Chancellor Timothy White speaks with students in the Chicano Resource Center in the Pollak Library on Thursday (Robert Huskey/ Daily Titan).

CSU Chancellor Timothy White’s 12th stop on his tour of 23 Cal State Universities brought him to Cal State Fullerton on Thursday in an effort to see campus achievements and shortcomings.

As one of his first actions as chancellor, White vowed to visit 23 campuses within the first year of his term to assess the needs and differences between each CSU campus in person.

During his visit to CSUF, the chancellor danced, met with student leaders and professors and even took to the library to hand out cookies and wish students luck on their finals.

The chancellor spent the day with CSUF President Mildred García and many members of her cabinet. He quizzed the president as they walked and talked throughout the day.

While the Chancellor’s visit mostly centered around ceremonies and cheerful interactions with students and professors, White paid a somber visit to the Veterans Student Services office in University Hall.

Student veterans, friends and families had spent the previous weeks aiding in the search for Maribel Ramos. The CSUF student and Army veteran had been missing since May 2 and was found dead late Thursday night.

White offered his thoughts and prayers to everyone involved and shared that his wife had met Ramos a few weeks ago.

During a visit to the Pollak Library, White, García and other administrators handed out individually-wrapped cookies and wished students luck on their upcoming finals.

The library visit was the first of its kind for White during his state tour, but it was a tradition during his chancellorship of UC Riverside.

“It was kind of nerve-racking at first,” said Anna Gomez, a sociology major, after meeting White while studying for her final in research methods. “He came out of nowhere, but it was nice that somebody came up to us and gave us some encouragement about finals.”

The topic of online education came up again and again during the chancellor’s visits with students and professors.

While attending a Q&A session with students in the quad, Matthew Hendricks, 23, a graduate student of humanities, questioned White about his views regarding the perceived diminishing effects that online classes have on the accreditation of the CSU and the high rate of adjunct faculty teaching classes once taught by full-time professors.

White agreed that the economic downturn and budget cuts have caused a decrease in full-time and tenured professors.

He also said that online classes should never take over the CSU but that it should be seen as “one more arrow in its quiver,” since some students would like to attend a CSU school but face the difficulty of a long commute.

“I want to make sure that we view (online classes) as an expansion of technology enhanced education,” White said. “It’s not a silver bullet for economic woes or staffing woes or anything like that.”

During a meeting with the Executive Committee of the Academic Senate, Jon Bruschke, Ph.D., a human communication studies professor, raised his concerns that the new Cal State Online program is fundamentally flawed.

“These poor CSU Online students are paying twice as much as the students that are taking classes from us,” he said.

Bruschke said that he felt the structure of Cal State Online essentially privatizes that section of the CSU education by incentivizing it with more pay for professors.

Instructors who teach CSU Online courses are paid an additional 25 percent “overload fee” when he or she teaches online courses in addition to a normal load of face-to-face courses, explained Bruschke.

He said that the monetary incentive encourages professors to put more time and energy into online courses “at the expense of the rest of the students.”

“It just seems like we are solving a budget problem by privatizing part of our curriculum,” Bruschke said. “I believe the mission should be all students get the best education possible, not if you can pay double, you get it special.”

White requested that Bruschke write a summary of the issues he had with the program so the chancellor could take it to those who run Cal State Online.

“We’re making sausage in public and we’re going to screw things up,” White said. “I don’t want to hurt students, but part of innovation is screwing things up and learning from those mistakes.”

He added that he has never viewed online education as a cost-saving measure and views it as a way to increase efficiencies in the education system.

White also met with members of the Orange County Register and the Daily Titan, which gave him the chance to speak about the growing changes in regards to tuition, student admittance and salary increases for faculty and staff.

Speaking from the perspective of a product of CSU education by receiving his master’s degree from Cal State East Bay, White said he understood the importance that CSUs have considering low tuition costs and first-generation degree holders.

However, White said he would not make empty promises about putting a stop to a rising tuition, but instead stated that without tuition adjustments, CSUs would suffer dire consequences.

The chancellor outlined the choices the CSU has when the state’s support falls short of demand.

“One choice would be to say that’s the way it is,” White said. “Another choice would be to have a modest, predictable and well articulated way: raise tuition by one, two or three percent to get more resources to pay for the cost of delivering the education.”

While on campus, White was also in attendance for the award ceremony of the Carol Barnes Excellence in Teaching Award, the Outstanding Professor Award and Faculty Leadership Collegial Governance Award.

Sean Walker, an associate professor of biology and winner of the Carol Barnes Excellence in Teaching Award, said he was glad that White visited CSUF and feels that the chancellor’s priorities belong to the students and faculty.

Later in the day, Physical Plant director Willem van der Pol carted White through the campus explaining the history and details of every building during a lengthy tour of the campus.

The director explained different steps CSUF has taken to increase sustainability.

The tour made a brief stop to observe the operations of the 8,000 -square-foot Tri-gen energy plant, a natural gas power plant that generates over 4 million megawatts of electricity to be used on campus.

As the tour was winding down and the cart headed back to College Park, the tour of campus facilities was suddenly interrupted when the chancellor halted the cart as he saw graduating students posing for senior portraits.

White motioned President García over and the two posed for a picture with arms around Fallyn Mongold and Erin Chavez, both child development majors.

“We’re two of the signatories on your diploma,” said the chancellor.

The students confidently posed for an impromptu photo in full graduation regalia with White and García.

From Facebook

Maribel Ramos, a Cal State Fullerton senior and former Army sergeant, was found dead late Thursday night, concluding a weeks-long search for the student who was soon to graduate.

Friends and co-workers of Maribel Ramos spread their support in honoring the woman who has been described as a leader of students and veterans as police announced this weekend that Ramos’ body has been found and that her roommate has been arrested on suspicion of murder.

Her body was found in brush near Modjeska Canyon on Thursday. Police have reclassified her case as a homicide, and have placed her roommate Kwang Chol Joy under arrest, Orange police Lt. Dave Hill said.

Her roommate Kwang Chol Joy was questioned by police and voluntarily accompanied them to the police station, Hill said.

Joy, 54, was arrested on suspicion of murdering Ramos on Friday.

He has a court trial date set for Tuesday, according to county records.

In the past weeks, Ramos’ family and co-workers at University Outreach and Veterans Certification reached out to the university and local community for help in the search efforts.

Ramos, 36, was an Army sergeant who served tours in Iraq, Afghanistan and South Korea.

She was three weeks away from graduating with a degree in criminal justice at the time of her disappearance and was scheduled to be highlighted at a veterans appreciation dinner.

She had been missing for two weeks when police recovered her body in the wilderness of eastern Orange County Thursday night; the body was positively identified as Ramos the next day.

“Her light was put out way too soon,” said her co-worker Delia Tijerina, assistant director of University Outreach and Veterans Certification.

Active in the campus veterans community, Ramos had been planning on getting a job with the United States Department of Veterans Affairs upon her graduation, Tijerina said.

Orange police are now handing the case over to the Orange County District Attorney’s office, which is expected to release more information this week, Hill said.

Police have not released any information on a possible motive or other details behind the murder.

News of Ramos’ death quickly spread through social media to the campus community over the weekend.

“Since Maribel went missing earlier this month, our community has come together to spread the word about her disappearance and keep her foremost in our hearts and prayers,” CSUF President Mildred García said in a statement.

Search fliers had been set up around campus and student help in the search efforts were commemorated by CSU Chancellor Timothy White when he visited campus on Thursday.

“She was a wonderful role model for our students, faculty and staff. And we honor her for her past service to our country as an airborne paratrooper in the Army and her commitment to her education,” García said.

