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.  

Ending isolation: What can be done to help Coachella Valley seniors as they struggle with pandemic-caused loneliness?
Coachella Valley Independent
March 29, 2023

A recent panel discussion at the Cal State San Bernadino Palm Desert Campus, “Reducing Isolation Among Our Older Friends and Neighbors,” organized by the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI), included by Eric Vogelsang, director of the Center on Aging and professor of sociology at CSUSB.

Is it possible for older adults to self-evaluate their “social health” in an attempt to ascertain if they’re experiencing symptoms of social isolation and loneliness? Vogelsang, in a subsequent interview, said, “Certainly, the number of close relationships one has, incorporating both a quantity and quality component,” could be an indicator. “Also, do you trust others, and do you feel that you can count on them? That’s usually one of the questions that I’ll ask people. Close family relationships are important, as are close ties or relationships with non-family members. … Also, being socially active is important for older adults. That could mean going out to lunch with your best friend, but also, it could include being part of a club, or community center, or an exercise group. Even if those people aren’t your best friends, it is still a way to stay socially engaged with others in the community.”

According to ConsumerAffairs.com, 60% of U.S. men and 71% of women over the age of 65 feel more lonely now than before the pandemic. The U.S. Census Bureau reports that 32 percent of Coachella Valley residents are 60 years of age or older—a higher percentage than both Riverside County and the state of California as a whole—meaning there are a lot of lonely people living along us.

Also participating were Beth Jaworski, the executive director of CSUSB’s Health Counseling and Wellness, and Angela Allen, OLLI Palm Desert Campus director.

CSUSB’s Leonard Transportation Center chief hopes to build a more sustainable IE
Redlands-Loma Linda Patch
March 30, 2023

From her positions as a professor of public administration in the Jack H. Brown College of Business and Public Administration and executive director of the William and Barbara Leonard Transportation Center (LTC), Kimberly Collins sees the potential for Inland Empire students in earning a Cal State San Bernardino degree in the field of supply chain, logistics and transportation management.

CSUSB Palm Desert to host talk Friday on preventing school shootings
The Desert Sun
March 30, 2023

Cal State University San Bernardino Palm Desert will host a public seminar Friday night to address possible preventative measures to America’s school shooting epidemic. The talk had been scheduled before Monday’s deadly shooting where three 9-year-olds and three adults were killed at the Covenant School, a Presbyterian school in Nashville.

The discussion, moderated by professor Thomas McWeeney, will feature guest speakers FBI Executive Assistant Director Dale Watson and educator Angela Pohlen.

CSUSB professor comments on South Bay lawmaker’s bill aimed to bolster hate crime charges
The (San Jose) Mercury News/Bay Area News Group
March 29, 2023

Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino, said his organization initially declined to support Assembly Bill 1064 out of First Amendment concerns that slurs were being treated as unprotected speech, but changed its stance after the bill was amended. Still, he voiced caution about leaning on jails and prisons to correct prejudices.

“It is essential we also address and encourage non-carceral alternatives, including victim access and services whether or not defendants are even apprehended,” Levin said. “Further, we’d like to see greater use of non-carceral approaches for certain offenders, as we have different types that range from youths with no criminal records, to those with mental illness, to violent homicidal extremists.”

Assemblymember Evan Low, D-Campbell, wants to add bias and selective targeting criteria to state’s hate crime definition; public defenders call it redundant and overbroad, and risks diluting the statute.

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