Pilgrim’s Progress Chris Ives (PhD, Religion, ’88) explains how a hike can lead to spiritual enlightenment in his latest book, Zen on the Trail: Hiking as Pilgrimage Read an exclusive excerpt
THE MAGAZINE OF CLAREMONT GRADUATE UNIVERSITY FALL 2019
Do you feel loved? Saida Heshmati wants to know why
In the Computational Justice Lab with Greg DeAngelo
Get Ready: The Alumni Summit is coming!
Fall 2019
The Magazine of Claremont Graduate University cgu.edu
Claremont Graduate University PRESIDENT
Len Jessup EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT AND PROVOST
Patricia Easton
Carry the Flame Forward
VICE PRESIDENT OF FINANCE & ADMINISTRATION / TREASURER
Leslie Negritto VICE PRESIDENT, DEVELOPMENT & EXTERNAL RELATIONS
Kristen Andersen-Daley VICE PRESIDENT FOR ACADEMIC INNOVATION, STUDENT SUCCESS & STRATEGIC INITIATIVES
Diane Chase ASSOCIATE VICE PRESIDENT, MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS
Cynthia Baker
There are many ways you can join us in building the future of Claremont Graduate University
DIRECTOR, ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT & ANNUAL GIVING
Rachel Jimenez | alumni@cgu.edu
Magazine MANAGING EDITOR
Nick Owchar ART DIRECTOR / DESIGNER
Gina Pirtle PHOTOGRAPHERS
Kurt Miller | William Vasta | Tom Zasadzinski EDITOR
Gerard Babb
Planned Gifts
CREATE
a charitable plan that allows you to provide for your family and impact CGU.
Jeremy Byrum
Meg Castro
ADVERTISING
Mary Romo | mary.romo@cgu.edu
Fellowships
MEMORIALIZE
loved ones and provide tuition relief or research stipends for students.
Endowed Gifts your giving and see your gifts in action or leave a legacy.
PLAN Research
PLEDGE
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
funding that supports faculty research needs and program initiatives.
Online Gifts a one-time or recurring gift using our easy and secure online form.
MAKE
As we approach 100 years of excellence in graduate education, make a gift that will provide inspiration and encouragement, create positive change, and … carry the flame forward.
cgu.edu/give | give@cgu.edu | 909-621-8027
The Flame is published by Claremont Graduate University’s Office of Marketing & Communications. flame@cgu.edu Send address changes to: Office of Alumni Engagement Claremont Graduate University 150 E. 10th Street, Claremont, CA 91711 alumni@cgu.edu Claremont Graduate University, founded in 1925, focuses exclusively on graduate-level study. It is a member of The Claremont Colleges, a consortium of seven independent educational institutions. © 2019 Claremont Graduate University
FPO
Contents Departments 2 President’s Message 3 News 16 In Memoriam
Farewells to former trustee Matthew Jenkins, Professor Michael Uhlmann, trustee John Bachmann, and others.
36 Office of Alumni
Engagement Exciting news about our upcoming Alumni Summit, and more.
39 Class Notes
Features 24 Cover Story
News, updates, and more.
44 Community Bookshelf
New and recent books from our alumni community.
48 End Paper
Repairs on CGU’s clock tower arrived just in time for a new school year.
24
Book excerpt: Religion alumnus Chris Ives describes the spiritual experience of hiking in his latest book Zen On The Trail.
9 Can Wolves Help Troubled Teens? A team of doctoral students are using evaluation to examine a pioneering new program for at-risk youth.
10 All You Need is Love
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DBOS Professor Saida Heshmati’s research on how we find daily meaning delves into romantic and non-romantic experiences.
22 The Power of Data
With his Computational Justice Lab, DPE’s Greg DeAngelo is using data to uncover better strategies in law enforcement and the criminal justice system.
40 Why Mark Cuban Likes Hanna’s Mahmee
A look at Mahmee, a maternal healthcare company founded by Melissa Hanna (MBA, ’15) and her mother Linda.
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First Word President’s Message “ I have witnessed many people in the CGU family coming together to find ways to propel our university forward.”
When a Community Comes Together, Everything Is Possible When I was on my own graduate journey, I decided to go to the University of Arizona in Tucson for my doctorate. I packed up my U-Haul and left my home in Northern California with no idea what I was getting into. I didn’t know anybody in Arizona and didn’t know what to expect. That might sound great—a blank page, a fresh start—but I found myself driving in circles around the university’s main quad and feeling lonelier by the minute. “What am I doing here?” I thought. “What was I thinking?” I found a pay phone—yes, this happened in the days long before cellphones—and called home. I didn’t want to admit to my mom that I thought I had made a mistake in leaving home, but I’m sure she heard the loneliness in my voice. After she consoled me as only a mom can do, I finally found my major’s department and was warmly greeted by the staff, other grad students, and professors. My mood changed. Maybe I was being hasty. Friendly faces make all the difference. The same is true at CGU. We are a family. We all care deeply about the university’s future, and I’ve seen proof of that care. I’m now in the second year on the job here, and I have witnessed many people in the CGU family coming together to find ways to propel our university forward. That includes our board of trustees led by Chair Tim Kirley and our alumni
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THERE’S ROOM FOR EVERYBODY! President Len Jessup (front, right) with (from left): Matthew Bowman, Leslie Negritto, Gwen Garrison Cindi Gilliland, Patricia Easton, Nadine Chan, Frances Gipson, Kristen Andersen-Daley, and Lindsay Stadler at the start of the 2019-20 school year.
board with President Michael Spicer at the helm, new faculty members and staff such as those who crammed into a golf cart with me at the start of the school year, innovative new partnerships and program offerings like those you’ll read about in this issue of The Flame, new fundraising initiatives to serve our students, and more. All of this grows out of our “north star” strategic plan that is helping us envision CGU’s next 10 years—and beyond—as one of the leaders in transformative graduate education in the world. Are you curious about that vision? Are you curious about where CGU is
headed? I invite you to watch a brief video on CGU’s YouTube channel at the following link: cgu.edu/northstar Everyone across our campus is committed to CGU’s success. Won’t you join us? Let’s carry the flame forward together.
Len Jessup President Claremont Graduate University
News
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MAKING THE LIGHT SHINE BRIGHTER
POWER PARTNERSHIP
CGU enters collaborative alliance with Western University of Health Sciences. CGU PRESIDENT LEN JESSUP AND Dr. Daniel Wilson, the president of Western University of Health Sciences in Pomona, announced this summer an exciting new alliance offering students on both campuses collaborative programming with a focus on health sciences, public health, and health systems management. The alliance brings together two complementary institutions—CGU, which is the country’s oldest graduate-only university; and the rapidly growing WesternU, which has the broadest array of all-graduate health
sciences colleges in the U.S.—to create ample new opportunities for students and faculty. Jessup hailed the alliance as “a natural extension of our mission” while WesternU President Wilson added that the alliance will help his school “expand its programs to include management and public health.” Each university will maintain separate operational, financial, and governance structures. Enrollment in collaborative programming was to begin as early as the Fall 2019 term. l
WesternU President Dr. Daniel R. Wilson, left, and CGU President Len Jessup sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) this summer to form a strategic alliance between CGU and WesternU.
Jessup hailed the alliance as a “natural extension of CGU’s mission.”
MORE THAN 450 NEW STUdents arrived for the New Orientation Program held in August—one of the largest incoming cohorts in recent CGU history. The program featured remarks from Graduate Student Council President Kunaal Kapoor, the event’s emcee; President Len Jessup; Provost Patricia Easton; Dean of Students & Campus Life Quamina Carter; and Steve Kim (EMBA, ’12), whose keynote praised the university’s “accountability support structure.” “It’s very much like what you find in business,” he said. “In business, you don’t do it on your own; it’s all about teamwork.” One of the morning’s highlights took place when Easton invited the new students to turn to their neighbors and help them don their CGU flame pins. She reminded them that the program’s traditional “ignite the flame” pinning ceremony is an official sign of their membership in the university’s academic community. Jessup also reminded them that they now belong to a university whose mission embraces the collective power of teamwork in advancing knowledge and improving society. “Our motto, ‘Multa lumina, lux una,’ means ‘many flames, one light,’ ” he explained. “You’re a part of CGU now, and you’re a part of making the CGU light shine brighter.” l
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ALUMNI ARE STEPPING UP TO PROVIDE HELP IN ONE OF THE UNIVERSITY’S MOST-NEEDED AREAS, STUDENT FELLOWSHIPS.
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T
erry Alexander (MA, Psychology, ’77) believes in the power of philanthropy, especially when it is connected to a place that has been deeply meaningful in the donor’s life. “If you can direct a gift to a place that has been an important part of your life, that’s a great thing to do,” she said. Alexander, who is a highly successful data analyst and data architect living in the Bay Area, decided to designate a bequest in her estate to establish The Claremont Sangha Fellowship at CGU. On a recent September afternoon in downtown Claremont, she talked about the fellowship with her former professor Dale Berger at Walter’s Restaurant. “We’re a small school,” Berger told her, “and that means you can have an impact with a gift at a really high level that matters. I can just imagine all of the students whose lives are going to be
“ I wouldn’t have been able to go to school without [fellowships]…. I want more of our students to benefit the way I did.” CGU President Len Jessup
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changed by your gift. This will really help them get over the grad school hurdle.” The goal of Alexander’s future fellowship—a bequest is a gift that is included in a donor’s will and will benefit the university down the road—is to provide the Division of Behavioral & Organizational Sciences (which was a school, not a division, when Alexander was here) with crucial tuition support for first- and second-year students as well as those working on their dissertations. “Students need time just to focus their energy on their work,” she said. “It was important for me to do this here. When I stepped off the plane from Michigan, I knew I was home in Claremont. My experiences here transformed my life.”
Focusing On the Present Aside from helping students in the future, other alumni aim to help current students and boost the university’s academic scope.
“ We’re a small school, and that means you can have an impact with a gift at a really high level that matters.” Psychology Professor Emeritus Dale Berger
That characterizes the giving goals of alumnus and emeritus trustee Ernie Maldonado (PhD, Criminal Justice, ’83) and his wife, Mary, who established the Ernest M. and Mary J. Maldonado Endowed Leadership Fund and the Maldonado Institute for International Security and Global Leadership, among other gifts. “Effective leadership is an area that has been very important to Mary and me,” said Maldonado, who for many years served as a member of the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department and as an adjunct professor at several universities in the region. Like Alexander, Maldonado wanted to focus on something personally meaningful in his gifts. “We’ve seen a big decline in both effective leadership and common sense over the past 30 years, and this is our response,” he said. “We want to encourage effective leadership in our students in an unbiased and non-political manner at home and abroad.”
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DON’T SEE YOURSELF AS A DONOR? CONSIDER A BEQUEST WHEN YOU PLAN YOUR ESTATE. Bequests and other forms of planned giving are essential to the long-term health and success of any organization, especially a college or university. CGU’s Office of Advancement has established a new effort to develop its planned giving program under the leadership of Associate Vice President of Development Anthony Todarello. “We want older alumni to realize that a planned gift can be mutually beneficial for the donor and the institution,” Todarello said. “There are many options. Alumni can make a tax-free gift from their IRAs. Donors are also taking advantage of charitable gift annuities and charitable remainder trusts.” These investments can provide dependable income for life and have a big impact on CGU. But too many alumni pass up a chance because they don’t see themselves as donors. “People assume that you can’t be a philanthropist unless you have huge assets and plenty of liquidity,” Todarello explains. He says that’s a mistake. “The fact is, as many alums get older, they have real estate and other investments that could become a planned gift to the university one day,” he says. “That helps us and could give their heirs some good tax relief on the estate.” For those interested in learning more about the advantages of supporting CGU with a planned gift, visit myplannedgift.cgu.edu or contact Anthony Todarello at anthony.todarello@cgu.edu
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Terry Alexander
For Maldonado, fellowship support played an important role in his life. “Back in the 1980s, I received fully paid tuition,” he said. “During that time the federal government was reimbursing universities to some extent via the Law Enforcement Educational Program funding. It made a big difference for me.” The same is true for CGU President Len Jessup. “I received scholarships during my undergraduate years and fellowships during my graduate years, and I wouldn’t have been able to go to school without them,” said Jessup, whose academic journey includes a bachelor’s and MBA from Chico State and a doctorate from the University of Arizona. A first-generation college graduate in his family, Jessup said there was little financially that his parents—a Bay Area firefighter and a homemaker—could do to support that dream. That is one of the reasons why he chose a career in higher education. “I’ve devoted my life to this career in large part to give back to all those who helped me, and help others realize the same dream,” he said. “I want more of our students to benefit the way I did.” Last year, CGU had more than 300 disbursements of fellowships, grants, and other funds to students, totaling more than $3 million, thanks to the university’s supporters. That may sound like a lot, but Jessup says more help is needed to make the CGU experience available to more students.
Goodwill Memories So why did Alexander decide on the word “sangha” instead of her own name for her fellowship? It’s a Sanskrit word that can be translated as “community”—something that Alexander experienced as a grad student in Claremont. “I never wanted to go back home,” she said. “It felt so good to get here. Claremont is very special, which is why I’ll probably move here when I retire.” Alexander says she realized the specialness of CGU (then CGS) in another unexpected way: during a public lecture about Indian spirituality at UCLA. At some point, she recalls, the lecturer, whose name was Rama, told the audience that “he’d really wanted to go to CGS but just couldn’t afford it.” “I’ve thought about him and what he said ever since,” she said. “He could’ve been here in Claremont with us, and who knows how many lives could have been changed? Who knows what could have happened? But he couldn’t afford it. I’ve never forgotten that.” Alexander hopes that her example will inspire other alumni to make a similar gesture in their estates. “I want them to remember what it was like when they were students and what would have alleviated their stress,” she says. “I want them to remember going to Goodwill and looking for a used bed, or using paper plates, or worrying about the tuition. It’s hard enough being a grad student without having these worries, too.” l
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BAIT & SWITCH THE “FISHHOOK” REFERS TO THE AREAS OF California counties (overlaid by the blue line) where Republicans could usually muster enough votes over the past 25 years against Democratic majorities and control the state. But the fishhook is changing, writes SES Emeritus Professor Chuck Kerchner in his Medium article, “The Fishhook: How Grassroots Politics is Changing California’s Republican Heartland.” The first of five installments, Kerchner takes a grassroots approach to understanding dramatic changes like those affecting Orange County at the hook’s pointy end. “After the 2018 midterm election,” he writes, “the OC is without a single GOP member of Congress.” CISAT Professor Brian Hilton created this graphic for Kerchner’s series. l
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DO MATHEMATICS AND POLITICS MIX?
