News Roundup

• CSULB earns national recognition for excellence in physics teacher preparation - CSULB has earned membership in the Physics Teacher Education Coalition’s (PhysTEC) prestigious 5+ Club, the highest recognition for physics teacher preparation awarded by the American Physical Society and the American Association of Physics Teachers. The distinction recognizes CSULB for graduating five highly qualified physics teachers during the 2024–25 academic year, placing the university in the 99th percentile of U.S. colleges and universities for physics teacher preparation. This achievement highlights CSULB’s commitment to preparing future STEM educators and addressing the nationwide shortage of qualified physics teachers.

• CSULB art students honor veterans through collaborative portrait project - CSULB’s School of Art and the Tibor Rubin VA Medical Center continue to strengthen their partnership through the Veteran Portrait Project, which brings military veterans into art classrooms to share their experiences while students create their portraits. Established in 2017, the initiative provides hands-on learning opportunities that help students develop their artistic skills, build intergenerational connections, and gain a deeper appreciation for veterans’ service. Selected portraits are displayed at the VA Medical Center, celebrating both student creativity and the stories of local veterans.

No updates at this time.

• $7 million grant expands school mental health services through CSULB-Lawndale partnership - CSULB’s College of Education is partnering with the Lawndale Elementary School District on a five-year, $7 million federally funded initiative to expand mental and behavioral health services for approximately 4,200 students. Led by School Psychology Associate Professor Kerri Knight-Teague, Ph.D., the project will strengthen prevention and early intervention services while providing 24 CSULB school psychology graduate students with supervised fieldwork, specialized training, and hands-on experience. 

• CSULB Hospitality Management student Elva Gonzalez takes the global stage at WTTC Summit - When Elva Gonzalez walked into the Cal Travel Summit in Napa Valley, she had no idea that a single conversation would send her halfway around the world. The Hospitality Management student studying in the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences at CSULB would soon find herself in Malta, seated among 60 prime ministers and 200 of the world's most influential tourism leaders — one of only four U.S. students selected to attend the prestigious World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) Global Summit.

• Dr. Theresa Gregor receives Faculty Sustainability Leadership Award - The College of Liberal Arts congratulates Dr. Theresa Gregor, associate professor and director of the American Indian Studies program, on receiving the 2026 Faculty Sustainability Leadership Award from the President’s Commission on Sustainability. Dr. Gregor teaches AIS 336- Indigenous Philosophies of Sustainability, encouraging students to reconsider their existing assumptions and worldviews regarding sustainable practices.

• Department of Physics & Astronomy hosts annual PREM research symposium in partnership with the Ohio State University - CSULB’s Department of Physics and Astronomy recently hosted its annual Partnership for Research and Education in Materials (PREM) symposium, bringing together faculty and students from The Beach and The Ohio State University for a day of research presentations, career panels, and a mini poster session. The partnership advances interdisciplinary materials science research with applications in energy-efficient computing, quantum information processing, and next-generation electronics, while providing students with hands-on research experience and pathways to STEM doctoral programs and industry careers.

No updates at this time.

• TDO supports graduate students in building skills and thesis/dissertation publication through workshops and internships - The Thesis and Dissertation Office (TDO) received about 60 master's theses for review and publication for the fall term! In October, the office presented 5 workshops on writing styles and the thesis/dissertation submission-to-publication process to support graduate students. All CSULB master's theses and dissertations since 1973 are published through Proquest and are open access. The TDO internship program also welcomed two new interns from the English MA program this semester, and they continue to hone their citation styles and copyediting skills in preparation for spring 2027.   

• Math and Engineering faculty accepted to MAA SUMMIT-P - A Math and Engineering faculty team was accepted to the MAA SUMMIT-P workshop where they will work to increase student engagement through intentional coordination of math and lower division engineering courses. The CSULB faculty are: (Math) Chung-min Lee, John Brevik, Andrea Johnson, and Florence Newberger; (Engineering) Vesna Terzic, Andrea Calabrese, Saleh Al Jufout, Katherine Varela, and Daniel Link.

No updates at this time.

• Library welcomes 100 attendees to Art and AI panel - On November 3, the University Library welcomed 100 attendees to Art and AI: Creation, Resistance, and What Comes Next, a cross-disciplinary panel moderated by librarian Dr. Alexis Pavenick and featuring faculty artists from the College of the Arts. The panelists explored AI's impact on artistic creativity, arts education, and creative professions.