Recent News
The Poetry of Community
Jan 16, 2025
By Nicole Troy
For English Department lecturer Caleb Nichols (M.A., English, '20), the arts are more than a passion — they’re a purpose.
Nichols’ life has always orbited creative spaces, from securing a record deal and touring with the indie rock band Port O’Brien in his 20s to earning a PhD in Creative and Critical Writing from Bangor University in North Wales. Now, as San Luis Obispo County’s 2025-27 poet laureate, he’s working to foster a local network of literary artists to find community.
“I don’t see the arts as a luxury — they’re why we exist. And my focus as poet laureate is really on what I perceive as this community with a lot of readers and writers and creating spaces where we can connect them,” Nichols said.
Nichols performing at
Kazamier Stockroom, Liverpool, UK.
That sense of connection didn’t always seem within reach for Nichols, whose path to poetry was anything but straightforward. As he dropped out of high school in the 90s and later toured the world as a musician, his journey wove together unexpected places and experiences before ultimately leading back to California, where he earned a Master of Library Science degree from San Jose State University.
“I did my own musical things in the Bay Area for a few years after Port O’Brien, and then at the end of a six-year period, I was like, ‘Okay, I need to take a break from this,’” Nichols said. “I went back and did my library degree, and then worked in public libraries for a few years, including in New York, Georgia and then in San Luis Obispo at the Kennedy Library.”
And it was there that he stumbled upon yet another degree: a Master of English Literature.
“As a library staff person, I had my eye on becoming a library faculty member and you need a dual degree to do that. Getting another degree was meant to tick a box and I ended up choosing English because my friend happened to be in the program and convinced me to do it with them,” Nichols said.
The decision to join the program set Nichols onto a path he never envisioned.
“John Hampsey's British Romantics class changed my life,” Nichols said. “He's an amazing teacher and I had a series of moments in his classes that showed me the potential of what studying literature could do and how education can transform you. Those experiences then led me to many places, people and experiences. All of which have made my life have a level of meaning that I didn't know was possible.”
With a reinvigorated passion for creative writing, Nichols took a leap across the pond to pursue his PhD in North Wales. His time abroad shaped his view of the states and connected him with a variety of international poets and artists.
“I think one thing I've discovered in my own poetic life is the importance of actually traveling and going abroad and seeing the world from different perspectives,” Nichols said. “Poetically, there are different things happening on different continents and in different cultures. As poet laureate, the thing I'm most excited about is hosting poets from beyond the borders of San Luis Obispo County.”
Caleb Nichols
(Photo Credit: Deborah Denker)
Through his tenure, he hopes to continue hosting pop-up events through his nonprofit, the SLO Book Bike, host new workshops with local poets, and bridge local and global perspectives by inviting speakers from the United Kingdom for readings and seminars.
“I think in the past poet laureates have been really focused on things like poets in the schools, but my focus is quite different and is really on fostering this community,” Nichols said.
From hosting office hours for local poets to spotlighting local and international voices, Nichols hopes to transform San Luis Obispo into a hub that showcases the creative community that thrives here. And Nichols’ kickoff event as poet laureate will do just that.
SLO County Arts will host a free, inaugural reading on Friday, Jan. 24 featuring Nichols, ethnic studies Assistant Professor MT Vallarta, English Professor Emeritus Kevin Clark and California Poet Laureate Lee Herrick at the Octagon Barn in San Luis Obispo.
“This kickoff event will celebrate the work of poets residing in the state and county and poetry’s potential to inspire, connect and spark change,” Nichols said. “We hope to see you there!”
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Mustang Media Group Wins College Media Company of the Year for Third Consecutive Year, Earns 44 Additional Awards
Dec 5, 2024
By Morgan Fitzgerald
The Mustang Media Group business team
showing off their CMBAM awards.
October and November brought Cal Poly’s Mustang Media Group (MMG) a bounty of recognition, including national honors from the College Media Business and Advertising Managers (CMBAM), Associated Collegiate Press (ACP) and College Media Association (CMA). Within the past month, Mustang Media Group took home a total of 45 awards, including 13 for first place. Most notably, MMG has been named the national College Media Company of the Year for the third consecutive year, a remarkable feat within college media.
"Being recognized as the top college media organization in the country for two years in a row was an amazing feat. To earn the honor again is simply incredible,” Journalism Professor and Department Chair Brady Teufel said. “Kudos to all the students, staff and faculty whose hard work, vision and standards of excellence lie at the heart of this award and the 44 others that the organization received. Earning this honor is no small task, but these students are determined for even more success."
Mustang Media Group members posing
at the ACP awards in New Orleans.
At the ACP/CMA Fall National College Media Convention held in New Orleans, MMG was recognized for its excellence in both editorial categories as well as marketing and sales, placing first in categories such as Best Newspaper Feature Spread, Best Breaking News Coverage of Diversity and Best Advertisement: Print, Online, Video, Audio. The student-run media organization took home a total of five first place, five second place, four third place, and 11 honorable mention awards from the New Orleans conference.
Shortly after at the 52nd annual advertising awards competition held in Philadelphia, CMBAM announced the winners for categories such as Best Living (Renters) Guide, Best Self Marketing or Promotional Plan and Best Sales Incentive Program — all of which MMG earned first place in.
In total, MMG won nine first place, two second place, five third place, and one honorable mention from the CMBAM conference — including the prestigious title of College Media Company of the Year.
Mustang Media Group Business Advertising Manager Sean Harmon spoke of the team's driven and ambitious nature, saying: “I am so proud of our business team for winning this award for a third time! It is such an honor to work alongside all of our incredible account executives. We have set ambitious goals this year, but I am confident we will reach them with the team we have.”
See the full list of awards from the College Media Business and Advertising Managers, Associated Collegiate Press, and College Media Association below.
