Alan Llavore | Office of Marketing and Communications | (909) 537-5007 | allavore@csusb.edu
Launched during the 2023-24 academic year, the Field-based Learning, Outreach and Workforce Scholarship fellowship, or FLOWS, is already making waves across California State University (CSU) campuses and the California water resources community.
Developed by Cal State San Bernardino’s Jennifer Alford, associate professor of geography and environmental studies, and informed by students, industry, Tribal perspectives and alumni, FLOWS was born out of a desire for students to link classroom learning with real-world applications, as well as industry and community needs for well-trained and informed practitioners to support watershed objectives.
FLOWs was founded in response to the "silver tsunami" of retirements in the water and environmental sectors, alongside a rising demand for a more diverse workforce. It also aims to support communities in seeking resilient and adaptive watershed management strategies. FLOWS was therefore designed to build cross-disciplinary learning within diverse water landscapes, so CSU graduates are better prepared to enter jobs and engage in community stewardship.
FLOWS activities enable students from different cultural, socio-economic and disciplinary backgrounds to collaborate and learn from organization and community perspectives that tackle diverse water resource and conservation issues. One of the most interesting aspects of this engagement is that students often cross paths with CSU alumni practitioners, providing an exciting feedback loop between current and previous CSU student learning experiences.
The 2023-24 pilot program year comprised two field schools in the San Luis Obispo, Morro Bay Watershed and the headwaters of the Santa Ana and Mojave Basins in the San Bernardino National Forest. Three CSU campuses were involved: CSUSB, Cal State Northridge and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.
With support from all three campuses, as well as CSU WATER and agency funding, three students from each campus were selected to participate for a total of nine FLOWS Fellows. Each participating CSU identified one campus lead to serve as a FLOWS instructor. Instructors collaborated to create activities, develop program learning objectives, and identify community partnerships that support workforce development along with service-based and research experiences.
The 2023-24 FLOWS instructional team included:
- Alford, director of the CSUSB Institute for Watershed Resiliency, associate director of research for CSU WATER and associate professor of geography and environmental studies in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences;
- Danielle Bram, director of the Cal State Northridge Center for geospatial science and technology;
- Kurt Holland, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo instructor and university supervisor from the College of Science and Mathematics;
- Luke Drake, Cal State Northridge associate professor of geography and environmental studies in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences; and
- Brian Brown, California Project WET coordinator from the Water Education Foundation.
In addition to CSU-based instructional expertise, the pilot program year was supported by interdisciplinary and community-centric partnerships: the Morro Bay National Estuary Program; United States Forests Service, San Bernardino; Inland Empire Resources Conservation District; Water Education Foundation’s Project WET; the San Bernardino Valley Municipal Water District; San Bernardino Mountains Land Trust; and the Southern California Mountains Foundation, as well as numerous community members and partners.
FLOWS is housed in CSUSB’s Institute for Watershed Resiliency (IWR). The initiative supports IWR’s mission to “lead & advocate for community-university partnerships that seek to mitigate & resolve complex water resources issues across diverse social, economic & environmental landscapes through environmental education, workforce readiness & stewardship.”
Alford, who joined CSUSB’s exceptional teaching, service and research community in 2017, serves as the FLOWS program director, as well as IWR’s director.
Reflecting on the year one cohort, she noted that “FLOWS Fellows, instructors and partners represent diverse disciplines, personal experiences and water perspectives. These included students seeking careers as teachers, geospatial and environmental researchers, budding hydrologists and community advocates.” She also envisions how FLOWS can be expanded to different spatial reaches. “With adequate funding, FLOWS provides the perfect framework that can be replicated at the local, regional, national and international levels.”
Understanding the complexities of water issues throughout California includes tackling “water misconceptions” across urban, rural and Tribal landscapes through place-based learning that fuels diverse experiences and community engagement. Alford underscored the richness of the FLOWS Fellows’ experiences. “Some students had never been to the coast, or to the Inland Empire, so it was important for them to understand how the water landscape impacts different regions as well as the solutions we can adopt and implement.”
She placed the issues in a larger geographic context. “In California, like much of the western United States,” she said, “we are primarily dependent on water resources from different regions, so this knowledge is essential to inform how communities approach water resources in changing climatic, economic and social landscapes.” This deepened the experience for the fellows. “It was exciting for them to be in spaces to not only learn about complex water issues, but to also understand how to identify and develop community-centric and inclusive solutions.”
She emphasized the importance of a peer-to-peer learning model. “The FLOWS Fellows who came from each local area could bring in their own community perspectives, including their community’s struggles and strengths, providing a rich and engaged learning community.”
