it’s probably a story that I will develop in the next year.”

Media Contact

Brian Hiro, Communications Specialist

bhiro@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7306

The documentary was released the following year. Now, 20 years later, Berman is marking the anniversary of the film with a new digital restoration and a national tour of screenings and interviews.

“Commune” is about an intentional community called Black Bear Ranch formed in 1968 in remote Siskiyou County just south of the Oregon border. A dozen people were expected to live there, but the number eventually swelled to 100 in what was a utopian experiment that attracted anarchists, hippies and activists seeking to get away from America and create something new. The documentary includes prominent actor Peter Coyote, who once lived at Black Bear.

At the time of its release, “Commune” received positive reviews from such outlets as the New York Times, Variety, the Village Voice and the San Francisco Chronicle. It boasts a rating of 96% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Berman says he decided to restore the film so that it would be suitable to appear on streaming services and that he chose to embark on a nationwide tour to give fans “the communal experience of theatrical.” The tour began in May in upstate New York and will end this month back in New York. In September, it made four stops in California, including Los Angeles and the Bay Area town of San Rafael, where some former Black Bear denizens reside.

“Twenty years later, it is a warm feeling to reunite with those folks,” Berman said. “They have almost all gone on to do work that helps people; some of this can be gleaned in the film. It was almost like reuniting with relatives after a long time. I felt a little guilty for not really being in touch more, but then happy to see them again.”

In addition to the 16 theaters that have screened “Commune,” Berman has been interviewed on nearly 20 podcasts. He’s hoping to add a few more showings in Southern California, including at least one in the San Diego area.

After making “Commune,” Berman focused on teaching and consulting on other films before the release in 2018 of “Calling All Earthlings,” which examines California’s UFO counterculture cult and the Integratron, a mysterious structure in the desert north of Joshua Tree National Park. He’s now working on the third documentary in what he calls his California trilogy; titled “Gondola,” it’s about the controversial plan to build an aerial tram from Union Station to Dodger Stadium in L.A.

Berman says his film work over the years has benefited greatly from the contributions of CSUSM students and fellow faculty members, from serving internships to watching and giving feedback on test edits.

“That’s part of our mission as a university, for students to work intimately with teachers who are active in their field,” he said.

Media Contact

Brian Hiro, Communications Specialist

bhiro@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7306

The play follows two men leading double lives under the alias “Ernest,” hoping to escape societal responsibility and captivate women. However, their lies only entangle them further as the women they attract begin to believe they are engaged to the same man.

One of Wilde’s most famous works, the play directed by Em Schweim, president of the theatre club, takes a comedic tone and uses witty dialogue to humorously critique the British upper class.

Media Contact

Eric Breier, Interim assistant director of editorial and external affairs
ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314

The concert will be held Oct. 23 at noon in Arts 111. Cheng will perform with cellist Paul Tseng, music director of the San Diego Music Society. The performance unites two internationally acclaimed musicians and will feature pieces from Mendelssohn and Schumann.

“These are the two representative romantic composers,” Cheng said. “I would like to point out that, especially in the Mendelssohn piece, even though it's called ‘Cello Sonata,’ the piano part has maybe 50 times more notes than the cello. It's very lively and fun yet challenging.”

Cheng joined CSUSM as an assistant professor of music in 2011; she is now the chair of the music department. Her work at CSUSM has helped her achieve the Top Music Teacher Award from Steinway & Sons every year since 2016. In 2021, she received the CSUSM President’s Outstanding Faculty Award in Service and Leadership. In 2023, Cheng was inducted into the Steinway & Sons Teacher Hall of Fame.

The concert is a preview of Cheng’s upcoming concert at the California Center for the Arts, Escondido, on Nov. 2 at 4 p.m.

“It’s a chamber concert with piano, cello and harp. The theme of the concert is ‘284 Strings,’ the total number of strings of the three instruments combined,” Cheng said.

The full list of Cheng’s performances includes:

• Oct. 9, 1 p.m., Palomar College, Howard Brubeck Theatre
• Oct. 23, noon, Cal State San Marcos, Arts 111
• Oct. 28, 2 p.m., Grossmont College, Performing and Visual Arts Center
• Nov. 2, 4 p.m., California Center for the Arts, Escondido
• Nov. 9, 2 p.m., Point Loma Community Center

Media Contact

Eric Breier, Interim assistant director of editorial and external affairs
ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314

President Ellen Neufeldt expressed excitement and optimism about the new academic year during her annual convocation address to faculty and staff last Thursday.

“As we think about the start of school, in this moment in time – now more than ever – it is important that we remember why we are here,” Neufeldt said. “Why we show up. Why we keep going. We believe in the power and the promise of higher education. And we believe in the mission of this university.” 

Neufeldt highlighted many of the university’s achievements over the past year, while also looking ahead to what is in store. That includes CSUSM’s fundraising campaign, the largest capital campaign in university history.  

The campaign aims to raise $200 million through philanthropic support and sponsored research to expand programs, fund scholarships, advance faculty work and strengthen the infrastructure that drives social mobility and lifts the entire region.  

“This is not just about dollars,” Neufeldt said. “It’s about lasting impact.” 

New science building

On July 31, CSUSM broke ground on its future Integrated Science and Engineering (ISE) Building, which will allow the university to respond to the critical need for STEM programs, including new engineering majors and enrollment growth.

The ISE building is estimated to cost $110 million and will be funded through commitments from California State University and private support. It will cover more than 70,000 square feet over three stories. The first publicly funded academic structure on campus in more than a decade, it’s expected to open in fall 2027.

Name for new housing project

The new University Village Housing and Dining Project, which is expected to be ready in time for the fall 2026 semester, has been formally named Black Oak Hall and Kwíila Dining.

The names were determined following thoughtful input from a campus naming committee and student representatives. Kwíila is the Luiseño word for “acorn” and was chosen to honor the local tribal heritage and the land on which CSUSM resides.

CSUSM named to best colleges list 

CSUSM was named to the “Best Colleges in America 2025” list by Money magazine. CSUSM received a rating of 4.5 stars out of 5.

The list, which includes 732 colleges, showcases the country’s top values, based on graduation rates, cost of attendance, financial aid, alumni salaries and more.

Weeks of Welcome

The annual Weeks of Welcome, which started Aug. 22, includes dozens of events for students to meet new people and kick off the academic year.

Visit the Weeks of Welcome calendar for a complete schedule.

Arts & Lectures for fall

The university’s longstanding Arts & Lectures series recently released its fall lineup. This season boasts a diverse selection of five events.

Attendees can reserve tickets online via the Arts & Lectures website.

Summer highlights

• CSUSM was selected for the third straight year as an Angeles Higher Education Impact Award honoree.
• A new master’s degree program in clinical counseling psychology was approved by the CSU Chancellor’s Office to accept applications this fall.
• Edward Mills was appointed as interim chief enrollment officer, beginning his tenure on July 28.
• Cinthya Ippoliti started in her position as the new dean for the University Library on July 1.
• Two alumni were selected for the CSU Chancellor’s Doctoral Incentive Program, also known as CDIP, for the incoming 2025-26 cohort. 
• Surfer and business student Tanner Vodraska captured his second consecutive national title at the National Scholastic Surfing Association (NSSA) Interscholastic Championships.

Media Contact

Eric Breier, Interim Assistant Director of Editorial and External Affairs

ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314

In partnership with CCAE Theatricals, CSUSM’s College of Humanities, Arts, Behavioral and Social Sciences (CHABSS) launched Pathways to Purpose, a career readiness program that provides structured, paid internships for students in arts education and theater arts. Future educators gain experience designing curriculum and teaching in Escondido elementary schools, while theater students gain an introduction to administration, performance opportunities and invaluable production experience through set design, prop creation and behind-the-scenes work on live performances. 

“While there are clear career paths in fields like nursing or business, the pathway for liberal arts students may not seem as obvious at first glance,” CHABSS Dean Liora Gubkin said. “For our students, especially those who are first-generation, paid internships open doors to opportunities that might otherwise be out of reach.” 

More than half of CSUSM students are the first in their families to attend college, often balancing academics with multiple jobs. For liberal arts students, especially those drawn to nonprofit and public-sector work, most internships are unpaid. Pathways to Purpose helps level the playing field by reducing financial barriers and offering real-world experience. Research shows that students who complete internships are more likely to graduate on time, secure employment and earn higher wages. And with eight out of 10 CSUSM graduates staying local, the program also strengthens the region’s cultural and educational landscape. 

“We’re proud to support CSUSM’s Pathways to Purpose program, which reflects the university’s commitment to student success,” said Joe Bowe, president of the David T. and Dorris E. Staples Foundation. “By combining paid internships, mentorship and career skills training, the program prepares students for meaningful careers in the arts and education while strengthening the local workforce.”

The Staples Foundation’s support builds on a longstanding relationship with CSUSM. Over the years, the foundation has contributed nearly $500,000 to programs such as the Alliance to Accelerate Excellence in Education, the ASI Cougar Pantry, the School of Education and the university’s All-Steinway School designation – a tribute to co-founder Dorris Staples’ love of music. 

“We’re immensely grateful to the Staples Foundation and thrilled to collaborate with CSUSM,” said Julianna Crespo, executive director of CCAE Theatricals. “The arts are essential to building vibrant communities. Partnering with CSUSM to provide students with real-world experience ensures that the next generation of artists and educators can thrive and make a lasting impact.” 

With Pathways to Purpose, the Staples Foundation is helping shape the future of the arts at CSUSM, providing students with the resources they need to transform their passions into purpose-driven careers that will benefit our region for years to come. 

“Our vision is to expand this program across all liberal arts disciplines, giving every student a chance to apply their education in real-world settings,” Gubkin said. 

Media Contact

Eric Breier, Interim Assistant Director of Editorial and External Affairs

ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314

This season boasts a diverse selection of five events as the university hosts renowned guest speakers and performances.  

Attendees can reserve tickets online via the Arts & Lectures website now.  

Mestizaje: Interwoven Identities Among Mexico, Philippines and Spain

Sept. 19, 7-9 p.m., Arts 111

This riveting 90-minute dance performance will delve deep into the heart of cultural convergence, narrating a story of unity, diversity and shared history. The spectacle is an homage to the intricate tapestry of identities that emerged from nearly four centuries of Spanish colonization, weaving together the distinct but interconnected cultures of Mexico, the Philippines and Spain. At the core of "Mestizaje" is the celebration of mestizaje itself – a term that historically signifies the process of cultural and racial mixing between Indigenous peoples of the Americas and Europeans. This performance, however, expands the concept to encapsulate the rich exchange among the three regions, highlighting how each culture has been indelibly shaped by the others.

CSUSM students: Free

Faculty/staff/alumni: $5

Community: $10

 

Nuestro Camino: First-Gen Success Beyond Imposter Syndrome

Oct. 1, 6-8 p.m., USU Ballroom (faculty and staff session, noon-1 p.m.)

This powerful and affirming event will honor the resilience, wisdom and lived experiences of first-generation students, staff and faculty. Led by Yanira Hernandez – a first-gen Latina therapist, educator and advocate – the two-part experience invites the CSUSM community into courageous conversations about the imposter phenomenon and how it impacts those who are navigating intersectional identities. The event includes a working session for faculty and staff, a student panel, and an interactive workshop that will guide participants in reclaiming their stories and identities as sources of strength. Food and refreshments will be provided.

CSUSM students: Free

Faculty/staff/alumni: $5

Community: $10

 

Foos in Medicine

Oct. 8, 7-9 p.m., USU Ballroom

Join us for an evening with Irvin Garcia Real and Alexis Aleman, two UCLA medical students who founded Foos in Medicine, a social media community with more than half a million followers and mission of inspiring people from disadvantaged backgrounds to pursue their dreams. Real and Aleman have faced their share of obstacles on the path to medicine, from growing up in low-income, immigrant households to struggling with institutional barriers that underrepresented minorities often face in higher education. Through their signature humor and their advocacy work, these “foos” (short for “fools”) are committed to inspiring others and increasing representation in medicine, STEM and health care.