College Media Business and Advertising Managers Awards
Winner: College Media Company of the Y ear
First Place: Best Living (Renters) Guide
First Place: Best Video Ad or Underwriting Spot
First Place: Best Self Promotion Multimedia Ad Campaign
First Place: Best Sales Incentive Program
First Place: Best Sales Strategy for a Special Section
First Place: Best Special Event
First Place: Best Self Marketing or Promotional Plan
First Place: Best Staff Recruitment Strategy/Campaign
Second Place: Best Newspaper Ad
Second Place: Bes Coupon Book or App Design
Third Place: Best Sales Promotional Materials
Third Place: Best Rate Card or Media Kit
Third Place: Best Audio Ad or Underwriting Spot
Third Place: Best Self Promotion Video Ad
Third Place: Best Social Media Strategy
Honorable Mention: Best Self-Branded Promotional Giveaway
Associated Collegiate Press
Best of Show:
- First Place: Advertisement: Print, Online, Video, Audio - Ashley Ho
- First Place: Broadcast News Story - Izzy Romero: Palestinian Rally
- Second Place: Broadcast Feature Story - Jessica Carp: Taming Cal Poly’s Turkeys
- Second Place: Broadcast Sports Story - Matthew Muren: Men’s soccer continues unbeaten streak
- Third Place: Reporting: Election 2024 - Staff
- Third Place: Advertising Media Kit: Adrienne Liang
- Third Place: Newspaper – (four year campus, more than 15,000)
- Seventh Place: W ebsite (four-year campus, more than 15,000)
Individual Awards:
- Second Place: Multimedia Feature Story - Lauren Emo, Sarina Grossi, Emmy Scherer, Alina Jaffri: A
- Slice of Life
- Fourth Place: Interactive Graphic
- Fifth Place: Newspaper/Newsmagazine Page/Spread: Liz Ridley
- Honorable Mention:Broadcast Sports Story - Jack Hildebrand
- Honorable Mention: Multimedia Sports Story: Madison Vernon
- Honorable Mention: Social Media Reporting award - Jessa Rosenthal, Ari Lopez: St. Fratty’s Day
- Honorable Mention: Social Media Reporting award - Staff: Rec Center protest
College Media Association
- First Place: Best Breaking news coverage of diversity
- First Place: Best Newspaper Feature page/spread
- First Place: Best Video/Entertainment short
- Second Place: Best enterprise coverage of diversity
- Second Place: Best media kit
- Third Place: Best magazine entertainment page spread: What kind of coffee shop are you?
- Honorable mention: Best Arts and entertainment story: Boo Boo Records
- Honorable mention: Best Audio Newscast
- Honorable mention: Best Interactive Infographic
- Honorable mention: Best Special Section Cover
- Honorable mention: Best Special Section: Go SLO
- Honorable mention: Best Video/Entertainment short
- Honorable mention: Best Video Sportscast
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From Student to Global Intern
Nov 19, 2024
By Nicole Troy
Nico Julia
Last summer, third year student Nico Julia had the internship experience of a lifetime at the French Embassy in Serbia.
Drawing on knowledge from his three majors — political science (with a focus on global politics), environmental geography and Spanish — and two minors in French and statistics, Julia positioned himself as uniquely qualified to support François-Xavier Kowandy, the scientific and university attaché for the French Embassy in Serbia.
Julia spent the summer abroad working on several projects for Kowandy ranging from website development to promoting a sustainability contest to networking with international scientists and researchers on behalf of the French government.
We sat down with Julia to learn more about how he created a personalized internship experience and what he learned along the way.
Last summer you had the ultimate global Learn by Doing experience. How did you hear about this internship and why did you apply?
There was no application process for this internship. I saw some of the projects Mr. Kowandy was working on for the embassy in the Balkans and I liked that they were fostering international collaboration through environmental projects. This was a good intersection of what I study at Cal Poly, so I cold emailed him about it, to which he answered, “I do not take interns.”
Of course, I was not going to give up. I emailed him back saying I would make a website for his projects. This was enticing because it costs a lot of money for the French government to make a good website within the means of the bureaucracy that they operate in; so, he jumped on the opportunity to get a website done quicker and cheaper by a single person.
François-Xavier Kowandy, Julia’s coworker and
Julia in the main living room of the embassy
posing in front of the French, Serbian and
European Union flags.
How did your responsibilities evolve over the course of the summer?
I began with creating the website and finished that project within two weeks. Then, I moved onto some new projects that were more in line with political and environmental topics. My boss and my main project was developing an environmental contest in Serbia, Ekoopstina, put on by the French Embassy. The contest encourages Serbian businesses and municipalities to exchange best practices for combatting climate change.
I also wrote many articles for the Serbian people about what France is doing in terms of sustainability initiatives. Much of what I was writing was persuasive to convince Serbian municipalities and cities to use French companies and contractors for their environmental projects.
Additionally, since I was working under the director of scientific and university affairs at the embassy, at least twice a week we traveled to local universities and laboratories to foster intellectual collaboration between France and Serbia. This was interesting as I got to speak to leaders in their fields and connect them to other elite institutions in France.
Julia and Kowandy on French Independence
Day in the gardens of the embassy.
What was your favorite part of this experience?
There was a lot I enjoyed about the experience, but it was really cool to travel during the summer and visit the Balkans while meeting researchers and scientists. I had the opportunity to go to Croatia, Romania, Bulgaria and Poland and also travel within Serbia. Being able to visit all these places while doing environmental advocacy is close to what I would like to do for my future career. Even though I have been focused more on political science during college, I enjoy most STEM topics. This summer was a good mix of my passions.
Working in an embassy also leads to a lot of fun parties and events. For example, I went to the unveiling of a new postage stamp signifying the long-lasting friendship between France and Serbia, where I received some free, limited-edition stamps. I also went to a big party at the embassy for French Independence Day with a lot of impressive people on the guest list, including the Serbian Prime Minister.
How did your Cal Poly classes prepare you for this role?
