NOTE: Faculty, if you are interviewed and quoted by news media, or if your work has been cited, and you have an online link to the article or video, please let us know. Contact us at news@csusb.edu.

CSUSB Palm Desert Campus students assist in the Black Church Media Project to assist in streaming services
The Desert Sun
Feb. 7, 2021

A feature on the history of the First Baptist Church in Palm Springs reported that Lacey Kendall and her students at the California State University, San Bernardino Palm Desert Campus began working with Pastor Rodney Croom and First Baptist this past summer. Croom and Kendall are part of a new initiative, the Black Church Media Project, to support historic houses of worship.

Kendall, a local broadcaster, media consultant and faculty member at CSUSB Palm Desert Campus, says helping the church “appealed to our team because they do and have offered so many services to their communities (free food, counseling, senior assistance, grief counseling, mentoring, and ministry to anyone of any color, faith, or lack of faith). This year, they have endured more than most.” The pandemic has deeply affected the community served by First Baptist Church.

The Black Church Media Project aims to provide streaming services and therefore connection to community during these precarious times. Kendall says, “This project is so dear to our team of students, administrators, and teachers. It means everything to us to see this project to completion.” Those interested in learning more may contact her at lacey@csusb.edu.

Read the complete article at “History: First Baptist Church's dedication to the community.”

Paper on results of ‘citizen science’ team led by CSUSB professor is published
The Los Angeles Post
Feb. 4, 2021

Bree Putman, assistant professor of biology at CSUSB and a research associate at the Natural History Museums of Los Angeles County (NHMLAC), was part of a team that worked with community members as a way to more-effectively study urban wildlife. This effort, termed community science by NHMLAC, is also known as citizen science. Their study on the effort, which focused on the native alligator lizard, was published in the journal Scientific Reports.

Putman and Greg Pauly, NHMLAC curator of herpetology set out to understand what challenges the alligator lizard faces in urban areas. From photographs submitted online by the community, Pauly, Putman, and their team were able to determine whether lizards had experienced a tail break, an adaptation to escape a predatory attack. They were also able to count the number of ticks attached to the ear region.

“With hundreds of people just submitting a few photographs at a time, we gathered valuable data on predation and parasitism in a secretive animal that would have been near impossible using traditional research methods. It’s an incredible achievement of crowd-sourcing for conservation research” said Putman, the lead author of the study.

Read the complete article at “New study by NHMLAC Urban Nature Research Center uses community science to demonstrate the challenges and opportunities of city-living for native lizards.”

The study cited in the article can be found online at “The power of community science to quantify ecological interactions in cities.”

Palm Springs city manager, a CSUSB adjunct instructor, receives prestigious award from League of California Cities
NBC Palm Springs
Feb. 6, 2021

Palm Springs City Manager David H. Ready was awarded the Wes McClure City Manager’s Award of Distinction from the League of California Cities. Ready, who teaches public administration part-time as an adjunct faculty member at Cal State San Bernardino, was chosen to receive the competitive award by at-large members of the City Managers’ Department.

Read the complete article at “Palm Springs city manager receives prestigious award from League of California Cities.”

These news clips and others may be viewed at “In the Headlines.”