A co-worker of Ramos, Tijerina, who helped coordinate the civilian search efforts, said Ramos was a leader who demanded excellence of herself and others.

“I would want others to remember her passion; she saw a goal and pursued it passionately. She was confident and determined and as a result she accomplished so much in such a short period of time,” Tijerina said.

Ramos’ supervisor Brenda Estrada, veterans certification officer for University Outreach and Veterans Certification, said Ramos was a role model among her peers.

“We did not just lose a student assistant, we lost an amazing human being, someone that gave eight years of her life to fight for our freedom,” Estrada said.

Estrada had accompanied Ramos to a conference in Chicago about adjusting from military to student life.

Ramos went missing about 24 hours after she returned from that trip.

Many students via social media requested that Ramos’ degree be given to her family.

Megan Lott, a senior communicative disorders major, said that Ramos’ hard work should be recognized since she was only weeks from graduating.

“I hope the school does the right thing and acknowledges the unique and very unfortunate circumstances this is under,” Lott said.

Tijerina said plans are being made to commemorate Ramos’ memory on campus.

“I know that a seat will be saved for Maribel at commencement and her family will be there,” Tijerina said.

A representative planning the commencement ceremonies did not answer a request for comment over the weekend.

Ricardo Torres, a sophomore business major, eats a sandwich in-between classes in the patio outside the Humanities Building on Wednesday. (Robert Huskey / Daily Titan)

Hunger is a prevalent issue for at least some students that attend Cal State Fullerton, according to a study conducted by faculty.

Lezlee Hinesmon-Matthews, Ph.D., and Ernest Bridges, both African-American studies professors, found that 20-30 percent of students in Southern California have a hard time feeding themselves.

The study’s aim was to discover which students were the hungriest and which of these students need the most help obtaining food for themselves.

“This was beyond the ordinary cases of not having enough money to buy food in the cafeteria or eateries on regional campuses,” Hinesmon-Matthews said.

The idea to conduct the study originated from observing conversations between students about food and their eating habits.

“We found that most respondents perceived the hunger to be from various demographic groups, including low-income students, out-of-state students and student athletes,” Hinesmon-Matthews said.

A separate study conducted by Normandale Community College in Bloomington, Minn. surveyed 445 students and found that a fourth of the students arrived to campus hungry. At that college, students are able to obtain a certain amount of food per month from a food bank on campus based on demonstrated need.

Hinesmon-Matthews is involved with a similar food bank program at Fullerton College.

“The Fullerton College Food Bank Collaborative model is noteworthy because they have instituted a process which treats students humanely and offers volunteer opportunities for students to help operate it, including students who come there for help,” Hinesmon-Matthews said.

Hinesmon-Matthews also serves on the advisory board of Fullerton College’s Umoja community program, a program for at-risk students. She said that a similar kind of program would be beneficial to Cal State Fullerton’s campus.

Hinesmon-Matthews has also begun conducting fact-gathering for the university to help figure out what kind of actions would be necessary for CSUF administration to take a more active role in tackling the hunger issue on campus.

“On the one hand, our goals would be, yes, let’s feed hungry students, but we don’t have an initiative like the one that is underway at the one at Fullerton College,” she said.

While Hinesmon-Matthews believes there should be a larger awareness of the issue of hunger among students, she does not think that there is any reason to blame the university for not being able to supply it is students with food.

“When you start raising issues of ‘Oh, look! This is a problem, why isn’t the campus doing more about it?’ … It’s really not like that. It’s just that people get in a bind—we’re at the end of the term, students run out of their financial aid or other money,” Hinesmon-Matthews said.

These are the times when students face food shortages, and the reasons for lacking the necessary means of obtain food can vary beyond what the Fullerton Food Bank Collaborative offers, she said.

“It’s those time when unforeseen expenses come up, like a car breaking down or a roommate bailing out because they don’t get along and they have to come up with all of the rent themselves,” she said.

Elena Ravena, 23, a communicative disorders major, said she has noticed ways that hunger can have a negative effect on students.

“You start paying attention to your hunger more than what the teacher is talking (about),” Ravena said.

Maria Ruiz, 21, a double major in psychology and criminal justice, said she has also observed hunger’s effect on students.

“I have friends that are involved on campus and sometimes they have to go to so many meetings during the day that they don’t have time for themselves.” Ruiz said. “They don’t have time for school, sometimes they don’t have time to eat.”

Hinesmon-Matthews felt that issue of student hunger goes beyond the issues it brings to a university campus, but rather, everyone else affected by it as a whole.

“Ultimately, what matters is getting people fed. It’s just totally unacceptable in our day and age when there are many resources available to have people suffering or struggling like this,” she said. “Our hope is that we raise awareness and achieve the best part of what a campus can do, and that is galvanize students and galvanize others to say ‘Hey, this is an issue, let’s address it.’”

The College of the Engineering and Computer Science recently received a grant of more than $100,000 from defense giant Raytheon. (Courtesy of Cal State Fullerton)

Cal State Fullerton’s College of Engineering and Computer Science recently received a $104,000 gift from a multinational company that specializes in manufacturing defense weapons, as well as military and commercial electronics.

The donation by the defense and technology contractor, Raytheon Co., was made to fund future student projects within the college.

A check was presented to the college on behalf of the company at a College Leadership Council meeting on May 2, prior to the 2013 Showcase of STEM Student Talent.

The STEM Student Talent event allowed students to showcase final projects. More than 30 projects were submitted by the Education, Natural Sciences and Mathematics, and Engineering and Computer Science colleges.

The STEM showcase hosted more than 50 college board advisory volunteers and CSUF alumni.

The projects, which focused on technology, science, mathematics and engineering, showcased a variety of student projects, including a student-built Formula SAE race car, stem cell research, and an unmanned aerial vehicle.

Dean Raman Unnikrishnan, Ph.D., of the College of Engineering and Computer Science, said the formula car blew the judges away. However, a civil engineering project done by student leader Alex Lemmon and was facilitated by faculty advisor, Binod Tiwari, Ph.D., won the showcase.

“The formula car was, as always, a crowd-pleaser,” said Unnikrishnan. “The civil engineering project that won was a natural hit.”

Of the many people that Raytheon employs at its Fullerton location, 30 percent of them are alumni of Cal State Fullerton, said Hart Roussell, director of development for the College of Engineering and Computer Science.

“Engineering and Computer Science (students) at CSUF (have) been targeted for employee recruiting for many years,” said Rousell.

Unnikrishnan said that one of the reasons why CSUF was chosen as the gift recipient was because of the long relationship between Raytheon and the university have had over the years.

CSUF alumni also hold various positions at Raytheon and also serve as members of the Engineering and Computer Science Leadership Council.

“Such (a) close and longstanding alliance lead to closer relationships between Raytheon and (the college),” said Unnikrishnan.

The $104,000 will go toward supporting the college’s students primarily in two areas, Rousell said. One will be to support collegiate designs and competition designs for future students and the other will be to help fund the “Women in Engineering” program, which helps develop female freshman in the college.

The remaining balance of the amount will go to other projects that cannot be further funded by the state.

Unnikrishnan said that without the support of the industry, many students would not have an enriching experience.

“The college graduates students with cutting-edge experience and a can-do attitude that the industry loves to see,” said Unnikrishnan. “It is the classical win-win partnership.”

Robert Espinoza, Ph.D., a professor of biology, teaches a room attendees about the differing diets of reptiles. (Robert Huskey / Daily Titan)

A biology professor from Cal State Northridge discussed his research surrounding small, cold-climate lizards that break the rules of plant-based diets in McCarthy Hall on Wednesday afternoon.