Many of my political science classes helped me write in a persuasive manner in favor of a policy. For a lot of my work, I had to read very long and technical reports on environmental projects and then synthesize them to make them easier to read. Additionally, background that I gained in classes like GEOG 350: Global Environment or GEOG 324: Climate and Humanity helped me process these papers better — especially when it came to exact names of harmful environmental chemicals and other complex terms.
As you reflect on this experience, are there any parting words you’d like to share with students?
I want to emphasize that I did not necessarily apply for an internship that I wanted, but rather I put forth my skill to make myself attractive to the embassy. Once I finished the initial task I was hired to do, I could work on projects more in line with the kind of work that I am interested in doing and that provided me with a much more robust experience. I think this is an important lesson for students to take away. If you can secure an opportunity that may not be exactly what you want, you can still make the most of it.
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Alumnus Pedro Armendáriz Took Learn by Doing to Cinematic Heights
Nov 5, 2024
"The Black Flamingo," the Campus Playhouse’s biggest production of the 1930 academic year, was held in May of 1931 at Crandall Gym. Armendáriz, pictured seated right at the table, played the villainous inn owner.
By Jay Thompson
Over the decades, many notable people have come to Cal Poly to benefit from the Learn by Doing philosophy: among them, John Madden (Physical Education '59; M.A. Education '61), "Weird Al" Yankovic (Architecture, '80) and astronaut Victor Glover (General Engineering, '99). But decades before, a trailblazing Mexican actor and international movie star found his artistic passion during his time as a Mustang.
Pedro Armendáriz dazzled in film roles during the golden age of Mexican cinema in the 1940s and ‘50s. He also worked with actors including John Wayne and Sean Connery, and notable directors like John Huston. Some American film critics referred to him as "the Mexican Clark Gable."
Pedro Armendáriz (standing 12th from the right,
second row) in a photo published in the 1931
edition of the El Rodeo yearbook.
Armendáriz first came to Cal Poly in 1928, as a 16-year-old high school sophomore. When he arrived on campus, the California Polytechnic School (as it was then known) was a campus on the move, with more students, major new buildings and a varied curriculum that catered to six classes — four grades of high school and two classes of junior college students — in study areas from agriculture and mechanics to academics and the liberal arts.
In the fall of his senior year, Armendáriz became the Heron Hall correspondent for the Polygram student newspaper, becoming president of the Polytechnic Press Club the following February and editor-in-chief of the Polygram newspaper that March.
Also that February, Armendáriz kicked off his acting career, appearing in the 20-minute, one-act farce "Moonshine."
Armendáriz, pictured second from right, amid
“The Bad Man” cast in a production photo
at Crandall Gym in 1932.
In the play, Armendáriz portrayed a U.S. Treasury agent held captive by a moonshiner who was planning the revenuer’s murder. His character made a friend of his foe, however, and escaped using his wits.
Over the next three months, Armendáriz performed in the biggest campus play, "The Black Flamingo," and was ringmaster of the third annual student Block "P" Poly Circus. He graduated in May of 1931 and returned to Cal Poly that fall as a junior college student.
Casting for the annual play began in February 1932 — and Armendáriz was a shoo-in.
The play, "The Bad Man," was set near the border and alluded to the life of Mexican outlaw-revolutionary Pancho Villa. It was Armendáriz’s final performance at Cal Poly, but his first of ultimately six portrayals of Pancho Villa.
Nearly 100 years later, the website Collider would call Armendáriz, “arguably the most recognizable performer to have played Pancho Villa — an incredible feat considering Villa actually played himself in a number of different films before his death.”
Pedro Armendáriz left Cal Poly for Mexico City with a handful of theatrical performances under his belt and a creative fire within.
Armendáriz made his film debut in the 1935 Mexican drama "Rosario" and quickly made an impression in Mexico’s burgeoning film industry, said author Luis Reyes, a renowned scholar, author and lecturer specializing in the history of Latinos in the Hollywood film industry.
"Flor Silvestre" (Wild Flower), a 1943 Mexican historical film directed by Emilio Fernández and starring Dolores del Río, "was the movie that put him on the map," said Reyes, who has been a guest expert on Turner Classic Movies.
Dolores del Rio (left) and Pedro Armendáriz
appear in LA MALQUERIDA in 1949.
"He became a film idol fairly quickly because of his look," Reyes continued. "He was the first truly Mexican film star because of his Indigenous look."
Good roles followed in Hollywood too, including in classic westerns like "Fort Apache” and “Three Godfathers."
But his most famous acting role, in the 1963 James Bond film "From Russia With Love," with Sean Connery, would be his last. Following the completion of his movie scenes in England, he returned to Los Angeles and was admitted into the UCLA Medical Center with terminal cancer. Armendáriz died by suicide shortly after, at the age of 51.
Armendáriz "was the top of the classic Mexican cinema," according to Reyes, and remains beloved by generations of film buffs.
He was a six-time nominee for the Ariel Award — Mexico’s Academy Award. He won for Best Actor twice: 1948’s "La Perla" (John Steinbeck’s “The Pearl”); and "El Rebozo de Soledad (Soledad’s Shawl)" in 1953. Throughout his lifetime, he appeared in 42 Mexican films and more than 80 movies in Hollywood, France, England, Italy and Germany.
"It’s him, Emilio Fernández, Dolores del Río and the list goes on," Reyes said. "He was one of the true icons of Mexican cinema, but he was also one of the first international stars. His movies played all over the world, and he worked all over the world."
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Cal Poly Team Presents Data-Driven Reconstruction of African Californios’s Legacy at Digital Humanities Conference
Nov 5, 2024
By Emily Slater
Computer science master’s student Anthony Colin Herrera, left, and history lecturer Cameron Jones discovered an unexpected connection during a visit to the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. While in Virginia to present their research on African Californios at the DH 2024 conference, they were surprised to find an exhibit dedicated to the very community they were there to discuss.
A Cal Poly team has made remarkable strides in uncovering the history of California’s African-descended population from 1769 to 1850, as demonstrated by their recent presentation at the annual conference of the Alliance of Digital Humanities Organizations in Virginia.
