News Roundup

• Academic Affairs Inclusive Excellence Collective hosts first convening for the 2026-27 academic year - The Academic Affairs Inclusive Excellence Collective convened for the first time for the 2026-27 academic year. Faculty and staff from across the division spent time reconnecting after summer, reflecting on what intentional servingness looks like at The Beach, and exploring how our everyday practices can create affirming experiences and support student success. The group also reflected on the personal experiences and stories we each bring to this shared work and how those perspectives can strengthen our community and our approach to inclusive excellence.  

• Kleefeld Museum collection pieces featured at The Met - The Carolyn Campagna Kleefeld Contemporary Art Museum interim co-directors, Erin Stout and Alyssa Torres, traveled to New York this month to oversee the loan and installation of two works by painter Lee Krasner into New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art for the exhibition Krasner and Pollock: Past Continuous. The two paintings, Stretched Yellow and Gothic Frieze, are part of the Kleefeld Museum's permanent collection. The Met's Krasner and Pollock: Past Continuous runs from October 4, 2026 to January 31, 2027. 
   

  Stretched Yellow was also featured in a show at the Kleefeld in 2023 and can be seen in this CSULB news spotlight written at the time of the exhibition. 

No updates at this time.

• Educational Leadership Doctorate student Quay Dorsey named recipient of the 2026-27 CSU Trustees’ Award for Outstanding Achievement - CSULB doctoral student Quay Dorsey has been named the university’s 2026–27 CSU Trustees’ Award for Outstanding Achievement recipient, the CSU’s highest recognition of student achievement. A former K–12 educator and current senior program manager at WestEd, Dorsey is pursuing a doctorate in educational leadership while advancing research focused on college access, advising, and economic mobility. 

• From classroom to career: Michelle Taylor’s CSU LIFT project builds durable skills for the workforce - Dr. Michelle Taylor, Associate Professor in the Child and Family Studies program, was selected as a 2026-27 CSU Learning Innovation for Future-Forward Teaching (LIFT) grantee – a competitive, one-year funding opportunity that supports teaching innovations designed to prepare students to learn, adapt, and thrive in the modern workforce. Dr. Taylor’s CSU LIFT grant, entitled “Workforce-Ready Foundations: Updating Child Development Coursework for Modern Career Paths,” focuses on making durable skills visible in Child and Family Studies coursework, specifically revising curriculum to emphasize critical thinking, equity and inclusion, and technological literacy that help prepare students for their future careers. 

• Four CLA faculty selected for inaugural CSU LIFT cohort - Jonathan Ocón, Aparna Nayak, Richard Marcus and Guido Urizar were among those selected for the first cohort of the CSU Learning Innovation for Future-Forward Teaching (LIFT) initiative, a competitive one-year funding opportunity supporting teaching innovations that prepare students to learn, adapt and thrive in 21st-century work and life. They join 45 project teams systemwide working to embed durable skills into undergraduate coursework and help students recognize and articulate them. "Geography at Work," led by Ocón, assistant professor of geography, is building a department-wide framework to help students name the career-relevant skills already present in their coursework, including GIS analysis, fieldwork, planning reports and community-engaged research. Nayak's project, "Assessing Global Competence through Linguistic Proficiency and Cultural Literacy in World Language Classes," will build thematic modules shared across the six languages taught in RGRLL, with testing offered at no cost to the first 250 students. Awardees will spend the year in a community of practice with LIFT teams across the CSU, sharing progress and building resources other campuses can adapt. 
   
• CSULB seniors Lucy Sanzobrin and Shakhzoda Khodjakhonova win moot court competition - CSULB's Moot Court team traveled to the Loyola University Chicago (LUC) site of the 2026 City of the Broad Shoulders Classic. This competition featured CSULB, LUC, and the University of Michigan. For the second year in a row, CSULB emerged victorious. CSULB seniors Lucy Sanzobrin and Shakhzoda Khodjakhonova won the title in a 2-1 decision over LUC. All CSULB teams won rounds, and four advanced to the elimination rounds.   

• CNSM faculty secure NIH Support for Research Excellence Awards - Chemistry and Biochemistry Professor Dr. Julie Wahlman and Biological Sciences Professor Dr. Erika Holland have received prestigious NIH Support for Research Excellence (SuRE) awards. The SuRE program builds research capacity by funding investigator-initiated research across biomedical, clinical, behavioral, and social sciences. Congratulations to Drs. Holland and Wahlman!

No updates at this time.

• CSULB Design-Build Team named Region 7 winner of 2026 Design-Build Institute of America National Student Competition, will advance to nationals - The CSULB Design-Build Team, has been named the Region 7 Winner of the 2026 Design-Build Institute of America (DBIA) National Student Competition and will advance to the next National RFP Stage of the competition. The team was supervised by Dr. Elhami Nasr and was comprised of students in the Construction Management program. CSULB earned the top position among five Region 7 teams, competing against Cal Poly Pomona, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, and two teams from Cal State Fresno. Nationally, 33 student teams participated, with eight competition-region winners advancing to the next stage. 

No updates at this time.

• University Library launches Seed Stacks, a free, public seed repository - The Library has launched Seed Stacks, a free seed library that expands awareness of gardening resources, encourages sustainable practices, and helps grow community engagement. Visit Seed Stacks on the First Floor of the University Library.