ONE OF THE BEST
IF YOU’RE DEREK STANFORD (MS, MATHematics, ’93), they do. A data scientist in Washington state, Stanford has served as a representative in the legislature there since 2011. This summer he was appointed to fill a state senate seat vacated by another senator who left to work for Amazon. Along with his CGU degree, Stanford has a bachelor’s from Harvey Mudd in (you guessed it) mathematics, as well as a PhD in statistics from the University of Washington. Why do a high number of scientists find their way into public service? Because their training as problem-solvers often makes them adept at determining if a policy— pardon the pun—adds up or not. l
CRUNCHING THE NUMBERS
AN UNOFFICIAL GUIDE TO ALL THINGS CGU
8,600 45
Number of daily steps (on average) walked by Len Jessup around campus recent graduates of the Teacher Education Program in the School of Educational Studies
Lorne Olfman
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THE SCHOOL OF COMMUNITY & GLOBAL HEALTH’S Master of Public Health program, which gives students an innovative and experiential approach tapping into CGU’s transdisciplinary tradition, has been named one of the top picks for “Best Master’s in Public Health Degrees” for 2019-20 by the independent higher education site HealthGrad.com. In its recommendations, HealthGrad.com singled out the SCGH program for offering “a highly collaborative and supportive academic environment” within the unique academic atmosphere of The Claremont Colleges. The MPH program offered by SCGH was one of just four that made the cut for California—the others belong to USC, UCLA, and UC Irvine. Good company to be in! l
450+ New Students This Year
20-ish Number of years (it could be more!) since the CGU tower clock stopped working. But that has changed! See page 48 for more information.
500
(and counting) Coffee cups in CISAT Director Lorne Olfman’s office.
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“ Evaluation is a powerful, practical discipline that seeks an understanding of the intangible effects of programs like this one.”
CAN WOLVES HELP TROUBLED TEENS? ONE PROGRAM THINKS SO EARLIER THIS YEAR AN NPR STORY HIGHlighted a program—and the research of a group of CGU doctoral students—that helps teens from abusive backgrounds to heal by interacting with wolves and wolf-dogs that have faced similar mistreatment. That program—and the research behind it—is now the subject of the new book, The Wolf Connection: What Wolves Can Teach Us About Being Human. (Wolf Connection is also the organization that provides an animal sanctuary on a 165-acre ranch in Southern California’s high desert. Wolf Connection CEO Teo Alfero is the author of the book.) A partnership between the organization and a local high school resulted in the Youth Empowerment Program, which builds a stronger sense of teen self and social connection that has been weakened—if not destroyed—by traumatic experiences. The program’s centerpiece is the bond-building between the teen participants and the sanctuary’s animals. The teens are taught that if these wolves can recover from abuse and demonstrate trust
toward them, they too can recover. A nice idea, but does it really work? That is where the science of evaluation—and CGU’s students—enter the picture. The CGU researchers—Piper Grandjean Targos, Courtney Koletar, Rachael Perlman, Adam Markey, and Devin Larsen—provided key research featured in the book by assessing changes in positive social behaviors from the participating teens. “Evaluation is a powerful, practical discipline that seeks an understanding of the intangible effects of programs like this one,” explained Grandjean Targos. “How do you measure the change in someone's self-awareness? Or their ability to trust? The evaluation process creates meaningful information that can make the program's impact stronger.” What the CGU team found was an increase in the teens’ capacity for selfreflection and insight, connectedness to the natural world, and an ability to open up and trust others. The presence of the animals also had a dramatic impact on the levels of teen engagement.
“Working with such a unique program was truly an amazing experience for me. Not only were we able to apply the skills we've been learning as CGU students, but we uncovered real program effects from the data we collected and analyzed— something that is both grounding and thrilling,” Grandjean Targos said. “I am grateful to have gotten to know the genuinely warm Wolf Connection staff... including the wolves!” For more about CGU’s research, contact piper@edgeeval.com or devin@edgeeval.com l
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What Makes Us Feel Good—And Loved—At The End of a Long Day Saida Heshmati’s innovative research considers the many kinds of love and affection that get us through our lives.
By Jay A. Fernandez aida Heshmati wants to know if you feel loved. And if you don’t, she has committed herself to figuring out how best to get you there. As one of CGU’s newest faculty members— she joined the School of Social Science, Policy & Evaluation as an assistant professor of positive developmental psychology in October 2018—Heshmati pursues an academic passion that involves the study of “human flourishing across the lifespan.” Which means, unlike much of her professional cohort, she eschews the debilitating, maladaptive, and pathological to focus on the feel-good aspects of human development: affection, positive relationships, everyday well-being, and, yes, love. “What we are interested in is optimal development over time,” Heshmati said of positive developmental psychology, a relatively new discipline birthed at the turn of the millennium that embraces a more humanistic angle on mental health than the traditional focus on negative psychic expressions such as depression, sociopathy, and dissociative disorders. In pursuit of this, Heshmati and her colleagues explore questions such as How can we help people age in the best possible way? and What are the unique positive elements that help people flourish in each specific developmental life stage? “I’m less interested in trait-level concepts than day-to-day experiences people encounter that help them flourish,” she said. “How can we maximize those types of behaviors and states in their lives?” Heshmati was born and raised in northeastern Iran in the city of Gorgan, where her mother and brother still run an English-language institute. After acquiring her bachelor’s in
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“ It all started from my interest in looking at people’s everyday experiences and not just those bold experiences we have along the trajectory of life.” Saida Heshmati
English literature, Heshmati moved to the United States and earned both a master’s degree and a PhD in educational psychology from the University of Arizona. Three years of postdoctorate work in quantitative developmental methods at Penn State’s College of Health & Human Development led to a teaching position at George Mason University outside Washington, D.C., and her subsequent appointment to CGU, where she teaches “Positive Relationships Across the Lifespan,” “Positive Education,” and a transdisciplinary course called “The Science of Human Relationships” that encourages dialogue among students from various fields. “It all started from my interest in looking at people’s everyday experiences and not just those bold experiences we have along the trajectory of life,” Heshmati said. “One such experience is a momentary feeling of love. We don’t really know when it is that people feel loved in their day-to-day interactions or whether those moments lead to higher well-being.” While a research scholar at Penn State, Heshmati co-authored an article published in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships in August 2017 titled “What does it mean to feel loved: Cultural consensus and individual differences in felt love.” The piece struck a nerve: It was downloaded thousands of times by readers intrigued by the researchers’ exploration of whether Americans agreed on what makes people feel loved. In their study, Heshmati and her colleagues asked nearly 500 respondents aged 18 to 93 to rate a wide spectrum of 60 romantic (making love), non-romantic (someone confides in you), and neutral (the sun is shining) everyday scenarios as to whether they thought most people would feel loved in the given circumstance. The results showed that, generally, affectionate and emotionally
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LOOKING AT not only the impact of romantic love, but also at nonromantic love (like the feeling of seeing your faithful pooch waiting when you get home), Heshmati’s research focuses on the quality of people’s lives. “We seem to be disregarding those types of nonromantic experiences,” she says. Her research gives us a better appreciation for such moments and their impact on our lives.
supportive non-romantic events such as a child snuggling up to a person, a dog showing excitement when his owner arrives home at the end of the day, or someone showing compassion for a person during a difficult time are more consistently agreed upon as loving than the traditional flowers-hugskisses romantic behaviors. Meanwhile, the study indicated that controlling behaviors (someone wants to know where you are at all times) are agreed upon as non-loving and men tend to be less knowledgeable about that cultural consensus than women. “We seem to be disregarding those types of non-romantic experiences,” she said. “We may think of them as happy but not necessarily loving moments, yet they seem to create a moment of positivity resonance between the two people involved.” Ultimately, Heshmati believes that once she better understands the ways people can instill these loving feelings in themselves and in others during various phases of life, she can apply specific interventions to promote these aspects of a person’s well-being. (She stresses that the study’s results would
In one recent study, Saida Heshmati and her colleagues found that subjects considered many non-romantic events as more loving than your typical flowers-hugskisses romantic gestures.
undoubtedly be very different in other cultures and at different moments in people’s lifespans.) Of particular concern are young adults and those transitioning to college, a developmental window with unique challenges and methods of connection that can help or hinder students. Heshmati has co-authored a new article under review based on a study that looked at the most important elements bolstering the “network of well-being” in young adults’ daily lives and found that a key factor is positive relationships. She and a colleague are using this finding in a grant to create an online mindfulness intervention reinforced by positive relationships among pairs of first-year undergraduates as well as graduate students at CGU. “Positive relationships are very important in this age group, and young students can be a force of support for each other as they embark on this journey,” Heshmati said. “Research shows that these transitions take a toll on young adults. We’re hoping we can make a difference in their day-to-day lives.” The best part of all this focus on feeling good? It’s had a profound effect on Heshmati’s approach to her own life. She admits that she can’t very well educate others about how to achieve a happier life if she isn’t living her own in a thriving way, so she strives to surround herself with positive relationships and sets aside quiet, creative hours for drawing and oil painting. “It’s kind of like the oxygen mask on the airplane,” she said. “You put it on yourself first and then on others.” l
Fernandez is an editor with the Los Angeles Review of Books.
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HONORED FOR CULTIVATING PLANTS … AND PEOPLE, TOO “ Lucinda has this rare ability to see unlimited potential in people and she encourages them to venture beyond their comfort levels.”
FOR HER LIFETIME PROFESSIONAL FOCUS on and scholarly contributions to the field of botany, Lucinda McDade has been honored by the American Society of Plant Taxonomists (ASPT) with its 2019 Asa Gray Award. Named after an American botanist regarded as one of the field’s most significant 19th-century figures, the award honors someone who has “cultivated a career that has contributed significant research to systematic botany while making lasting contributions to the systematic community, profession, and students,” said an ASPT announcement about McDade’s selection. McDade, who is the chair of CGU’s Botany Department and executive director of Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Gardens,
received the award in July during ASPT’s 2019 meeting held in Tucson, Arizona. Much of McDade’s research has focused on the plant family Acanthaceae—a group of some 4,000 species including wild petunias, thunbergias, and shrimp plants— as well as her phylogenetic studies and advocacy of herbaria. Letters written in support of McDade’s nomination praised her for being a role model and mentor for her students. “Lucinda has this rare ability to see unlimited potential in people and she encourages them to venture beyond their comfort levels,” one nomination letter said. “When it comes to learning a new analytical method, the word ‘impossible’ is not in her vocabulary.” l
THAT’S A WRAP SURROUNDED BY FAMILY, FRIENDS, COLLEAGUES, AND CGU’S LEADERSHIP, PROFESSOR Jean Schroedel was celebrated in late summer as the new Thornton F. Bradshaw Chair in the Department of Politics & Government. Schroedel was also surprised by OJ and Barb Semans—co-founders of the Native American voting advocacy group Four Directions— with a blanket wrapping ceremony to honor her many efforts to protect the rights of the Sioux and other Native American tribes. “This is one of the highest ways to thank Jean for everything she has done for us,” OJ Semans said (pictured with Schroedel). l
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UNDER ONE ROOF: ART AND MUSIC THE MUSIC DEPARTMENT HAS JOINED THE ART Department in the building at 251 East Tenth Street that has been the Art Department’s home for many years. Music’s move “will foster significantly greater interaction between and among students and faculty of art and music, creating collaborative possibilities that align with the transdisciplinary emphasis of
“ Having two fields co-mingle in one building will prepare students for a world made up of multiple histories, contexts, and perspectives.”
CGU,” explained Art Chair David Pagel and Music Chair Robert Zappulla in a joint statement sent to the CGU community in late summer. “Having two fields co-mingle in one building will prepare students for a world made up of multiple histories, contexts, and perspectives.” l
CAMPUS HONORS PROFESSOR STEWART DONALDSON, EXECUTIVE director of the Claremont Evaluation Center, was honored this summer by the International Positive Psychology Association (IPPA) during its 6th World Congress on Positive Psychology in Melbourne, Australia. He received the 2019 IPPA Exemplary Research to Practice Award and the 2019 Inspiring Mentor Award. For his expertise in spatial analysis and mapping data, Professor Brian Hilton (pictured with Esri’s Jack Dangermond) received the Special Achievement in GIS Award at this year’s Esri User Conference held in San Diego for his lab’s research. Hilton is a faculty member in the Center for Information Systems & Technology. Ernie Maldonado (PhD, Criminal Justice, ’83), who established the Maldonado Institute for International Security & Global Leadership earlier this year, was given the status of emeritus trustee this fall by the university’s Board of Trustees. l
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Significant Grants Getty Leadership Institute The institute has received a grant of nearly $500,000 from the Institute of Museum and Library Services to fund “POLARIS: The Museum Mentor Network.” Over three years, the prestigious award will support the development, launch, and management of this project, which provides an innovative online mentoring platform for museum professionals. “The program will reach across the sector, promoting greater inclusivity, and offering new opportunities for ongoing professional development to those with limited resources,” said GLI Director Melody Kanschat.