Led by history lecturer Cameron Jones and computer science Professor Foaad Khosmood, the interdisciplinary group is using advanced data science to reveal an often-overlooked chapter of California’s history.
“We’re reconstructing a past that was nearly erased,” Jones explained. “It’s about more than just identifying names — it’s about understanding how these communities formed, thrived and contributed to California’s history.”
The project, one of several sponsored by Cal Poly’s Institute for Advanced Technology and Public Policy, has generated family trees, digitized census records and interactive visualizations, allowing researchers and the public to explore the contributions of African Californios.
In 1790, nearly one in five nonnative Californians were of African descent, with large communities in Los Angeles and San Jose. As Spain expanded its military, records from 1814 show that five of the six soldiers stationed in San Luis Obispo were of African ancestry.
These communities played a key role in California’s development, and the final Spanish census in 1821, just before the transition to Mexican control, reaffirmed their continued influence on the region.
To trace the legacy of the African Californios, Jones and Khosmood developed a system to match individuals across historical documents, enabling them to construct detailed family trees. The process was complicated by incomplete records and discrepancies, making it difficult to connect the dots across layers of historical data.
They relied on the Early California Population Project — a digital database of baptism, marriage and burial records from California’s missions — but these documents lacked one crucial detail: race. To fill this gap, they turned to census data, which included some racial information.
Over several months, Jones and his students scanned the census records into .csv files but faced further challenges with different spellings, accented letters and name variations.
To overcome this, the team modified an algorithm used to compare text strings. Spanish names, with variations like “S” and “Z,” required further customization, so they developed a list of letter substitutions specific to colonial Spanish to improve the algorithm’s accuracy.
“Data allows us to piece together details that might otherwise remain fragmented, giving us a more complete and nuanced understanding of the past,” Khosmood said.
A driving force behind the project’s technical advances is Anthony Colin Herrera, a computer science master’s student with a deep connection to his heritage.
“When I learned about the African Californios, I was struck by how little-known their story is,” Colin Herrera said. “My background made this project especially meaningful, and working with real-world data felt like the perfect way to honor that history.”
Fluent in Spanish, Colin Herrera identified “family units” based on shared last names, parent-child relationships and spousal connections. He traced generations and built family trees linking parents and children across multiple datasets.
Their research is publicly accessible through AfricanCalifornios.org, where users can explore findings, browse family trees and view visualizations that illustrate the impact of African-descended individuals in early California.
Colin Herrera will defend his thesis this spring after spending the year refining family trees based on the project’s data. The team’s next step is to use natural language processing tools to analyze a scanned book of colonial-era land grants, extracting details like people, places and plot sizes.
As the team continues their work, Jones reflected on the importance of reclaiming these narratives: “We know a lot about the wealthy, powerful white settlers but much less about the people of color who played vital roles in shaping our state’s history. California’s past is rich with diversity, far beyond what many realize.”
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Ask an Expert: How Has AI Changed Misinformation — And What Does That Mean for Consumers?
Nov 4, 2024
By Gabby Ferreira
Since 2020, misinformation has become a dominant part of public online discourse: unequivocally false claims about the 2020 election, COVID-19, hurricanes and presidential candidates have swirled, driven further by the rise of AI.
Cal Poly News sat down with Kim Bisheff, an assistant professor in Cal Poly’s Journalism Department who studies how misinformation spreads online, for a chat about what digital media consumers face, how misinformation has changed — and what we can do about it.
This conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.
What has changed about misinformation in the last few years?
The means of distribution are mostly the same. Most Americans access political information through social media. The problems that existed in 2020 still exist today in terms of people existing in silos, choosing information that perpetuates their worldview and makes them default to their community’s beliefs.
Some things that have changed and made misinformation worse are that the major social media players like Meta, Google and X (formerly Twitter) are no longer really trying to do anything about it. There are fewer safeguards against false information.
Since 2020, the TikTok audience has grown. The Instagram audience has grown. Those are both very visual mediums, so when we see photos and videos — even if they’re not accurate or if they’re taken out of context — they're just so visceral, it’s hard not to believe your eyes.
And that leads us to the biggest change between 2020 and now, which is AI.
Social media was the first big leap in amplifying misinformation to a major degree and made it easier for people to hide in their silos. Generative AI is the next great leap, unfortunately. You don’t even have to have Photoshop skills anymore to produce something remarkably realistic looking.
Not only have we come to not trust legitimate sources of information, but we no longer trust our own eyes.
Does this mean that all misinformation is AI-generated now?
No, not at all. It’s just a new player in the same old game.
One of the most popular forms of misinformation is actually super easy to produce. It’s called the meme quote. If you’ve seen it, it’s just a picture with a quote that’s attributed to someone.
That is extremely low-tech, but it’s still one of the major ways that false information is distributed.
The difference with AI is more for fake videos and convincingly fake images. It’s just become so fast and cheap and easy to distribute false information on a massive scale. That’s the main role that AI has played in the misinformation game.
Are there any instances of AI being used for good here?
A lot of news organizations are using chatbots and other AI-powered tools to help people fact-check information.
One that Cal Poly worked on via the Digital Transformation Hub is a chatbot for Snopes called the FactBot. It’s a chatbot that’s trained on the fact-checking website’s 30-plus years of reported fact-check articles. Users can interact with it directly by asking a question like, for example: is somebody eating people’s pets in Ohio? And it’ll answer the question as a summary with links to the source material.
It’s just like interacting with a ChatGPT-type interface, but it’s not trained on all the garbage that’s on the internet. It’s just trained on this very specific dataset of accurate, reported, transparently-sourced information.
Another great resource is Journalist’s Toolbox, which aggregates AI tools for fact-checking, plagiarism detection and more. These are great examples of how AI is being used to fight misinformation, not just create it.
Is there anything else we can do, when we encounter information in the wild, to double-check whether or not it’s fake?
There are a few things I recommend.
