2015-2016 Awardees

Kimberly D'Anna-Hernandez
Psychology/CHABSS
Community Partner: The Women's Center at Vista Community Clinic
Providing Culturally Competent Care for Women At Risk for Obesity-Related Health Complications During Pregnancy
Obese women are at risk for multiple disorders during pregnancy associated with adverse infant outcomes. However compliance to this demanding perinatal care regimen is low. Understanding how to address perinatal visit barriers is essential for competent care for obese pregnant women. This grant will conduct focus groups at Vista Community Clinic with women at risk for obesity-related pregnancy complications. Information will be used to design testable interventions to improve perinatal outcomes in this vulnerable population.

Kristine Diekman
School of Arts/CHABSS
Community Partner: Environmental Water Caucus at LA WATERKEEPER
Run Dry: Community Engaged Scholarship and Media Production
Run Dry is a community-based collaborative project that digitally documents and disseminates the urgent stories of families and individuals living without sufficient water in California's Central Valley. The purpose of the work is to raise awareness about the complexity of water use humanize the deprivation of those affected most and disseminate the information to affected families educators students the public policy makers and those who study water globally as scholars and environmentalists.

Jule Gomez de Garcia & Michael Hughes
Liberal Studies; Modern Language Studies/CHABSS
Community Partner: Grupo de Mujeres y Hombres por la Paz (Group of Women and Men for Peace)
Documentation of Ixhil Mayan Community Reactions to Testimony Given in Rios Montt Trial
In collaboration with Ixhil Mayan speakers in Guatemala, we will gather Ixhil reactions to video-recorded courtroom behavior of lawyers, judges, and witnesses during the 2013 trial in which former Guatemalan president, Ríos-Montt, was convicted of genocide and crimes against humanity. During the trial, Ixhil witnesses were repeatedly cautioned to make their testimonies within a legal framework they clearly did not understand. We seek to document the Ixhil people's reflections on the nature of this misunderstanding.

Sharon B. Hamill
Psychology/CHABSS
Community Partner: Rancho Buena Vista High School
Family Caregiving Stress and Alcohol/drug use: Development of a Customized Intervention Plan for High School Students
The goal of this project is to explore the linkages between family caregiving stress and alcohol/drug use among high school students.  Data from the RBVHS Wellness Program will be used to identify key family stress risk factors for substance use and will be used to design campus-specific interventions during a collaborative summit between the partners.  The interventions will be piloted and assessed in spring 2016 with results shared among partners and with the greater community.

Ana M. Hernandez
School of Education/CEHHS
Community Partner: San Diego County Office of Educational Migrant Education
Understanding Migrant Students: Binational Collaborative for Teacher Education across Borders
California has 112000 migrant students in P-12 education (7000 cases in San Diego County).  Universities lack courses that prepare future teachers to address the multiple risk factors affecting the interrupted education of migrant students. In the California-Mexico border region migrant USA-raised/born students have parallel risk factors of academic failure. The proposal will bring together binational educators for professional development related to this high risk population. This partnership can begin to transform educational dialogue across borders.

Bill Kristan
Biology/CSTEM
Community Partner: San Marcos Unified School District
Use of LandSat data and GIS software in High School Environmental Sciences Classes
The AP Environmental Sciences teacher at Mission Hills High School (MHHS) and I will develop modules that use satellite images from 1975-2015 to visualize land cover change in San Marcos. The modules will be used during the 2015-2016 academic year at MHHS and will be made available to regional teachers in the summer of 2016. By using their home town as an example, students will gain a more personal appreciation of our effects on the environment.

Toni Olivas
Library
Community Partner: North County Professional Development Federation
The CSUSM Library Summer Institute for Community High Schools: Strengthening the Pipeline from High School to CSUSM
This project seeks to partner with community high schools to help strengthen the relationship between teachers and librarians in order to increase the information literacy (IL) skills of high school students. The proposed multi-day workshop will provide a venue for high school librarians and teachers to collaborate on lesson plans that will integrate IL into their coursework. By including IL in their lessons teachers will better prepare their students to make the transition to college.