Computational Justice Lab Associate Professor of Economic Sciences Greg DeAngelo’s Computational Justice Lab (for a profile of DeAngelo, see page 22) is the recipient of a $5.4 million grant from the Charles Koch Foundation. The grant will enable the lab to continue expanding its efforts to advance the cause of reform in the criminal justice arena. The grant supports the growth of the lab’s participating faculty, post-docs, and students. As a result, DeAngelo says CGU’s profile will grow in ongoing national conversations about the nature of the reform of criminal justice policies and related strategies.
Teacher Education CGU’s Department of Teacher Education, under the direction of Eddie Partida, in partnership with Alliance College-Ready Public Schools, has been awarded a $3.3 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education to grow and develop the Claremont Teaching Fellows Program. Over five years, the grant will enable the Teaching Fellows program to prepare resilient, highly effective K-12 educators to meet the needs of underserved, high-need student populations in the greater Los Angeles area. “Our fellows program is deeply committed to empowering teacher candidates with the social justice and evidence-based knowledge to make a powerful difference in young lives. We are thrilled and excited to have been selected for this award along with Alliance,” said SES Dean DeLacy Ganley. l
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JOINING THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES Dallas E. Haun III Chair of Nevada State Bank, a division of Zions Bancorporation Dallas Haun took over the reins of Nevada State Bank in 2007 as president, chairman, and CEO. Under his leadership, Nevada State Bank has experienced significant growth and expansion and is recognized as a leading financial institution in the region. Haun is a member of the UNLV Foundation Board of Trustees and is on the executive advisory board for UNLV’s Lee Business School. As a 2018 appointee of Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval, Haun also serves on the Nevada State Athletic Commission. In 2015, he was honored by the March of Dimes as the first Nevadan to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award, one of only 200 given by the national organization.
Carolyn A. Stephens (PhD, Management, ’12) Managing Director of Enterprise Collaborations, University of California, Irvine Carolyn Stephens is leveraging her blend of corporate, start-up, and academic experience to develop and cultivate the entrepreneurial dimension of the American university. She has served in a number of executive marketing and management positions with publicly traded high-tech firms including Western Digital and Emulex, and co-founded and built a successful technology start-up, Power I/O. Stephens has been nominated twice for the Orange County Business Journal’s Women in Business Award, has served as a mentor for the Women Unlimited Leadership Development program, and is a founding board member of the Fibre Channel Association, a nonprofit industry organization. l
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NEW V.P.’S HOLISTIC APPROACH TO THE STUDENT EXPERIENCE ARCHEOLOGY AND ANTHROPOLOGY SCHOLAR DIANE CHASE JOINED CGU this fall in the new role of Vice President for Academic Innovation, Student Success & Strategic Initiatives. Chase, who most recently served as executive vice president and provost of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), is taking a holistic approach that oversees the entire student life cycle, from recruiting to admissions, onboarding, student experience, retention, graduation, and related student outcomes. Chase holds a PhD in anthropology from the University of Pennsylvania and is a highly regarded archeologist and prolific scholar. She is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Chase served as vice provost for academic program quality at the University of Central Florida before moving to UNLV, where she focused on elevating the university’s research, teaching, and community impact, as well as boosting student success. l
Diane Chase
Chase is filling a key role that oversees the entire student life cycle.
DRUCKER UPDATES Industry Advisory Board With new chair Allen Sugerman (EMBA, ’86) (pictured) at the helm, the Drucker Industry Advisory Board has grown to 26 with the addition of nine new members, including six alumni. The new members are: Carl Flores (EMBA, ’16), Los Angeles County Fire Department Battalion Chief; Priscila Forbes (EMBA, ’00), EY West Client Experience Leader; John Janclaes (MBM, ’04), Partners Federal Credit Union President & CEO; Gina Orozco (EMBA, ’13), So Cal Gas Company Vice President of Gas Distribution; Ryan Patel, Drucker Senior Fellow, global business executive, and CNN contributor; Chuck Sudvary, Huntington Hospital Chief Technology Officer—Enterprise Clinical Systems; Larry Taylor (PhD, Executive Management & Business Strategy, ’93), National Association of Corporate Directors CEO—Pacific Southwest; Mark Thorpe, Ontario International Airport Authority CEO; and Lindsay Vos (EMBA, ’11) Trauma Resource Institute COO.
Allen Sugerman
Patricia Soldano
Global Family Business Institute The Drucker School of Management has appointed Patricia Soldano (MBA, ’86) as Senior Fellow and chair of the founding board for the Drucker School Global Family Business Institute and Tim Schultz (MBA, ’89) as chair of the Global Industry Board for the Drucker School Global Family Business Institute. l
Tim Schultz
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News
In Memoriam Photo courtesy Long Beach Press Telegram
Roberta and Matthew Jenkins.
Matthew Jenkins: A Legacy of Supporting Education and Changing Lives for the Better PHILANTHROPIST, REAL ESTATE MOGUL, and self-made millionaire Matthew Jenkins, who was a member of the Claremont Graduate University Board of Trustees from 1989 to 2006, passed away in September due to complications from heart disease. Roberta, his wife of 61 years who served for many years on the Advisory Board of CGU’s School of Educational Studies, says that he was just 12 days shy of his 86th birthday. With an emphasis on hard work, discipline, and goal setting, Jenkins and his wife have served as two of the university’s strongest supporters for over 30 years. They established the Matthew and Roberta Jenkins Family Foundation in 1984, which provides scholarships for African American students, including those at CGU.
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The Jenkinses also provided funds to launch the Claremont Long Beach Math Collaborative, a partnership between CGU, Harvey Mudd College, and the Long Beach Unified School District to provide math education for underserved communities, especially African American high school students. The Jenkinses also created a charitable trust that provides fellowship support to African American students enrolled in doctoral and master’s programs at the Drucker School. Drucker’s Jenkins Courtyard is named for them. “Education is holistic,” Matthew Jenkins told interviewers. “It’s not just what’s between two book covers.” Born on Sept. 26, 1933 on his family’s farm in Baldwin County, Ala., Jenkins received a great deal of his drive and
inspiration from the example of his father. In 1886—more than two decades after the Civil War ended—16-year-old John Wesley Jenkins was severely beaten by the Ku Klux Klan. He was abducted, tossed into a train, and later left to die by the side of railroad tracks miles away from his Mississippi home. But he survived. Nursed back to health by Greek immigrants who found his near-lifeless body, Jenkins later bought 40 acres from them and started a new life in Alabama. John Wesley Jenkins became a prosperous farmer, a respected community member, and a proud husband and father of 10 children. John Wesley died when Matthew was only two years old. After considering remaining at the farm—an option his mother discouraged— Matthew decided to attend Tuskegee University, where three of his siblings were already attending. He chose to study veterinary medicine because his brothers told him it was the university’s most difficult subject. After receiving a doctoral degree in veterinary medicine in 1957, Jenkins conducted research and later established a rabies eradication program in Greenland while serving in the U.S. Air Force. He established a successful veterinary practice in California and sold it in the late 1970s to pursue other career interests. He and Roberta—they had met at Tuskegee—created a successful real estate and property management company and have touched thousands of children’s lives through their support of educational improvements in the communities of the Long Beach area. Jenkins is survived by his wife, Roberta; children Sabrae, Derryl, and Dexter; six grandchildren; and one great-grandchild. A memorial service was held in October at Cornerstone Church in Long Beach. l
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Michael Uhlmann: Advisor to Presidents, Government Scholar, Mentor, and Admired Colleague THIS FALL THE UNIVERSITY LOST ANOTHER of its heroes—Michael Uhlmann (PhD, Government, ’78), a member of our Division of Politics & Economics since 2002 and a significant scholar of American government. He passed away on October 8 in Claremont. He was 79. For many at CGU, Professor Uhlmann was not only an insightful critic and commentator but also a colleague and dear friend—a mentor to generations of students wanting to learn how government works (or, as he might have said, how it doesn’t) from someone whose experience extended to a distinguished career in public service. A year ago, a tribute in The American Mind hailed Uhlmann as “that rarest of
specimens”—a scholar whose practical, first-hand knowledge “at multiple levels of government” richly informed the experiences of his students. Two of his former students who now serve on the Claremont Graduate University Board of Trustees fondly remember their time studying with Uhlmann. Trustee Mark Chapin Johnson (PhD, Politics and Policy, ’12) shared that “Michael was one of those rare professors that all students and friends were enriched by knowing.” Trustee Fred Balitzer (PhD, Government, ’72) recalled how Uhlmann had a devoted following among his students. “Mike expected a lot from students,” Balitzer said. “But they gave it willingly. Mike
was a man of strong opinions and unafraid to share them. Yet, at the same time, he was friends with faculty across ideological and disciplinary lines. He was collegial in every good sense of that word.” A native of Washington, DC, Uhlmann served as assistant attorney general in the Ford Administration and as a special assistant to President Reagan, among other government positions. He had a nearly 50-year friendship with the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. His other professional experience included many years in private legal practice as well as a leadership role with a philanthropic foundation. In addition to completing his doctorate in government at CGU in 1978, he also earned a bachelor’s degree in history from Yale as well as a law degree from the University of Virginia. In a letter to the campus community, CGU President Len Jessup noted that “the great strength of any department or division is in the diverse backgrounds of its faculty, and our Division of Politics & Economics has benefited greatly from having members such as Professor Uhlmann.” And, as if his scholarly work weren’t enough, he also made time to serve as the director of CGU’s successful Tribal Administration Certificate Program. For all who knew Michael Uhlmann at CGU—students, faculty, and staff—he will be remembered as a teacher in the purest sense of the word. He believed passionately in building and sharing knowledge to make our society and our world a better place. He will be sorely missed by all those who had the privilege to work with him and learn from him. l
“ Michael was one of those rare professors that all students and friends were enriched by knowing.” Mark Chapin Johnson
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In Memoriam John Bachmann: Financial Services Legend, Close Associate of Peter Drucker JOHN BACHMANN, A FINANcial services industry icon and longtime member of CGU’s Board of Trustees, died in October following a cerebral hemorrhage. He was 80. A senior partner at Edward Jones, where he worked for 60 years (starting as a college intern in 1959), Bachmann is credited for his role in building
that firm into a major financial institution. Prior to his 20-year service on CGU’s board, Bachmann was the chair of the Drucker School’s Board of Visitors and had worked closely with Peter Drucker at Edward Jones. Bachmann forged a close bond with Drucker after asking him to consult on the firm’s
expansion in the 1980s. He told Drucker that he and his team had read Drucker’s Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices so many times their copies were “literally worn out.” Dedicated, hardworking— even as he neared retirement age—Bachmann was the first head of the St. Louis-based firm, according to the Wall Street Journal, who was “outside of the founding family.” Bachmann is survived by his wife, Kay; children Kristene, John, Kathy, and Beattie; and five grandchildren. l
PARKER DONALD BRACKEN MA, Politics & Economics, ’59 Just four days shy of his 83rd birthday, Parker Donald Bracken passed away in March 2019, in Grantsville, Utah, from causes related to a stroke he suffered in 2002. After serving in the U.S. Army in Korea, Bracken worked at Dugway Proving Grounds—an Army facility near Salt Lake City established to test biological and chemical weapons–until 1986, at which time he retired with 37 years of service.
high school in San Luis Obispo, where she trained as a classical pianist, which imbued her with a lifelong love of music. She earned a degree in political science from Occidental College, where she graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. She went on to work with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission as well as with the Civil Rights Commission. She eventually shifted into clinical psychology after earning a PhD in Social Psychology from CGU. She ran a successful private practice for several decades after completing post-doc work at the California School of Professional Psychology.
ed—surrounded by family and watching Fox News. Bunt, one of a set of twins, earned his first degree from the University of South Dakota. Jim built a career in finance with General Electric Company. His problem-solving prowess and financial insights helped him excel in financial management roles at Nuclear Energy, Major Appliances, GE Capital, and at corporate headquarters. Jim retired after 34 years of service as the vice president and treasurer of GE. He also served on the boards of GE Capital, Powerex, Arkwright Mutual Insurance, and the University of South Dakota Foundation. He passed away in April 2019.