Robert Espinoza, Ph.D., discussed his research findings that explain how certain southern South American lizards do not fit the rules of what scientists have typically considered herbivores to be.

“Even though herbivory is rare, it does evolve from time to time and it usually evolves in large body lizards and in lizards that live in warm places,” Espinoza said.

He described the specific lizards he was researching in Argentina as plant eaters with small body types from cool places.

“Herbivores have a suite of morphological, physiological, ecological and behavioral adaptations that help them in procuring, digesting and assembling plants,” he said.

Espinoza described how unusual it is for a lizard to be a herbivore and how unusual their warm body temperatures can be as well.

According to Espinoza, some reptiles eat insects or other small animals and less than 1 percent of them eat plant matter.

Espinoza said the goals behind his research ultimately stem from the mystery as to why plant eating lizards are so rare.

“We are looking for a better understanding of the conditions that support the evolution of plant eating,” Espinoza said. “There are challenges to being a plant eater, so one of the questions is why would it even evolve at all if there are so many advantages to being a carnivore or omnivore.”

Espinoza said there are about 6,000 species of lizards alive today and that just 72 species are known to be herbivorous.

He explained that herbivores prefer and live in warm climates, because the gut microbes that do most of the work digesting plant matter require warm temperatures to operate.

“Herbivores have longer torsos and wider torsos so they can pack in more gut matter,” Espinoza said.

Espinoza said that in addition to herbivores being large lizards that carry big guts, knowing how they chew plants also helps to understand how they function as reptiles.

“Typical specializations for herbivores include these cusps or gibbets in the teeth with occasional serrations like a knife, to help slice,” Espinoza said. “It’s really not that these lizards are chewing, but they have to crop.”

He said that in order for herbivores to tear off a piece of a leaf to consume, they have to slice into it with the serrations on their teeth.

Espinoza said he hopes students that attended the presentation, grasped a sense of the fascination for doing original research and making discoveries.

“It’s really all about the fun of discovery, and I hope to impart that sense of wonderment that I still get when I make a new discovery,” Espinoza said. “Something that I know that no one else knows yet and i can contribute that to the fabric of science.”

Katie Blashford, 18, a business major, said she was unaware of the many species of lizards in the world.

“I found it interesting that lizards evolve,” Blashford said. “When you talk about evolution, they are hardy ever talking about lizards and that was interesting to learn.”

Titan Camp, for children from kindergarten through eighth grade, offers
six sessions of sport-related activities during the summer. (Courtesy of Cal State Fullerton)

Every year since 1969, Cal State Fullerton students have been volunteering at Camp Titan, a week-long summer camp program designed for the underprivileged youth of Orange County.

According to the Associated Students Inc. website, a group of concerned CSUF students who were worried about the community’s well-being, decided to take a philanthropic approach to improving community relations issues.

The group decided to dedicate their time and develop a program that would impact the lives of Orange County’s disadvantaged youth.

Over the years, Camp Titan has grown and is now sponsored and supported by ASI and accredited by the American Camping Association.

The camp, which is funded and supported by CSUF, will be staffed by 70 Cal State Fullerton students this year who will donate their time as counselors to the children who attend the program.

Ray Edmundson, Camp Titan director, said that the program is beneficial to a diverse range of students.

“It’s a great way to give back, also students get involved if its going to be their career path, like social work,” said Edmundson.

He also said that the Camp Titan program helps the students become responsible citizens, which benefits the community.

The campers and counselors will head out for one week from from June 16-22 to “Camp Oats” in the San Bernardino mountains.

They will participate in activities designed to make the children feel good about themselves.

“A lot of these kids come from tough backgrounds … so we want to leave them feeling good,” said Edmundson.

These programs are intended to help the children make new friends, instill confidence and heighten their levels of self-awareness.

The activities include a nature program, a craft program, swimming, hiking, canoeing and horseback riding, among others.

Edmundson said they also include topics like anti-bullying and understanding emotions into the program throughout the duration of camp.

Joseph Lopez, 25, a former ASI student president and CSUF alumnus, was a volunteer with the Camp Titan program for four years.

Lopez said he continued to come back year after year and participate with the organization because it was his absolute favorite program at CSUF.

“I will tell you what kept me involved for four summers … the songs,” Lopez said. “The songs were so great. There really is nothing that compares to seeing a kid’s face light up with pure enjoyment while singing a silly song at the top of their lungs.”

CSUF students who choose to get involved have to attend several training classes and counselor workshops to be prepared for the week of camp ahead of them in June.

“We had 150 students apply this year, they had to interview, write an essay and attend one training class per month up until camp,” Edmundson said.

Lopez said the counselors also walk away feeling good about being involved with the camp and have a sense of pride knowing that they were able to make a difference.

“In all honesty, by the end of the week you walk away knowing that you made a positive impact on a child’s life and the campers walk away with new role models to look up to,” said Lopez.

Community business leaders meet in Mihaylo Hall for the monthly Family Business Bootcamp sponsored by CSUF’s Center for Family Business. (Tim Worden / Daily Titan)

A group of experts on business banking, health benefits, legal issues and taxes met to offer advice to small business owners at the Family Business Boot Camp in Mihaylo Hall on Tuesday afternoon.

Each month, Cal State Fullerton’s Center for Family Business presents a free workshop for business-owners. The theme of Tuesday’s workshop was “Solutions for the Well-Being of Your Family Business.”

The panel consisting of a lawyer, tax professional, insurance expert and a banker took turns laying out how to take care of some of the biggest issues a family business can face.

Mark Boyes, a benefit consultant with Barney & Barney compensation consulting practice, said a major issue currently being faced by businesses is the transition into the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.

He said he believes health care in the U.S. is important, but the enactment of Obamacare will cost businesses.

“Benefits are cumbersome. They can be expensive and getting more expensive, and they can be very personal,” said Boyes.

Many employers feel the need, and see a benefit, from providing healthcare to their employees, he said.

Boyes explained that good health benefits make a business more competitive and appealing to talented employees, as well as cause them to be better able to retain employees and keep them healthy.

Social responsibility, he said, is what should urge these businesses to be willing to provide healthcare to employees.

“(Obamacare) encourages us to step back and look at employer-sponsored health plans in a different light,” he said. “We need to reevaluate what our strategies are.”

The recent passage of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act has impacted business banking like Obamacare has impacted healthcare planning.

Joe Hernandez is the senior vice president of City National Bank, which provides commercial banking services to businesses. He and his bank work closely with business owners and help clients through complicated business transactions.

The long-time banker walked the room through multiple examples of his experiences interfacing with clients and working for them.

When a business does business with banks or other businesses in other countries, it must jump through a variety of hoops while exchanging currency and negotiating payroll.

“All those television shows and all those movies that are done overseas, those local employees need to be paid with local currency,” he said.

Nancy Ferruzzo is a business tax attorney with Ferruzzo & Ferruzzo, a full-service law firm in Newport Beach.

She explained potential difficulties in what is called “business succession planning,” passing a business from one generation to the next, keeping it in the family.

Ferruzzo views succession planning as a type of hybrid area of the law, a combination of estate planning and business transaction.

Businesses can run into many issues when transferring power from one family member to another, she said.

Family members who do not actively participate in the business are sometimes given excessive power and a large bulk of profits, simply due to their blood, she explained was one problem occasionally faced by her clients.

One solution, Ferruzzo said, was to give more passive members of the family “non-voting” shares in the company. They will still be able to share in the profits, but their inaction will not impede action of the company.