CSUSM students: Free

Faculty/staff/alumni: $5

Community: $10

Valley-to-Coast Speaker Series: Protecting and Restoring Regional Waterways

Oct. 28, 6-8 p.m., USU Ballroom

This public panel discussion is aimed at educating and connecting the campus and North County communities around the protection and restoration of local water bodies. Co-hosted by CSUSM's new Climate Action and Sustainability Center, the event reflects the center’s mission to foster climate action and sustainability through community partnerships and student engagement. San Diego Coastkeeper, a key partner in this effort, will contribute regional expertise in water quality and climate resilience, with Executive Director Phillip Musegaas joining faculty experts to explore collaborative solutions.

CSUSM students: Free

Faculty/staff/alumni: $5

Community: $10

‘The Cigarette Surfboard’: An Environmental Surf Documentary

Nov. 19, 5:30-8 p.m., USU Ballroom

In this film, Taylor Lane, an impassioned surfer, creates a functional surfboard with 10,000 littered cigarette butts collected from California beaches. “The Cigarette Surfboard” takes Lane around the world to learn from professional surfers who are working to protect and restore the health of the oceans through science, education, art, business and political activism. Inspired by this global cast of characters, Lane returns home to California and uses the board to generate uproar on the environmental, human health and economic impacts of cigarette butts. This immersive documentary gives viewers an up-close experience of the ocean through surfers' eyes to amplify a message of urgency and possibility regarding the well-being of our oceans. A moderated Q&A with Lane and filmmaker Ben Judkins will follow the screening.

CSUSM students: Free

Faculty/staff/alumni: Free

Community: Free

Media Contact

Brian Hiro, Communications Specialist

bhiro@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7306

The National Science Foundation has made drastic cuts to research funding, with hundreds of grants terminated and the proposed budget slashed by more than half. The National Institutes of Health has been hit equally as hard.

Few universities have been spared from such reductions, including Cal State San Marcos.

As the dire headlines piled up this semester, a group of faculty members in the School of Arts began conversing about what they could do to show solidarity with their science colleagues.

“The real-life impact of cutting scientific research and inquiry will reverberate for generations,” music professor Merryl Goldberg said. “We feel that being silent equates to complicity.”

Rather than marching in angry protest with bullhorns, the arts faculty opted to take a more positive, life-affirming approach. They chose love.

In March, the professors – a group led by Lucy HG Solomon, Goldberg, Judy Bauerlein and Karen Schaffman – began holding events called “Love Letters to Science” that involved exactly that: faculty, staff and students writing letters in which they expressed their admiration for scientists and the vital work they do for the world.

“The arts have always been first on the chopping block, and that vulnerability makes us sensitive to the extraordinary, arbitrary and indeed existential threat facing the sciences,” said HG Solomon, an art, media and design professor. “At the same time, some of our students shared that they did not feel that they had a positive outlet for responding to those same threats to their education.”

The meetings took place weekly, with some letter-writing sessions occurring in the Arts Building and some at The Makery in CSUSM’s library. Sometimes they intersected with other events, as when the Office of Safety, Health and Sustainability co-hosted a table outside the University Student Union on Earth Day because, as HG Solomon put it, “climate science matters.” Sometimes science faculty would stop by to express their gratitude for the effort.

Some members of the campus community wrote letters to science in general while others addressed them to specific scientists at CSUSM. Student Melanie Wollrabe, for instance, wrote to Heather Cook, a lecturer in the chemistry and biochemistry department who Wollrabe said has been a source of constant support.

“I have a lot of friends studying STEM, so it was important for me to write letters to them to let them know that their area of study is still important and appreciated,” said Wollrabe, a liberal studies major and STEAM ambassador who’s graduating this month.

“I haven’t had a lot of science classes, but the few ones that I have had, instead of feeling intimidated, the professors made me feel included and not inferior to my classmates.”

The “Love Letters to Scientists” campaign culminated on Wednesday afternoon, when arts faculty led a final writing session in The Makery. Then they took a brimming box of letters compiled over the last two months and – holding posters decorated with messages like “Science Rules,” “Science is Real!” and “Dear Scientist, Your research sustains me. Love, The Planet” – paraded across campus to the USU Ballroom, where the College of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics was holding its annual Celebration of Achievement. The worlds of art and science melded as the letters – along with buttons for CSTEM faculty, personalized according to research interests – were delivered to an emotional audience.

“I think this initiative had great meaning for our faculty, our community guests and our student awardees,” CSTEM Dean Jackie Trischman said. “What a great group of colleagues!”

Media Contact

Brian Hiro, Communications Specialist

bhiro@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7306

From a pool of nearly 3,500 applicants, Samarasinghe is one of 198 individuals across 53 disciplines who were chosen for the fellowship for both prior career achievement and exceptional promise. This marks the 100^th class of Guggenheim Fellowships awarded by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to professionals who have demonstrated outstanding ability by publishing a significant body of work in the fields of natural sciences, social sciences, humanities and the creative arts.

Samarasinghe was recognized under the discipline of “Film-Video.” A lecturer in CSUSM’s art, media and design department since 2021, he’s a Sri Lankan filmmaker and visual artist who left his native country during its civil war and is now based in Southern California.

“This is an incredible honor that will enable me to continue pursuing my creative work, especially during such uncertain times,” Samarasinghe said. “I’m deeply grateful to everyone who has supported me throughout my career, and it’s a privilege to share this recognition with such an inspiring cohort of artists, scholars and innovators across so many disciplines.”

Each Guggenheim Fellow receives a monetary stipend to pursue independent work at the highest level under the “freest possible conditions.” Samarasinghe said he plans to dedicate his time primarily to his second feature film, “The Moment,” a hybrid documentary filmed in China, as well as several other projects.

His first feature, “Your Touch Makes Others Invisible,” is scheduled to be released next month. He also has directed multiple award-winning short films.

Samarasinghe earned a bachelor’s degree in visual arts from UC San Diego and a master’s in film and video from the California Institute of the Arts.

Many Guggenheim Fellows’ projects respond to timely themes and issues such as climate change, Indigenous studies, identity, democracy and politics, incarceration and the evolving purpose of community. Since its founding in 1925, the Guggenheim Foundation has awarded more than $400 million to more than 19,000 fellows.

Media Contact

Brian Hiro, Communications Specialist
bhiro@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7306

The event is at 6 p.m. in the USU Ballroom. Reserve tickets online via the Arts & Lectures website.  

Perez is a poet, essayist, performer and author of the book of poetry and prose titled “This is for the mostless” (2017) and the forthcoming book-length poem "I ask about what falls away." An associate professor and director of ethnic studies at CSUSM, Perez will be joined by DJ, music producer, performer and longtime collaborator Shammy Dee.   

What: An Arts & Lectures event that will explore the poetics of memory as an act of anticolonial future-making. 

When: 6 p.m., Monday, April 7 

Where: USU Ballroom  

Who: Jason Magabo Perez, the most recent poet laureate for the City of San Diego 

Tickets: Visit the Arts & Lectures ticket webpage 

Media Contact

Eric Breier, Interim assistant director of editorial and external affairs
ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314

The event, which drew more than 350 registered attendees, was a blend of heartfelt veteran stories, emotional video presentation and community-wide recognition for the dedicated individuals behind the project. Led by Jason Beyer, the director and interviewer for the project and a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, and Marilyn Huerta, project art director and a CSUSM communications specialist, the project aimed to capture the personal stories of veterans in the hopes of preserving their legacies for future generations.

The Journey of the Veterans History Project

The CSUSM version of the Veterans History Project began as a passionate initiative to honor the experiences of military veterans, ensuring that their stories are archived and shared with the broader community. Beyer learned about the Veterans History Project through the Library of Congress after attending a Student Veterans of America conference, and he wanted to focus on preserving these stories for the nation's history. He played a pivotal role in connecting with veterans and the Library of Congress for the archival process.

Huerta collaborated with Beyer, providing invaluable contributions to the interview and video production process. From meeting the veterans to filming their stories, Huerta was instrumental in capturing the essence of these men and women who served our country. She also helped organize the event at CSUSM, which included a resource fair and reception for military-affiliated guests and students. She is not only a veteran spouse but also the daughter of Vietnam War veteran Lawrence C. Finley, Sr., who died just a few days after she met the veterans in this project.

A Day of Recognition, Reflection and Connection

The event featured a series of poignant moments, from the resource fair and reception to the keynote speech by veteran Amy Forsythe. Forsythe, who also served as the event’s emcee, shared her experiences and reflections as a military veteran. She is the author of the book “Heroes Live Here,” which chronicles the stories of veterans and their families at Camp Pendleton, shedding light on the sacrifices made by those who serve. Her speech, with a call to action to “share your story,” resonated deeply with the audience.

Two CSUSM representatives – Josh Loop, interim director of Veterans Services, and Ryan Stevenson, a psychologist from Student Health & Counseling Services – were guest speakers at the event, further emphasizing the university's commitment to supporting its veteran community.

Another highlight of the event was Jim Desmond, representing the 5th District of the San Diego County Board of Supervisors, virtually delivering remarks about the county's ongoing support for veterans. As a veteran himself, Desmond shared stories from his time in the Navy and presented a proclamation from San Diego County to Beyer and Huerta for their work on the Veterans History Project.

California Legislature Honors Veterans, Project Leaders

The event’s significance was further underscored when Darshana Patel, assemblymember for California’s 76th District (which includes CSUSM), provided certificates of recognition for Beyer, Huerta, Forsythe and each of the six veterans who participated in the project. The certificates not only acknowledged the veterans' service but also celebrated their willingness to share their personal stories with the public. Those stories will soon be available to the public at both the Library of Congress and CSUSM’s Kellogg Library as part of the Voices of North County archive.

Jennifer Ho, communities and cultures archivist from CSUSM’s library, provided insight into the archival process, detailing how these veteran interviews would be transcribed and preserved for posterity. The raw interviews, slated for transcription later this spring, will be accessible for generations to come, ensuring that these veterans' legacies remain alive in the hearts of future citizens.

Veteran Stories Captured for Posterity

The veterans whose stories were featured at the event came from diverse backgrounds and service experiences, but all shared a common thread – an unwavering commitment to our country. The veterans interviewed for the project are:

• Jan Michael Letigio Lacea (CSUSM alumnus) – U.S. Navy: 2011-18, Hospital Corpsman 1st Class (E-6)
• Albert F. Toro – U.S. Army: 1967-69, Sergeant (E-5)
• Thomas Galyean – U.S. Army: 1968-72, Captain (O-3)
• Elmer Royce Williams – Minnesota National Guard: 1942-43, U.S. Navy: 1943-80, Captain, Ret. (O-6)
• Dora Ann Beacham (CSUSM alumnus) – U.S. Marine Corps: 1992-2014, Master Sergeant, Ret. (E-8)
• James Robert Forster II – U.S. Air Force: 1967-71, Staff Sergeant (E-5)

“When my friend Jason Beyer from CSUSM asked me to be a part of this, I thought it was a small school project, but it turned out to be part of a larger, critical mission of preserving veteran stories,” Lacea said. “Especially for the Greatest Generation, our World War II veterans, some of their stories may be soon lost forever. I am truly honored for Jason, Marilyn Huerta and the rest of CSUSM for inviting me to be part of this project, especially as an alumnus. I’m happy to share my story, particularly for those that I served with and for those that are no longer with us.”

These veterans, along with their families, were honored at the event, receiving recognition not only for their military service but for their participation in the Veterans History Project. Four of the six veterans were present at the event to receive their certificates.

A Memorable Event for All

The event’s setting, an intimate video viewing experience, allowed guests to reflect on the stories of these veterans. The videos were emotional and engaging, mixing humor with heartache as each veteran shared their unique journey.

