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CAHSS Newsletter - April 2025

Congratulations Cutcha Risling Baldy and Kaitlin Reed

In February, both Native American Studies professors received the 2025 James Irvine Foundation Leadership Award, which recognizes innovative leaders whose breakthrough solutions to critical state challenges improve lives, create opportunity, and contribute to a better California.

The award of $350,000 was given to the Rou Dalagurr: Food Sovereignty Lab & Traditional Ecological Knowledges Institute to forward their important work on campus and in the community.

Two female professors wearing traditional

Journalism Students Win 26 College Media Awards

Cal Poly Humboldt Journalism & Mass Communication students took home 26 awards after a journalism conference and award ceremonies in Long Beach on March 8, including seven first-place state awards with the California College Media Association (CCMA) and four national awards with the Associated Collegiate Press (ACP). 

 

A group of students holding up awards for a journalism conference

Giving Day 

Cal Poly Humboldt Giving Day is a 24-hour fundraising campaign on April 2 that brings faculty, staff, alumni, donors, friends, and family together in support of our students. 

CAHSS groups participating in Giving Day include: 

Please take a moment to share some of these funds with your contacts, and consider giving. Everyone's contrinution makes a difference!

Giving Day text graphic

Upcoming CAHSS Events

Featured Events

Undammed Exhibition

Presented by the Goudi’ni Native American Arts Gallery

Opening Reception April 3, 4:30-6:30pm 

The exhibition, running April 3 - May 17, highlights community members, artists, and activists’ efforts, responding to the Klamath dam removals and the power of continued community action. It features works by Annelia Hillman, Bob Benson, Lyn Risling, Julian Lang, Jackie Fawn, Jaimoe Kibby, and more. 

An Indigenous woman beside an installation artwork

Jennifer Espinoza Poetry Reading

Presented by the Department of English 

Monday April 7, 3-5pm in the Scholars Lab (LIB 302) or on Zoom: hum.link/JE2025 passcode 660563

Joshua Jennifer Espinoza is a trans woman poet. Her work has been featured in The Nation, Poetry, the American Poetry Review, Southeast Review, The Rumpus, Poem-a-day at poets.org, and elsewhere. She is the author of I’m Alive / It Hurts / I Love It (Big Lucks, 2019), THERE SHOULD BE FLOWERS (The Accomplices, 2016) and I Don’t Want to Be Understood  (Alice James Books, 2024). She holds an MFA in poetry from the University of California, Riverside, and currently teaches creative writing. 

A white woman with long brown hair standing in front of a brick wall

12th Annual Hip Hop Conference: Power to the People

Presented by CRGS

April 17 & 18. Featuring keynote speaker Dre T, performances, student presentations, celebrations and more! 

Events will take place at Fulkerson Hall, Siemens Hall and the D Street Community Center. See the CRGS website for more information.

A rap performer on stage

Humboldt International Film Festival

Presented by the Film Department 

April 24 - 27 at the Minor Theatre in Arcata. Admission is free for all current students!

Over 30 short films from all over the world, plus a talk with visiting guest judges, parties and more.

A text graphic for the Humboldt International Film Festival

Achievements

Latest Achivements

Submit an Achievement

Faculty

Ryder Dschida

History

On February 28, the Humboldt County Office of Education and the Cal Poly Humboldt History department ran the annual county-level History Day competition on the Cal Poly Humboldt campus. Well over 300 local school children, from 4th grade through high school seniors, present their History Day projects in numerous locations across the campus. The awards ceremony was held in Forbes Gym, where many of the projects were on exhibit for all to inspect. Cal Poly Humboldt has been hosting this event since the 1990s and is the only university that hosts a county-level event in the United States.  

Faculty

Dr. Amy Rock

Geography, Environment & Spatial Analysis

Minding the Gender Gap: Working Toward Parity for Women in U.S. Academic Geography (Mossa, J., B. Dixon, S. Sultana, A. Rock, and B. Kar, 2026) has just been released in electronic format. The latest release from the Status of Women in Geography Project, this piece examines 50 years of gender composition of Geography departments in higher ed, finding that while parity has been reached at lower ranks, female full professors still lag behind, even when compared with other social sciences. A map by Dr. Rock related to this project is currently hanging in Founders Hall outside the Geography Department. (Full article: https://doi.org/10.1080/00330124.2026.2621345)

Faculty

Loren Cannon

Philosophy

Loren Cannon (Philosophy, Applied Humanities) was requested to present his work at the American Philosophical Association's Central Meeting, in Chicago, February 18-21. He presented his most recent essay, "Court of Supreme Contradictions: A Changing Legal Landscape for LGBTQ+ Americans," in the session on LGBTQ+ Philosophy of Law. His latest work explores the relationship between the pro-LGBTQ+ rights rulings in 2015 (Obergefell) and 2020 (Bostock) and how the arguments of several Supreme Court ruling since 2020 together present a much less optimistic picture, especially with regards to broad based social acceptance including the contexts of health care, education, and commerce. This changing legal climate has ramifications for LGBTQ+ persons and our intent to live flourishing lives as well as the stability of the Obergefell and Bostock rulings themselves. 

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