JAMES RICHARD BUNT MA, Economics, ’69 James Richard Bunt left this world just the way he want-
JANET FITZPATRICK EISLER MA, English, ’69 Janet Eisler lost her battle with
KATHLEEN BRAND PhD, Psychology, ’85 Born on February 12, 1947, Kathleen Brand passed away precisely 72 years after her birth. Brand spent most of her life in California, growing up in Redding and completing
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cancer in August 2019. Proud of the work she accomplished in helping her clients connect with their audiences, Eisler was an award-winning publicist and journalist. Born in San Francisco and having earned a degree from San Francisco State University, as well as a master’s from CGU, Eisler considered herself a true New Yorker, where she worked and resided most of her adult life. She is survived by her husband, Stuart, a son and daughter-inlaw, and two grandsons. DOROTHY JEAN “JO” JOHNSON MA, Politics & Economics, ’75 “Jo” Johnson passed away at home in Redlands in July 2019. She was 92. Born in Akron, Ohio, to Benjamin Franklin and Ina Hinkle Johnson, she entered the Cadet Nurses
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Corps at Saint Francis Hospital in Charleston, West Virginia and graduated in 1948. She moved to California, where she earned her master’s degree with a concentration in urban institutions from CGU. Johnson retired after 30 years of nursing, 20 of which serving as Vice President of Nursing at San Antonio Regional Hospital in Upland. REV. MASAYOSHI KAWASHIMA PhD, Religion, ’75 Having graduated high school and college in Japan, Rev. Masayoshi Kawashima graduated from San Francisco Theological Seminary in 1965. Married to Hope Nozomi Omachi, they lived in Pasadena; Ontario, OR; Flushing, NY; West Los Angeles; Oakland; and retired in Fresno—“the best city of them all,” according to Kawashima. Baptized by an American missionary in Japan at the age of 15, Kawashima was a pastor for the United Methodist Church and served 5 churches until he retired in 2002. Kawashima was born in 1936 and passed away in April 2019. LUCILLE SARAFIAN KEELER MA, Music, ’49 Lucille Sarafian Keeler was born in 1925 on her parents’ walnut orchard in Van Nuys and died at home in La Verne under the care of her loved ones in May 2019, one month following her 94th birthday. Keeler was a concert pipe organist, church musician,
and beloved music teacher. CGU prizes her, as she holds the distinction of being the university’s first music master’s graduate. Among her many fascinating stories, she recalls a rehearsal for her October 1948 master’s recital in which an electrical short threw her from the organ bench to the third row of the Mabel Shaw Bridges recital hall, where she was found unconscious. Apparently, no one had mentioned the organ was being serviced and electrical wires were, at the time, exposed. THEODORE KILMAN PhD, Education, ’71 At the age of 86, Theodore Kilman passed away peacefully with his family at his side in July 2019. Kilman dedicated himself to the community college system, public arts commissions, and a travel enterprise he developed to share his love of learning. He was a firm believer that everyone should have access to higher education, the arts, and opportunities for lifelong learning. Kilman earned his bachelor’s and master's degrees at California State University, Los Angeles. In 1962, he accepted a position in the English and journalism departments at Palomar College in San Marcos. He would stay at Palomar for more than 50 years, moving from instructor to assistant dean of instruction, continuing education & community services, and eventually to assistant superintendent and vice-president of instruction.
MICHAEL JOHN LYNCH EMBA, ’79 Michael John Lynch passed peacefully on the evening of March 20, 2019. Born on October 3, 1939 in Winchester, Massachusetts, Lynch grew up in New Hampshire and Boston. He earned a bachelor’s degree at California State University, Los Angeles. A man of style and substance, he was a snappy dresser, known to don a bowler or cap, but wore many hats—both literal and figurative. He was an airline gate agent, high school coach and teacher, pharmaceutical salesman, and incentive marketer, as well as sharing in a prison ministry. DORIS G. ROBBINS MA, Education, ’64 At age 99, Doris G. Robbins passed away at her home in Asbury Village in Gaithersburg, Maryland, in July 2019. Born in Paris, Texas, Robbins’s family moved to Pasadena in 1929, where she married Verner Sharp in 1941; they had two children, Ken and Patricia. Robbins was a graduate of Whittier College. She worked as an elementary school teacher and high school counselor. In 1964 she married Col. Richard Robbins, a retired Air Force officer, and moved to the Washington, DC suburbs. In later years, Doris rekindled a lifelong interest in ballroom dancing by joining an Arthur Murray studio, where she achieved gold status. She had her last lesson this year. ALLEN TENG PhD, Education, ’18 Allen Teng passed away in
December 2018 following an automobile accident. He was 44. The principal of Horace Mann Middle School in San Diego, Teng was praised in a district letter informing families about the tragedy as “a great educator who truly believed that education is the key to a better future.” At CGU, Teng successfully defended his dissertation on “School Factors and Information that Influences Parents Exercising School Choice in Urban Public Schools.” He is survived by his wife, Chellyn, and their two children. JEFFREY PAUL WILKENS MA, Business Economics, ’68 Jeffrey Paul Wilkens passed away in August 2019, one month after his 77th birthday. Wilkens attended the Coronado public schools from kindergarten through high school. He received a degree in psychology from the University of Redlands. Wilkens served as the vice president of human resources for TRW Space and Defense—now Northrop Grumman—in Redondo Beach for 17 of his 33 years with the company. He was responsible for the overall direction of human resource policies and the creation of programs that positively affected employees in the organization. After his retirement in 2001, he and his wife, Loie, returned to Coronado. Utilizing his innate personal warmth and people skills, he founded the Island Beer Club in 2004, which meets weekly and has a membership of nearly 400 beer aficionados. l
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The Big Picture
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Light in the East The early morning sun finds these students already busy with an archeological dig this July in the city of Akko, Israel. Akko is a place rich in history, a place repeatedly invaded and occupied over the centuries. Such a collision of civilizations has turned the ground there into a hoard of artifacts. Each summer for many years, under the auspices of the School of Arts & Humanities, a cohort of students from CGU, Penn State, and other schools spends several weeks uncovering the past with their picks and shovels. It’s a rich transdisciplinary experience that also requires great care—you wouldn’t want to shatter something that might help us understand how life was lived in this region thousands of years ago.
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For Greg DeAngelo, Data Is More Than Just a Four-Letter Word
By Tom Johnson
rime and punishment. To many of us, the words are, in fact, the title to the monolithic literary achievement of Russian novelist, Fyodor Dostoevsky. But to Greg DeAngelo, associate professor of economics and director of the Computational Justice Lab (CJL), the phrase conjures not a deep literary dive into the planning of a perfect crime, but instead how data-driven research can be used to create tools that legal practitioners (district attorneys, the police, judges, public defenders) can use to do their jobs better. Indeed, in the legal system, crime and punishment—or the lack of it—is a cause-and-effect situation that for DeAngelo has become both a calling and a career track. “I’m not, like, a real economist,” DeAngelo says. “When people think of economists, they tend to think of financial economists, and I’m not one of those. I’m a micro-economist, one of the technical ‘mathy’ types.” And one who loves to crunch reams of data to benefit the greater public good.
An Early Interest in Justice One of the reasons for DeAngelo’s interest in legal institutions and justice has to do with the place where he grew up— Seneca Falls, NY. “It’s where the first women’s rights convention was held with Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton,” he says. “I lived across the street from the original brick church where they all signed the Declaration of Sentiments in 1848.” As an undergraduate at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), DeAngelo thought engineering problems were interesting, but working on issues that related to people—and
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“ I’m a microeconomist,” DeAngelo says, “ one of the technical mathy types.”
social issues—were so much more complicated. “Gravity is constant, but people aren’t,” he says. “They react and evolve. That’s what intrigued me. I was really interested in thinking about social and institutional issues.” At RIT he said he experienced an epiphany (DeAngelo would go on to receive his master’s and doctorate from UC Santa Barbara) after reading a paper that seemed counter-intuitive to him. The paper, authored by University of Chicago economist Sam Peltzman, posited that seatbelts can cause more deadly accidents than they prevent. “If you think about people as just automatons, if you put seatbelts in cars, people will drive the same way and you should expect people to be safer,” DeAngelo says. “But we’ve observed something else in multiple different scenarios. If there are more safety devices in cars, people will drive faster and more erratically. If you put helmets on football players, they’ll hit harder and use their head more. I remember reading about that when I was 19 years old and it was influential for me.” In DeAngelo’s estimation, that kind of gadfly reasoning has led many of his bosses to fume with frustration.
“If you’re going to put policies in place, I ask ‘To what end?’ ” he says. “Then I follow up with another question: ‘Do you anticipate that, when you put this policy in place, everything else will remain constant and thereby the policy will be effective?’ ”
A Three-Pronged Synergy In his work with the Computational Justice Lab, DeAngelo, who began his second year at CGU this fall, strives to create a fusion—a three-pronged synergy among social science research, legal research, and computer science. DeAngelo’s research ranges from identifying the effect of judicial and prosecutorial incentives on the outcomes of criminal cases, to the impact of law enforcement strategies on human trafficking. At the core of his work is a desire to advance criminal justice reform by identifying the impact of policies, incentives, and actions by legal and extra-legal actors on public safety, and then generating products that can effectively deal with those scenarios. “I think about things in systems,” he says. “My fear about academic research regarding legal institutions is that we are relatively outside; we are lay observers. Although we’re pretty good at our jobs, I think one of the things we lack is true, deep, institutional knowledge of legal institutions.” To remedy that situation, DeAngelo has been reaching out in partnership with regional law enforcement agencies, prosecutor’s offices, public defender’s offices, and judges. “I am basically saying to them: ‘I want to be your intern; I want to be an apprentice. I want to come and sit and job shadow all of the different actors in these systems.’ ” According to DeAngelo, there is a difference between the way a law is written, how it is interpreted, and how it’s applied. “I want to take students out of the classroom and put them in the realworld and have them sit in a courtroom and learn how these processes play out,” he says. “That’s the aim. I’m already doing it as the first guinea pig.”
DeAngelo and his research team target pressing policy issues to advance criminal justice reform.
Currently, the CJL employs two full-time faculty members who are experts in empirical legal issues and one postdoctoral student. “By this time next year, we will be at four full-time faculty and two post-docs,” DeAngelo says. “And then there’s a team of about 10 PhD students that help with the research.” Through outreach efforts to private donors, DeAngelo hopes to raise $6 million this year to fund the CJL and its research. Thus far his work has attracted a great deal of attention, including a recent major grant from the Koch Foundation (see page 14).
DEEP DIVE: DeAngelo and his colleagues in the 2019 Summer Empirical Workshop presented some 45 students (picked from a pool of 400 applicants) with a weeklong intensive workshop on advanced issues in econometrics, web crawling, machine learning, and more.
The Power of the Furrowed Brow DeAngelo, who loves to hike when he’s not crunching data, says you’d never guess that his wife is an interior designer by the minimalist look of his office at CGU. “There is nothing on the walls and no books on the shelves,” he says. “There is a desk, a blue exercise ball, a giant computer, and a whiteboard. “You come to my home office and it’s a little different,” he continues, “but it’s still definitely the eyesore of the house. She keeps the door shut. ‘Just don’t look in there,’ she says. ‘That’s the abyss.’ ” However, in marriage just as in solid research, there are compensations. “My wife is the best listener I know,” DeAngelo says. “I have to present the idea to her, and she’s not trained the way I am. If I get the furrowed brow, then I know my idea is going over like a lead zeppelin. I use her as a guiding force.” l Johnson is a professional freelance writer who has written for numerous publications, including People magazine and TVLand.com.
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n i a t n u o M s g n i r e f f O es v I s i r h C By
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In Chris Ives’s latest book, finding transcendence on a hike requires one simple thing: giving yourself over completely to what you are doing … which is central to the teachings of Zen. Editor’s note: Chris Ives (PhD, Religion, ’88) is a professor of religious studies at Stonehill College in Massachusetts, a student of Zen, a successful author, teacher, and hiker. In this abridged excerpt from his new book, Zen on the Trail, he shows us that you don’t have to hike in the Himalayas or the Alps to experience transcendence. A spiritual pilgrimage can take place anywhere—even on a weekend hike in the Dry River area of New Hampshire not far from his home.
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bout a half-mile from the trailhead, walking under oaks on the west side of the river, I realize that since I left the car I’ve been obsessing about how to defend the liberal arts in the face of narrowly vocational approaches to higher education. Long ago Yunmen (864–949) purportedly admonished his disciples: “If you sit, just sit; if you walk, just walk—but don’t wobble.” When I hike, I try to focus on each breath, and each step, one at a time. If I notice that I’m worrying about work or daydreaming about something back home, I bring my attention back to what I’m doing with my body. Just this breath, just this step. I twist fewer ankles this way. Thoreau wrote that his reason for retreating to a cabin in the woods beside Walden Pond was to “live deliberately.” When I set out on the trail, I try to hike deliberately. Of course, this is easier said than done. It’s hard not to be scattered, especially in lives that are way too busy. Some of us may even wear our scurrying as a badge, as if it indicates that we’re important, doing impactful cutting-edge things in the world. When busyness becomes a virtue, we’re in deep trouble. Those of us caught up in frenetic living require strategies to guide us to an alternative. On a hike, or a walk in a park, when
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you sense yourself hurrying or tangled in thought as you clomp along, walk slowly for a few minutes. Better yet, stop for a minute. Take a few breaths. Listen. Do you hear any birds? What is this place saying to you? Is a breeze hitting your face? Can you smell the ground or any of the vegetation around you? What’s the taste in your mouth? Take a few slow steps and really feel your shoe contacting the ground, your weight shifting, your back foot rising and swinging forward into the next step. If going steeply uphill, take a rest step by locking your back leg with most of your weight on it, pause, then step forward onto the front foot. This can be a form of walking meditation, what Japanese Zen practitioners call kinhin. Checking in with each of your senses can enhance your awareness of your body and everything that’s happening around you there in the forest or in your garden. It may even help you begin to slow down and generate what Gerald May has called “the power of the slowing,” a slowing of both the body and the mind. As I hike along the Dry River, I direct my attention away from education debates and toward the rocks on the trail and sensations in my legs. My quads are swelling, my feet are starting to get hot, and I give myself to the act of walking. In this way, hiking provides an opportunity to practice what Dōgen, the founder of Sōtō Zen in Japan, calls gūjin (“thoroughly and exhaustively”): the act of pouring yourself completely into what you’re doing, whether breathing in meditation or sweeping, raking, wiping verandas with wet rags, or other forms of samu, labor around the monastery. On the trail, give yourself to the physicality of hiking: to breathing, to taking steps with full attention, to maintaining a slow and steady pace. As I do this along a gently rising section of the trail, my act of walking becomes my destination, not Mount Pierce, not the munchies waiting in the car, not a cold beer in Lincoln.
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To appreciate the spiritual dimension of hiking—and to avoid a twisted ankle—Ives advises: slow down, focus on your breath, focus on every step.