Youwen Ouyang
Computer Science and Information Systems/CSTEM
Community Partner: 4BoneHealth
Bone Break Day Challenge Apps
The challenge of Bone Break Day was created to increase awareness about bone health in high school students.  The goal of this project is produce a continued educational experience in the form of computer/smartphone apps to support and extend the day's activities beyond just awareness and a limited time frame. The apps will provide specific guidance about exercise and calcium intake along with tracking of activities that the youth should be doing every day.

Kim Pulvers
Psychology/CHABSS
Community Partner: Vista Community Clinic
Evaluating Vista Community Clinic Project REACH Youth Development Program for Teens
Project REACH (Recreation Employment Readiness Academic Achievement Communication Skills Healthy Lifestyles) is a Vista Community Clinic (VCC) youth development program. Evaluation is essential for determining the program's effectiveness and for continued program funding.  However, VCC has not had resources to evaluate the program since 2011. To serve this unmet need, we propose to evaluate the REACH program from 2011 to date. Deliverables include an executive summary of program outcomes and a revised evaluation instrument for use in continued program monitoring.

Kendra Dyanne Rivera
Communication/CHABSS
Community Partner: The Women Health Services at North County Health Services
Understanding the Communication of Stress Acculturation and Social Support Among Pregnant Mexican and Mexican-American Women
This on-going research partners with North County Health Services to explore stress acculturation and social support among pregnant Mexican and Mexican American women.  The goals of this interview-based research are: 1.) to understand how Mexican/Mexican-American women communicate stress during pregnancy; 2.) to understand how acculturation and social support impact that stress; 3.) to study participants' experiences at the partnering clinic; and 4.) to provide suggestions for how the clinic might improve their communication with patients.

Devan R. Romero
Kinesiology/CEHHS
Community Partner: Rancho Buena Vista High School
Rancho Buena Vista High School Wellness Program
This project's purpose is to increase students' knowledge about physical and mental health development and promote healthful living. Five Wellness Modules will be developed based on pre-pilot data and administered during 2015 to 2016. The data collection will include a pre and post-assessment and a community forum will be held to discuss results and generate future intervention ideas. The community partner along with students and faculty will be involved in the dissemination of the results.

Karen Schaffman
School of Arts/CHABSS
Community Partner: A Step Beyond
Building Partnership: Dance Studies and A Step Beyond
This Community Engagement Project creates a foundation for a long-term partnership between CSUSM's Dance Studies area and A Step Beyond.  A Step Beyond, housed at the California Center for Arts Escondido, is a non-profit organization that provides economically disadvantaged youth the skills and habits to reach their fullest potential.  This segment of the project focuses specifically on preparing a unique collaboration between these institutions and developing new courses in Dance Studies.

Deborah Small
School of Arts/CHABSS
Community Partner: Chia Café Collective - The Chia Café Collective (CCC)
Chia Café Collective's Magazine & Blog Project
The Chia Café Collective (CCC) is a grassroots group of local tribal members and collaborators all committed to the revitalization of native foods medicines culture and community. We want to honor the vast traditional knowledge and spiritual relationship to the land and the nutritive and medicinal bounty the land offers us. Through a magazine and blog the Project will help to disseminate important information and encourage collaboration among networks of people with similar goals.

Laurie Stowell
School of Education/CEHHS
Community Partner: North County Professional Development Federation
Preparing College Ready Writers Together
Preparing College Ready Writers Together is a community partnership with Alliance high school teachers, NCPDF, CSUSM faculty, SOE credential students, and LTWR grad students. Through this partnership, all participants will deepen their knowledge of composition pedagogy, gain a better understanding of the goals and challenges of each context, and strengthen the writing of their students.