The first thing you should always do is a gut check. Ask yourself, how does this piece of information make me feel? If it gives you a strong emotional reaction, that’s your first red flag and you should take a pause, especially if you found that through social media.
The second thing you should do is Google it. If the information you’re looking at is an image, that means a reverse image search — there’s a little lens icon on the side of the search bar that you can plug images into, and then you can see the whole context: including whether the image was taken out of context, or if it was manipulated and here’s the original. You’d be surprised how much misinformation can be identified by plugging a screenshot of a video into Google search.
I also recommend that people visit the News Literacy Project so that they can learn skills, like how to tell if a source of information is trustworthy, and how to tell if an image is accurate, that sort of thing. News Guard is another website that has a great election misinformation tracker.
And the last thing I recommend is that you get your news directly from professional sources of journalism, and that’s not necessarily intuitive to people.
We are so used to accessing information through social media. When you access information through social media, you only get the stories that have been pushed to you because they’ve been circulated by people who are sharing them because they triggered anger or validation or fear. It’s not representative of the news that’s being reported and published.
When you access news from the source, it’s compartmentalized into news and opinion and all the different sections that are clearly labeled for you.
And we’re cheating ourselves if we don’t go directly to reasonable sources of news. If you don’t want to start with a news organization’s homepage, subscribe to a newsletter that gives you a news summary every day. It’s a much better way to have a healthy news consumption diet.
What are the real-world consequences of rampant misinformation, and how have we seen that play out in the last several years?
Well, look at January 6th. You had a whole group of people who really believed they were doing the right thing. Unfortunately, they were so entrenched in a world of false information that they were led to violence.
Interestingly, researchers used to say that most false information was coming from the political right. But that’s no longer the case: it’s about a 50-50 split. None of us are immune to misinformation.
And the threats are real. People are burning ballot boxes because they think election integrity is at risk in ways that it provably is not.
The thing that worries me about election week is that if you talk to people on the left, they feel like it’s going to go their way. If you talk to people on the right, they feel pretty confident it’s going to go their way — or if it doesn’t, something scandalous is afoot.
More than half of registered Republicans surveyed believe that Joe Biden is not the legal president. They believe that what we know to be election conspiracy is real. That has been disproven by the courts. It’s been disproven by officials in Trump’s own administration, and yet a majority of Republicans hold that view.
Q&A with Alum Umika Kuroda
Oct 21, 2024
Umika Kuroda
On the third week of October, colleges across the country recognize National Transfer Student Week (NTSW) to celebrate transfer students and the professionals who support them throughout their academic journeys.
In celebration of this year’s NTSW theme, “Unlocking Potential: Keys to the Transfer Journey,” we got to know recent graduate and 2024 Graphic Communication Department ‘Outstanding Senior’ Umika Kuroda (Graphic Communication, ’24).
As a student, Kuroda competed in the Xplor Communication Design Competition, and the Phoenix Challenge Flexographic Competition, where both teams placed first. They also volunteered at the Shakespeare Press Museum where they trained students on how to do letterpress, worked part-time at the Transfer Center and played violin in the Cal Poly Symphony.
Kuroda shares what it was like working in the Cal Poly Transfer Center and what their transfer journey has looked like from community college to post-graduation.
The winning Phoenix Challenge team (left to right: graphic
communication student Umika Kuroda, consumer packaging
concentration student Claire Schatz, graphic communication
students Alex Woon, Jasmine Lee, Jacob Sterrett, and
Sydney Doyle).
Where did your college career begin and how did you find yourself at Cal Poly?
I attended community college at Sacramento City College with the intention of pursuing user experience/user interface (UX/UI) design. However, I ended up earning an associate’s degree in psychology while taking graphic communication courses on the side. I realized that I enjoyed the UX/UI coursework a lot more and began looking for university programs that offered study in it.
Wanting to stay in California, I did not apply for private universities because the tuition would’ve been too expensive. Cal Poly fit within my needs and was the only university that offered UX/UI courses that were linked to more creative study as opposed to cognitive science.
During your time at Cal Poly, you were heavily involved with the Transfer Center. What was the experience like?
I got involved with the Transfer Center when I saw that they were looking for a student graphic designer. It seemed like the perfect opportunity especially because campus jobs prioritize your school schedule, and I knew I could still maintain some work-school-life balance.
My favorite part of working for the center was connecting with other transfer students and helping people. I’ve been in mentorship and teaching roles before, so it was rewarding to be able to provide insight and influence people who were in the same situation that I was recently in.
As a recent graduate, what was the job search experience like for you?
I secured a job before graduation due to help from two professors in the Graphic Communication Department. Both of them vouched for me and my work ethic to recruiters at a career fair booth, and I strongly believe that was the push that got me that job.
Another reason I was able to secure that position is because I went to career fairs, attended professors’ office hours regularly (even if I didn’t have questions, but just to get to know them) and tried to connect with people. As a transfer student, this can be hard because you’re only at Cal Poly for a short amount of time, so you have to make a conscious effort to do these things. But if you do, it is rewarding. You will enjoy your classes more because of those connections with your professors and they will genuinely want to see you succeed because they know you. And when the time comes time, they will vouch for you like they did for me.
What has post-graduation been like for you?
Post-graduation, I had a job for a couple of months, but I quickly found out that it was just not for me. Having a job right after graduation is every student’s dream, but we often feel pressure to find something as soon as possible. I was so worried about proving myself during my probationary period but one of my good friends said, “A probationary period isn’t just for the employer to find out if you’re a good fit for job, it’s for you to find out if the job is a good fit for you.”
I was lucky enough to be able to move back home to Davis, California until I secure another full-time position. I also decided to take a class this semester at my community college with one of my former professors where I get to serve as a project manager for a design team and be part of another design team — working on two different projects for real clients.
What advice would you give to transfer students at Cal Poly?
Other than making connections with professors, I would say making connections with other students. I saw many of my friends make friends living on campus by saying “hi” to passersby and simply knocking on neighbors’ doors and inviting them for dinner. Getting as involved as possible both within and outside of my major was where I made the most connections.