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few minutes later the trail leaves the river to wind around a cliff that rises thirty feet above the river. As I hike up the steep incline, my lungs remind me that breathing is our most basic life activity. Each day we inhale and exhale over 15,000 times. “Respiration” derives from spiritus, Latin for “breath,” similar to the Greek word pneuma: “breath,” “spirit,” and in some cases, “soul.” While we live, we respire. When we die, we expire—we stop breathing, and the spiritus leaves the body. If we are spiritual, we may be lucky enough to gain inspiration, a breath of creative air that is breathed into us by the Great Spirit or some other form of the divine. Hindus situate praṇā, the breath, at the center of yoga, which shares an Indo-European root with “yoke,” as in yoking a horse or yoking one’s untamed breath, body, and mind while on a mat in an ashram or yoga studio. Most Buddhist meditation teachers tell us to focus on the breath. Inhaling and exhaling, we feel how our body is always breathing, a primal spontaneous activity that keeps us alive as
we go about our business. But with our monkey minds cackling and swinging from thought to thought, we may find that focusing on the breath isn’t easy. One suggestion is to count our exhalations, from one to ten, and then from one again. This can facilitate absorption in the act of breathing, what Zen calls sūsokkan, literally, “the contemplation that consists of counting one’s breath.” Whether on a trail or a city street, walk at a pace where you can keep your breath settled. Move slowly enough that you don’t get out of breath and fall into rapid, shallow breathing in your chest. In other words, keep your pace one notch lower than your enthusiasm desires. Gradually you may find yourself flowing across the landscape, like the breeze I saw back in 1976 that painted calligraphic swirls in an iridescent rice field outside that apartment in Izumisano. After clearing the ravine, the trail descends back to the river. I roll down the slope. My knees are relieved each time I level off on a terrace. As I undulate down, I can hear the river as it, too, glides over the landscape. My imagination kicks in,
“ As we plug in to nature, nature plugs in to us.”
and I see the ground rising up to meet my boots. It’s as if the White Mountains are undulating along with me and the river as we all flow in different directions. Dōgen tells us in his Sansuikyō (Mountains and Waters Sutra) that “blue mountains are constantly walking.” Here in this valley today, everything is in motion. As I accelerate down the last stretch to the riverbank—maybe too quickly for my own good—my sense of self shifts from hiker to animal. To walk in the woods is to be reminded that we are embodied animals, grunting, eating berries, sweating, peeing, diving naked into frigid pools, taking part in the communal dance of deer, raccoons, and bears. We also bang into things. Rocks scrape
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our shins. Branches poke us. Poison ivy sends our skin into blistered mayhem. Mosquitoes bite us. As we plug in to nature, nature plugs in to us. Most of the time other animals are peripheral to our lives. They are “out there” in nature, except when they intrude into our habitat: mice in the house, raccoons toppling trashcans, bears destroying bird feeders. When hiking, we’re in their habitat, and we occupy an unfamiliar and unsettling niche in the food chain. Perhaps this is why our instincts become clearer and more insistent when we’re in the woods. Our heads turn abruptly when we hear rustling beyond the light of the fire or when a sound near our sleeping bag jolts us awake. I recall an experience back in 1974 on another backpacking trip, about which I wrote in my journal,
Ives believes any hike can turn suddenly into a dramatic invitation to ponder Buddhist cosmology and nature’s four elements.
Above the Yosemite Valley, beside Snow Creek trail. Food hung, I’m sleeping on the ground. Gray light an hour before sunrise. An oinking sound. Pig dream. The oinking prods me awake. Not a pig. A black bear, sniffing and snorting at the foot of my sleeping bag. No food there. Just me, smelly from three hours on sun-baked switchbacks up and out of the valley the day before. Startled, I let out a yell. The bear jumps back, and decides to waddle away through some trees. I stay on my back, looking up at branches and sky. Then, from down the trail, voices: “Get out of here. Damn. The bear’s got my pack. Drop it. Get. Get! Get out of here!”
As I was reminded that morning more than forty years ago, vulnerable as I slept under the stars, I am a body, some meat available for other creatures. Today, as a body I am hiking up toward Oakes Gulf. As the Chinese have mapped, the qi energy coursing through my body mirrors the larger flow of energy through this landscape. I am a microcosm of the macro-universe.
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Blake taught us to “see a world in a grain of sand” and the Chinese taught us to see it in our bodies, which are as amazing as the changing of the seasons, planetary motion, and the Crab Nebula. An hour into the hike I come to a sturdy suspension bridge that was rebuilt several years ago. Sixty feet long and six feet wide, it starts bouncing as I near the center. Through cracks between the planks I can see the not-so-dry Dry River eight feet below, surging over a jumble of boulders. I wonder what would happen if I were to fall in. Could I release my hip belt quickly enough? Would my head get smashed against a rock? Where would my body end up? Sweat soaks the bandana around my head, making me look and feel like an overworked sushi chef. On the far side of the bridge I take off my pack and swig on my water bottle, a more attractive option than drinking out of a “bladder.” As I chug, I’m reminded that I am 70 percent water. A Zen novice is called an unsui, “clouds and water,” or perhaps better translated “cloud-water,” drifting effortlessly across an empty sky. Standing by the bridge, I remember once feeling like a rain cloud, as I hiked up to Spray Park on the west side of Mount Rainier. It was August, and unusually hot for the Northwest, back before I started attributing such weather to climate disruption. As I trudged up the west side of the volcano, sweat gushed from my pores. (At least it seemed like it was gushing.) An hour later I stripped off my clothes and swam in Mowich Lake. I then lay on a rock, with the sun warming my face and a twig poking my back. Water on my chest evaporated quickly in the dry heat.
O “ I am a microcosm of the macrouniverse.”
ne Buddhist cosmology sees nature as composed of four basic elements: water, earth, fire, and wind/ air. Water is the element of fluidity and cohesion. Moisture rides warm updrafts, forming thunderheads over Mount Jefferson, and by this evening lightning may escort the water back down. A stream shoots off the cliff at Bridalveil Falls, fans out, and reunites down below the boulders. Lenticular slabs hover above Glacier Peak. The Amazon snakes out of the Andes. I guzzle from a Nalgene bottle and the water slides down my parched throat. Sweat beads up on my forehead. I piss behind a tree. From cloud to rain to pond to river to water bottle to stomach to bladder (the one inside my body) to foamy yellow puddle disappearing in the pine needles a few feet from where one of the bridge cables is anchored in the ground. Earth is solidity—a chunk of gneiss in the river, the pack riding on my shoulders and hips, the oatmeal eaten at breakfast, the bagel to be eaten for midday carbs, the ramen at the end of the day. Soil to grain to bagel to poop to soil. Earth is my body, heavy when I slide into a bug bivy under the moon. Both hikers and Zen practitioners value being “down to earth” and “grounded” rather than “tipsy” or “floating” with one’s “head in the clouds.” As humans we are like humus,
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Four Questions for Chris Ives
1
Q A
When did you discover your love of hiking? I was born the son of the local scoutmaster in my hometown of Litchfield in northwestern Connecticut, near where the Appalachian Trail meanders through that corner of the state. I started hiking as a small boy and, as I got older, I hiked a lot on my own and with my brothers and friends. After graduating from high school, I moved to Williamstown (Massachusetts), where, as a student at Williams College, I started backpacking, too. As I outline in the Zen on the Trail prologue, my love of hiking and backpacking led me from there to an array of spectacular spots around the world. In recent years, I’ve stayed off airplanes to keep my carbon footprint down, and I’ve done most of my hiking in the White Mountains, which is several hours from my home in the Boston area.
2 Q A
What was your experience like as a doctoral student in Religion at CGU (then CGS)? After I graduated from Williams, I studied and practiced Zen in Kyoto for five years. In 1981, I followed
4
my mentor in Japan, Zen philosopher Masao Abe, to CGS, where he joined the Department of Religion. My main intention was to continue studying with—and translating for—Abe; but once I landed in Claremont, I immediately became intrigued by the thought of Abe’s main Christian dialogue partner, theologian John Cobb. It was in large part through Cobb’s influence that I wrote my dissertation on Zen social ethics. Over the years, my scholarly focus has continued to be on Zen ethics, and my recent research and writing on Buddhism and environmental ethics have been greatly informed by Cobb’s writings.
3 Q A
Did you ever hike any of our local mountains, such as Mt. Baldy? I did a lot of hiking up on Mt. Baldy, and on Mt. San Gorgonio, and other peaks in the San Gabriel Mountains. Sometimes I would go on shorter hikes, often up Icehouse Canyon near Mt. Baldy Village. With these jaunts I indulged my longstanding love of hiking while also giving myself a break from my academic work down the road in Claremont.
Q
Are there spiritual experiences to be had on a nearby mountain like Mt. Baldy or does transformation require something grander and more exotic? While the village of Mt. Baldy sits at 4,193 feet, Mt. Baldy itself tops out at 10,064 feet, tall and demanding enough to make me a humble hiker! Though impressive peaks like Baldy have impacted people across cultures, spiritual experiences and transformation can also happen in a small stand of trees on the edge of a suburban neighborhood or on a Central Park lawn in the middle of Manhattan.
A
One point I try to make in Zen on the Trail is that the “driven-ness” of many hikers to summit a peak or have an “epic” experience often makes it hard to shift from ego-driven doing mode to spirit-filled being mode. Perhaps mountains are most transformative when we view them as liminal spaces where we can slow down, pay attention, and be present to what is happening in and around us, even if we only get a mile up the trail. l
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the organic part of soil, and we may be descendants of Adam, from the Hebrew word ādhām, red earth. Fire is the element of heat. Fusion in the sun generates hot light, which then travels about eight minutes to get here and radiate off ledges. On frosty nights heat pulsates out of coals and collects in my down bag. Today, early in this hike, warm air lingers between my skin and polypro shirt. Air is mobility. It swirls around Lhotse and delivers weather fronts to the unsuspecting climber. A blessed breeze cooled me a few summers ago when I grunted up the switchbacks leading to Garnet Canyon below the Middle Teton. Cursed breezes deliver hypothermia to those stuck in wet layers as the temperature plunges during a summer whiteout in Huntington Ravine. Updrafts suspend hawks above the ridge to my left and lift moisture into thunderheads. The air in today’s drainage, as I breathe it in, and out, animates me, an animal, with an anima, a soul—or without one, depending on how Buddhist I’m feeling.
I
n my Daoist moments, as I breathe, I think about the two modes of qi, yin and yang. When I hike, I feel energy moving through me and my surroundings in these two modes. Tucked deep in the valley, getting my first glimpses of the Oakes Gulf headwall, I feel the dampness around me—a highly yin location. Cool air hovers above the brook, and the water flows over carpets of thick moss. The Daodejing views the Dao as a creative force tucked into hidden recesses like this stretch of the trail: “The spirit of the valley never dies. This is called the mysterious female.” Though it is midday, the trail is in the shade here, a far cry from where I was on a hike several weeks ago. On that hike I climbed Mount Lafayette from the south. I walked along the spine of the dragon, following its undulations from Mount Flume, along Mount Liberty, Little Haystack,
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“ I sometimes find myself repeating a mantra of sorts: ‘Sit like a mountain and move like a puma.’ ”
and Mount Lincoln to the summit of Lafayette, where its rocky head gazes north to Canada. You may see its breath, drifting out over the Pemigewasset Wilderness, nudged by the prevailing west wind that makes the White Mountains so brutal in winter. Its southwest flank gets warmed by the afternoon sun, and the northeast shoulder drops down to the shady banks of Lincoln Brook as it winds around Owl’s Head in the center of the Pemi. Up on the summit of Lafayette that day, the rocks were dry and surprisingly warm as they soaked up the June sunshine—a fully yang spot. The view west expanded across the Connecticut River Valley to the Green Mountains, and to the east the Presidentials jutted up on the far side of Crawford Notch. The Pemi was deep in shadow, its coolness calling to me as I wiped away the sweat that was stinging my eyes. I pulled my water bottle from a pouch on the side of my pack. As I took a swig, I could see why the Chinese have claimed that mountain topography reveals the flow of qi through the landscape. Today, as I relish this shaded section of the Dry River Trail, I find myself thinking about how yin and yang also connote stillness and movement. I sometimes find myself repeating a mantra of sorts: “Sit like a mountain and move like a puma.” In meditation, I sit in my own pyramidal form, like the upper reaches of Everest: butt and crossed legs planted firmly on a cushion or the ground, my torso and head tapering upward— solid, weathered, resisting the wind and rain. My inner animist imagines a totem animal: the puma, whose other names include cougar, mountain lion, and catamount. On and off the trail I try to move like one—fluidly, quietly, with suppleness, like flowing water. With balance and strength, pumas glide across boulder fields, exemplifying the Zen notion of fūryū, usually translated as elegance but literally meaning “wind flow” or, better yet, “flowing like the wind.” The stalking done by mountain lions, as Gerald May points out, “requires a keen, open, unfocused awareness of landscape, scents, wind shifts, and a host of other perceptions all at once; it simply must be contemplative.” Though I have a sense of this awareness, I have not had a puma vision, or any vision like those that young
Lakotas have after fasting for several days in the Black Hills. Nevertheless, cougars have inhabited my dreams for decades, and in some of those dreams I have inhabited cougar bodies. …
S
everal years ago when I moved from the Northwest to Boston, away from “big nature” out west to the confines of the urbanized East Coast, I felt dis-located, a bit homeless. To stay grounded, I kept reminding myself, again in mantra fashion, that my ultimate home is my body. It’s a mobile home, a moving monastery. In traditional Zen monasteries the buildings are laid out in correspondences with the body parts of the Buddha. The abbot’s chamber is seen as the head, the Buddha hall the heart, the monks’ hall the left arm, the kitchen the right arm, the latrine the left leg, the bathhouse the right leg, and the mountain gate the groin. At some point I could lose my material possessions, but I can invest in my body, and maybe even treat it as sacred space. I know how to exercise, and I have time to do it. I have access to healthy food. I’m lucky enough to have insurance for medical care. Hiking is all about the body and the physicality of things encountered along the trail. On the far side of a feeder stream about two and half miles up the valley, a jagged erratic, the size of the eighteen-foot rental truck I once helped a friend load, lords over the trail. Exposed to wind and snow for 12,000 years, the boulder is clothed in lichen and glittered with yellow hemlock needles. Though not as stunning as the two-story boulder that Mishy and I walked past in Kings Canyon several years ago, it exudes power. In my chest I feel the bulk of this rock. It towers over me, intimidating, and at the same time making me aware of my own physicality, my own strength as I walk around it and find myself towering over ferns on its shady side. If I were a Japanese person a thousand years ago, the impression the rock gives me—of something powerful, out of the ordinary, and awe inspiring— would have me imagine the presence of a kami. Maybe the ants crossing the trail here view humans as awe inspiring, too. They may even see us as kami. Or maybe as monsters, pure and simple. But like Shintō gods, our power has limits. No omnipotence, but enough oomph to move up the trail, to present ourselves to this boulder, to tower over the ants. A few minutes farther up the path, I notice that my right trapezius is getting sore under the straps. As with other pilgrims, this physical pain has value. It reminds me that right now I am on the trail, in my body, tucked into a valley on the south side of the Presidentials. And it reminds me of other times on the trail, in pain, in joy. l
This excerpt from Zen on the Trail by Chris Ives is reproduced with the permission of the author and Wisdom Publications. For more about the book, go to zenonthetrail.com
The cabins at Mt. Baldy Zen Center
Looking for Spiritual Transcendence? Head Two Miles North of Claremont. With any hike, as Chris Ives’s book explains, a hiker can cross into the realms of spirit and transcendence. If you need extra help with your contemplative practices, though, the Mt. Baldy Zen Center might be a place to consider. For nearly 50 years, the center has offered a variety of retreats as well as teachings that draw on the traditional (and demanding) methods of Rinzai Zen, a rigorous school of Japanese Zen. The center is also the home of resident monks—the most famous of these, aside from Sasaki Roshi (the center’s founder), was songwriter and musician Leonard Cohen, who was ordained a monk in 1996 and spent five years there. Before his death in 2016, Cohen often told interviewers that he was drawn to Zen because it provided him with a practice of discipline and a way to tame the “monkey mind.” And that attraction seeps into his many lyrics and poems, such as these lines from “Anthem”: Ring the bells that still can ring Forget your perfect offering There is a crack in everything That's how the light gets in.
