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 alumna and adjunct professor launches STEM scholarship in honor of her grandmother
The Press-Enterprise
Aug. 31, 2021
A tribute to her grandmother by Gracie Torres, a Cal State San Bernardino alumna and now adjunct professor of chemistry, has led to $500 scholarships for six Riverside high school graduates interested in STEM careers.
Torres, the first Latina to serve on the Western Municipal Water District board and a chemist at the Riverside County Flood Control and Water Conservation District, launched the scholarship program in honor of her grandmother Angelita, who grew up in a tiny town in Durango, Mexico, and devoted her life to teaching her nine children about the power of education.
Not mentioned in the article is that Torres earned her bachelor’s degree in chemistry/biochemistry and master’s in earth and environmental science from CSUSB.
Read the complete article at “Six Riverside high school seniors win $500 scholarships to pursue STEM careers.”
CSUSB professor interviewed for article, ‘A popular surfing instructor, QAnon, and an unspeakable horror’
Los Angeles Times
Sept. 2, 2021
Brian Levin, director of Cal State San Bernardino’s Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism, was interviewed for an article about the possible influence the conspiracy movement QAnon had over a man who killed his two young children. While the man told FBI agents he had been influenced by it, experts caution against speculation on how much impact it may have had on the crime.
“It’s not unusual for people who have mental illness to become distressed by whatever is the shiny object in sociopolitical discourse,” said Levin. QAnon “is a flexible a la carte menu,” he said, such that “angry people, dyed-in-the-wool extremists and those with emotional difficulties can all drink from the same well.”
The result, Levin added, is that QAnon can free followers to “build their own hybrid type of motivation for violence.”
Read the complete article at “A popular surfing instructor, QAnon, and an unspeakable horror.”
CSUSB professor discusses report that U.S. extremists are praising Taliban’s ousting U.S. from Afghanistan
KNX Radio Los Angeles
Sept. 2, 2021
Brian Levin, director of CSUSB’s Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism, commented on a news report that white supremacists and anti-government extremists have expressed admiration for the Taliban’s ouster of the United States from Afghanistan, and how that may play out domestically.
Levin said there are parallels between what the Taliban did and what extremists aspire to do. “It’s kind of a David-versus-Goliath narrative that the United States is viewed, that the United States is being viewed as illegitimate and feeble, and having an Achilles heel that a small number of fanatics could take down.”
These news clips and others may be viewed at “In the Headlines.”