She cautioned business owners to avoid giving family members equal ownership.

In one example she explained, a 50-50 split in ownership between siblings created headaches when the time comes to make major decisions, such as selling the company.

Another compulsion business owners should avoid, Ferruzzo said, is the desire to employ family members simply because they are family.

“You’ve got to run this like a business, if you’re going to have family members working in the business, they have to actually be good employees,” Ferruzzo said.

Johnathan Chen, 27, attended the event hoping to learn about some of the finer details of running a family business.

Chen is a manager at Titan Motors who has been working with his family since he was in high school. His involvement in the family business encouraged him to get a degree in accounting from the University of Southern California.

Titan Motors exports cars to clients in countries such as China and Taiwan. It is a subsidiary of Maxline, his parents’ automotive parts business, where Chen got his start.

He explained that while he hopes to one day lead the company, he has a lot of growing to do.

“They’ve been doing this for 20 to 30 years so they know exactly what is going on. I just need to figure out how exactly to run it as well as they do,” Chen said.

During the summers while he was in high school and college, he started as a salesperson, eventually working his way up to management.

Another attendee, John Summerfield, 65, is at the other end of the process. He is slowly weaning himself from involvement in the company as his three sons prepare to take over the business when he retires.

Summerfield’s parents started Cascade Pump Company in the ‘40s, and since 1969 he has run the company with his twin brother.

However, his children are showing promise as new leaders of the company, the interest and business talent encouraged him to pass on his business, he said.

David Griffin is a CSUF accounting grad and tax director with McGladrey assurance, tax and consulting company.

He explained that businesses should maintain good accounting practices, and a high level of cooperation between their advisors on taxes, legal issues and other issues.

Planning is key, according to Griffin, and keeping high-level advisors in the loop is worth the fees because it prevents expensive legal fees down the road.

One example he explained was a business which rarely sought any advice on tax or financial planning, and as a result was on the hook for a large lump sum of estate tax due when the business patriarch died.

Just 30 percent of family businesses survive the transition from one generation to the next, according to Ed Hart, who organized the event, but that number is higher for businesses which maintain good communication between advisors.

Robert Voeks, Ph.D., a geography professor, will study the relationships between plants and people in Africa. (Vanessa Martinez / Daily Titan)

Cal State Fullerton geography professor Robert A. Voeks, Ph.D., will research ethnobotanical relationships of traditional people in the tropics of Mozambique, Africa, during the 2013-2014 academic year.

Voeks will research the relationships between the Ronga and their local plants under the Fulbright Scholars Program fellowship.

The Fulbright Scholars Program is the most widely recognized international exchange program, according to their website. The program is designed to increase communication between the people of the United States and other countries.

Fulbright aims to find solutions to shared international concerns and is administered under the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Participants are chosen based on academic merit and leadership potential.

“We are very supportive of this great opportunity for Dr. Voeks,” said Mark Drayse, Ph.D, geography professor.

Voeks started an innovative research program in ethnobotany, according to Drayse. The research in Mozambique will help build upon previous studies found in Borneo and Brazil.

Voeks, who is fluent in Portuguese, was previously awarded a Fulbright in 1999 to conduct research in Brazil. He said he is interested in how the Ronga are “subsistence agriculturalists.”

The Ronga are the largest group of ethnic people in Mozambique and the most practical for the study, according to Voeks.

About 85 percent of the country’s population still farm for themselves. They grow, hunt, collect and fish daily, Voeks said.

“We’ll be looking at all different dimensions of ethnobotanical use and management by these people,” he said.

Gender roles, culture shifts and an increasing trade demand in Europe for medicinal plants are some of the dimensions.

While studying gender roles, Voeks will look at how men and women utilize various types of plants and the difference of uses.

Another dimension he will be looking at is the cultural shift occurring among the younger generation of the Ronga.

“Knowledge of botanical nature is disappearing among younger people,” Voeks said. “It’s a cultural concern just because (their) relationship with nature is a very, very strong part of their culture.”

He also said younger people are moving from a subsistence way with nature to commodification. According to Voeks, they are harvesting large amounts of medicinal plants to carry to South Africa and there, they are being exported to Western Europe.

“We are looking at this change from subsistence use of medicinal plants, just for what ails people in the community, to what (is now) an export item,” Voeks said. “Instead of just replacing pharmaceuticals for themselves, they are now actually selling them for money.”

The demand from Western Europe in natural medicinal plants raises concerns whether the plants will be driven to extinction, another aspect Voeks will research in Mozambique.

His faculty colleagues are looking forward to what Voeks will discover in the tropics and the knowledge he will bring back to CSUF through this fellowship program.

“I think it is tremendous that (Voeks) is now going to expand his global research expertise on medicinal plants to Southern Africa,” said Jonathan Taylor, Ph.D., professor and graduate advisor in the geography department. “We’re all extremely proud of Bob’s continued research achievements including this award.”

Helping to connect CSUF with the Portuguese-speaking world is Voeks’ goal from this trip.

“The world is multicultural and … being international is the only way we are going to survive,” Voeks said. “Everything we can do to expand our tentacles into the rest of the world and getting (students) here and getting us there … that’s the future.”

Cal State Fullerton completed a solar panel project on the top of the Eastside Parking Structure in January 2012, making efforts to promote sustainability. (John Pekcan / Daily Titan)

The California State University recently partnered with the United States Environmental Protection Agency Pacific Southwest Region to establish a cooperation over the next five years to help protect the environment while mutually benefiting both parties.

All 23 CSU campuses signed a Memorandum of Understanding, a three-page manuscript that establishes the cooperation with EPA Region 9.

The memorandum encourages students to participate in the environmental fields of study while helping the EPA attract a highly trained and diverse workforce.

The agreement states that CSU students will gain experience in environmental fields of study, internships and environmental volunteering, while the EPA attracts a highly qualified workforce.

The agreement also outlines the desire to educate students on the relationship between humans and the environment that includes “global aspects of environmental problems.”

Students have many employment opportunities with the EPA Region 9 through the collaboration, including participation in career fairs, on-campus career orientations and gaining awareness with CSU faculty and staff.

Students may also receive a letter of recommendation upon request if they complete projects directed by the EPA.

Elizabeth Chapin, a public affairs assistant for the CSU, said part of the agreement’s function is to make it easier for students to gain access to environmental internships with EPA Region 9, as well as to provide learning opportunities for faculty curriculum development and environmental related fields of study for students.

Chapin said there will be one designated person on each CSU campus that will relay information for environmental internships and opportunities.

“The collaboration is in its formative stage and the EPA is eventually going to develop a plan that’s going to include internships and outline its major research issues and the learning opportunities for faculty, staff, students … they are going to correlate with those research issues that are facing the state that the EPA will eventually be outlining as this progresses,” Chapin said.

Adam Nagourney, the Los Angeles bureau chief for the New York Times, speaks to patrons of Cal State
Fullerton’s Pollak Library on Saturday afternoon. (Mariah Carrillo / Daily Titan)

Adam Nagourney, Los Angeles bureau chief for the New York Times and co-author of Out for Good spoke at Cal State Fullerton’s Pollak Library on Saturday.

Out for Good is a commentary on the rise of the modern gay rights movement in America.

Nagourney, who has worked for the New York Times since 1996, spoke about the importance of covering and understanding politics and why he feels California’s politics and economy deserve the attention.

The born-and-raised New Yorker left his eight-year post as one of the top political reporters in the country to lead the New York Times bureau in Los Angeles.

Nagourney said leaving the east coast two and a half years ago has taken some adjustment.