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Culture & Commentary
Joint Effort by Governments, Businesses, and Public Is Vital for Gender Equality By Ryan Patel
T
HE GLOBAL FOOTPRINT HAS EVOLVED AT BLAZING SPEEDS in many verticals from infrastructure to technology, but then there are some aspects that are not evolving fast enough. Gender equality in the workplace is one of those aspects not evolving fast enough. The reason may be a lack of sustainable solutions to the pre-existing, pervasive, and systemic issues such as implicit bias, deep-rooted beliefs, and unfair social and cultural norms and language in the workplace.
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“ Companies need to genuinely integrate gender equality into their company values and culture.”
A McKinsey Global Institute economics report shows that 12 trillion U.S. dollars could be added to the global Gross Domestic Product by 2025 through advancing women’s equality. According to a recent World Bank report, only six across 187 countries have laws that give women equal economic opportunity to men. Those six countries are Belgium, Denmark, France, Latvia, Luxembourg, and Sweden. The report explains that when there are more equal opportunity laws for women, higher participation and wages for women increase in the workforce. The results given in the World Bank report were an improvement from a decade ago when no countries met the World Bank’s criteria for measuring legal gender equality. But it is still not fast enough.
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“ Women’s political inclusion is crucial for achieving gender equality and a genuine democratic system.”
It is going to take everyone—literally—to make gender equality the norm. In today’s world, we are more interconnected than ever before. With the power of social media, consumers have a say in influencing change. Consumers can shift their spending power toward companies that are choosing to stand for certain social issues. Take, for example, the rise of TOMS and its one-for-one model in which it matches every pair of purchased shoes with a new pair of shoes donated to a child in need. Additionally, we are starting to see employees become more vocal where inequality exists. Last November, thousands of Google employees in more than 20 offices around the world staged walkouts to protest “a workplace culture that’s not working for everyone.” Times are changing. This brings us to the ways in which businesses can play a bigger role in influencing this change. Companies need to genuinely integrate gender equality into their company values and culture. We are seeing companies such as Unilever, whose commercials are seen by millions, aim to “eradicate gender bias and stereotypes” in advertising and all brand-led content by partnering with UN Women, the United Nations entity for Gender Equality, as a founding member of the Unstereotype Alliance. The same applies to governments and their policies. Creating and passing a policy is the first step, but incorporating it would
“ A McKinsey Global Institute economics report shows that 12 trillion U.S. dollars could be added to the global Gross Domestic Product by 2025 through advancing women’s equality.”
set a better example. According to UN Women, only 24 percent of all national parliamentarians were women as of November 2018, a slow increase from 11.3 percent in 1995. Women’s political inclusion is crucial for achieving gender equality and a genuine democratic system. The UK government, for example, will soon publish its new strategy on “Gender Equality and Economic Empowerment.” The plan looks to lay out how to break down barriers that impede women's progress at each stage of their lives in order to have the “freedom, support, and skills to choose what they want to do.” The UK also passed legislation last year requiring employers to report their data to help tackle the gender pay gap, which has led to creating a national conversation and prompting many employers to take action. Other countries such as Australia and Germany also require companies to report. Moreover, the Nordic countries such as Iceland are even stricter, by making companies prove they are paying male and female staff equally. The creation of Women's History Month and International Women’s Day highlights the contributions of women to events in history and contemporary society. It also serves as a reminder that we need to achieve the equality goal faster by strong and uniform efforts from governments, businesses, and citizens together, a reminder that we are not there yet and need to push further to develop workplaces to be more diverse, equitable, and inclusive. l
Ryan Patel is a Senior Fellow at the Drucker School of Management, a global business executive, and a regular contributor to CNN, Yahoo Finance, and other media outlets. This commentary piece originally appeared on cgtn.com
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The Big Picture David Calvert/The Nevada Independent
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Voice of the People Earlier this year, attorney Dallas Harris (MA, Public Policy, ’12) joined the Nevada Legislature as a state senator and helped make history: That state legislature is now the first in the nation with a majority of female lawmakers. A Las Vegas native, Harris was appointed by the Clark County Commission to fill a senate seat vacated by the state’s attorney general, Aaron Ford. “One of the things that I have always noticed,” she told a reporter after her appointment, “is that there aren’t very many female, African-American, millennial lawyers in the legislature across the country. … I felt that this is a perspective that needs to be brought to the legislature, and I hope that my youth is an asset.”
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Alumni From the Office of Alumni Engagement
A Behind-the-Scenes Podcast, Our First Summit, and More Happy new (school) year! The O≈ce of Alumni Engagement is here to support and connect our alumni as well as give them access to lifelong learning. It is my pleasure to share some exciting new developments with you. Rachel Jimenez, Director of Alumni Engagement & Annual Giving
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CGU’S FIRST ALUMNI SUMMIT TED talks are the gold standard of public lectures and presentations, and we are excited to draw on CGU’s extraordinary faculty—many of whom are leaders and pioneers in their fields—for our own TED-inspired inaugural Alumni Summit. Coming Saturday, February 29, 2020, the summit will bring together faculty from business, education, global health, government, and technology for scholarly performances connected to the theme of human flourishing. How can human flourishing’s beneficial effects be created on the individual, community, and global levels? Join us and you’ll find out. Get your early bird tickets today at alumnisummit.eventbrite.com
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NEW PODCAST: HOW’D YOU GET THAT JOB? Ask any career coach how to get a job or build a network and they’ll recommend informational interviews. But how do you arrange an informational interview, let alone find the time? What if the interviewer lives in another time zone or is too busy for a call? We have created an alternative with our new podcast How’d You Get That Job? This series pulls back the curtain and presents a behind-the-scenes look at the unique, transdisciplinary, and inspiring careers of our CGU alumni, featuring tips and strategies they have leveraged to help get them where they are today. After having listened to the podcast, seize the opportunity to chat with the guests online in CGU’s private alumni Facebook group. Subscribe, listen, and share it with others who you feel can get value from the stories and tips. Visit cgu.edu/news/podcasts to learn more. If you know an alum who would be an ideal guest, let the Office of Alumni Engagement know!
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ESSENTIAL READING: CGU ALUMNI ASSOCIATION DIRECTORY Our new alumni directory shipped this fall, and I want to thank everyone who participated and updated their information. Even though the directory project is over, the Office of Alumni Engagement continues to connect you with each other and share your inspiring news with the alumni community. Feel free to share any of your great news throughout the year at cgu.edu/update
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DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI AWARDS Thank you for submitting your nominations for the 2020 Distinguished Alumni Awards. We received over 50 nominations from the CGU community. We take nominations year-round, so if there’s someone you forgot to nominate, you can still do so at cgu.edu/alumni/ alumni-recognition. We will announce the 2020 awardees in the new year.
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Save the Date The 2020
Distinguished Alumni Awards Gala will be held at the Jonathan Club in Los Angeles on Friday, April 24, 2020.
» A Special Request to Our Alumni Help the CGU
flame shine brighter around the world. Refer a prospective student to our programs. Share a job opportunity with our Career Center. Attend or host a CGU event. Make a gift! Today only half of our students receive fellowship aid. Can you help support today’s students? Your support also translates into more support for alumni programming that strengthens and brings together our global CGU community. President Len Jessup and everyone here at CGU are working steadfastly on these goals, and we cannot do it without your help. Go to cgu.edu/give and make a gift today.
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\ ± fl r-ish \ vb
e
Flourish
1: THRIVE, PROSPER 2: To grow or develop in a healthy or vigorous way, especially as the result of a particularly favorable environment Are you flourishing in your life and career? Do you want to learn more?
SUMMIT SPEAKERS INCLUDE:
Join us for CGU’s 2020 Alumni Summit.
Stewart Donaldson Professor, Psychology and Community & Global Health
Hear leading faculty discuss what human flourishing means today and how it can be achieved on the individual, community, and global level! FIRST ANNUAL ALUMNI SUMMIT Saturday, February 29, 2020 9:00 am - 6:00 pm Attend a special post-summit alumni VIP reception at President Len Jessup’s home. Meet CGU deans, faculty, members of the CGU alumni board, and your fellow alumni from around the world. ALUMNI SUMMIT SCHEDULE (details coming soon) 9:00 am Registration
1:15 pm - 2:45 pm Final keynote
9:30 am - 11:00 am Breakout sessions
4:00 pm Networking cocktail reception at the home of President Len Jessup and Kristi Staab
11:30 am Lunch break
SUMMIT ATTENDANCE IS LIMITED RSVP today for your tickets to this premier event at alumnisummit.eventbrite.com Business casual attire requested. For more information email rachel.jimenez@cgu.edu.
Kendall Cotton Bronk Associate Professor, Psychology
Jessica Clague DeHart Assistant Professor, Community and Global Health Lori Anne Ferrell Dean, School of Arts & Humanities Steven Gilliland University Professor Saeideh (Saida) Heshmati Assistant Professor, Psychology Yan Li Assistant Professor, Information Systems & Technology David Pagel Chair, Art Department Jay Prag Clinical Associate Professor Andrew Vosko Associate Provost & Director, Transdisciplinary Studies Paul Zak Professor of Economic Sciences, Psychology & Management And more!
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Class Notes
»
Alumni Achievements
’70
Jack Scott (PhD, American History) and his wife, Lacreta, were among the honorees celebrated this fall as 2019 Contemporary History Makers by the Pasadena Museum of History. Scott is a distinguished American educator and former California politician. Currently a Scholar-in-Residence at CGU, Scott earlier served as president at Cypress College and Pasadena City College, was a member of the California State Assembly and California State Senate, and was chancellor of the California Community Colleges System.
’76
Daryl Smith (PhD, Psychology and Education) has been asked to produce a third edition of her book, Diversity’s Promise for Higher Education, and has contributed the chapter “The Privileged Journey of Scholarship and Practice” to the Handbook of Higher Education Research.
’80-’11
Mustafa Mirza (MBA) has yielded his gavel to Michael Spicer (MBA) who succeeds Mirza as president of the university’s alumni board.
’83
Cathy Weber (MBA) has filed to run as an independent candidate for Holmdel Township Committee in Central New Jersey in the November general election.
’85
Felton Williams (PhD, Education) is president of the Long Beach Unified School District Board of Education. For more than four decades, Felton Williams has been an educational leader, teacher, and advocate on behalf of countless children and their families living in the many communities of southern Los Angeles County. Williams is a 2018 recipient of CGU’s Distinguished Alumni Service Award and was a featured guest with President Len Jessup at a September “CGU in Conversation” public discussion.
’86
Pat Soldano (EMBA) has been appointed as a new Drucker School Senior Fellow and serves as the
founding board chair and advisor to the Drucker School Global Family Business Institute. Soldano has spent more than 30 years advising family businesses and providing full, integrated family office services to many ultra-high net worth families.
’86
Daniel Solorzano (PhD, Education), founder and director of the UCLA Center for Critical Race Studies, shared his expertise in racial microaggressions, delivering this year’s American Educational Research Association’s (AERA) Distinguished Lecture at the May AERA gathering in Toronto.
’87
Diane Watson (PhD, Education) received this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award from the TIS Foundation (To Inspire Strong Families and Communities). Watson is a former U.S. Representative for California's 33rd Congressional District, a former U.S. Ambassador to Micronesia, and was a member of the California State Senate representing the 26th District.
’89
Tim Schultz (MBA) is the new chair of the Global Industry Board of the Drucker School Global Family Business Institute. Schultz serves as the vice president of research and development for Lundberg Family Farms, a third-generation, vertically integrated, family business that is the market leader in organic rice and quinoa in the U.S.