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Pitching the Parks
Oct 14, 2024
Written by Larry Peña // Photos by Christine Ferrara and Rachel Strohecker
Emerging from a long tunnel on the road into Yosemite National Park, visitors suddenly get a chance to see the full scope of the valley. The Merced River flows through grassy fields and lush green forests, winding between some of California’s most iconic and dramatic peaks — El Capitan, Cathedral Rocks, Half Dome.
It takes your breath away, especially the first time you see it.
“I always thought of Yosemite as something out of another realm,” said Bakersfield native Mason Boerger, a Cal Poly communication studies student who visited the valley for the first time this spring. “And then you see all of it at once, and you just feel so small, but in the best way possible. You feel so insignificant, but also that you’re one piece of this huge thing that is … everything.”
Boerger was in Yosemite as part of the Sierra Sustainability Summit, a competition created by Cal Poly master of public policy student Shane Patrick. The event brought speech and debate teams from a dozen universities from around the nation to research and pitch ideas aimed at making America’s national parks more accessible and sustainable.
Patrick’s idea for the Sierra Sustainability Summit came out of a camping trip she took last year with her husband, Cal Poly communication studies lecturer and debate team coach John Patrick.
“We were sitting around the fire, and he said, ‘I’ve been to so many debate camps, and they’re all in classrooms that look exactly the same — I wish there was a debate camp that involved actual camping,’” she said. “I told him, ‘I can make that happen!’ And then, it just got way bigger than that.”
Public policy grad student and summit founder
Shane Patrick.
“The only vacation my family ever went on when I was a kid was up to the mountains, so it was always a place that was really close to my heart,” said Patrick. “There are so many places that are so special to California that are really threatened by climate change, unless we change our management strategy.”
In addition to Cal Poly, the event involved students from colleges including Morehouse College, Gallaudet University, University of Vermont, Metropolitan State University of Denver, George Washington University, University of South Florida and Rochester University.
“It’s about getting out of the classroom and into the environment that you’re supposed to be learning about, so it’s very hands-on, very experiential,” said Patrick. “We’re listening to scientists give presentations, we’re listening to people who have gotten bills in front of Congress to do conservation work tell us about the struggles of doing so, and show us what they had to do to accomplish that.”
During the first two days of the event, students prepared for their presentations between guided tours of the park, led by park rangers. They explored some of Yosemite’s most spectacular vistas and heard from researchers and administrators about some of the park system’s biggest challenges.
They also heard a keynote presentation from Shelton Johnson, a longtime National Parks ranger who has spent decades advocating for more diversity in the national parks. Johnson has worked with former President Barack Obama and Oprah Winfrey in his decades-long effort to expand access to the great outdoors to more people of color.
A view of the Yosemite Valley as students
attending the summit explored under the
guidance of park rangers.
The debate portion of the event was unique: Students were required to present their original ideas, take feedback from a panel of park administrators, outdoor advocates and policymakers, listen to other teams’ proposals, and then improve on their own proposals by incorporating elements from other teams’ ideas.
“The most important thing about how this differs from other forms of debate is that the judges are all working professionals in the topic of the debate, and there are people who have the ability to change policy,” Boerger said. “Afterwards, they talked to some of our students and told them, ‘That’s such a good idea — you guys won because I can take this to my boss today.’”
Each team was asked to propose an answer to this question: How can we increase equity of access to national parks while maintaining sustainable practices?
It’s a question that administrators at Yosemite have been grappling with for years, and especially since the COVID-19 pandemic. National park visitors tend to be white, affluent and suburban, leaving many communities without access to nature or a full appreciation of the value of natural resources.
Meanwhile, attempts to expand access to the parks — such as a pandemic-era practice of free park days at Yosemite — have led to unintended environmental consequences, like traffic congestion, trampling damage and litter.
Debate team president Anahi Marquez.
Student proposals included adding more public transportation to parks; curbing or eliminating private vehicle use inside the parks; and developing outdoor education curricula and parks outreach programs for K-12 students in urban areas.
One of the top-ranked proposals involved developing a “library” of outdoor gear and apparel at Yosemite. It would allow visitors without the means to buy everything they needed to hike, camp and explore nature to borrow anything they might need to enjoy the experience anyway.
“National parks are really not that accessible to everybody,” said Anahi Marquez, a Cal Poly business administration student and captain of the university’s debate team. “I never really sat down to consider how difficult it is for a lot of people to get to go to national parks, especially if you didn’t grow up already predisposed to nature. There’s not really that drive to want to experience the big outdoors.”
The idea that individuals can make a difference was a key takeaway for many students who participated.
“I think a lot of the times as students, you don’t really think that you have a lot of power to make change — you leave that stuff up to experts or to people who you assume know more,” said Marquez. “But forcing yourself to think about issues that are currently going on in the world and proposing ways to improve them — you do have the ability to make change.”
Following a promising first run of this event, Patrick is looking for grant funding to continue and expand the competition. She hopes that events like this will help young people find their voice and advocate for things they care about.
Forcing yourself to think about issues in the world and proposing ways to improve them — you do have the ability to make change.
“I find that most young people really care about protecting nature, but they don’t necessarily know what to do about it,” she said. “Everybody wants California not to burn down, but how you actually go about changing the way that we treat our public lands is not something that a lot of people really learn. Learning how to advocate for changes that you want to see is really important.”
For some students at the summit, experiencing a national park for the first time had a significance that went beyond the policy considerations.
“I took home the importance of connecting with the sublime beauty of nature — that is something that I did not have growing up,” said Boerger, who grew up just three hours from Yosemite. “I don’t think I really understood the impact humanity has on nature and nature has on humans, because I was just so, so removed from it.
“My children will experience that. They’ll understand it,” he said. “And because of that, hopefully they’ll have this great appreciation that makes them understand why climate change matters, and why conserving nature is worth our time.”
