In May 2013 while rappelling on the west face of Taquitz Rock in Idylwild, Calif., Lucas fell 150 feet to the ground. The fatal accident was likely caused by loose rock and he died almost instantly.

"I was so perplexed and so devastated by Lucas’ death that I had to make sense of that loss—somehow I had to," said Anover. "I also had to make sense of Lucas not getting to go to France after all his hard work and his excitement. The only way I could make a little sense of his loss was to honor his memory with a scholarship."

To Anover, endowing the Lucas Dunn Memorial Scholarship gave her the ability to ensure that his memory would be permanently honored and remembered, allowing his peers to accomplish the dream of travelling abroad that Lucas could not.

"I decided with this scholarship that Lucas was going to help his peers go to Aix-en-Provence," said Anover, referring to the city-commune in the south of France. "He could not go to Aix, but he was going to help others go and live out his dream."

Anover worked endlessly to find donors in order to reach the $25,000 needed to endow the scholarship. She met that goal last May, describing it as being one of the best days of her life.

"I was so determined and focused that I did not encounter any struggles to start the scholarship," said Anover. "I wrote massive amounts of emails and sent numerous letters soliciting donations. I told Lucas’ story and what he would accomplish with his scholarship, that I received many gifts right away."

She raised money from friends, family and companies, such as Hewlett-Packard, which matched her donations.

"It gives me some solace to know that Lucas’ energy is still with us through his scholarship," Said Anover.

The scholarship, which will be awarded as early as next year, will offer financial aid to one CSUSM French student per year who wishes to study abroad in Aix-en-Provence. All French students are eligible if minimum academic standards are met.

"I hope that students that study abroad thanks to this scholarship will embrace the French culture and language as much as Lucas did in his ‘virtual French life’ while he was in my class," said Anover. "I hope that they will be thankful to Lucas for giving them the opportunity to open up their horizons, to live the present fully, and to come back fluent in French and wanting to go back."

Lucas is described as a kind and warm person with a magnetic personality and sense of humor.

His peers have also found other ways to live out his legacy and cope with the emptiness he left behind. Samuel Taylor, another CSUSM French student inspired by his story, made a coin out of glass with the inscription: Lucas Dunn: I made it. Taylor took the coin to the top of Mont Sainte Victoire - the mountain that Lucas planned to climb while in Aix - and left it at the top of the peak.

"Lucas continues to inspire and to touch his peers even in his death," said Anover. "That is how wonderful Lucas was and continues to be."

The course, titled The British Invasion in U.S. Pop Culture, explores popular literary, cinematic, musical and theatrical traditions in the British Isles. From the 5^th century legend of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table to the modern day television series Game of Thrones, the course analyzes how British popular culture both entertains and satisfies audiences while probing deeper into what that means for American society.

“British popular culture is consumed voraciously in the United States,” said Associate Professor Heidi Breuer, a medieval and renaissance British literature scholar. “We want to tap into that interest and use it to catalyze a scholarly inquiry about exactly why we are so fascinated—what are the things that are positive about it as well as what’s problematic, especially in regard to race, class, gender and sexuality.”

Students will travel first to London, England, where planned excursions include a Tower of London tour, Sherlock walking tour, a visit to the Harry Potter Warner Brothers studio and a James Bond walking tour. From there the course will go to Cardiff, the capital and largest city in Wales, to explore the folklore and mythology of King Arthur as well as for a Dr. Who interactive experience. The trip will conclude in Dublin, Ireland, with a visit to Trinity College, home to The Book of Kells, a literary pub crawl and tours of film sites from the HBO series Game of Thrones.

“We’ve selected a lot of locations that will do double duty for us,” said Associate Professor Rebecca Lush, an expert on colonial and transatlantic literature. “These places offer some of the strongest, most lasting influential aspects of British culture that we’ve assimilated into our American culture juxtaposed next to 21^st century cultural sites that are important and popular now.”

Both Breuer and Lush have a love for British culture, but aren’t afraid to turn a critical eye to it.

“For me, popular culture is a lens through which to see how the character types and narrative patterns that were invented in the 16th through 18th centuries continue to get recycled to celebrate a new sense of Americanness,” said Lush. “Taking students to these locations in London, Wales and Ireland is a way for them to understand the multifaceted transatlantic undertones that they have always assumed to be American.”

Added Breuer: “We are celebrating the aspects that are fun, enjoyable and satisfying while also looking at how British pop culture perpetuates ideological structures that have gone on for a long time.”