“What I wasn't expecting was how emotional I became,” said Shad Thielman, a lecturer in CSUSM’s history department. “It made me think of my father, grandfathers and those we have lost. In a sense, it humanized things again, which is one of the most important aspects of such history.”

Beyer and Huerta expressed a strong desire to continue this important work, ensuring that future veterans’ stories are preserved in a similar fashion.

For those who were unable to attend the event or wish to revisit the powerful video that was previewed during the ceremony, the video is now available for viewing online.

Media Contact

Brian Hiro, Communications Specialist

bhiro@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7306

After all, years later she owns an MFA from San Diego State in filmmaking and is currently pursuing a second master’s degree in literature and writing studies from Cal State San Marcos. 

She’s earning the latter while also working full time as the administrative coordinator with the LTWR department. She’s also a wife and mom to three children. 

Creating art has always been inside Mendez, and her work reflects that. She will show her documentary “Bad Child” on March 4 in Arts 111 as part of CSUSM’s Arts & Lectures series.  

The 13-minute film will be shown at noon, followed by a brief discussion from Mendez. She’ll also lead a panel discussing the impacts of sexual assault, how trauma is expressed artistically and the many resources available to survivors. Staff from Student Health & Counseling Services and faculty and staff from the department of psychology and the School of Arts will sit on the interdisciplinary panel. 

As with most A&L events, CSUSM students, faculty, staff and alumni are free. Community members are $5. Tickets are available online. 

The topic is heavy. She wrote and produced it as a retelling of her personal sexual abuse as a child primarily at the hands of her step grandfather.  

“So the film is entirely my story,” Mendez said. “It goes through every kind of what I see as different stages of the outcomes. I was sexually abused as a child multiple times, so this is something that impacted me throughout my entire lifespan. The film goes through different developmental stages and how it affected me throughout that time.” 

The film also has interviews with psychologists who speak to the technical side of recovering and healing. Mendez included facts from her own research as well as statistics on recovery.  

Her own personal story is woven throughout the film. 

She sees the event as an opportunity to discuss a subject that still doesn’t get enough attention on college campuses, although she is quick to praise the work done by SHCS. 

“There’s a lack of people who talk to their children about sexual assault,” said Mendez, 42. “It's not discussed enough as kids are growing up. It's ignored. So I think a lot of young people get to college and they don't think about these risks, and they don't think that these things do happen. And then when they happen to someone they know, or they're aware that these things are occurring, they don't know what to do. They don't know how to help. They don't know how to positively contribute to such an important issue. And so those are all things I want to touch on.” 

Filled with expert interviews and personal narratives, the film touches on her experiences while also placing a hard emphasis on the importance of parental and caregiver support in the aftermath.  

Healing is an individual journey, one that could be made much longer and more difficult without the presence of support.  

That’s particularly important when the abuse happens to a child, according to Mendez. 

“How that event impacts you is greatly determined by the support you receive or don't receive when you disclose that event, it is so critical for someone who has had horrible things happen to them,” Mendez said. “After disclosure is supported appropriately, they (a victim/survivor) will likely have less severe outcomes compared to someone who might have had something happen and they tell someone, and the person doesn't believe them, or they tell them they're a liar. There's such a big impact.” 

The switch in pursuits to visual arts as an undergraduate student at a small liberal arts college in Portland wasn’t as much of a stretch as it seems because it aligned with Mendez’s interests. And when she took a film class in the SDSU MFA program in 2018, it sparked a passion for filmmaking, leading to a transition from fine art to film. 

While some people choose activities when they have free time, Mendez simply doesn’t have much. Instead, she makes time for her creative outlets partly by involving her family. 

Her first film — a short narrative about a girl and her grandma — was inspired by her childhood experiences – memories of making tamales with family and listening to music, which often sparked creative ideas. In the film, the girl goes into one of her grandma's rooms and starts using her sewing materials and tries to make herself a dress. At the end, the grandma comes in and offers to help her as a form of connection through action. 

Mendez finds inspiration from both real-life experiences and music, particularly non-lyrical film scores. Her art is personal, often reflecting childhood experiences and family dynamics as someone who grew up in Chula Vista but also lived in Florida, Connecticut and other parts of San Diego and L.A. 

In addition to making documentary films, she’s an accomplished painter. She painted her daughter for a decade in a series that explored themes of childhood innocence and the contrast between child and adult expressions. 

“That was obviously a very personal series,” Mendez said of her now 16-year-old daughter. “I was, in a sense, reexamining my own childhood through these pictures of her. And then when I went off and started making films, I did some animations, and all of those had to do with my childhood. And then the film about the dress. There were elements of my childhood that were put into that.” 

Her love for color and patterns is evident in all her work, from painting to filmmaking to her personal style. 

Mendez of course finds it challenging to balance full-time work, family responsibilities and creative pursuits. She has slowed down on creative work to focus more on family time, especially as her three children — one in high school and two in elementary school — have more activities. 

Mendez’s goal is to educate and inspire collective improvement in supporting victims and addressing sexual assault. Healing is a process, and it’s one that is different for every survivor. 

She reported her abuser during the making of the documentary, which took a long time to be processed. He was arrested the same week the film was completed in spring 2022, adding another level of emotional impact to the project.  

Just last month — three decades after the abuse began — he was sentenced to six years in prison. At age 87, he will most likely spend the rest of his life behind bars. 

The reporting process was challenging with delays and emotional tolls, but Mendez felt it was important to go through it at the pace it required. The documentary serves as a testament to her persistence. The long journey of reporting and seeking justice is over, but the healing continues. 

“I won't say there's a real resolution because I do feel like when someone experiences sexual assault of any sort, no matter how minor it is, it affects you forever,” Mendez said. “It'll affect you less if you handle it, you face it, you deal with it, you process it and process it and process it. I do believe it gets better, and some of that is shown in the film. It's not all just dark and negative. It’s more factual and just this is how it was and is. 

 “I want people to take something away from it as far as how can we be better? Just collectively, parents, teachers, mentors, people who are in those positions to receive that information, those disclosures. How can we as a community, as society, be more supportive and be better?” 

Mendez the chemist and/or mathematician never surfaced, and probably for good reason as her art has and will inspire others.  

But perhaps there’s something to order, problem solving and truth that chemistry and math provide that also speaks to who she is.  

Whatever she chooses to do with her career, it’s clear Mendez is one thing above all — resilient.  

“I want to focus on how to help people who have experienced that because when someone discloses sexual assault, the reactions that they receive to that disclosure impact the outcomes of that assault, sometimes more than the assault itself,” Mendez said. “It has such a profound impact on how someone heals or is able to cope that it is really critical that people have an idea of the language to use and how to address those situations.  

“And the reality is this does happen, or people have experienced it in their past. But it still affects them, of course.  To know how to interact with someone about those topics who has had those experiences, that’s really important.” 

Media Contact

Eric Breier, Interim Assistant Director of Editorial and External Affairs

ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314

The event is March 4 at noon in Arts 111. Reserve tickets online via the Arts & Lectures website. 

The film is a short documentary about the more intimate, less visible outcomes of enduring repeated childhood sexual abuse. The film focuses on one survivor's reflections while expert interviews place emphasis on the importance of parental and caregiver support. Director Nicole Mendez will discuss the film’s format and its contents, then host an interdisciplinary panel examining impacts of sexual assault, artistic expressions of trauma and resources available to survivors. Panelists include CSUSM faculty and staff from Student Health & Counseling Services, the Department of Psychology, the School of Arts and more. 

CSUSM’s Arts & Lectures series offers a diverse lineup of artistic, cultural and scholarly events every semester based on input and proposals from students, faculty, staff, alumni and community members. 

What: Arts & Lectures event “Bad Child,” a film screening and interdisciplinary panel on sexual assault 

Who: Panelists include director Nicole Mendez and CSUSM faculty and staff from Student Health & Counseling Services, the Department of Psychology, the School of Arts and more. 

When: March 4, noon 

Where: Arts 111 

Cost: Free for CSUSM students, faculty, staff and alumni; $5 for community members 

Tickets: Visit the Arts & Lectures ticket webpage 

Media Contact

Eric Breier, Interim assistant director of editorial and external affairs
ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314

Translations from Bengali to English were created by Jayanta Acharya, original music was composed by CSUSM music professor Mtafiti Imara and dances were choreographed by Anusree Bonnerjee and Cherie Hill. Each step in this collaborative process involved reflections on the central theme: one who goes on a spiritual journey. It’s both an ancient and modern theme found in many disciplines, including literature, religion and mythology. These songs ask questions of what defines us as individuals and as connected humans. 

The event is at 7 p.m. on Feb. 15 in Arts 111. Reserve tickets online via the Arts & Lectures website. 

CSUSM’s Arts & Lectures series offers a diverse lineup of artistic, cultural and scholarly events every semester based on input and proposals from students, faculty, staff, alumni and community members. 

What: Arts & Lectures event “Songs of the Wayfarer”  

When: 7 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 15  

Where: Arts 111 

Cost: Free for CSUSM students, $5 for faculty, staff and alumni; $10 for community members 

Tickets: Arts and Lectures website 

Media Contact

Eric Breier, Interim assistant director of editorial and external affairs
ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314

Born in Oakland, Johnny5 is a Latino professional turf dancer and the founder of TURFinc, a Bay Area company that instills positive changes in the community through dance. SpecialFX is a father of two, a Marine Corps veteran and the founder of Movements 4 Movements. At CSUSM, they will share hip-hop dance and culture during an event that includes guest lectures, dance workshops and a cypher featuring authentic hip-hop dancers, performances, competitions and classes. 

The event is from 1-10 p.m. on Feb. 5 in the USU Ballroom. Reserve tickets online via the Arts & Lectures website. 

CSUSM’s Arts & Lectures series offers a diverse lineup of artistic, cultural and scholarly events every semester based on input and proposals from students, faculty, staff, alumni and community members.  

What: Arts & Lectures event “All-Out Turf & Popping Hip-Hop Cypher and Battle” 

Who: Johnny Lopez (Johnny 5) and Quentin Robinson (SpecialFX), two notable hip-hop artists 

When: 1-10 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 5 

Where: USU Ballroom 

Cost: Free for CSUSM students; $5 for faculty, staff and alumni; $10 for community members 

Tickets: Visit the Arts and Lectures ticket webpage 

Media Contact

Eric Breier, Interim assistant director of editorial and external affairs
ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314

So when she came across a script last year that delves into that very subject, she knew she had to make it her next stage production.

The result is “The Hispanic/Latino/Latina/Latinx/Latine Vote,” a play that will be performed at Cal State San Marcos on Wednesday night. Directed by Amon, the chair of CSUSM’s theater department, the show will take place at 7 p.m. in Room 111 of the Arts Building. Tickets are free.

“There’s often an assumption that different parts of the Latino community will all act the same,” Amon said. “There is an abundance of diversity within the community. There’s a variety of languages that are spoken, a wide array of racial identities that we hold, a diversity of religions we practice. In that way, it is overly simplistic to imagine that all Latinos vote in a single bloc. There’s such diversity within the community that our voting practices are often just as diverse as we are.”

“The Hispanic/Latino/Latina/Latinx/Latine Vote” centers on Paola Aguilar, a university professor who’s an expert in Latinx studies and who’s in debt from years of fertility treatments. Facing financial strain, she accepts a lucrative offer from a political party seeking to decode and capture the titular vote ahead of an impending election. As Paola navigates the party’s often superficial understanding of her community, the play satirizes the oversimplification of Latino identities.

The script was written by Bernardo Cubria, a Mexican playwright who lives in Los Angeles. Cubria based the story on his own experiences of volunteering for the Democratic Party and going through in vitro fertilization with his wife. Amon saw an early reading last January at The Old Globe’s Powers New Voices Festival and decided to produce it through TuYo Theatre, a San Diego company that specializes in Latinx narratives and for which she is co-artistic director.

The play opened on Jan. 3 at a high school in Chula Vista, and after the show at CSUSM, it also will be staged at High Tech High and San Diego State.