Read the story in Cal Poly Magazine
Digging Deeper
Oct 14, 2024
Written by Robyn Kontra Tanner // Photos by Joe Johnston
When students Lacey Barnes and Emma Bowman unearthed a small metal figurine from the thick clay soil on the Pecho Coast overlooking the Pacific Ocean, their imaginations went wild. It looked like a child’s toy, possibly a firefighter with a hat and a crude steering wheel meant to sit atop a red truck. Could this be a tangible link to the family who lived on this land nearly a century ago?
When the budding archaeologists showed the figure to Irene and Grace Yoshida, the group rejoiced. It seemed the toy could have belonged to Charles Yoshida — Grace and Irene’s father — who lived on the farmstead with his parents and nine siblings between 1928 and 1936.
But the discovery, like everything found in the soil that day, eventually felt bittersweet. The family’s toys, precious dishware, tools and more were left behind, and the Yoshida family was eventually forced into an incarceration camp in 1942 for Japanese Americans in Jerome, Arkansas. The family was later incarcerated at Tule Lake in Northern California from 1943 to 1945. The Pecho property in California was sold, their home was destroyed, and they couldn’t return — until recently.
In collaboration with PG&E, Cal Poly anthropology and geography students, faculty and alumni excavated parts of land near Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant to better understand the community of seven families, including the Yoshidas, who lived on the windswept hillside. Over four days in May, students honed their archaeology field work skills while 33 members of the Yoshida family — ages 3 to 77 — reconnected with their ancestral home.
Professor Terry Jones shares insights on the
excavation with members of the Yoshida family.
“It was an opportunity for multiple generations to learn and reflect on one single period of time, for my dad’s and his siblings’ stories to come alive,” said Grace Yoshida. “It was when the family was forced to go, leaving behind their farm equipment, horses, home and fields — a time that is hard to imagine without physically experiencing the location.”
The personal connection of the Yoshida family reminiscing at the dig site — just one or two generations removed from those who lived there — taught a lesson on how anthropological work can reunite the past with the present.
“I think everybody recognized the importance of the situation, and I know that we were all deeply affected by our interaction with the Yoshida family,” anthropology professor Terry Jones said. “In 45 years of doing this, I’ve only had a few moments in my career — the best moments — where something affected me so strongly.”
The Archaeology Field Methods Course
The excavation was the culmination of ANT 310: Archaeological Field Methods, co-taught by Jones and geography professor Andrew Fricker. The course taught 25 students how to combine real-world excavation techniques with a detailed digital mapping process. It also fulfilled the hands-on field school experience required for a career in archaeology.
“The only real way to teach students how to conduct excavations is to put them in the trenches, hand ’em the tools, and give them the Learn by Doing experience,” Jones said. He has partnered with PG&E’s cultural resource managers for 20 years to give students field work opportunities that preserve important pieces of history on Diablo Canyon land.
To prepare for the dig, students downloaded historical photographs taken by the Army Air Corps in the 1930s, ’40s and ’50s and assessed the land’s topography with PG&E’s laser scanning data. Any flat spots could be a clue that a structure may have stood there. Students also learned from the oral histories that members of the Yoshida family recorded with PG&E over the years, including interviews with Charles Yoshida before he passed away in 2020.
Professor Terry Jones (left) examines an artifact
from the excavation with alumnus Justin Tidd, who
served as a crew chief for one of the student teams.
Fricker taught students to use GPS data, geographic information systems (GIS) programs and a drone with a multi-spectrum camera that mapped the site three times: before, during and after the dig. A precise map helped the archaeology team make the most of the limited time it had on property typically closed to the public.
“All of that is traditionally done with a compass, tape and paper maps. My role was to show the students how to make that all digital,” Fricker said. “It’s very clear the skills that [students] need are changing rapidly, and they include all these technologies.”
A Learn by Doing Experience
On Memorial Day weekend, vanloads of students, faculty, alumni volunteers and Yoshida family members drove out to the farmstead’s original site for the first time. Native monitor Mona Tucker, a member of the yak titʸu titʸu yak tiłhini Northern Chumash Tribe, joined the team to offer guidance in case they encountered any Native artifacts.
Before the work began, Tucker spoke passionately about the concept of home, telling the group that she respected the land as the home of the Yoshida family as much as the Chumash, who have more than 10,000 years of documented history on the Central Coast.
“We could feel free to share our family background, culture and traditions, too,” said Irene Yoshida of her conversations with Tucker. “We enjoyed the exchange as a two-way street.”
Sara Arnold (left) and Jessica Conley sort artifacts
using shaker screens.
Jones divided the land into a grid of squares, or transects, that correlated to a central mapping point or datum. After walking the site to spot any artifacts on the surface, the students formed teams and began digging in several locations, including one spot the archaeologists thought might be the home’s refuse disposal site. Each team dug up their transect to a depth of 10 centimeters, then 20. Some members of the Yoshida family even jumped in the trenches to dig alongside students with trowels.
Students poured excavated material onto a tarp and used shaker screens to separate artifacts from dirt. Over hours of work, the team unearthed a staggering number of artifacts, including pieces of Japanese teacups, platters and bowls painted with an intricate blue and white pattern.
“I’ve been puzzled by how much of this broken ceramic we found, and I think it could have something to do with those 10 kids, to tell you the truth,” Jones said. “It just seemed like a large quantity of beautiful pottery was being broken. You don’t see that much typically at sites, but they were setting a beautiful table.”
The team discovered more fragments of glass jars, metal parts from gates, coins and toy marbles. There was also a wealth of beef bones, red abalone and Pismo clam shells, indicating what the family may have eaten regularly.
“My dad, Charles, would have loved to attend the excavation of his childhood home,” said Irene Yoshida. “He would have been delighted to revisit, remember, and hold beloved belongings from his family. Dad would have turned 100 this year, so the dig is like we received a special birthday present from PG&E and Cal Poly!”