“I love living here. I love the stories I am covering here, I love the people here, I love the environment … even the fact that it took me an hour and a half to get here from LA, I don’t even care, I just love it,” he said.

Nagourney said the importance of his job and California are reflected when editors at the New York Times choose stories about the Golden State for the front page, validating his belief that the world wants to know what is going on in the nation’s most populous state.

Although Nagourney now covers all things “news” in California, his expertise is politics.

As a political reporter for several publications over his career, Nagourney has covered every presidential campaign since 1988.

Suzanna Surbin, “Patrons of the Library” coordinator, said she had seen Nagourney on PBS and was impressed by his knowledge.

“We were delighted when we learned that he was out here now, and so we thought well, ‘we’ll give it a shot and try and get him,’” said Surbin.

Nagourney also spoke about why newspapers and reporters have an obligation to cover politics: so that people can better make informed decisions.

“I think newspapers have a real obligation to cover politics to help people understand what’s going on, to help people understand who the candidates are, to help people get above the back-and-forth of the you know the sort of trivialities of politics,” Nagourney said.

Nagourney also said other than reading the New York Times, it is important that people seek out information in order to understand politics.

“I think you become an expert on politics by doing it, reading it, reading history, going on campaigns, talking to people, learning; just absorb, absorb, absorb,” Nagourney said.

Dom Magwili, an Asian-American studies professor, participates in a discussion about the film Paulina at Cal State Fullerton on Monday. (Tim Worden / Daily Titan)

Director and screenplay writer Caylee So spoke about family, addiction and sacrifice—the themes of her film Paulina—at Cal State Fullerton on Monday.

So gave a lecture and presentation aimed at opening people’s eyes and giving them insight into the Cambodian gambling community and the personal battles that some individuals face directly and indirectly.

The event, at McCarthy Hall, was sponsored by the Asian-American Studies Program and hosted by Asian American studies professor Eliza Noh, Ph.D.

So was born in a refugee camp in Thailand in 1981 after her parents fled from Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia. She and her family immigrated to the United States when she was 3 years old.

She later went on to earn her M.F.A. in film production at Chapman University’s Dodge College of Film and Media Arts.

The film was shot in 10 days at seven different locations throughout Long Beach. In the end, about $30,000 was spent to make the movie possible, said So.

The film follows a 17-year-old girl living in the Cambodian community in Long Beach, struggling with her and her father’s gambling addictions.

As a result, her relationship with her older sister Sopheap, who had been looking after Paulina since their mother passed away, gradually becomes strained.

In the end, Paulina is forced to either continue living the troubled life she was leading, or leave it all behind.

According to Frank Martinez, editor of Paulina, the film took about two months to edit.

For Martinez, it was a culture shock working on the film because he was not too familiar with the Cambodian community.

“I was so in love with a lot of the community stuff that I … (wanted) to show people this,” Martinez said. “For me, it was an experience of discovering a community. A lot of it was hard because I don’t speak the language.”

Due to the subject of the film, Paulina had resulted in numerous talks and debates over whether or not this film put the Cambodian community in a negative light, according to So.

She said it has left some people wondering why she focused on a negative side of the community.

So went on to discuss an older Cambodian woman who, after seeing the film, felt “ashamed” to be Cambodian.

“There are people who think this was a very good thing for the community, because now we get to talk about it openly,” she said.

Dom Magwili, an Asian-American studies professor, said the film was “very insightful,” and that he is considering on adding Paulina into his class syllabus for the students to watch.

“I have a point of view of Asian- American film. It perpetuates stories,” said Magwili. “The whole reason we have Asian-American studies, I think, is to perpetuate our stories. Sometimes we just don’t exist in the general scheme of things.”

So recently earned the Linda Mabalot New Directors/New Visions Award for her film Paulina at the 2013 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival.

This was the first time the film was screened in an actual classroom.

“We have taken Paulina on tour, in which we have gone to universities and shown it to a smaller crowd, not a classroom setting but more like an event,” said So. “So we have been to Stockton, Sacramento (and) the University of the Pacific.”

Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs José Cruz, Ph.D., spoke about the difficulties that America is facing in higher education and how Cal State Fullerton is enacting a five-year plan in order to increase graduation rates and make more individuals ready in terms of global competitiveness in the job market.

“Gatherings such as (the All College Forum) … are very important,” said Cruz, “because it’s about seeing about how we can align all of our energies.”

Cruz said that even with mounting tensions through federal and state budget cuts, CSUF is looking to make a major impact even in a difficult economy.

“We don’t have a lot of money. We have time, we have energy and we have talent,” said Cruz. “So how do we invest those in the next five years to make sure that we do make Cal State Fullerton a national model comprehensive university?”

Anil Puri, Ph.D., dean of the College of Business and Economics, outlined the overall five-year plan of CSUF and how the changes will lead to higher graduation rates and a better and more diverse environment for faculty and staff.

Puri mentioned that the expectations of raising graduation rates for freshman and transfer students is a realistic expectation.

He said he hopes CSUF exceeds its expectations, but was careful not to create an unrealistic level of achievement for such a short period of time.

“The hope is, and expectation is, that you’ll exceed (the guidelines of the five-year plan),” said Puri. “These percentages are thoroughly reachable … we don’t want to set a target that we cannot meet, both the University level and college level.”

A ceremony was also held to announce various awards, given by Chiranjeev Kohli, Ph.D., a professor of business marketing.

Overall, 45 individuals were awarded for their service to the college in such categories as staff excellence, faculty excellence and a continued excellence in published work.

After the awards ceremony, Puri announced the arrival of 10 new staff members and appointed Kohli as the new Brand Manager for the College of Business and Economics.

Kohli said that with his new position, he could create more awareness for the outreach of the college of business and economics and increase the reputation of the College of Business and Economics.

“The outlook is going, we’re doing a lot of good things,” said Kohli. “A lot of entrepreneurial activities we’re pursuing and these are things which will get us noticed.”

Shaun Pichler, Ph.D., an associate professor of management, was the recipient of awards for faculty fellows and continued excellence in publications–a feat meaning that Pichler must maintain a specific level of research productivity which results in being published in quality publications over his time at CSUF.

Since Pichler joined CSUF in 2009, he has published 15 articles in various publications.

Pichler said he thinks the direction of the university’s five-year plan is solid, especially with the efforts of President Mildred García and the College of Business and Economics making similar goals with its own plans.

“Of course, the exciting part for me is that the goals and objectives are, I think, very closely aligned with the CSUF strategy,” said Pichler. “So it really gives us a cohesive way to think about things.”

The Orange County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals brought therapy dogs to campus on May 9 to provide a stress-free environment for attendees. (John Pekcan / Daily Titan)

Mental health care access is free and accessible to students seeking extended education across the nation, yet data shows that most students with mental disorders do not seek treatment.

The study, published in 2007 by the Medical Care Journal, titled “Help-Seeking and Access to Mental Health Care in a University Student Population,” focused on why students with mental disorders—who have access to free short-term psychotherapy—do not receive treatment.

Such factors include the attitudes and beliefs about services as well as a lack of awareness and familiarity of service options.

According to a study conducted by Health Services Research, delays in initial treatment contact after the first onset of a mental disorder are important factors of the larger problem of unmet need for mental health care in the U.S.

Research from the National Comorbidity Survey reports that most mental disorders first emerge between the ages of 15 and 24.

Active Minds, a student organization at Cal State Fullerton, is committed to changing the way students perceive mental health.

Stephanie Lopez, the president of Active Minds, said the group promotes mental health on campus.