The course, which includes the two-week abroad trip from May 21 to June 2 and an additional two-week online component, satisfies three units of upper-division credit. Open to CSUSM students and the community through Open University, application materials are due Tuesday, Feb. 16.

For more information, visit the CSUSM Study Abroad website.

She should know. Randerson has lived abroad for 25 years in Belgium, Japan, Spain and France, speaks six languages fluently and leads seminars for expatriates trying to acclimate to new surroundings around the globe.

“Understanding cultural differences is vital if you want to do business in other countries,” said Randerson, who began teaching at CSUSM in the fall of 2013. “A lot of companies want to be international, but they have to understand that each country is unique with its own culture and its own people with a different mindset than what you may have here in the United States.”

The message has taken on increasing significance at a time when American exports are lagging (falling from $186.8 billion in September to $184.1 billion in October) and the trade deficit remains out of whack (up from $61 billion in September to $63.1 billion in October).

“Anne’s experiences and skills in the classroom are vital to the goals of CSUSM,” said Elizabeth Matthews, an associate professor who chairs the University’s global studies department. “Her international experience brings an important dimension to the classroom. She is a strong supporter of global education and adopts varied pedagogical techniques to best reach students from all backgrounds. Her cultural sensitivity, commitment to student learning and creativity in the classroom are among her greatest strengths.”

She’s also versatile. Randerson has taught in the College of Business Administration and the Department of Communication in addition to the Department of Global Studies. Courses on her CSUSM resume include: Management in Different Cultures; Perspectives in Globalization; Cross-Cultural Negotiation and Global Business, Global Economy, Politics and Society – Global Perspectives; and Intercultural Communication.

She says her students in the College of Business Administration are as dedicated as any in the world.

“They are very serious, very future-oriented and very focused,” observed Randerson. “And they’re also very international. I’ve had students form Norway, Germany, Mexico and Asia.”

Which makes Dr. Randerson a perfect fit for the University.

“Anne is a wonderful colleague who brings a lot of international experience to the College of Business,” said Professor of Management Rajnandini Pillai, who also serves as executive director and founding member of the University’s Center for Leadership Innovation and Mentorship Building. “She is absolutely dedicated to her students and goes out of her way to support the various programs of the college.”

Indeed Randerson has been active with the Faculty Learning Community on Cultural Intelligence, the Faculty Mentoring Program and the LGBTQA Faculty and Staff Association. In addition, she has worked with representatives from CSUSM, MiraCosta College and Palomar College to bring motivational speakers to the area.

Other teaching assignments include lecturing at the University of San Diego, the UC San Diego Rady School of Management and National University since returning to the States. All the while, she continues to serve as managing director of her intercultural and global leadership training and consulting firm, Cross Cultural Horizons.

Despite the heavy workload, Randerson volunteers with San Diego County’s ‘Live Well San Diego’ North Central Region Leadership Team and with a local cat rescue and adoption service.

An International Journey to CSUSM

Her journey to CSUSM was a circuitous one. Born and raised in San Diego, Randerson earned her B.A. degree in French from the University of California, Davis, and her M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Human Life Studies from Koriyama Women’s University in Japan. Photos from her book, Scenes of Japan, have been exhibited in numerous locations, including the Japanese and American Embassies in Brussels, Belgium.

She was working in the Brussels branch of Euronext, a pan-European stock exchange, in charge of corporate office translations, but found herself without a job during cutbacks when it merged with the New York Stock Exchange Group in 2007.

That’s when Randerson utilized her bounty of transferable skills to begin working for herself, consulting with and training expatriates living in Brussels.

“Belgium is a very complex society for foreigners to understand sometimes,” she said. “There are three national languages, French, Dutch and German. The people are very humble. It’s also a Catholic country, and people spend their Sundays with their family. Almost all stores are closed. It’s even illegal to mow your lawn on Sunday because the noise might disturb your neighbors.”

Soon her business expanded to include working with international executives throughout Europe, Japan, Vietnam and the United States. She also taught graduate courses in Culture and Development, Leadership, Project Management and Communications at Boston University in Brussels, in addition to leading seminars at institutions such as the European Commission, the European Training Institute and the International School of Protocol and Diplomacy in Brussels.

When Dr. Randerson decided to return to San Diego County in 2012, Cal State San Marcos was at the top of the list of potential employers.

“The University is very diverse,” Randerson said. “I thought, if I’m moving back to California, I want to work in a university where diversity appreciation is not only a priority, but an opportunity for growth and understanding on a global scale. CSUSM is a perfect environment for me to continue my cross-cultural communication and business research in a local and international context.”