The day of the dig was full of anticipation for student Lacey Barnes. She switched her major from aerospace engineering to anthropology to focus on archaeology. The weekend tested if she would thrive doing the strenuous field work her dream job demanded.
A student holds a variety of colorful pottery
fragments unearthed at the excavation.
“I had to plan my whole life around this weekend for a little while, but it was so worth it,” she said. “I really enjoy the work; I love doing it. I felt so accomplished every day.
“I think the emotional aspect made it so much more meaningful, especially for a first excavation, but it’s really motivated me for future ones.”
On the site, Barnes and her fellow Mustangs leaned on several Cal Poly anthropology graduates — now employed as professional archaeologists and cultural resource managers — who volunteered as crew chiefs. Emma Cook (Anthropology and Geography ’17) was one of four alumni who helped supervise students as they practiced key excavation techniques, documented artifacts and collected data that fit Jones’ research design.
“The opportunities that [we are] providing are as good, if not better, than any place else in California, largely because we have this great relationship with PG&E and we’ve been able to investigate really fascinating sites,” said Jones. “I suspect that there’s probably no place else in California where anybody got an experience quite like this.”
Reconnecting to the Land
For more than a decade before the excavation, members of the Yoshida family could only look at their former homestead from a trail’s edge.
“It was out of reach, yet appeared so close,” said Grace Yoshida. “Many Japanese American families could only look into the distance and see the iconic landmarks from the Point Buchon trail.”
To Grace and Irene, being on the farmstead site with so many family members — from Aunt Betsy, the youngest sibling in the original Yoshida family; to Kayden, a three-year-old great-great-granddaughter — was an essential opportunity to pass down family history to new generations.
Dylan, Charles Yoshida’s grandson, said he was amazed that others were taking an interest in his family’s history. “It would have been forgotten if the younger people weren’t there,” he said. “[I] just didn’t want the knowledge to be lost with this generation.”
For a few of Cal Poly’s team members, the experience mirrored their own family history.
“My maternal grandparents were in the internment camps in World War II,” said Fricker. “I see a lot of my own family in [the Yoshidas]. They went through this really traumatic experience. The difference is that their experience of being displaced was at Diablo Canyon, so it’s hard for them to get back there.”
Psychology Student Receives CSU Trustees’ Award and $7,000 Scholarship
Sep 23, 2024
By Jay Thompson
Maileen Mamaradlo
A first-generation Cal Poly psychology student who is attending the university alongside her own children has received a 2024 California State University Trustees’ Scholar Award for Outstanding Achievement.
The trustee awards are presented annually to one student from each of the CSU system’s 23 campuses. Like her counterparts throughout the Golden State, Maileen Mamaradlo was selected for superior academic performance, personal accomplishments, community service and financial need.
The 46-year-old Filipino American will receive a $7,000 scholarship as one of the four William Randolph Hearst Scholars. She and the other 22 awardees will be publicly recognized Tuesday, Sept. 24 at the CSU Board of Trustees meeting in Long Beach.
“I think I’m experiencing imposter syndrome,” said Mamaradlo, who transferred from Cuesta College. “I never imagined I’d be chosen for such an honor, and it feels surreal. I’m incredibly grateful to have been nominated.
“I hope to become a psychologist or social worker, so I can help others navigate the challenges of life. Resilience runs in my blood. I love to believe that I am a good seed. Even when life tries to bury me, I’ve learned to find the light and grow. I’ve had a lot of help along the way, and I’m deeply grateful for the support I’ve received.”
As a non-native English speaker with dependents, and despite facing financial constraints and enduring the loss of a child, she has navigated her educational journey by using creative solutions. That journey was revived after moving to California in 2015. She passed high school equivalency tests at San Luis Coastal Adult School in 2019 followed by several years at Cuesta College.
In a May 2022 video for Cuesta College as she was graduating with an associate arts degree in psychology, she said: “I want to understand people. I want to help people. I want to help someone who’s been through (life) like me. I know the feeling of having no one, having nothing. I want to help, not because I have the luxury to help but because I’ve been there.”
Mamaradlo began her Cal Poly studies in September 2022 and became the first in her family to attend a four-year university. Gaining confidence as her English skills improved, she succeeded academically and was named three times to the Dean’s Honors List, which recognizes excellence among undergraduate students with at least a 3.5 grade point average out of 4.0.
In his nomination letter to the CSU Board of Trustees, Cal Poly President Jeffrey D. Armstrong wrote that Mamaradlo, “found her inspiration to pursue her major through the support she herself received during traumatic and difficult circumstances she has overcome. Maileen has become a successful student, and the numerous organizations she is involved in reflect her desire to help others.”
Taking a cue from her experiences at the community college, where she found community through participation in a variety of Cuesta programs, Mamaradlo found her footing through several organizations providing financial aid and support services at Cal Poly.
“I’m proud to be part of the College Corps Program, Cal Poly Scholars, Educational Opportunity Program, Students with Dependents and Multicultural Scholars Program communities,” she said. “They’ve been an incredible support system for me.”
The mother of two is joined on campus this year by her 19-year-old son, Edward, a biological sciences major in the Bailey College of Science and Mathematics, who begins his junior year, and her daughter, Cassiopeia, 18, a first-year psychology major.
“My Mustang babies are my pride and joy,” Mamaradlo said. “We are literally the Mustang family. I want to be someone my children and others in similar circumstances can look up to, showing them that no matter how tough things get, it’s possible to push through and succeed. Seeing my children also attending Cal Poly fills me with great pride and gratitude.”
While Cal Poly was the next logical choice for the San Luis Obispo resident in seeking a bachelor’s degree, “in many ways, I feel like Cal Poly chose me — and I couldn’t be more thankful,” Mamaradlo said. “The opportunity to be here has been a blessing I’ll always cherish. Cal Poly has welcomed me with open arms and provided everything I need to succeed.
“Cal Poly has given me the chance to grow not just as a student but as a person. It’s helping me become a better citizen and giving me a deep sense of pride that I carry with me every day.”