“There’s a lot of stigma attached to seeking mental help … we tell students on campus where resources are like the student health and counseling centers are or … the Women’s Center … to make them aware because some students don’t even know where the counseling center is or that we even have one,” Lopez said.

According to the study “mental health in young adulthood is associated with substance use, academic achievement, employment and other social outcomes later in life.”

The most prominent factor found by the research for why students do not seek help was a lack of perceived need for help as well as the belief that stress and lack of time in school is normal.

“The age range 18-24 is when students develop behaviors … and a lot of times people think they’re supposed to have it all figured out when really, learning effective coping mechanisms and figuring out how to deal with stress and roll with the punches … you have to be taught that,” said Liz Blache, vice-president of Active Minds.

Matt Englar-Carlson, Ph.D., a professor of educational psychology and co-director of the Center for Boys and Men at CSUF, completes research on campus on mental health.

According to Englar-Carlson, there are many social stereotype factors that keep college-age men from seeking help.

“Health care access data suggests that women are much more likely to seek help and better at doing preventative care as well,” Englar-Carlson said.

Englar-Carlson worked at a counseling center at Pennsylvania State University when he began noticing a pattern of men who waited for a crisis situation to occur before seeking help.

He said this sparked his curiosity to investigate further, which brought him to his current position at CSUF.

“As a counselor, you’re band-aiding things as opposed to really building skills,” said Englar-Carlson. “I certainly understood it, as a man growing up in this culture, I understand it, but I also thought we could do a lot better.”

The 2012 National College Health Assessment, an on-campus survey, reported 32 percent of the student population believes stress directly impacted their academic achievement.

“Cal State Fullerton is two times higher the national average in decree social support … we’re thinking it has a lot to do with the fact that we’re a commuter school,” Blache said.

Lisa Weisman-Davlantes, Ph.D., a psychology professor at CSUF, said the disconnect of social support can be aided through freshman programs, which she will teach in the upcoming fall semester.

“We take them on tours, we show them all the resources on campus, we have speakers come into the classroom and they have a community so at least they know 25 other people … the first couple of weeks they’re here … there’s a lot of confusion about how much is available on the campus, a lot of people don’t know about the resources,” Weisman-Davlantes said.

Weisman-Davlantes added that she believes a major stress factor for college students is the pressure, both internal and external, to succeed.

“You’re stressed out because you have deadlines … you might be away from home for the first time. You have pressures to finish, now money is being payed for your education … and then you start getting anxious, you start getting depressed,” Weisman-Davlantes said.

Miguel Ramirez, 21, an Active Minds member and third-year accounting major at CSUF, joined the group when he realized the disdain associated with homelessness in the country and the pressures of succeeding.

“We often congratulate and praise those that succeed but shun and forget about people that fail … I think that leads to a lot of problems with depression,” Ramirez said. “People own their failures and feel like it’s all their fault when in reality sometimes it was out of their hands.”

In order to alleviate the pressures of social stigmas attached to seeking help, Weisman-Davlantes said people must “normalize” the act of asking for help.

“Everybody in their life is going to be clinically depressed, according to the DSM IV … congratulations, you’re human,” she said.

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual IV is a book that classifies mental disorders and is published by the American Psychiatric Association.

Weisman-Davlantes and Englar- Carlson both said stress levels and mental disorders are similar on all college campuses.

They also agreed that it is normal for students to struggle with mental disorders at some point during their college career and they encourage students to ask for help.

“We have to encourage and emphasize that college is not just about getting grades, it’s about becoming a person,” Weisman- Davlantes said.

Garrett Braber IV, a linguistics and Japanese major, was leaving his friend’s condominium around midnight when a car, an orange Mitsubishi collided with his vehicle.

A Fullerton police officer inspects the remains of the Toyota sedan after impact. The victim of the crash, which occured around midnight on Saturday, is in critical care and is being treated for broken ribs. (David Hood / Daily Titan)

The driver of the other vehicle, a blue sedan, fled in an “unknown direction,” according to a Fullerton Police statement, while Braber was stuck inside his vehicle.

Rescue crews had to cut through the top of Braber’s white Toyota sedan to get him out. He is currently at UCI Medical Center in critical but stable condition, said his father, Gary Braber.

“Basically, the broken ribs and bruises and all that stuff, so far, is all that’s showed up,” said Gary, about Garrett’s injuries.

According to Gary, AAA has already requested an accident report and said that since Garrett was hurt, the suspect(s) will most likely be charged with a felony.

Garrett’s friend, senior linguistics and Japanese major Eliot Cossaboom, heard five to seven seconds of tires screeching outside his condo. When he arrived on the scene, he instantly recognized Garrett’s vehicle and went to the hospital.

“When I first heard it, it was five to six-seven seconds of tires screeching—just a really, really long time. We ran outside just when my other roommate was getting home and said he thought he saw Garrett’s car,” said Cossaboom.

Anyone with knowledge of the incident or the driver of the blue vehicle is requested to contact Fullerton police investigator Moon at (714) 738-6813.

Norton’s book discussion focused on the meaning of happiness and the way views have changed from Aristotle to modern philosophy.

Cathie Allman, president of the English, Comparative Literature, and Linguistics Department Alumni Chapter, which hosted the event, said creating a dialogue between alumni, grad students and members of the community is important due to the interesting subject matter of Norton’s book.

His book takes a new look at old philosophies of happiness and how they still affect modern life.

“I always felt that being part of the alumni association keeps me first connected to people with like interests,” said Allman. “But also I thought that this would be a good way for us to kinda keep up with new trends.”

During the discussion, Norton read several passages from his book and posed the question of what happiness means to the audience members. He also shared his opinions on famous happiness philosophies from philosophical figures such as René Descartes, Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Denis Diderot.

Norton also spoke about how different enlightenment-era philosophers held varied and sometimes conflicting views of the obtainability of happiness.

Some views sometimes centered around happiness being obtainable only in the afterlife while others believed that happiness was relative from person to person and was achievable.

“On one hand you have the idea of happiness, this new 18th century idea,” Norton said. “Traditionally the enlightenment was seen as legitimizing the earthly pursuit of happiness as opposed to the old Augustinian, Calvinist idea where you wait until you die. In this world, leave happiness for the next world.”

Norton said the idea of happiness has changed from a religious reward for a virtuous life to instead be proclaimed as a law of being, that every human being has the right to a form of happiness.

During the discussion, various audience members shared their own views regarding happiness and the illusion of happiness, especially when dealing with past events.

CSUF alumni and community member Marla Kaufman said people tend to cling to old memories as a means of obtaining happiness.

“I think that a nostalgia for childhood is very common,” Kaufman said. “A time when you didn’t know the harshness of the world or that the days were simpler. … I think people try to recapture that in someway later and you can in little spaces in your life.”

In the consumer-dominated minds of modern time, some audience members said that society pressures people into wanting a big house and a high-salary job as a means of obtaining happiness through physical belongings.

John Peecher, an English Alumni Chapter member, said new views of consumerism are engulfing American society and have been a driving force for many years.

“Our ideas of success and failure didn’t even come into play until the 19th century,” Peecher said. “When we started to apply economic terms to the person, thats a growing concern.”

While confirming an overall drive toward consumerism and greed, Norton said that psychological studies have confirmed that while the ownership of property and wealth is a source of short-term happiness, it is not a lasting or fulfilling long-term emotion.

“I do think that clearly living in America, 21st century America, and in California too, our culture sends us messages that you can buy happiness, success and success means things,” Norton said. “So I do think that’s happening, I do think that our culture has gone that direction.”

Even after confirming a somewhat greedy cultural attitude for Americans, Norton still believes that happiness comes from simple virtues of kindness and selflessness.