’91
Marcilio R. Machado (EMBA) welcomed Vice President of Brazil General Hamilton Mourão at a recent Foreign Trade Association event. During his presentation to those assembled, Machado presented the vice president with a copy of his book, Repensando Brasil, and mentioned lessons he had learned while studying under Peter Drucker.
’93
Maria Gandera (MA, Education) has been named superintendent of the Coachella Valley Unified School District. Gandera will be the first Latina to serve as superintendent of CVUSD.
’93|’95
Diane Manuel (PhD, Psychology; MBA) is the new board chair of the Women’s Foundation of California. As a financial advisor with Urban Wealth Management, Diane is proudly focused on helping women live their best lives. Through her work and philanthropy, she is committed to ensuring that women’s lives can be “as wonderful as they can imagine.”
’95
Kipley J. Lytel’s (MBA) advisory firm Montecito Capital Management was named the “2019 Wealth Management Firm of the Year in Southern California.” His firm has been advising clients with personalized wealth management services since 2004.
’96
Sister Candace Introcaso (PhD, Education) serves as president of the newly sanctioned La Roche University—Pennsylvania's Department of Education approved the change from La Roche College earlier this year. “Becoming a university is the fulfillment of a vision that many on campus have shared for several years and is recognition of how far La Roche has come,” Introcaso said in her president's message.
’97
Carlisle Vandervoort (MFA) was featured in a recent Houston Chronicle article about her efforts with director Janice Engel and producer James Egan to make a documentary about the muckraking liberal Texas columnist and author, Molly Ivins. The article describes how Egan and Engel relied heavily on Vandervoort and her Texas roots to open doors and find supporters for the project.
’97
Eryn Shugart (PhD, Psychology) has joined the board of directors for Hospice of Santa Barbara (HSB). She brings 15 years of experience in local nonprofit management to her new position. Shugart currently serves as senior development director at Teddy Bear Cancer Foundation. Prior to joining the board, Shugart served on HSB’s wellness and end-of-life committee.
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Class Notes Alumni Achievements
’98
Sansern Samalapa (PhD, Economics) has been nominated as Vice Minister for Commerce, Thailand. Salamapa was a World Bank economist before turning to politics in 2001, and was his party’s Shadow Deputy Finance Minister in 2008 and 2011.
’98
Henry J. Paik (DMA) has returned to the U.S. after retiring from Korea National University of Arts. Over his illustrious career, he has served in many roles: as a professor, music director, and conductor. Today he lives in Yorba Linda and writes, in a letter to the university’s alumni office, that he is “so proud to be a member of CGU.”
’98
Bettina Sherick (MBA) has taken on the role of SVP of Worldwide Consumer Insights and Audience Analytics at Warner Bros. Entertainment. Sherick was one of the keynotes at last spring’s Drucker Day.
’00
Davy McClay (PhD, Education) is spearheading a grassroots effort in Logan, Utah, to recycle plastic bags and save the planet. His plan advocates local grocery customers to share a pool of plastic bags.
’01
Heidi Riggio (PhD, Social Psychology) has been recognized by California State University, Los Angeles, for excellence in the classroom and service to the community during the 2019 Fall Convocation at the Luckman Fine Arts Complex. She has authored 27 journal articles, including 14 with student co-authors, four instructor’s manuals for two textbooks, and two student workbooks on critical thinking. Her first solo textbook, Sex & Gender: A Biopsychological Approach, will be published in 2020 by Routledge.
A Mother-Daughter Team Carries the Flame in Maternal Care
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ATIENTS NOW HAVE THEIR QUESTIONS ANSWERED, can book appointments, and have easily accessible information about their health from the convenience of their smart phones. New mothers are receiving the same support and more from Mahmee, a healthcare platform co-founded by Melissa Hanna (MBA, ’15) that provides personalized support for new moms and their infants. Each year thousands of women in the U.S. experience pregnancy-related complications, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report between 700 and 900 of these women die, even though many of the deaths are preventable. Mahmee was created in 2014 with the goal of reducing these deaths. Mahmee helps new moms obtain prenatal and postpartum care with a mobile app that connects them to their own team of healthcare experts (maternity and lactation coaches, nutritionists, and their own healthcare providers). The startup has been celebrated by Forbes and NPR and has attracted $3 million in new funding from high-profile supporters such as investor Mark Cuban and tennis star Serena Williams who “were both already aware of and concerned with the critical
40 | Claremont Graduate University
Melissa Hanna (MBA, ’15), co-founder of Mahmee.
Linda Hanna
’03
Rachel Camacho (MA, Education, doctoral candidate) has been promoted to fill a new position at CGU, director of student engagement.
’03
Richard Amesbury (PhD, Religion) has joined the School of Historical, Philosophical, and Religious Studies at Arizona State University as a professor of philosophy and religious studies and chair of the department of philosophy and religion.
’03
Mark Wolfmeyer (MA, Teacher Education), who is an assistant professor in the Department of Secondary Education at Kutztown University (Pennsylvania), has been chosen as the university’s 2019 Chambliss Faculty Research Award recipient. The Chambliss award recognizes the very highest achievement in research and scholarship and can be awarded only once within a person’s career.
issues around maternal mortality and injury rates,” Hanna says. In interviews, Hanna has described how she was inspired by her mom, Linda Hanna, a nurse and lactation consultant who co-founded Mahmee with her, and how she has drawn on her mother’s experiences building successful programs to improve patient care in this area. New parents join for free or pick from a selection of paid plans depending on the amount of support desired. The company is an HIPPA-secure case management platform, so parents can be confident their personal information is kept private. Since its 2014 launch, the app’s popularity has continued to increase, with more than 1,000 providers and organizations in its network, and a growing following of new moms. The company’s success shows no signs of slowing down. Instead, the start-up is redefining what’s possible with technology and, in the words of one media outlet, “revolutionizing maternal health care.” — Megan Castro
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’04
Shawn Brooks (MA, Program Evaluation/Developmental Psychology) has been named the executive director of special projects and initiatives for Centerstone, a national behavioral healthcare organization. Brooks will lead a number of special projects and collaborate with strategic business units, shared services, and the organization’s employee assistance program team to manage resources, as well as to oversee and implement initiatives.
’05
Frances Carreon (MA, Teacher Education) was named Ontario-Montclair School District’s “Model of Excellence.”
’06
Megan Gregor (MA, Cultural Studies) has been appointed principal of West High School in the Kern High School District.
’07
Elva Delia Sandoval (MA, Executive Management) has been chosen as the executive director of the Families Forward Learning Center in Pasadena. She has over 15 years of experience in nonprofit management and community engagement, where she has long focused on empowering disadvantaged children, young adults, and adult communities.
’08
Tamara Keefe (MBA) was named a 2019 Fellow by the Tory Burch Foundation—an organization focused on empowering women entrepreneurs—for her work with Clementine’s Creamery. Her company teases taste buds all over Missouri and is available for online shopping at clementinescreamery.com!
’08
Sehel Nazeeha (MA, Teacher Education) was recently honored with the 2019 Outstanding Biology Teacher Award for California at the National Association of Biology Teachers Professional Development Conference in Chicago. Nazeeha is the science department chair at La Habra’s Sonora High School where she teaches AP biology, and anatomy & physiology.
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’09
Cynthia Olivo (PhD, Education) served as Community Grand Marshal for Pasadena’s 21st Annual Latino Heritage Parade and Festival this fall. This year’s theme “Latinos in the 21st Century” celebrated the Latino community’s accomplishments in the U.S.
’10
Bridgette Bell-McAdoo (EMBA) has started a new role as vice president of corporate strategy & engagement (freshwater & food) for the World Wildlife Fund. “This allows me the opportunity to leverage my corporate experience to drive impact across multiple sectors.”
’10
Gene Chung (DMA) conducted this summer’s Los Angeles Youth Philharmonic in a concert at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown L.A. He led performances of Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition,” Beethoven’s “Piano Concerto No. 1,” Edward Elgar's “Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1,” and other works.
’10
Jefferson Huang (PhD, Philosophy) was installed as the inaugural president of The St. Paul’s Schools in Maryland. Huang’s responsibility is to ensure that the students from St. Paul’s School, St. Paul’s School for Girls, and St. Paul’s Pre and Lower School excel in a small-school setting while enjoying the opportunities provided by a large, interconnected campus. Prior to joining St. Paul’s, Huang served as vice president at Claremont McKenna College for 24 years in both student affairs and admissions.
’11
Audrey Curtis (MA, English) and her co-authors published “The Delaware Court of Chancery Enforces Clear and Unambiguous Terms of Merger Agreement in Finding Termination Fee Provision Did Not Afford Exclusive Remedy for Termination” in The National Law Review. Curtis is a law clerk in the Global Litigation Group in the New York Office of Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft.
22+ Nonstop destinations
72+ Daily international & domestic departures
THE FLAME Fall 2019
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Class Notes Alumni Achievements
’11
John Erickson (MA, Applied Women’s Studies, Religion), who is director of public affairs at Planned Parenthood, gave an interview for the kick-off of the new CGU podcast series, How’d You Get That Job? Erickson’s podcast was called “The Power of Saying Thank You.”
’08|’11
Jenell Navarro (MA, Applied Women’s Studies; PhD, Cultural Studies), whose expertise and publications fall within the fields of Indigenous Studies and HipHop Studies, recently received tenure in the Ethnic Studies Department at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.
’12
Tom Connelly (PhD, Cultural Studies), a scholar of television, film, and digital media, will serve as a lecturer in NYU’s new study-away program in Los Angeles, which launched this fall. The L.A. program combines
highly focused academic coursework in film and television, music, and emerging media with coveted internships at renowned companies within the West Coast entertainment industry.
’12
Stacia Stolzenberg (PhD, Psychology) has received a grant from the National Science Foundation's program in Law & Psychology. A tenure track faculty member at Arizona State University, Stolzenberg conducts research on questioning children and explores how children comprehend and respond to doubts about their credibility.
’13
Puspa Amri (PhD, International Studies & Economics) joined the department of economics at Sonoma State University. Previously, Amri was assistant professor of economics at Ithaca College.
’15
Hessa Alajaji (MFA) was featured in an article published in the Arab News. Through the use of social
When it Comes to Top Consulting Firms, Smart’s Is Aptly Named
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N VAULT’S ANNUAL SURVEYS OF THE BEST CONSULTING firms in the nation, ghSMART & Company has ranked at No. 1 in the highly competitive categories of client interaction, level of challenge, and overall satisfaction. For its “Best Consulting Firms to Work For 2020” survey, Vault’s ranking methodology draws on feedback from thousands of fulltime employees and interns at firms across the country. Vault’s selection of ghSMART as the winner in three top categories notes the extremely high regard that survey respondents had about the firm’s positive ethos and supportive culture. “While consultants at most firms are quick to lavish praise on the people they work with,” the Vault report says, “hearing one ghSMART insider describe their coworkers as the 'most accomplished, good-hearted, and enjoyable team on the planet' speaks volumes to the caliber of talent ghSMART hires.” The management consulting firm was founded in 1995 by Geoff Smart (PhD, Psychology, ’98), who saw an opportunity to establish his firm as a leader in the then-emerging area of management assessment.
42 | Claremont Graduate University
Geoff Smart (PhD, Psychology, ’98), founder of ghSMART & Company
“ In business, you are who you hire.”
media, she has gained a large following highlighting her experiences traveling in Saudi Arabia. She has dedicated her life to domestic exploration and wants to promote tourism in Saudi Arabia.
’15
Sarah Barnard (MFA) describes “the bedroom that feels like a hug,” which is her happiness-inducing residential design project, on the website newKerala.com. Barnard is an awardwinning Society of Interior Designers Ones to Watch Scholar.
’16
Dong Wook Lee (PhD, Politics & Economics) has landed a tenure-track job at Adelphi University in the department of political science. Adelphi is the oldest institution of higher education in suburban Long Island.
’16
Jacob Meyer (PhD, Economics) accepted a position in New York with UBS, the international wealth and asset management and investment banking corporation. Previously he was
“We are aspiring to build the very best firm in the world. That goes for colleagues and for clients,” he said. “It's not any one thing that makes ghSMART special; there are thousands of small things that give people the confidence that ghSMART will help them succeed.” Smart is also the author and co-author of a number of highly acclaimed books on the principles of effective leadership and decision-making. These include Leadocracy: Hiring More Great Leaders (Like You) into Government; Power Score: Your Formula for Leadership Success; and Who, which describes the key strategies for successful hiring. What Smart and co-author Randy Street write in Who may also explain the firm’s success in the latest Vault employee rankings. For them, company culture and employee satisfaction are critical to success. “In business,” they write, “you are who you hire.” — Nick Owchar
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a lecturer in economics at California State University, Long Beach.
’16
Jonathan Cham (MA, International Studies) accepted a position at RAND Corp in Santa Monica as a policy/defense analyst. Cham was previously employed by the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies in Hawaii.
’16
Ted Gover (PhD, Politics & Policy) posted a commentary on The Hill stressing the importance of improving academic curriculum regarding Native American history in an effort to combat ignorance.
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Sarah Smith Orr (EMBA; PhD, Education), the founding chair of Leadership Pasadena and a nationally known expert on leadership development, offered a presentation and interacted with four prominent leaders from Pasadena and the greater Los Angeles area at a luncheon in September.
’16
Daniel Lanza Rivers (PhD, Cultural Studies and English) has accepted an assistant professor position at San Jose State University. In addition to teaching American studies, Rivers’s subjects will also cover English, humanities, and environmental studies.
’16
Melanie Sabado-Liwag (PhD, Community & Global Health) co-authored the article “Can Technology Help Reduce Health Disparities?” which was featured earlier this summer on The Medical Care Blog.