The 90-minute comedy features a cast of six, including Kevane Coleman, the administrative coordinator for the CSUSM art, media and design department who’s also a professional actor, singer and dancer. Coleman plays the role of Bernard, a political adviser who works with three other advisers to recruit Paola to help bolster the party's share of the Latino vote. Bernard and his partner have been on their own IVF journey, and he uses that as a way to befriend Paola after she has a miscarriage. 

“When audiences, especially our students, come to see this play, I know many of them will see themselves reflected on stage,” Coleman said. “That representation is powerful and vital to the work we do as artists, but also the work that we do within each of our communities. As the president of the Black Faculty and Staff Association on campus, this production has also been an extraordinary learning experience for me. To be immersed in the Latin community by doing this show, it has broadened my understanding of critical issues facing this community.”

Besides faculty in Amon and staff in Coleman, “The Hispanic Vote” also has CSUSM representation in the crew from Abby Chacon, a senior theater major who’s serving as assistant stage manager.

About 40 tickets for the show are available. To reserve a seat, email info@tuyotheatre.org.

“I think this play will resonate with our students and the larger campus community,” Amon said, “because we all want to live in a world where we spend more time thinking about the nuances of our world.”

Media Contact

Brian Hiro, Communications Specialist

bhiro@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7306

This season boasts a diverse selection of eight events as the university hosts renowned guest speakers and performances.  

Attendees can reserve tickets online via the Arts & Lectures website now.  

All-Out Turf & Popping Hip-Hop Cypher and Battle

Feb. 5, 1-10 p.m., USU Ballroom

A day-long cypher and battle led by two notable hip-hop artists, Johnny Lopez (Johnny 5) and Quentin Robinson (SpecialFX). Born in Oakland, Johnny5 is a Latino professional turf dancer and the founder of TURFinc, a Bay Area company that instills positive changes in the community through dance. SpecialFX is a father of two, a Marine Corps veteran and the founder of Movements 4 Movements. At CSUSM, they will share hip-hop dance and culture during an event that includes guest lectures, dance workshops and a cypher featuring authentic hip-hop dancers, performances, competitions and classes.

CSUSM students: Free

Faculty/staff/alumni: $5

Community: $10

 

Songs of the Wayfarer

Feb. 15, 7 p.m., Arts 111

“Songs of the Wayfarer” is based on select poems of Rabindranath Tagore, India’s Nobel laureate. Translations from Bengali to English were created by Jayanta Acharya, original music was composed by Mtafiti Imara and dances were choreographed by Anusree Bonnerjee and Cherie Hill. Each step in this collaborative process involved reflections on the central theme: one who goes on a spiritual journey. It’s both an ancient and modern theme found in many disciplines, including literature, religion and mythology. These songs ask questions of what defines us as individuals and as connected humans.

CSUSM students: Free

Faculty/staff/alumni: $5

Community: $10

 

From Fungi to the Planet: Complex Systems in Science and Art

Feb. 17, noon, USU Ballroom

Join a panel of scientific and artistic thinkers for a deep look at the roles of fungi on the planet and microscopic elements within complex systems. Scientists from the Treseder Lab at UC Irvine will examine fungi’s layered relationship to planetary life and discuss how fungi mediate and connect distant ecosystems. David Familian, also from UC Irvine, will introduce life webs and AI as complex systems, a topic that comes to focus in the art exhibition “Future Tense: Art, Complexity and Uncertainty.” Moving across perspectives in art and science, the panelists will reframe how we picture the planet. The lecture will be preceded by a workshop from 10:30-11:30 a.m.

CSUSM students: Free

Faculty/staff/alumni: Free

Community: $5

 

‘Bad Child’: Film Screening and Interdisciplinary Panel on Sexual Assault

March 4, noon, Arts 111

“Bad Child” is a short documentary about the more intimate, less visible outcomes of enduring repeated childhood sexual abuse. The film focuses on one survivor's reflections while expert interviews place emphasis on the importance of parental and caregiver support. Director Nicole Mendez will discuss the film’s format and its contents, then host an interdisciplinary panel examining impacts of sexual assault, artistic expressions of trauma and resources available to survivors.  Panelists include CSUSM faculty and staff from Student Health & Counseling Services, the Department of Psychology, the School of Arts and more.

CSUSM students: Free

Faculty/staff/alumni: Free

Community: $5

 

Veterans History Project: An Unveiling of the Journey

March 19, 6 p.m., USU Ballroom

This event showcasing the oral histories of military veterans offers an intimate look into the personal experiences, challenges and triumphs of veterans from diverse backgrounds. The stories shared will be archived at the Library of Congress and in CSUSM’s Kellogg Library, preserving their legacies for future generations. The keynote speaker is Amy Forsythe, a Marines Corps veteran, Navy reservist and CSUSM alumna. The formal program will be preceded by a veteran/military resource fair and reception at 5 p.m.

CSUSM students: Free

Military-affiliated community and resource fair guests: Free

Faculty/staff/alumni: $5

Community: $10

 

Jason Magabo Perez

April 7, 6 p.m., USU Ballroom

Through poetry, performance and video, Jason Magabo Perez – the most recent poet laureate for the City of San Diego – will explore the poetics of memory as an act of anticolonial future-making. Perez is a poet, essayist, performer and author of the book of poetry and prose titled “This is for the mostless” (2017) and the forthcoming book-length poem "I ask about what falls away." An associate professor and director of ethnic studies at CSUSM, Perez will be joined by DJ, music producer, performer and longtime collaborator Shammy Dee.  

CSUSM students: Free

Faculty/staff/alumni: Free

Community: $5

Xtreme Wellness: Keep It Moving

April 14, 6 p.m., USU Ballroom

In "Xtreme Wellness," featuring the Oside Steppers and guest instructors, you can experience modernized step aerobics set to hip-hop music, offering a fun, intense workout that burns calories, boosts cardiovascular health and relieves stress. The event includes showcases, instructional sessions and practice for all skill levels, from beginner to advanced. In a bonus panel discussion, get to know your instructors and discover how they use movement to enhance their well-being. The panel will be moderated by Daja Marks, a CSUSM alumna, artist/activist and experimental documentarian

CSUSM students: Free

Faculty/staff/alumni: $5

Community: $7

 

Educational Equality Now: The Legacy of the Lemon Grove Incident in the Mexican Southwest and the Challenge to Desegregation in the United States

April 23, 6 p.m., USU Ballroom

The 1931 landmark case Roberto Alvarez v. the Board of Trustees of the Lemon Grove School District was the first successful school desegregation court decision in U.S. history. This lecture by Dr. Robert R. Alvarez Jr., a professor emeritus of ethnic studies at UC San Diego and the son of the lead plaintiff in the case, will review the specific struggle by the Mexican families of Lemon Grove in the greater context of the Mexican challenge to U.S. school desegregation. The case established the rights of children of Mexican immigrants to equal education, despite local, regional and national sentiment that favored not only segregation, but the actual deportation of the Mexican population in the United States. Current educational equity issues for Mexican immigrant and Latino communities will be contextualized through regional data compiled by the National Latino Research Center at CSUSM.

CSUSM students: Free

Faculty/staff/alumni: $5

Community: $10

Media Contact

Brian Hiro, Communications Specialist

bhiro@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7306

“(RE)GENERATION” explores themes of renewal, transformation and the past, present and future. The show features artwork produced by students about to graduate. 

The show is open to the public and free of charge, providing visitors with the opportunity to engage with thought-provoking works that offer new perspectives on the cycles of life.

"We are very excited to showcase this wonderful collection of projects produced by our talented students, which respond to some of the most pressing issues that impact our lives,” said Misael Diaz, associate professor of art, media and design. “For this reason, we hope the exhibition will offer students on campus and visitors from around our region a space to reflect and envision how we can regenerate engagement and connection with one another and with the world around us."

For more information about the exhibition, including directions and parking information, please visit the “(RE)GENERATION” website.

Media Contact

Eric Breier, Interim assistant director of editorial and external affairs
ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314

“It's one of those shows where I feel like a lot of people are going to be in the audience clutching their pearls because it's a play where they don't hold back,” Heard said.

“The Motherf**ker with the Hat,” a play by Stephen Adly Guirgis, will be showing Nov. 20-23 in Arts 111 from 7-9 p.m. each night. Tickets can be purchased online.

“Google will describe the show as a high-octane verbal cage match about love, fidelity and misplaced haberdashery,” Heard said. “That's the online Google definition or synopsis of the play. However, this play is a love letter to toxic couples everywhere. Couples who love each other so much, but every sign in the world tells you that you shouldn't be together.”

The play follows a Puerto Rican couple in their 30s who have been dating since eighth grade and struggle with addiction.

“It's a story that needs to be told, especially at a college level,” Heard said. “These types of plays are frowned upon because these are 18 and 19 year olds using curse words. But I'm so grateful that our department decided to do this play because these students are adults.”

Heard has been teaching theater at CSUSM for seven years, and the play is part of his course curriculum in his introduction to acting class. 

The course is a lower-level general education class and is usually full of students who have never acted before. Heard assigns students scenes and they do an in-class production, but this is the first time the play is being brought to the stage at CSUSM.

“I get a lot of nursing majors and business majors, and I introduce them to this play called ‘The Motherf**ker with the Hat,’ ” Heard said. “The play has cursing and it really helps students who are not theater people to let loose.”

Five students are featured in the play: Daniel Bjorn Huff, Lunna Mikhail, Arthur Morel, Cayla Munoz and Anthony Varon. For the first time, the theater department hired an intimacy coordinator to work with the student actors in rehearsal. 

“That was something that our department decided on through this particular season,” Heard said. “A season is a year's worth of plays. This year we’ve had four plays where actors interact physically.

“There are a lot of people interacting with each other, much more than friendship levels. They needed someone here to ensure they feel comfortable with all of this. Also, from a teaching standpoint, it's good for actors to work with a professional actor.” 

Heard hopes that when someone leaves the theater after watching the play, they will be open to different types of art forms and can reflect on their own relationships.

“I think the way the play was written and the way that I've directed it, there are no clear protagonists or clear antagonists,” Heard said. “It's one of those plays where everyone is flawed, and I hope everyone can look within. I want the audience to leave and think about humanity a little bit more. Give people the benefit of the doubt and understand that people do make mistakes.”

Media Contact

Eric Breier, Interim Assistant Director of Editorial and External Affairs

ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314

This season boasts a diverse selection of five events as the university hosts renowned guest speakers and performances.  

Attendees can reserve tickets online via the Arts & Lectures website beginning Aug. 26.  

Mexicans: Hispanic, Chicanos or Native? A Journey of Self-Identification and Cultural Reclamation

Sept. 18, 6 p.m., USU Ballroom

This lecture by cultural practitioner Grace Sesma dives into the complex identities of Mexicans, exploring the terms Hispanic, Latino, Chicano and Native. Sesma will reflect on the profound impacts of colonization, including the loss of culture, tribal identity, land and community. Through historical narratives and personal stories, she will examine how these identities have evolved and the struggles faced in maintaining cultural heritage. Sesma will highlight the resilience of the communities in reclaiming traditions, language and land, and discuss the significance of self-identification and the ongoing efforts to preserve and celebrate the culture.

CSUSM students: Free

Faculty/staff/alumni: Free

Community: $5

 

Intersections: Opera and Musical Theater

Sept. 27, 7 p.m., Arts 111

Collaborating with esteemed pianist and CSUSM music professor Ching-Ming Cheng, Caroline Nelms will lead a captivating exploration of the parallels between the beloved art forms of opera and musical theater. The concert will highlight pieces that share common characters or storylines, offering a fresh perspective on familiar narratives. The audience can expect an evening of rich vocal performance, along with Nelms’ personal anecdotes, adding a touch of comedy and warmth to the experience.