FLOWS experiences have also facilitated lasting relationships between FLOWS Fellows, instructors, agencies and community partners. “Participants in this year’s cohort often reach out to each other asking for advice or just checking in to see how they are doing,” said Alford, supporting one of FLOWS’ main objectives. “It was very rewarding to see FLOWS Fellows spending a day in the life of a practitioner, many of which are CSU alumni.”
Practitioners also forged relationships whereby they were able to learn from one another and share professional knowledge. Additionally, the cross-campus FLOWS instructional team also found it to be a bonding experience. “We all have different expertise, knowledge and ways of viewing and engaging with the water landscape,” she said. “As instructors, we are very similar to the FLOWS Fellows in that we have diverse experiences and expertise, but we all come here with the common goal of promoting careers, stewardship and life-long learning.”
Feedback from the 2023-24 fellows included observations such as, “FLOWS has expanded my knowledge of water issues by immersing me in diverse environments and communities.”
One said, “The most valuable knowledge I gained from the program is the field methods, such as stream flow measurement, water quality monitoring and cross-sectional surveys. These skills will enhance my career because I am aiming to pursue a water career that involves using these techniques.”
Another fellow said, “This program has brought people together to learn and educate us and our communities about water, fostering a deeper understanding and appreciation for our fluvial systems.”
In Alford’s assessment, FLOWS aligns with the CSU system and CSUSB’s strategic plans to promote student success across interdisciplinary teaching, service and research resources and experiences. It also speaks to the urgency for students to learn from and engage with communities that will be dependent on their knowledge and leadership to address a changing water landscape.
She brings it back to the reality of participants’ different cultural and socio-economic backgrounds. “It wasn’t just the academic way we look at things,” Alford said. “They’ve all, in different ways, seen water landscapes change over time whether it has been impacted by fire, droughts, flood and/or socio-economic changes. FLOWS enables their experiences to be elevated and applied to the larger context of water landscapes by embracing diverse perspectives to promote a more comprehensive and inclusive approach to engaging in water resources conservation and management.”
Tribal involvement is a key component to the FLOWS learning experience as it provides a non-colonial understanding and approach to water use and conservation. James Fenelon, CSUSB professor of sociology and director of the university’s Center for Indigenous Peoples Studies, participated by leading a Tribal engagement workshop. This workshop explored competing colonial-Tribal perspectives about the landscape, human activities, wildlife conservation, natural resources and historical knowledge.
“Many CSU students are only limited in program participation by financial barriers, and FLOWS breaks down those barriers,” Alford said. “No student should be left behind because of affordability.” She highlighted that FLOWS enables students to participate in a trajectory of longer-term professional success by building their knowledge, confidence, professional network and resume simultaneously.
For prospective CSUSB students, she wants them to know that “one of the big things that FLOWS does is financially incentivize students to engage in experiences that bridge interactive space with communities and career opportunities and the real world. It brings the classroom and their evolving passions to life.”
She points out that a program like this helps students answer questions such as, Why am I getting my degree? What does it all mean?
“FLOWS teaches students how to network, how to develop the necessary underlying professional characteristics, project development and basic professional toolsets,” said Alford. “And always, how you can help your existing community and future generations.”
An initiative like FLOWS is a win-win for students and for regional agencies. “It is a cross-campus example of how to get financial resources to students to expand their knowledge, build their resume and grow professionally before they even graduate. It’s a pre-emptive way of planning their career,” she said. “For agencies, they now have someone who is already prepared, so they don’t have to use their own resources to train people.”
FLOWS will continue to advocate for financial resources and expertise to ensure current and future generations of the water and environmental workforce have diverse experiences, expertise and knowledge to promote adaptive and sustainable solutions to California’s growing water resources needs. The form that FLOWS will take in each succeeding year will be shaped by the different partnerships selected.
Regardless, Alford stated, “We definitely want a coastal, mountain and an inland perspective no matter who we partner with.” This will help the fellows understand water issues across different landscapes. For example, the focus in each region in year one shifted based on its unique characteristics. “In Big Bear, we are looking at forest health and impacting water quality downstream. In the coastal area, we are looking upstream. We are looking at all the various factors impacting those watersheds.”
FLOWS literally and metaphorically helps students from a wide variety of disciplines get their feet wet and build their future and the future of the world around them.
To learn more about the FLOWS program, how to apply, partnerships opportunities and how to financially support student learning, please visit the Institute for Watershed Resiliency website, donate through the CSUSB Giving Campaign (select the Institute for Watershed Resiliency), or reach out to Alford directly at Jennifer.alford@csusb.edu. Every dollar contributes to student learning to ensure water resiliency in communities now and for future generations to come.