A male reproductive organ painted in oil is displayed on a women’s bathroom door on campus. (Mariah Carrillo)

For thousands of years, humans have communicated by leaving their mark on walls. Classically, messages of the hunt, faith and culture were conveyed through rudimentary wall paintings.

In present day, the walls of bathrooms have become a place for students to have their message read by the constant stream of students who use the restrooms on campus.

Karen Stocker, Ph.D., an anthropology professor, leads a study of bathroom graffiti for her Introduction to Cultural Anthropology class.

Stocker has students document the different forms of bathroom graffiti, which has become ever-present on the Cal State Fullerton campus.

She has been studying campus graffiti for about 10 years and said she has noticed both patterns and changes in graffiti.

“When I first started having students document bathroom graffiti, one of the most common forms of graffiti involved the “I (heart) …” construction, in which women’s room walls were emblazoned with declarations of love for named individuals,” Stocker said.

Stocker said those types of statements have declined, but others have stayed more consistent.

“Some patterns that emerge semester after semester have to do with advice, expression of hatred and expression of love,” she said.

Depending on the sex of a person, there appears to be a difference in what is written on the stalls, according to Stocker.

She added that women’s restrooms often contain hatred or denigrate named women on the basis of their perceived sexual activity.

Stocker said she has seen a big difference in terms of how graffiti is used in men’s restrooms versus in women’s restrooms.

Women have a lot of advice asked and given and it is taken seriously by them, whereas men usually do not.

“It is common to see advice sought on women’s rooms walls, and also many written responses in which people weigh in on the issue in question,” said Stocker.

She said her research study is not yet complete and the study needs more involvement by student subjects and would require the permission of the university.

Graffiti has been a consistent issue throughout the years, according to those tasked with its removal.

Terri Thompson, custodial services manager, has been working at CSUF for 10-and-a-half years and said bathroom vandalism has been occurring since before she stepped foot on campus.

“When the custodian notices the graffiti, they’re supposed to try and remove it themselves with the graffiti remover and often times whatever has been written … sometimes when it’s on tile for example he can’t get that off,” said Thompson.

Thompson said the custodians occasionally have to call in a painter to sand the walls and cover up the graffiti.

“We’ve had wipes, like graffiti removal wipes, we’ve had sprays, we’ve tried a lot of things” said Thompson. “Some of them are really good and some just can’t tackle it.”

Although the custodians try to clean the graffiti as soon as they notice it, sometimes it is not easy if they are short staffed, or if they forget, according to Thompson.

“It’s really sad that brand-new buildings go up and students feel like they have to deface it somehow,” she said. “The more buildings we put up, the more graffiti we get it seems.”

Thompson said the buildings with the most graffiti are the Pollak Library, McCarthy Hall and the Humanities Building.

She said the bathrooms are checked multiple times during the day, but sometimes attempting to take care of the graffiti problem can cause the custodians to neglect other cleaning tasks.

Stocker said the reason there is still bathroom graffiti on campus could be due to the fact that it is prevalent elsewhere.

“People grow up seeing it and in that way it becomes established as a form of expression and communication,” Stocker said.

The study that Stocker conducts also probes why a certain building can get a lot of attention from graffitists while others do not.

Stocker said a more in-depth study would have to be done to determine whether or not this has something to do with maintenance schedules.

However, she said it may also have something to do with different cultures prevailing the different colleges on campus.

Stocker said during this study, students often mentioned the “culture” of a given building and that culture dictates what type of expression is deemed appropriate.

“(It) may have to do with the focal point of majors housed in that building or with more formal rules and their degree of enforcement,” said Stocker.

Roxanne Parga, 22, a business administration major, said she thinks the graffiti is funny for the most part.

Parga said she has seen some tasteless things in the bathroom, along with a lot of graffiti asking for advice.

“There are a lot of internet memes on there and when you see it makes you smile,” said Parga. “You have a bad day and you see a Spongebob reference or Doctor Who reference, it’s funny.”

Thompson said bathroom graffiti can be minimized on campus but it will take a collected help from students and faculty.

“It’s not just the custodians responsibility, were not here 24/7, so if anybody sees any kind of graffiti anywhere, they too can call into the extension 3494 and report it and we’ll do what we can to take care of it,” said Thompson. “So it’s really the responsibility of everyone on campus to be aware of it and to help us out.”

Sean Lema, Ph.D., discusses phenotypic plasticity of pupfish in different environments among the several pupfish species in Death Valley. (Robert Huskey / Daily Titan)

A biology professor from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo spoke on his research about the behavior and flexibility of pupfishes, a small sized fish species in the Death Valley region of California and Nevada, in McCarthy Hall on Wednesday.

Sean Lema, Ph.D., discussed “phenotypic plasticity,” which is the flexibility of pupfishes to show different structure in different environments among the several species of pupfishes in Death Valley.

Lema said the two main goals of the pupfish research is to better understand how organisms are connected to their environment in an effort to comprehend how species change over time, while also helping to conserve the many imperiled pupfishes that evolved in deserts.

“The other thing is receptors,” said Lema. “We are trying to understand more of this system and how you can couple and decouple these different traits in evolutionary context and in plasticity context, that are regulated by the same hormone by looking at different ABT receptor regulations.”

Lema said his interest in pupfishes developed when he would take camping trips to Death Valley

(Courtesy of Cal State Fullerton)

Community members have expanded the search for a Cal State Fullerton student and Army veteran who has been missing for a week.

Campus officials from University Outreach and Veterans Certification have begun a campaign to search for Maribel Ramos, 36, a criminal justice major, who was last seen May 2.

A makeshift resource center has been set up in Langsdorf Hall Room 540 near University Outreach, where Ramos works as a coordinator with student veterans.

The room is equipped with maps, posters and resources for people to aid the search for Ramos.

The civilian search effort is headed by University Outreach assistant director Delia Tijerina and veterans certification officer Brenda Estrada.

About 30 volunteers searched on Tuesday, focusing around Ramos’ house in Orange, according to Estrada and Tijerina. Dozens continued searching Wednesday.

Estrada said the search pairs scour possible places Ramos may have gone as well as area trails.

“Yesterday we had a group of volunteers that went out and pretty much targeted the area where she lives. We did bus stops, we did businesses, we pretty much went everywhere with fliers,” Estrada said.

Search groups call in the locations they travel to so that the fliers are efficiently placed, and the missing person posters have also been placed around campus.

Ramos was still listed as missing as of Wednesday afternoon since no crime or suspect has been identified by detectives, said Orange police Sgt. Fred Lopez.

Specifics of the investigation cannot be disclosed since the search is ongoing, he added.

“They have been working day and night to try to resolve this,” Lopez said.

A Facebook page, “Find Maribel Ramos,” has been set up by Ramos’ family to keep the family and community updated.

Ramos gave a presentation in Chicago on Wednesday May 1 about transitioning from military life to being a student. She worked at University Outreach on Thursday, going home just hours before she was last seen at her house, Estrada said.

She was last seen at her house around 8:30 p.m. on Thursday, Lopez said.

Ramos, who is expected to graduate in May, was not present at the Veterans Appreciation Night ceremony on Saturday, where she was scheduled to give a speech on behalf of the graduating veterans.

Estrada and Tijernia said they thought it unusual that Ramos did not show up since Ramos was anticipating speaking at the dinner.

“She’s very responsible, it’s very uncharacteristic of her not to show up. At that point it just became concerning,” Estrada said.

As a veterans coordinator, Ramos works at the University Outreach office to help fellow veterans on campus.

“She’s a leader within the veteran community on campus, and not only that, she’s a leader in the student community,” Estrada said.