CSUSM students: Free

Faculty/staff/alumni: $5

Community: $10

Dancing Through Prison Walls

Oct. 8, 6 p.m., USU Ballroom

Dancing Through Prison Walls is a California-based dance and performance project whose mission is to amplify voices of incarcerated individuals and address mass incarceration. The event features a screening of the 2021 documentary “Undanced Dances Through Prison Walls During a Pandemic,” which highlights six choreographies written by incarcerated dancers from their bunks inside prison. The dances are performed by members of the Dancing Through Prison Walls community, with deep knowledge in a diversity of styles including hip-hop, breaking, tap, performance art, quebradita, spoken word, butoh and contemporary dance. After the film, artistic director Suchi Branfman will host a community discussion with the Dancing Through Prison Walls team of artists.

CSUSM students: Free

Faculty/staff/alumni: $5

Community: $10

Musica Latina: Celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month With Camarada 

Oct. 15, noon, Arts 111

Since 1994, Camarada has been creating connections between its San Diego audience, its renowned guest artists and its diverse range of musical programming. Camarada will present Musica Latina, a program for flute, violin, double bass and piano in celebration of National Hispanic Heritage Month and including the music of Miguel del Aguila, Manuel Ponce, Astor Piazzolla and Andres Martin. An Argentinian, Martin is a world-renowned composer and bass player whose arrangements and commissions for Camarada reflect the flavor and fervor of contemporary tango as well as the pulse of Latin America. Other performers include Beth Ross Buckley, flute; David Buckley, violin; and CSUSM lecturer Dana Burnett, piano.

CSUSM students: Free

Faculty/staff/alumni: Free

Community: $5

 

Cities and Cultural Production in the Developing World: Insights From Pune, India

Oct. 28, 6 p.m., Arts 111

Kiran Shinde will offer insights on public spaces and public art in Pune – a bustling metro in India – to illustrate how artists, designers, architects and built-environment professionals can contribute to the production of visual culture in a city. Shinde will present several public projects that his team has implemented in Pune to inspire students and staff from different disciplines to take active roles in promoting better visual culture in their cities. He’s the founder of Pune Biennale – a festival of art, design and architecture – and has organized three successful editions of the event in partnership with Pune Municipal Corporation

CSUSM students: Free

Faculty/staff/alumni: Free

Community: $5

Media Contact

Brian Hiro, Communications Specialist

bhiro@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7306

The day is celebrated annually by biologists, science teachers and anyone who’s interested in genetics. This year, the occasion has been made more memorable at elementary schools across the region thanks to a group of students at Cal State San Marcos.

About two weeks before DNA Day, more than two dozen students gathered in a classroom on the fourth floor of Academic Hall for the culmination of months of work to prepare a creative and thought-provoking lesson on DNA for local K-6 classrooms. Six STEAM ambassadors – arts and liberal studies majors who also have a passion for STEM disciplines – presented the kits they have been compiling to a class, taught by Ingrid Flores, of pre-service teachers pursuing their multiple-subject credential.

The ambassadors showed the student teachers how to extract DNA from a strawberry. They engaged them in an activity that involves a paint-covered marble creating twisted lines on paper to resemble strands of DNA. They read the children’s book “The Smallest Spot of a Dot,” which explains how genetics makes each person unique.

And they did all this so that the teachers, as well as the ambassadors themselves, would be equipped to turn around and give the same lesson to classes full of schoolchildren. The activity was expected to be presented in 70 classrooms during the ensuing month, reaching more than 2,000 kids.

“We think and hope that kids can see that science experiments can be done with simple ingredients that you can find at home,” said Melanie Wollrabe, a third-year liberal studies major (with a focus in art) who’s the coordinator of the other STEAM ambassadors. “Additionally, we hope it is evident that anyone can be a scientist, as well as an artist.”

During the event at University Hall, the CSUSM students listened to a talk about genomics by Manuel Martinez, a scientist at Illumina, a San Diego-based biotech company that develops DNA sequencing technology to enable research and improve health. Illumina, along with the Coastal Community Foundation, provided funding this academic year to support the STEAM ambassadors program.

“I was impressed with the depth and engagement the students had regarding genetic topics,” Martinez said. “I say I was impressed because when I was a student, these topics were not being discussed much outside of the scientific circles, so seeing this level of knowledge and awareness in just a decade was very pleasant.”

The STEAM initiative started four years ago, when music professor Merryl Goldberg allowed several of her students to become arts ambassadors as part of an independent study assignment through her Art=Opportunity program. One day a week, the students would report to a school in Vista either to help teachers with their art classes or teach a lesson on their own. Goldberg recruited professors Lucy HG Solomon and Christiane Wood to incorporate STEM concepts into the arts curriculum, and the arts ambassadors became STEAM ambassadors.

The program was run then, and is still run now, by  Solomon and Wood, who have developed a strong partnership as faculty from the School of Arts and the School of Education, respectively. Solomon has an expertise for fusing art with science. Wood not only has brought teaching credential students into the program (to implement the lessons that the ambassadors conjure up), but she also has incorporated the core concept of literacy.

In addition to funding the DNA activity that’s central to its mission as a company, Illumina also is supporting the use of podcasting technology and audio storytelling to enhance student learning.

“Podcasting offers students a dynamic way to document and share their scientific discoveries,” Wood said. “By using words, tone, pace and creative audio techniques, they can effectively communicate their ideas and findings.”

Wollrabe has been a STEAM ambassador since the spring semester of her freshman year in 2022, when she learned about the opportunity in her art education course. She thought it would be the perfect job for her since it combines two things that she loves: being creative and organizing. She did both so well that last fall she was promoted to STEAM coordinator, which involves orchestrating meetings with the ambassadors and communicating with the faculty in charge.

When Wollrabe graduates in May 2025, she hopes to become an elementary school teacher, with an inclination toward art as her subject. She knows that her time as a STEAM ambassador will aid her cause considerably.

“I have gained extensive experience with creating projects that combine art, reading and STEM,” she said. “So it has given me the proper tools to come up with ideas to carry out in the classroom.”

Media Contact

Brian Hiro, Communications Specialist

bhiro@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7306

They first connected a few months later. Bricke, an art, media and design major, was the co-curator of a student art exhibition titled “Juncture,” and Neufeldt dropped in on the opening event to express her admiration.

Neufeldt, it turned out, was an art lover, to the extent that she converted a room in her Escondido home into a gallery space. And when, during her first year at CSUSM, she decided to display student art in that space, sure enough, it was Bricke’s art that was chosen (along with that of Kimberly Lopez, her co-curator for the student exhibit).

Four years later, Bricke’s relationship with the university and its president has come full circle. In January, the art created by Bricke the student was removed from Neufeldt’s home gallery. In its place was installed art by two current or recent CSUSM students that was selected by Bricke, now a professional artist and curator.

“I’m really happy to have been asked to curate the exhibition,” Bricke said. “It brings together all of these things that are intensely personal and specific to me, but that also resonate with the larger community at CSUSM, including the faculty of the art department and the president’s office, and hopefully the president herself. It’s a beautiful thing and, for me, it’s really what makes this worth doing.”

After being hired to curate the exhibition last fall, Bricke opened a submissions process for CSUSM arts faculty to recommend students whose work was especially accomplished. From a group of almost 20 students, Bricke chose five oil paintings each by Karolina Lopez and Esther Rodriguez. The exhibition’s theme, Bricke says, relates to the “intersection of landscape and lived experiences of these two women who are navigating life as students, set against one of the most contested borders in the world.”

Rodriguez said she created her paintings last spring during an independent study course leading up to her May graduation, under the direction of lecturer Heidi Brar.

“It was a great surprise when Sarah gave me the news, and I never could have imagined my pieces being displayed in the home of President Neufeldt,” said Rodriguez, who’s now pursuing a Master of Fine Arts degree at National University. “This exhibition means a step further in my career as an artist. Also, I am representing the CSUSM arts faculty, which makes me feel very proud of this accomplishment.”

Brar actually mentored both selected students, first in her AMD: Advanced Painting course and then in the independent painting projects that evolved into the exhibited paintings. She said the students have different approaches to painting – Rodriguez “uses bright colors and personal imagery to interweave personal narratives with larger cultural themes,” while Lopez shows a “remarkable ability to capture the essence and color palette of iconic landscape locations in San Diego" – but are equally deserving of the recognition.

“Both students’ perseverance and hard work distinguished them among the AMD majors, and I feel they are very relevant choices for the president’s collection,” Brar said. “Their work presents an opportunity to appreciate the impact the college makes and celebrate the talents of these wonderful students.”

Bricke’s model of resilience and determination since her time at CSUSM is one that the student artists might hope to emulate. Graduating just as the COVID-19 pandemic was heating up in 2020, she hoped to obtain an MFA degree but didn’t get into any of the four graduate programs she applied to. Feeling lonely in isolation and discouraged by the setback, she rededicated herself to her art, and when she applied to nine programs the following year, she was accepted by eight of them and chose one of the most prestigious in the nation – the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

“SAIC was my reach school. I really felt like it was a long shot,” Bricke said. “When I got the big envelope in the mail, I was over the moon. I couldn’t believe it.”

SAIC is a low-residency program, which means that students aren’t expected to live full-time in the city where the institution is located. That made it an ideal fit for Bricke, a single mother who didn’t want to uproot her daughter, Crimson (now 10), from their home in Vista. Bricke would travel to Chicago for in-person work toward her degree over the summer, but otherwise she was free to stay in Southern California, interrupted by a couple of trips with Crimson to places like Berkeley and New York City to tackle projects related to artists’ archives.

“I felt this confidence as a scholar and an academic and an artist,” she said. “But the setup also gave me greater confidence as a mother.”

Bricke uses multiple terms to describe her art, including “conceptual” and “research-based.” The one she prefers, though, is “transdisciplinary.” She describes it as combining academic disciplines, materials and methods in an attempt to make something new that hasn’t been done before.

For Bricke, transdisciplinary art manifests itself in novel and subversive ways. She will attend academic conferences and present what she calls performative lectures, in which she adopts the traditional role of an academic while simultaneously challenging the conventions of the higher education system.

Her website is another example. A page that on a traditional site might be titled “About Me” is instead called “forms of refusal,” and in place of the typical artist bio is a paragraph that reads: “Sarah … believes that biographical content is largely unnecessary and generally uninteresting. Alternatively, this placeholder for formulaic recitations of academic degrees, artistic achievements and prestigious awards offers an opportunity to test parafictions and substitute narratives.”

“I think of my website as a work, and its function isn’t to present objects that I’ve made so that curators can see them and put me in an exhibition,” Bricke said. “It functions more as a thing to talk about. Curation was a natural extension of this concept, where I thought, ‘I want to gather objects and people and images so that we can have dialogue around them.’ And for me, that dialogue, that exchange between the art, the person who made the art and anyone else, like the viewer, that is where the art resides.”

Bricke graduated from SAIC last July, and for the last year she has been juggling art projects like the curation for Neufeldt’s home with preparations to begin a doctoral program this fall. She's pursuing a Ph.D. at UC San Diego in contemporary art history with a focus on gender and sexuality, and artists’ archives.

“I've come to see that I have an artist/scholar, scholar/artist practice,” she said. “I would love to teach because I've had such incredible mentorship from faculty at CSUSM and at SAIC, which has changed me as an artist and an academic and a scholar, but also as a person. I'd like to pass that on.”

Media Contact

Brian Hiro, Communications Specialist

bhiro@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7306

The makerspace, called The Makery, is located on the second floor of the library, just inside the doors leading to the main traffic circle, in an area that used to house the media library. It was unveiled to the campus community on Feb. 29 as part of a soft opening, and the grand opening celebration will take place on April 23, with a ribbon-cutting attended by President Ellen Neufeldt and other campus leaders at noon followed by a open house until 6 p.m.

And of course, as befits the name, The Makery’s first official week from April 22-26 will feature a host of maker activities, inviting guests to gather, create, invent, tinker, explore and discover while using a vast assortment of tools and materials.