’17
Neesha Daulat (MA, Psychology) addressed some 60 educational leaders on teacher well-being at “Maximizing Influence Without Losing One’s Authority—A 21st-Century Leadership Skill Set” this summer in Massachusetts. “I feel fulfilled and incredibly validated,” she said of the experience. “I can’t wait to do more work with educational leaders in the future.”
Join Us at the Brand New DoubleTree by Hilton Pomona
’12|’17
Steve Kim (EMBA; MS, Executive Management) is a founding CGU alumni board member who delivered an inspiring keynote address at this year’s New Student Orientation. His address was titled “My CGU Journey: Mind Your Bliss.”
’17
Sam Mehoke (MA, Psychology) discussed resilience and the use of positive psychology to foster that resilience in patients at a special training for regional health professionals this fall at Rainier Springs, a behavioral health hospital in Vancouver.
’18
Aimee Leukert (PhD, Education) is cited in a recent article in Adventist Review titled “Is an Adventist Subculture Affecting Church Schools in the US?” Her research on this topic is part of her CGU dissertation.
’18-’98
Adriana Kraig (PhD, Economics) has accepted a position at Opinion Dynamics in San Diego. She'll be working there with alum Aaiysha Khursheed (PhD, Economics).
’18
Laura Schneider (MBA) published her first book: B.A.M.! Using Branding, Audience, and Media to Make Money With Your Music.
’19
Bharathan Mayavaram Sridharan (MSFE) was recently hired as a risk analyst at Credit One Bank. Credit One Bank is a technology and data-driven financial services company based in Las Vegas, Nevada.
’19
Wenqi Dang (MS Mathematics/MSFE) is a new quantitative research associate at Capital Group Private Client Services. Their clients range from entrepreneurs and CEOs to celebrities, retired executives, and even professional investment managers l
Hotel Concessions & Features • Free WiFi • Vita restaurant—modern and trendy with panoramic mountain views • Complimentary shuttle (up to 3 miles) • Happy hour 7 days a week! $4 local brews and wine • Free parking
Meetings & Events • 6,000-square-foot ballroom with floor-to-ceiling windows • Accommodate up to 450 person banquet • Professional Sales & Event Team to assist with corporate and social events • Ask our Catering Team how to get a FREE coffee and cookie break with your meeting To book your meeting, event, or group, contact our Sales & Catering Department at 909-348-1267
Update us on your academic and professional achievements by visiting cgu.edu/alumniupdate.
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Community Bookshelf New and Recent Releases
Filling in the Gaps of a Biblical Mystery
Who was Mary Magdalene? Alan W.C. Green’s new book offers an answer.
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M
ARY MAGDALENE’S IDENTITY has been the subject of plenty of speculation, most famously as the central figure at the heart of Dan Brown’s mega-bestselling The Da Vinci Code. Now she comes under the scrutiny of Alan W.C. Green (PhD, History, ’68), who writes about the life of Magdalene in his latest novel in a way that differs both from Brown (and other similar novelists) and from the way she is depicted in the Gospels. In The Apostle Called the Magdalene, (Hynek Printing), Green approaches her through a historical-narrative lens, novelizing her relationship with Jesus and her place among Christ’s followers. While Brown imagined Magdalene as Jesus’s wife, for instance, Green gives us an intimate—but chaste—partnership between the two and instead suggests that Magdalene held an important early role in spreading Jesus’s teachings after his death. Historical records about the lives of the people around Jesus, especially Magdalene, are scarce or else frustratingly incomplete—but Green’s thoughtful, speculative work goes a long way toward painting a portrait of what might have been. — Nick Owchar
Highly Effective Teachers of Vulnerable Students: Practice Transcending Theory (Peter Lang Inc., International Academic Publishers) With generous support from the John Randolph Haynes and Dora Haynes Foundation, SES Professor Mary Poplin and Claudia Bermudez (PhD, Education, ’14) serve as co-editors for Highly Effective Teachers of Vulnerable Students: Practice Transcending Theory. The book compiles extensive research taken from interviews of 41 teachers in urban, low-performing K-12 schools and community colleges in several Southern California counties. In its 14 chapters, the book offers a variety of student perspectives— from different age groups and ethnic backgrounds—and through teacher interviews outlines how social capital participation within low-income communities compares to that within the upper middle class. As a result, the volume shares these teachers’ stories and synthesizes a detailed portrait of what makes them effective educators, offering insights for school administrators, teacher organizations, university faculty, and policymakers alike. What’s even better is that the contributors to this important compilation are all School of Educational Studies alumni. Empowering the New Mobility Workforce (Elsevier) Tyler Reeb (PhD, English, ’13) serves as the editor of Empowering the New Mobility Workforce, a collection of commentaries from multidisciplinary subject-matter experts on the cultivation of a skilled workforce for the changing landscape of transportation. As the volume relates, the transportation industry will need to employ 4.6 million workers in the next decade,
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which is 1.2 times more than it currently employs. Exploring how educational, industry, and government leaders can create a prosperous environment for this growing workforce, the book offers to teach its readers to conduct analyses of the labor market. Readers will learn to develop curricula, empirical learning models, and career preparation for the next generation of transportation specialists to operate the systems of the future. Affect Theory and Comparative Education Discourse (Bloomsbury Academic) In the field of comparative and international education, its researchers, teachers, and students are, as stated in the foreword of Affect Theory and Comparative Education Discourse, required to “examine educational issues, policies, and practices in ways that extend beyond the immediate contexts with which they are most accustomed.” Irving Epstein (MA, Education, ’76) uses this experimental mindset in his
new book, which is a seminal piece in the application of affect theory to comparative education. Epstein assembles this theoretical framework to interpret modern phenomena, from the mass atrocities in Chile to the university ranking system, to move discourse in an important new direction and generate new ideas in a previously underdeveloped field. Economic Statecraft and US Foreign Policy: Reducing the Demand for Violence (Routledge) Due to the connection between economics and violent extremism, a rebalancing of American foreign policy is in order. So argues Leif Rosenberger (PhD, International Relations, ’80) in Economic Statecraft and US Foreign Policy: Reducing the Demand for Violence. Providing a framework for courses on American foreign policy in addition to those on international relations and international political economy, this book analyzes the theory that America’s militarized foreign policy
often results in failures of strategy and disturbances of progress. Rosenberger uses case studies that include the Treaty of Versailles, U.S. sanctions in Iran, and President Donald Trump’s trade issues with China to conclude that we would best adapt economist Jean Monnet’s European Coal and Steel Community as a model for reducing the demand for violence one sees in the civil wars taking place in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria. Teaching Outside the Box: Technology-Infused Math Instruction (Kendall Hunt Publishing) Lorelei Coddington (PhD, Education, ’14), who recently accepted a tenure-track position at Biola University, and co-author Patricia Dickenson discuss pedagogy and technology integration in their new book, Teaching Outside the Box: Technology-Infused Math Instruction. Chapters focus on this integration in five research-based mathematics practices: daily routines, open-ended tasks, project-based learning, problem-based learning, and
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Community Bookshelf New and Recent Releases ONE-LINERS Other New and Recent Books Paula Madrigal (PhD, Education, ’17) includes a poignant contribution on the power of trust in student-educator relationships, “A Pivot Toward Opportunity” in the latest installment of Fueled by Coffee: A Brew Perspective, a collection of inspirational stories from the education field.
math centers. The authors argue that teachers must “step outside the box” to encourage and accommodate students in a personalized manner that is inclusive for all learners. The book persuasively shows why technology infusion in math is the premier way to create an optimal math classroom environment that recognizes the learning capabilities of every child. Discovering Your Boundaries (URLink Print & Media) Based on his 40 years of leadership experience in executive and management roles, Bob Jack’s (MA, Executive Management, ’98) unique perspective on “living within oneself” and understanding one’s purpose is explored in Discovering Your Boundaries. Jack believes that the true way to mold a person’s future and shape an attitude toward it starts with the discovery of that individual’s personal boundaries. Functioning as a guide to this discovery process, the book seeks to teach its readers to let faith, self-discipline, commitment, and experience lead the charge in taking this purposeful journey.
46 | Claremont Graduate University
American Military Life in the 21st Century: Social, Cultural, and Economic Issues and Trends (ABCCLIO) is a new work co-edited by SES doctoral student Eugenia Weiss (MA, Education, ’19) and fellow USC Professor Carl Andrew Castro. The book compiles detailed information on the many issues that United States military personnel face when either stateside or on overseas deployment, including PTSD, educational and job training, relationships with family and friends, substance abuse, housing crises, and the experiences of minorities— with particular emphasis on those in the post-9/11 age. This is an essential resource, and readers gain greater perspective on a crucial demographic within our country. Both editors use their military experience—Weiss as former military psychotherapist and Castro as former Army infantryman with two tours in Iraq—for this comprehensive and invaluable guide that is ideal for academic libraries in social work, political science, sociology, and American and military history. l
Laura Schneider (MBA, ’18) provides artists with a wide range of effective marketing strategies to cultivate a fan base and public image as they work toward successful careers in the music industry in B.A.M.! Using Branding, Audience, and Media to Make Money With Your Music. Robert J. Bunker (PhD, Political Science, ’93) and Pamela Ligouri Bunker (MA, Political Science, ’94), both international security experts, provide an in-depth look at the content of a major propaganda publication used by ISIL to incite violence and recruit new members around the world in their new e-book The Islamic State EnglishLanguage Online Magazine Rumiyah (Rome): Research Guide, Narrative & Threat Analysis and U.S. Policy Response. Faiyaz Farouk (EMBA, ’15) draws on his encounters with Peter Drucker’s management principles and the inspiration of former professors—such as Jeremy Hunter, who introduced him to mindfulness practices—to create this instructive new audiobook Coaching for Exceptional People: Coaching Conversations for Elite Performers about the key success secrets of Fortune 500 executives. l
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Remembering Toni Morrison with Wendy Martin
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HE RECENT SCREENING OF A NEW documentary, Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am, at the Laemmle Claremont 5 Theatre has provided an invaluable tribute for fans and admirers of the film’s beloved subject, who died in August at the age of 88. One such admirer, Professor of American Literature and American Studies Wendy Martin, says the American Nobel Laureate was nothing short of “legendary”—a trailblazer who gave a voice to the generation of writers and artists who followed her. “There’s a reason why she’s on the cover” of 2016’s The Routledge Introduction to American Women Writers, says Martin, who co-authored the book with Sharone Williams (PhD, English, ’13). Its
cover presents just two iconic images— Morrison’s alongside Emily Dickinson’s. Among Morrison’s greatest successes, Martin says, was “opening a space for the next generation of black writers and writers of color, in general. Toni Morrison has made it possible for socially marginalized and historically silenced voices to become part of mainstream American Literature.” In 1987, the same year that Martin arrived at CGU, Morrison visited the Claremont Colleges to discuss her newest book at the time, Beloved. Martin met her and has been teaching her works ever since. “Students feel their world is enlarged” when reading Morrison’s words, Martin says. Even with the prolific author and humanitarian now gone, her works are
still at our fingertips, her words linger in the air, and her legacy remains in the hearts of millions of established and aspiring voices. As Morrison relayed in her 1993 Nobel Prize acceptance speech: “We die. That may be the meaning of life. But we do language. That may be the measure of our lives.” For many, this continues to ring true. — Jeremy Byrum
An Antique Author Who’s Still Up-to-Date
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HE BUSINESS NEWS WEBSITE STRATEGY+BUSINESS RECENTLY discussed one of Peter Drucker’s favorite authors on management, and it’s probably someone you’d never expect. Who did the late father of modern management pick? The ancient Greek historian Xenophon, whose 2,500-year-old biography of the ruler Cyrus the Great was Drucker’s pick. That biography is “the first systematic book on leadership,” Drucker wrote in his The Practice of Management, and it is “still the best book on the subject.” Strategy+business’ nice tribute to Xenophon and the professor who gave his name to our university’s school of management suggests that some ideas and teachings, even with the passing of time, never go out of style. — Nick Owchar
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End Paper
About Time Do you remember the last time the CGU clock worked? Five years ago? Ten? Twenty? Twenty-five? This summer the university’s board of trustees and President Len Jessup authorized some long-overdue maintenance projects on campus in time for the start of the new academic year. That included repairs to the clock on the William Rosecrans Tower, which was first unveiled way back in 1966. Now, when you’re walking on campus and want to check the time, you don’t need to look at your phone or watch. You only have to remember two simple words: Look up! l
48 | Claremont Graduate University
See Your Generosity in Action Help Our Students with a TaxFree Gift From Your IRA If you are 70½ years old or older, you can make a tax-free gift from your individual retirement account (IRA) directly to Claremont Graduate University. This law no longer has an expiration date, so you are free to make annual gifts to qualified charitable organizations from your IRA this year and well into the future. If you have questions about tax-free gifts from your IRA or any other questions about your estate plan, please contact Claremont Graduate University at 909-621-8027 or plannedgiving@cgu.edu. We are happy to help you!
How It Works You must be 70½ or older at the time of your gift. n You may transfer any amount up to $100,000 directly from your IRA to a qualified charitable organization. n The transfer is not considered to be taxable income and therefore does not generate an income tax deduction, so you benefit even if you do not itemize your tax deductions. n If you have not yet taken your required minimum distribution for the year, your IRA charitable rollover gift can satisfy all or part of that requirement. n
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VISIT CGU’S YOUTUBE CHANNEL AND ENJOY THE VIEW New Videos Native American Voting Rights Research A Closer Look at the Center for Business & Management of the Arts Translating Ideas into Action with Cade Maldonado ’19 From Cameroon to Claremont: Educator Feka Parchibell’s experience Extraordinary Measures: The Power of GIS Other schools talk about creating impact. CGU delivers. See for yourself: Subscribe now at cgu.edu/youtube
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