A former sergeant who served in the Army for eight years and served in Afghanistan, Iraq and South Korea, Ramos was also active in the campus’ Student Veterans Association group, Estrada said.

Estrada said it is important for students to know that even though Ramos has physical and psychological military training, something like becoming a missing person can happen to anyone.

“I know that it wasn’t until this happened and it hit close to home that for me it made it more of an awareness,” Estrada said.

According to the university website, Ramos had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Tijerina said that students can share the missing person fliers to help expand the search efforts. She expects to have an expanded search through Orange on Friday.

“Don’t let this go, people can’t keep winning. There’s too much good in the world, and life is too special to miss. … We need Maribel, we need her back,” Tijerina said.

Students can contact the Orange Police Department at (714) 744-7313.

Craig McConnell, Ph.D., associate professor of liberal studies at CSUF, will present a lecture on Albert Einstein in Langsdorf Hall Room 321 on Thursday. (Courtesy of Craig McConnell)

A Cal State Fullerton professor will give a lecture Thursday to address the different personas of Albert Einstein.

The lecture will begin at 5:30 p.m. in Langsdorf Hall Room 321.

Craig McConnell, Ph.D., an associate professor of liberal studies, will present “The Nine Lives of Albert Einstein,” an exploration of public perceptions people had of the iconic physicist and how they have survived over time.

McConnell, who is also the director of the Center for the History and Philosophy of Science, Technology and Medicine (CHPSTM), said this exploration is completed by examining various biographies about Einstein.

He said many early biographies were written with help from Einstein and other biographies were written by people who knew and worked with him. There have also been biographies written by people who have had access to Einstein’s papers.

Obscure biographies dating back to the ‘20s and ‘30s often illustrated the public’s fascination with Einstein’s origin and development, according to McConnell.

McConnell said most people automatically recognize Einstein as a genius; it is the first word on people’s minds when his name is uttered. However, Einstein was not always looked at from this perspective.

Einstein has also been seen as a pacifist, a philosopher and a “cuddly avuncular (person) … a guy who was nice to kids,” said McConnell.

He became interested in the subject because of his background knowledge of the history of modern physics and because of his personal interest in Einstein biographies.

The title of his lecture was inspired by Jan Sapp’s “Nine Lives of Gregor Mendel.”

McConnell said he discovered the article during his time in graduate school.

“The first thought I had was, maybe someone ought to write something like that about Einstein. And 15 years later, I decided maybe I better write something,” he said.

He said he hopes his lecture will shed light on how physicists’ personalities affect their work.

“One of the things I think is really important about this is the way we tell stories about Einstein shapes the way we tell stories about every other physicist in the world,” McConnell said. “I think maybe hearing this talk will make people a little more critical of the stories they hear about science and how it gets done and who’s best suited to do it.”

This research is a new project for McConnell. He added that he hopes to eventually turn his work into an article.

Andrea Patterson, a CSUF assistant professor of liberal studies, said McConnell has given talks on Einstein in the past in a different context.

She said McConnell’s other research interests include cosmology from the ‘50s to the ‘70s, science in literature and science in popular culture.

Patterson, who will introduce McConnell at the event, said she is looking forward to hearing what he has to say.

She said the lecture should be interesting for everyone and students from all majors should able to understand what McConnell presents.

“I think this event and events like these sponsored by CHPSTM are so interdisciplinary that they really reach everyone … this talk in particular talks about the popular images, it talks about perceptions, psychology (and) about culture,” said Patterson.

She added that students will be able to find a way to connect with the subject matter, regardless of their majors.

“The Nine Lives of Albert Einstein” will be the eighth lecture in CHPSTM’s colloquium series, which has included multiple interdisciplinary discussions throughout the year.

Online cheating is a growing concern with the emergence of online education embraced by the Cal State University and University of California systems. (Photo illustration by John Pekcan & Robert Huskey / Daily Titan)

The Cal State University and University of California systems are looking to bolster their online education programs in order to make room for the growing demand of students enrolling in California institutions while combatting online cheating.

Private colleges, public universities and corporations have widely embraced online education, investing millions of dollars to tap into the vast pool of potential students.

Next year’s CSU budget contains $10 million in online strategies in an attempt to get students through high-demand or over-crowded courses.

Although online courses have existed for more than a decade, the debate over cheating has heated up in the last year with the emergence of massive open online classes (MOOCs), according to a Los Angeles Times article.

The article included that MOOCs can accommodate thousands of students in one class, making it difficult to reduce cheating.

Despite worries about online deception, studies show that there is not much difference in the amount of cheating that occurs in online versus real classrooms.

A 2010 study in the Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration found that 32.7 percent of online students self-reported cheating at least once on a test, compared to 32.1 percent of those in on-campus classes.

A Cal State Fullerton junior, who preferred to be left anonymous, admitted to cheating on a test he had in a past class that had a large amount of students.

“I cheated in classes with a lot of students, I’d pull out a cheat sheet or take out my notes because it’s hard for a teacher to look over all the students,” the junior said. “I would think an online class with that many students would be even easier to cheat.”

CSUF offers online degrees in sociology and business administration.

Students who enroll in this program are required to log into their course on a regular basis and engage in online discussions.

CSUF combats online cheating by using an online proctoring system called ProctorU.

When a student picks a date to take their tests, a proctor is scheduled to observe the student.

Before a student starts their online test, a webcam is activated on the students computer for the proctor so they can watch and listen to the student taking the test, according to the ProctorU tutorial.

The student must take the webcam and scan the room by moving it 360 degrees around the room. This way, the proctor can see what is on the desk, desktop screen, or elsewhere to make sure there are no opportunities to cheat, according to the tutorial.

The tutorial added that the student is required to show picture ID so the proctor knows the right person is taking the test on the computer.

Throughout a test, proctors observe everything the student is doing during the test.

The proctors are looking to see if eyes are consistently moving away from the monitor or if students are listening to someone give them answers, according to the tutorial.

If the proctor is suspicious about anything, they can either freeze or cancel the test.

J.P. Goodman, a senior criminal justice major, is taking two online courses.

He has not used ProctorU yet, but he does use other anti-cheating systems.

“I have to turn all my papers into a website called Turnitin for my advanced college writing course,” said Goodman. “It tells the professor whether I plagiarized or not by scanning the Internet to see if I copied material without giving it the proper accreditation.”

In Goodman’s online course, his professor proctors the amount of time it takes students to answer each question.

“In my introduction to computer applications course, my professor looks for patterns in the length of time it takes us to answer the questions. He looks for anything suspicious in the length of time it took to answer each question on tests,” Goodman said.

Goodman has used Turnitin since he was in high school and said the anti-cheating website helps deter him from cheating on any of his papers.

Kryterion, an anti-cheating service, reported suspicious activity in 16 percent of tests it monitors.

Most of suspicious activity spotted are students answering their cell phones or somebody entering the student’s room during a test.

Some classes are completely revamped in an effort to discourage cheating, according to the Los Angeles Times. High-stake cumilative final exams are replaced with frequent, small assessments.

Kelsey Jordana, a sophomore radio-TV-film major, said it is better to have more assignments or tests that are worth less rather than have fewer assignments, or test worth a large percentage of the grade.

“The pressure of finals or other big tests that can make or break your grade can sometimes drive students to make poor decisions like cheating,” Jordana said. “I believe it’s the fear of failing that drives students to cheat.”

Students can now earn degrees without ever stepping foot onto a college campus.

But, the addition of more online degrees comes with the responsibility to make sure proper procedures are in effect to fight online cheating.