“I don’t want people to be afraid to come in, or afraid of failing or afraid of what they don’t know,” said Kodie Gerritsen, a CSUSM alumna who’s now the makerspace specialist. “They can just come in here and mess up a bunch and still have a finished product at the end of it. I use the term ‘get your hands dirty’ a lot because that’s the point. The point is to come in here and get messy and make things.”

The Makery is a project that’s five years in the, er, making. Having noticed that more than half of the 23 California State University campuses boast makerspaces in their libraries, CSUSM’s library dean, Jennifer Fabbi, took the idea to a group of administrators and faculty in 2019.

They began to develop the concept, surveyed professors about how they would use it and even visited some existing makerspaces around the state. Then the pandemic struck, shelving the project for more than two years.

It was revived in fall 2022 with the hiring of Gerritsen. She had graduated the previous year with a degree in arts and technology/applied physics, and was working as a STEAM ambassador for Center ARTES, an on-campus arts organization founded by CSUSM music professor Merryl Goldberg. Lucy HG Solomon, another School of Arts professor and Gerritsen’s main faculty mentor, heard about the makerspace opportunity and thought Gerritsen would be a good fit.

“And it turns out I was,” Gerritsen said.

Gerritsen set about designing the 2,280-square-foot space with Char Booth, the library’s associate dean; the Office of Planning, Design and Construction; and an internal library group. Funding came from a Kellogg Library building endowment that is specifically to be used for library renovations.

The Makery was chosen through a campus naming contest. It was the overwhelming winner over the other two finalists: “Sandbox” and “Buildbox.”

“A makerspace in the library allows for a centralized space that is accessible and open to everyone in the campus community,” Fabbi said. “The Makery is a space where students, staff and faculty can use information to create new knowledge, which is what the library is all about.”

The creative flair and sense of whimsy that Gerritsen brought to the design of The Makery is evident even before you step into the room. A large neon sign hanging above the door displays the name of the makerspace in blue, green and orange letters. To the immediate right past the entrance is a collection of 27 high-density foam cubes that can be used for sitting in a large group collaboration or for alternate purposes like building a wall or other structures.

On either side of a desk where a student assistant is stationed to welcome visitors are two enclosed rooms. One of them, called The Pantry, features a few desktop computers for people to work on digital projects in a quiet atmosphere. The other is named Gina’s Game Corner in tribute to Georgina “Gina” Lopez, a longtime library employee who passed away last year. It has a game table and shelves that are stocked with games, puzzles and other forms of entertainment.

“I wanted to have a place where people can relax and have fun, unload a little bit,” Gerritsen said. “We ultimately settled on a game room, in part because Gina enjoyed those types of things, and also because we have a lot of games in the library and many people don’t know about them.”

The rest of The Makery is a large open area with half a dozen square tables topped with butcher blocks and surrounded by bright, colorful chairs. All are on wheels so that the furniture can be moved into any configuration. On an afternoon last month, two of the tables had been pushed together to display a paper welcome banner that visitors could draw and color on, and a third table held a container of purple kinetic sand.

The star attraction of The Makery, however, is the back wall. There you can find the primary making equipment, such as sewing machines, embroidery machines, a cameo cutter machine, button makers, a craft printer, a paper cutter and a power drill. There also are bins upon bins of arts and crafts supplies like paint, beads, string, ribbons, clips, rubber bands, markers and dozens more miscellaneous items.

The opposite wall is lined with shelves that showcase some of the creations that students already have made during the limited time that The Makery has been open.

“It's been cool seeing them make things on their own without direction,” said Ryan Dorsett, a 2015 CSUSM alumnus who in January shifted from a different job in the library to run the makerspace with Gerritsen. “It's like, ‘Wow, you made that here.’ We really wanted people to be excited about the space, and there's been a lot of excitement that students have expressed. They've been very clear in their joy.”

Gerritsen said her goal for the rest of this semester is to work out any operational kinks that crop up while gathering data on user numbers and behavior. Starting next school year, she plans to incorporate more programming and foster more partnerships with the campus community, which could include student orientations and campus tours stopping by The Makery or holding academic classes in the space.

“We’ll see how much of that can happen by the fall,” Gerritsen said, “but it’s going to grow as time goes on.”

The Makery is open Monday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Friday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The coordinators are seeking donations of craft supplies, office supplies or “anything that you can use to make stuff with,” as Gerritsen put it.

Media Contact

Brian Hiro, Communications Specialist

bhiro@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7306

Through poetry, performance and video, San Diego poet laureate Jason Magabo Perez explores the poetics of memory as an act of anticolonial future-making. Perez is also an essayist, performer and author of a book of poetry and prose titled “This is for the mostless” (2017) and the forthcoming book-length poem "I ask about what falls away." He is an associate professor and director of ethnic studies at CSUSM. He will be joined by DJ, music producer, performer and longtime collaborator Shammy Dee.  

The event is at 6 p.m. on April 15 in the USU Ballroom. Reserve tickets online via the Arts & Lectures website.

The event is co-sponsored by the Ethnic Studies program.    

CSUSM’s Arts & Lectures series offers a diverse lineup of artistic, cultural and scholarly events every semester based on input and proposals from students, faculty, staff, alumni and community members. Attendees can reserve tickets online via the Arts & Lectures website. 

What: Arts & Lectures event “Jason Perez”

Who: Jason Perez, San Diego poet laureate

When: 6 p.m., Monday, April 15

Where: USU Ballroom 

Cost: Free for CSUSM students, faculty, staff and alumni; $5 for community members

Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/jason-magabo-perez-tickets-795746708827?aff=oddtdtcreator 

Information: Arts and Lectures website

Media Contact

Eric Breier, Public Affairs Specialist

ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314

As Johnson’s memoir achieved massive success as a New York Times bestseller, it also became the American Library Association’s third-most-challenged book of 2021. But with each shove, Johnson continues to persevere and advocate for Black and queer voices. 

“Black storytelling has often been banned,” he says. “My book is a tool so that Black queer kids and LGBTQ teens can see themselves and read about themselves and learn about themselves.” 

Johnson will speak about the importance of sharing diverse stories – why we should remain resilient, how representation in media can support young adults’ mental and physical health, and what we can do to support these voices. By listening to one another and understanding the history, language and actions necessary to change the world, we can form a community where we are all free to be our true, authentic selves. 

Johnson will be signing copies of “All Boys Aren’t Blue” after the event, which is at 6 p.m. on April 3 in the USU Ballroom. It's co-sponsored by the University Library and Pride Center.  Reserve tickets online at the Arts & Lectures website. 

CSUSM’s Arts & Lectures series offers a diverse lineup of artistic, cultural and scholarly events every semester based on input and proposals from students, faculty, staff, alumni and community members. 

What: Arts & Lectures event "An Evening With George M. Johnson, author of ‘All Boys Aren’t Blue’ ”

Who: George M. Johnson, bestselling author

When: 6 p.m., Wednesday, April 3

Where: USU Ballroom 

Cost: Free for CSUSM students; $5 for faculty, staff and alumni; $10 for community members

Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/an-evening-with-george-m-johnson-author-of-all-boys-arent-blue-tickets-795743810157?aff=oddtdtcreator 

Information: Arts and Lectures website

Media Contact

Eric Breier, Public Affairs Specialist

ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314

Lakes, a Chickasaw writer, musician, activist and artist, will perform a traditional Chickasaw story and dance that explores the current issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women (MMIW) in the United States, Mexico and Canada. Through the art of drag, traditional stories and memories of her upbringing, Lakes will show what it means to be a Chickasaw and Two-Spirit, a term for Native American people who identify as having masculine and feminine spirits. Through original music, lip sync and drag performance, Lakes brings to light the importance of the intimate and vulnerable Two-Spirit stories. 

The event will be followed by a Q&A session about Two-Spirit performance and the future of Indigenous people.  

The event is co-sponsored by Dance Studies. 

The event is at 7:30 p.m. on March 7 in Arts 111. Reserve tickets online via the Arts & Lectures website. 

CSUSM’s Arts & Lectures series offers a diverse lineup of artistic, cultural and scholarly events every semester based on input and proposals from students, faculty, staff, alumni and community members. Attendees can reserve tickets online via the Arts & Lectures website. 

What: Arts & Lectures event “Landa Lakes”

Who: Landa Lakes, activist for Indigenous women

When: 7:30 p.m., Thursday, March 7

Where: Arts 111

Cost: Free for CSUSM students, faculty, staff and alumni; $5 for community members

Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/landa-lakes-two-spirit-storytelling-tickets-795738634677?aff=oddtdtcreator

Information: Arts and Lectures website

Media Contact

Eric Breier, Public Affairs Specialist

ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314

Immerse yourself in an evening of jazz as Kornhauser showcases the brilliance that earned him the honors of Best Jazz Artist and Best Jazz Album at the 2021 and 2022 San Diego Music Awards. Kornhauser’s artistry has been praised by the San Diego Troubadour website, which called him "one of San Diego’s top pianist/keyboardists." He’s not only a solo sensation but also an integral part of the Matt Smith Neu Jazz Trio, and his collaborations with Grammy Award-winning producer Kamau Kenyatta have produced acclaimed albums like "RETROgrade" and "I.Am.Calm."  

Before the concert, at 5:30, the CSUSM jazz ensemble will perform and receive feedback from Kornhauser; all are welcome to attend. Sign up for an evening filled with exceptional music, community spirit and the magic that only live performances can offer.  

The event is at 7:30 p.m. on March 4 in Arts 111. Reserve tickets online via the Arts & Lectures website. 

CSUSM’s Arts & Lectures series offers a diverse lineup of artistic, cultural and scholarly events every semester based on input and proposals from students, faculty, staff, alumni and community members. Attendees can reserve tickets online via the Arts & Lectures website. 

What: Arts & Lectures event “Ed Kornhauser Quartet”

Who: Ed Kornhauser, pianist

When: 7:30 p.m., Monday, March 4

Where: Arts 111

Cost: Free for CSUSM students, faculty, staff and alumni; $5 for community members

Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ed-kornhauser-quartet-tickets-795729326837?aff=oddtdtcreator

Information: Arts and Lectures website

Media Contact

Eric Breier, Public Affairs Specialist

ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314

Ying is known for his eloquent, poetic and dramatically intense performances. Ying has enjoyed a successful career spanning more than 30 years as a soloist, chamber musician, recording artist and piano professor. Since receiving a top prize at the 1989 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, he has performed at some of the most prestigious concert halls in the U.S. and abroad. To mark his 20th year at the University of Miami, Ying will present Chopin’s Nocturnes, Scherzo, Mazurkas, Fantasie, Polonaise, Impromptu and Sonata No. 3. 

The event is at 7 p.m. on Feb. 17 in Arts 111. Reserve tickets online via the Arts & Lectures website. 

CSUSM’s Arts & Lectures series offers a diverse lineup of artistic, cultural and scholarly events every semester based on input and proposals from students, faculty, staff, alumni and community members. Attendees can reserve tickets online via the Arts & Lectures website. 

What: Arts & Lectures event “Tian Ying”

Who: Tian Ying

When: 7 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 17

Where: Arts 111

Cost: Free for CSUSM students, faculty, staff and alumni; $5 for community members

Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/tian-ying-tickets-795726187447?aff=oddtdtcreator

Information: Arts and Lectures website

Media Contact

Eric Breier, Public Affairs Specialist

ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314

Maldonado (aka Nina Limon) is an interdisciplinary artist, cultural worker and educator whose work  is rooted in her experiences as a Venezuelan immigrant, performing artist and domestic worker. For six years, she has worked with Latinx women and men in the San Francisco Mission District to provide art spaces for healing and building relationships through dance, social activism and performances. This piece will feature 13 domestic workers and day laborers from the Mission District performing live music, poetry, worker testimonies and audio-visual projections.

During the event, Maldonado will present a lecture demonstrating her process of creating this work and a short documentary. 

In conjunction with the Latinx Center, she also is teaching a wellness workshop that is open to the public. 

The event is at 6:30 p.m. on Feb. 8 in Arts 111. Reserve tickets online via the Arts & Lectures website. 

CSUSM’s Arts & Lectures series offers a diverse lineup of artistic, cultural and scholarly events every semester based on input and proposals from students, faculty, staff, alumni and community members. Attendees can reserve tickets online via the Arts & Lectures website. 

What: Arts & Lectures event “Our Work, Our Dignity: Socially Engaged Performance Practice for Community Organizing With Andreína Maldonado”

Who: Andreína Maldonado, an interdisciplinary artist and educator 

When: 6:30 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 8

Where: Arts 111

Cost: Free for CSUSM students, faculty, staff and alumni; $5 for community members

Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/our-workour-dignity-tickets-795717441287?aff=oddtdtcreator   

Information: Arts and Lectures website

Media Contact

Eric Breier, Public Affairs Specialist

ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314

This season boasts a diverse selection of seven events as the university hosts renowned guest speakers and performances.  

Attendees can reserve tickets online via the Arts & Lectures website beginning Jan. 22.  

Our Work, Our Dignity: Socially Engaged Performance Practice for Community Organizing With Andreína Maldonado

Feb. 8, 6:30 p.m., Arts 111

The work of interdisciplinary artist, cultural worker and educator Andreína Maldonado (aka Nina Limon) is rooted in her experiences as a Venezuelan immigrant, performing artist and domestic worker. For six years, she has worked with Latinx women and men in the San Francisco Mission District to provide art spaces for healing and building relationships through dance, social activism and performances. This piece will feature 13 domestic workers and day laborers from the Mission District performing live music, poetry, worker testimonies and audio-visual projections. During the event, Maldonado will present a lecture demonstrating her process of creating this work and a short documentary. In conjunction with the Latinx Center, she also is teaching a wellness workshop that is open to the public.

CSUSM students: Free

Faculty/staff/alumni: Free

Community: $5

Tian Ying

Feb. 17, 7 p.m., Arts 111

Pianist Tian Ying is known for his eloquent, poetic and dramatically intense performances. Ying has enjoyed a successful career spanning more than 30 years as a soloist, chamber musician, recording artist and piano professor. Since receiving a top prize at the 1989 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, he has performed at some of the most prestigious concert halls in the U.S. and abroad. To mark his 20th year at the University of Miami, Ying will present Chopin’s Nocturnes, Scherzo, Mazurkas, Fantasie, Polonaise, Impromptu and Sonata No. 3. 

CSUSM students: Free

Faculty/staff/alumni: Free

Community: $5
 

Ed Kornhauser Quartet

March 4, 7:30 p.m., Arts 111

Immerse yourself in an evening of jazz as pianist Ed Kornhauser showcases the brilliance that earned him the honors of Best Jazz Artist and Best Jazz Album at the 2021 and 2022 San Diego Music Awards. Kornhauser’s artistry has been praised by the San Diego Troubadour website, which called him "one of San Diego’s top pianist/keyboardists." He’s not only a solo sensation but also an integral part of the Matt Smith Neu Jazz Trio, and his collaborations with Grammy Award-winning producer Kamau Kenyatta have produced acclaimed albums like "RETROgrade" and "I.Am.Calm."  

Before the concert, at 5:30, the CSUSM jazz ensemble will perform for our guest artist and receive feedback; all are welcome to attend. Join us for an evening filled with exceptional music, community spirit and the magic that only live performances can offer. 

CSUSM students: Free

Faculty/staff/alumni: Free

Community: $5

Nature-Driven Design: How to Survive Plastics 

March 6, noon, Innovation Hub

Dr. Pinar Yoldas will discuss her award-winning nature-based design, including her creation “Hollow Ocean,” which was selected for the 2021 Venice Biennale. Integrating drawing and sculpture with bioengineering centered around the climate crisis, Yoldas works in the mixed realm of architecture, design and speculative biology. She’s an associate professor at UC San Diego, the author of “An Ecosystem of Excess” and the recipient of a Guggenheim fellowship as well as a Creative Capital grant. 

Before the talk, from 10:30-11:30 a.m., students will have a chance to interact with Yoldas. 

CSUSM students: Free

Faculty/staff/alumni: Free

Community: $5

Landa Lakes

March 7, 7:30 p.m., Arts 111

Chickasaw writer, musician, activist and artist Landa Lakes (J Miko Thomas) will perform a traditional Chickasaw story and dance that explores the current issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women (MMIW) in the United States, Mexico and Canada. Through the art of drag, traditional stories and memories of her upbringing, Landa will show what it means to be a Chickasaw and Two-Spirit, a term for Native American people who identify as having masculine and feminine spirits. Through original music, lip sync and drag performance, Landa brings to light the importance of the intimate and vulnerable Two-Spirit stories. 

The event will be followed by a Q&A session about Two-Spirit performance and the future of Indigenous people.   

CSUSM students: Free

Faculty/staff/alumni: Free

Community: $5

An Evening With George M. Johnson, author of “All Boys Aren’t Blue” 

April 3, 6 p.m., University Student Union Ballroom

As Johnson’s memoir achieved massive success as a New York Times bestseller, it also became the American Library Association’s third-most-challenged book of 2021. But with each shove, Johnson continues to persevere and advocate for Black and queer voices. “Black storytelling has often been banned,” he says. “My book is a tool so that Black queer kids and LGBTQ teens can see themselves and read about themselves and learn about themselves.” Johnson will speak about the importance of sharing diverse stories – why we should remain resilient, how representation in media can support young adults’ mental and physical health, and what we can do to support these voices. By listening to one another and understanding the history, language and actions necessary to change the world, we can form a community where we are all free to be our true, authentic selves.

Johnson will be signing copies of “All Boys Aren’t Blue” after the event. 

CSUSM students: Free

Faculty/staff/alumni: $5

Community: $10

Jason Perez

April 15, 6 p.m., USU Ballroom

Through poetry, performance and video, San Diego poet laureate Jason Magabo Perez explores the poetics of memory as an act of anticolonial future-making. Perez is also an essayist, performer and author of a book of poetry and prose titled “This is for the mostless” (2017) and the forthcoming book-length poem "I ask about what falls away." He is an associate professor and director of ethnic studies at CSUSM. He will be joined by DJ, music producer, performer and longtime collaborator Shammy Dee.

CSUSM students: Free

Faculty/staff/alumni: Free

Community: $5

Media Contact

Eric Breier, Public Affairs Specialist

ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314

She grew up in Vista in a household where music was the background noise of life. Her father’s side of the family is populated with music teachers and choir directors, and during the holidays especially, the whole clan would congregate to play instruments or sing hymns.

Davis attended an elementary school where music education was strongly emphasized, and she began to come out of her shell through musical theater.

“Music is something that brings my family together and gives me joy,” Davis said. “It’s something I’ve been surrounded with my whole life.”

When Davis enrolled as a student at Cal State San Marcos in 2018, however, she did so with the intention of pursuing a major in literature and writing studies. She wanted to become a teacher like those who had inspired her as a child, but English struck her as a far more plausible discipline than music, or the arts in general. Such jobs, she reasoned, don’t exactly grow on trees.

In California, though, suddenly they might. In November 2022, the state’s voters overwhelmingly approved Proposition 28, which will provide about $1 billion in funding each year to support arts education in public schools. Schools must spend 80% of that money on teachers and aides, which means that California has an overnight need for about 15,000 teachers in the arts, and San Diego County for about 500 such teachers.

This marks a sea change in the field of arts education, and CSUSM now is well-positioned to be a leader in the space. The university has received grants of $308,260 from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and $50,000 from the Clarence E. Heller Foundation to launch a program that will streamline the process for CSUSM students to become arts teachers.

Under the new CSUSM Art Credential Pathway, the university will be the first in the CSU system to create a pathway specifically for undergraduate arts majors who aspire to teach. Center ARTES, an organization dedicated to arts education and integration in K-12 schools that was founded by CSUSM music professor Merryl Goldberg in 2003, will partner with the university’s School of Arts and School of Education to develop and implement the pathway to prepare CSUSM arts students to reimagine high-quality arts education for the San Diego region and serve as a model for the state.

The future arts teachers will be recruited from CSUSM’s undergraduate arts and liberal studies students, as well as teaching artists and existing teachers in the San Diego community.

“We’re setting the course on this,” Goldberg said. “We’re not the only CSU that’s doing any work in this area, but we’re way ahead of the curve in terms of the partnering of the School of Arts and School of Education. That makes us a standout.”

To be able to teach in the arts, students typically need to earn a single-subject teaching credential in the arts, which CSUSM does not yet offer. What the new pathway will do is allow undergraduate arts and liberal studies students to complete a one-year multiple-subject credential program as long as they have accumulated 20 credits of arts classes, which could be dance, music, theater or visual arts.

“In the past, we haven’t really looked at that as a viable option for our students because there haven’t been jobs in the arts,” Goldberg said. “But now that there are probably 500 jobs alone in San Diego, this is such a no-brainer way to get our students into this career path.”

Working with Goldberg to institute the program is a team of faculty that includes education professor Christiane Wood, dance professor Cherie Hill, theater professor Judy Bauerlein and media arts professors Lucy HG Solomon, Kristin Moss and Julie Goldstein.

“This program is a game-changer for students looking to impact children’s lives through the arts,” Hill said. “I am excited that this pathway will cultivate future dance and arts educators.”

“Our on-the-ground efforts should translate to increasing the arts in schools and helping CSUSM students and area artists get jobs in the arts,” Solomon said. “In the not-so-distant future, we will be admitting new undergraduate students who have had classes in the arts throughout their education in the public schools. And it is likely that CSUSM alumni will have taught them. That’s exciting!”

“This initiative provides an opportunity to transform the arts education landscape by nurturing talent, igniting creativity and equipping future educators with the skills and knowledge to inspire the next generation of artists, serving as a blueprint for the state of California in support of Prop 28,” Wood said.

Planning and development of the pathway program started this semester and will continue in the spring. CSUSM also will seek to solidify connections with local arts organizations and teaching artists that will serve as partners in the program, including the Museum of Making Music, New Village Arts, The Old Globe, A Step Beyond and the Oceanside Museum of Art.

The first cohort of students pursuing a credential to teach the arts will launch next fall. Goldberg says the goal is to recruit 24 students for the yearlong program. The foundation funding will last for three years, meaning that there will be at least two cohorts.

Many of those two dozen future teachers were on campus Saturday, Nov. 4 when CSUSM hosted a workshop in the Arts Building that drew more than 75 people. The event introduced attendees to the road to becoming an elementary arts teacher in the areas of dance, theater, music, visual and media art. It featured activities, a panel with current arts teachers and an information session about the different ways to pursue a career in arts education.

“There was definitely a buzz of excitement there; it was just a really bright energy,” said Davis, one of the attendees. “A lot of the people on hand had no intention of being art teachers before Prop 28 passed. They just wanted to teach elementary education or maybe high school history or something. But now you can do both in the same program. I think that that's so wonderful, opening up these opportunities for people who might have never considered arts education.”

While she studied literature at CSUSM, Davis decided to take a couple of music classes just for fun, and she enjoyed them so much that she added music as a second major in 2020. She will graduate as a double major this month (though she’s walking in the spring) and take three pre-credential program classes next semester before joining the first arts pathway cohort in fall 2024.

When she’s not taking classes, Davis gives private voice lessons (she has sung at several CSUSM commencement ceremonies over the years) and teaches in after-school music theater programs at a couple of elementary schools in Escondido. Her goal is to teach both music and English at a school in San Diego County, preferably one where arts resources aren’t as bountiful and her skills are more needed.

“I've always been a huge advocate for arts teaching, especially in primary education,” she said. “I think it's so important to introduce kids to art at a young age. It inspires you to be a better person and motivates you; it's a great way to express yourself and to have a voice in the classroom. So I was really excited to hear that the state was pushing arts education a little bit more heavily.”

Media Contact

Brian Hiro, Communications Specialist

bhiro@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7306

An opening reception for the exhibition will be held from 3-6 p.m. on Dec. 7. The exhibition is open to the public and free of charge. 

Students' work includes drawing, painting, photography, sculpture, video and digital media to capture the theme of M.U.S.E. The “M” represents memory, “U” and “S” stand for unyielding self-reflection, and “E” analyzes endurance. 

M.U.S.E. will showcase an array of creative responses to challenging circumstances we are confronting collectively and individually – ranging from social and environmental issues to personal struggles with mental health. 

"We are excited to once again showcase the work of talented students, many of whom are on the verge of graduation,” said Misael Diaz, associate professor of art, media and design. “Their artworks respond to pressing social, economic and environmental issues that impact their lives in ways that inspire. In this way, the exhibition serves as a much-needed space to reflect and reconnect with ourselves, with others, and with the world around us.” 

For more information about the exhibition, visit the M.U.S.E. website. 

The art, media and design major offers an engaged, collaborative, experiential and interdisciplinary learning environment where students acquire skills and develop their personal drive toward reaching their creative potential. As part of their studies, students are encouraged to explore concepts and techniques relating to both traditional art forms and digital media. With an emphasis on social and cultural awareness at its core, the degree provides students the opportunity to foster technical skills while building strong conceptual, narrative and research-based practices. 

Director Easterly and Einstein will be accompanied by Dr. Merryl Goldberg, a CSUSM music professor and the executive director of Center ARTES at the university. Goldberg’s notorious reputation for creating secret codes embedded in music during the Cold War era of the KGB demonstrates how arts and humanities degrees directly correlate to national security, specifically within cybersecurity.

“I’m thrilled to visit CSUSM to talk with the next generation of leaders about the intersection between the arts, technology and cybersecurity,” Easterly said. “I am so impressed with CSUSM's commitment to including arts in education; I believe that using creative techniques to reach different audiences about traditionally technical topics will help raise our collective defense and make us all safer. In addition, producing tech that is secure by design requires imagination and a dedication to product quality.”

Discussions will amplify the need to inform creative thinking within arts and science, and keynotes will engage in creative activities themselves as a part of the presentations. Spoiler alert: Director Easterly is an aspiring electric guitarist!

Please RSVP and join us for scheduled sessions either in person or livestreamed, which include:

• Panel discussion and musical performance – 10-11:20 a.m.
• Keynote fireside chat with Jen Easterly – 1:30-2:15 p.m. (join livestream)
• Student engagement activity – 2:30-3:30 p.m.

The mural portrays a coastal live oak, a tree that is representative of the San Marcos region. By incorporating industrial features and a striking array of bold color, the art piece emulates the cycle of the seasons. Elements of innovation and nature come together to create an illuminating showpiece that connects all academic disciplines and produces an inclusive environment open to every major. 

“When we compare nature’s cycle with the world of innovation and entrepreneurship, it becomes clear that both of these processes are very iterative and there's a lot of parallels between them,” said Scott Gross, associate vice president of industry partnerships and head of the Innovation Hub.  

“The Innovation Hub is pretty industrial with hard lines, and we wanted something to kind of soften it and bring in more colors, making it gentler. Plus, I just love how the tree branches off into the circuitry and connects nature and technology.”  

Adjacent to the mural is the interactive art installation, where students can place a ball into a winding suction tube and watch as it is transported throughout the five stages of the innovation process: problem defining, ideation, design and prototyping, testing, and implementing. Illustrating the journey of turning an idea into reality can help generate a sense of motivation throughout the dynamic space and spark student imagination.  

Members of the campus community collaborated to bring these works to fruition. Lucy HG Solomon, professor of art, media and design, worked alongside muralist Tim Topalov and Kodie Gerritsen, an alumnus who leads the makerspace in Kellogg Library. Topalov initially was connected to CSUSM through his mother, Rosalina Christova, a longtime university fellow who directed the California Primary Algae Laboratory.  

To further highlight student voices and creativity, the trio invited students onto their team. Aidelen Montoya, Evie Reese, Emma Reheis and Melissa Lugtu contributed to the mural development. Getting involved in a campus project gives students the opportunity to express their artistry, gain hands-on experience and make connections with fellow members of the campus community. It is this type of inventiveness and enthusiasm that can be found throughout the Innovation Hub, as students now have space to ideate their inspirations.   

“If people interact with the vacuum-powered idea pipeline and consider the majesty of the colorful oak tree, hopefully they will think this place is not just for traditional innovations; it’s about stretching the brain and imagination to consider new ways to engage with the world,” HG Solomon said.  

Media Contact

Eric Breier, Public Affairs Specialist

ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314

The legacy of over 2,000 nuclear weapon tests and the two atomic bombs dropped on Japan has had profound global effects. The group explores the past and future of nuclear proliferation, with explosive visuals that interrogate the legacy of the bomb, nuclear power and uranium mining. Since 1945, atomic bombs have altered global politics, ecosystems and even our biology. Can art alter those landscapes?

The event will begin with an informal coffee and tea at 10 a.m. on Nov. 29 in the Kellogg Library Reading Room, followed by a workshop at 10:30 (RSVP required) and the artist panel at noon (Eventbrite ticket) that will be moderated by arts professor Lucy HG Solomon. 

CSUSM’s Arts & Lectures series offers a diverse lineup of artistic, cultural and scholarly events every semester based on input and proposals from students, faculty, staff, alumni and community members. Attendees can reserve tickets online via the Arts & Lectures website. 

What: Arts & Lectures event “SWANS: Slow War Against the Nuclear State”

Who: SWANS, a collective of six women artists

When: Wednesday, Nov. 29

            10 a.m.: Informal coffee and tea/introductions

            10:30 a.m.: Workshop (email RSVP required)

            Noon: Artist panel (Eventbrite ticket)

Where: Kellogg Library Reading Room

Cost: Free for CSUSM students; $5 for faculty, staff and alumni; $10 for community members

Tickets: Register online 

Information: Arts and Lectures website

Media Contact

Eric Breier, Public Affairs Specialist

ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314

Inspired by a 100-year-old photograph in the belongings of his great Uncle Kim, Low will share his decades-long search to find the stories behind the photograph. Low will tell the story of Ah Ying and illustrate Chinese American history from the building of the transcontinental railroad to the devastating effects of the Chinese Exclusion Act and subsequent slave trafficking of young Chinese women. The ripples of Ah Ying’s survival shaped the journey of her descendants. During World War II, two Chinese American brothers left the Oregon hop fields for the battlefields of the Pacific. One came home with a Silver Star, and the other went missing. Their heroic actions and sacrifices remind us of the courage, patriotism and diversity that forms our connections to the past and to each other.

Join us to learn how the ripples of these Chinese American pioneers created scholarships for the CSUSM School of Nursing. 

The event is at 6 p.m. on Nov. 15 in the USU Ballroom. Reserve tickets online via the Arts & Lectures website. 

CSUSM’s Arts & Lectures series offers a diverse lineup of artistic, cultural and scholarly events every semester based on input and proposals from students, faculty, staff, alumni and community members. Attendees can reserve tickets online via the Arts & Lectures website. 

What: Arts & Lectures event “Ripples in Time: How the Early Chinese American Experience Shaped the Greatest Generation in WWII”

Who: Russell Low, physician and author

When: 6 p.m., Wednesday, Nov. 15

Where: USU Ballroom 

Cost: Free for CSUSM students, faculty, staff and alumni; $5 for community members

Tickets: Register online

Information: Arts and Lectures website

Media Contact

Eric Breier, Public Affairs Specialist

ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314

Cheng, who joined CSUSM’s faculty in 2011, played an integral role in the university becoming an All-Steinway School, a prestigious designation held by fewer than 200 colleges, universities and conservatories worldwide.

“To be inducted into the Steinway Teachers Hall of Fame, seeing my name and also Cal State San Marcos listed on the walls inside the legendary New York Steinway factory for generations to see, this whole journey is just beyond this world,” said Cheng, who was in New York for the ceremony earlier this month. “To be recognized by Steinway, alongside some world-famous piano teachers like Norma Kreiger and Dr. Robert Weirich, I am so grateful and humbled.”

Every two years, the Steinway & Sons Teacher Hall of Fame selects the most committed and passionate piano teachers from the United States and Canada for this prestigious honor.

Cheng, who began her musical training at age 5, has performed around the world, and she has been a recipient of Steinway’s Top Music Teacher Award every year since 2016.

“While performing is part of my career, teaching and working with students makes me a better teacher and the experience has been so rewarding and fulfilling,” she said. “With this recognition, I hope I continue to motivate students in the way that they will find inspiring and enthusing in their own musical journey.”

Media Contact

Eric Breier, Public Affairs Specialist
ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314

What better way to maintain a small-town feel with tremendous growth in a few short years than to join forces to make living, studying and working a way of life? 

The relationship between North City and CSUSM has been a steady force since its inception. Now it continues to be a progressive one, as the organization has signed on to be a Premier Platinum sponsor for the university’s signature Arts & Lectures program. 

“North City is proud to be an ongoing sponsor of the CSUSM Arts & Lectures series, and we look forward to a terrific year of events and activities,” said Andy Tenn, senior manager at Sea Breeze Properties. “The partnership between CSUSM and North City will only continue to grow, and together we are building a unique community of artists, entrepreneurs, educators and leaders.” 

The sponsorship includes a $10,000 gift by North City as it remains supportive of a growing arts region. The money will go to continuing to fulfill A&L’s mission of bringing high-quality entertainment and thought-provoking speakers to campus. 

Most events are free to CSUSM students, faculty, staff and alumni. Tickets are generally $5 for everyone else.  

The opening event of the fall 2023 season is Monday, Oct. 9. “Chasing Heroine” is the story of how Jeannine Coulter overcame 15 years of addiction and homelessness and turned her life around. Coulter will deliver a talk about her struggles and her recovery journey to becoming a successful fitness entrepreneur, brand builder and host of “Chasing Heroine: An Addiction Recovery Podcast.” 

“We hope to see a lot of attendees at these events, as this semester’s lineup is phenomenal and so impactful, one to remember for years to come,” said Gina Jones, Arts & Lectures program planner. 

The season also features a talk about the power of compassion to transform our world by Thupten Jinpa, one of the foremost experts on compassion and the top English translator for the Dalai Lama since 1985.  

Arts & Lectures events are designed to enhance, enrich and expand the learning opportunities of CSUSM students and the surrounding community. 

The program is funded mostly by sponsorships and ticket sales, with some support from the university. Gifts like the one from North City are critical to help A&L fulfill its role as a leader in arts and educational outreach for the San Marcos community. 

“Each of CSUSM's events are top caliber and provide their own brand of inspiration,” Tenn said. “This coming program covers everything from personal life lessons to explorations in world music. We love the balance it creates, adjacent to North City's own weekly farmers' market and live music events, craft artisan events, and the annual Belgian Waffle Ride.” 

CSUSM arts professor Lucy HG Solomon will moderate SWANS: Slow War Against the Nuclear State next month. It’s a panel discussion about the legacy of more than 2,000 nuclear weapon tests and the two atomic bombs dropped on Japan, and how those events have had profound global effects. 

While the monetary amount can be considered a donation by North City, it’s more of an investment that stands to benefit both giver and recipient. And perhaps the unit that benefits most from the gesture is the arts community on and around campus. 

“North City and CSUSM are growing together,” Tenn said. “As a rising downtown for San Marcos and North County San Diego, North City has a mission that's embedded in the enrichment of local culture and community through not only providing a range of businesses and amenities, but also public art, social and community events, and supporting local nonprofits like the Boys & Girls Club of San Marcos and Project Next. North City's aspiration of a vibrant community naturally aligns with CSUSM's efforts to give artists, musicians, educators and storytellers an avenue to share their messages.” 

Media Contact

Eric Breier, Public Affairs Specialist

ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314