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Faculty Careers Day: California Community College and State University Systems

Wednesday, November 9, 2022

Morning Session (CCC's) 10:00AM - 12:00PM  |   Afternoon Session (CSU's): 1:00PM - 3:00PM

Faculty Careers Day is an in-person conference that highlights academic career pathways at primarily teaching institutions. Faculty from California Community Colleges and California State Universities will share their experiences and advice about faculty careers at these insitutions. This event is geared toward graduate students and postdoctoral scholars.

Register Here by Thursday, November 3, 2022.


Faculty Careers Day Schedule:

9:30 am Arrival - Coffee & Pastries available.
10:00 am Welcome from Vice Provost and Graduate Dean Hrant Hratchian
10:05 am The California Community College Registry - Beth Au, Director
10:15 am Bakersfield Faculty Diversification Program - Maria Wright, Director
10:20 am CCC Faculty Presentation: Jourjina Alkhouri, Merced College
10:40 am CCC Faculty Presentation: Kimberly Arellano Carmona, Bakersfield College
11:00 am CCC Faculty Presentation: Michael Barba, Merced College
11:20 am CCC Faculty Panel Moderated by Graduate Assistant Dean Jesus Cisneros
12:00 pm Break for Lunch
1:00 pm Welcome from Vice Provost and Graduate Dean Hrant Hratchian
1:05 pm CSU Faculty Presentation: John Bunce, CSU East Bay
1:25 pm CSU Faculty Presentation: Houa Vang, CSU Stanislaus
1:45 pm CSU Faculty Presentation: Anna Jacobsen, CSU Bakersfield
2:05 pm CSU Faculty Panel Moderated by Graduate Assistant Dean Jesus Cisneros
2:45 pm Closing Comments

 


Speaker Information:

Jourjina Alkouri, Professor of Biology, Merced College (QSB PhD, Class of 2021)

Kimberly Arellano Carmona, Professor of Public Health Sciences, Bakersfield College

Michael Barba, Professor of English and Humanities, Merced College (IH PhD, Class of 2019)
Barba is a Professor of English and Humanities at Merced College, here in Merced. He completed his Ph.D. from UC Merced in August of 2019. His research interests are in the areas of literature and composition, prison education, ethnic studies and film and society. More specifically, he focuses on how non-traditional and non-canonical texts can shape our understanding of society. He has presented papers on Chicano literature, film, science fiction (namely the many Star Trek texts) and non-traditional education.
 
John Bunce, Professor - Department of Human Development & Women's Studies, CSU East Bay (Psych Sciences PhD, Class of 2017)
In 2019, John joined the Department of Human Development and Women’s Studies at California State University, East Bay as an assistant professor. Additionally, he serves as the department’s Online Teaching Liaison and Faculty Advising Fellow. His research uses a variety of methodological approaches to explore language acquisition. First, he uses naturalistic observation to characterize the linguistic input available in the learning environment. Second, he uses experimental methods to identify the mechanisms children possess to learn a word’s meaning. John’s training as a developmental psychologist included a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Manitoba from 2017-2019 and, as a true product of California's higher learning system, he earned his Ph.D. from the University of California, Merced (2017), his B.A. from California State University, Dominguez Hills (2011), and A.A. from Santa Monica College (2009).
 
Houa Vang, Professor of Sociolgy, CSU Stanislaus (Sociology PhD, Class of 2022)
Houa is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at CSU, Stanislaus. She recently completed her Ph.D. from UC Merced in August of 2022. Her research interests are in the areas of education, race and ethnicity, Asian Americans, and social stratification and inequality. More specifically, she examines how colleges and universities shape various aspects of students’ lives from ethnic-racial identities to their post-baccalaureate pathways. She is also interested in research focusing on the Hmong community as a refugee community as well as the lives of Hmong women.
 
Anna Jacobsen, Professor of Plant Ecology, CSU Bakersfield
Dr. Anna L. Jacobsen completed her undergraduate studies at Pepperdine University in Malibu, CA.  She graduated from Pepperdine University in 2003 with a B. S. Biology with honors.  She spent 2004 living and conducting research in South Africa at Stellenbosch University as a Fulbright Scholar.  Upon returning to the States, she entered graduate school in the Department of Plant Biology at Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI and was an NSF GRFP recipient.  Dr. Jacobsen completed a dual Ph. D. in Plant Biology and Ecology, Evolutionary Biology, & Behavior (EEBB) in 2008. Following a two-year post-doc supported by a Mellon Foundation grant, she was hired as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology at California State University, Bakersfield. She was awarded a prestigious National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER award in 2013 and was part of a team that received an NSF CREST (Center for Research in Excellence in Science and Technology) grant in 2016.  She was promoted to Associate Professor in 2014 and to Professor in 2018. She has developed an active research program investigating plant hydraulic structure-function, has published more than 70 scholarly articles, and co-authored a book on mediterranean-type ecosystems with Oxford University Press. She is currently serving as the CSUB Title Vb director of graduate research and mentoring.
 
Beth Au, Director of California Community College Registry
Au has a Master’s degree in Asian American Studies from UCLA and a Bachelor’s Degree in Chinese Studies from UCSD. She has been Director of the California Community Colleges (CCC) Registry since 2002. As Director, she oversees and manages cccregistry.org and hosts annual job fairs for the college system every January. In 2023, the job fairs will be January 21 at the Westin LAX and January 28 at the Hilton Oakland Airport.
 
The CCC Registry is the State Chancellor’s job board for faculty, management and staff opportunities at all 72 districts and 116 colleges across California. The CCC’s are the largest higher education employer in the world with over 60,000 faculty, administrators and staff across the state. In her role as a recruiter, she frequently works with UC Graduate Students through UC Career Centers to host CCC interest panels for graduate students.
 
Maria Wright, Director of Faculty Diversification Fellowship Program, Bakersfield College
Dr. Maria Wright serves as the lead Faculty for the Faculty Diversification Fellowship Program at Bakersfield College. Prior to taking on this role, Dr. Wright served as the Director for Academic Support Services for a number of years, helping centralize efforts to provide wrap-around support for students. This effort focused on enhancing the out-of-class academic experience for BC students.
 
Dr. Wright earned her doctoral degree from California State University, Fresno in Educational Leadership, her master’s degree in Educational Administration from California State University, Bakersfield, and her bachelor’s degree in Political Science from California State University, Long Beach. As a first-generation graduate, Dr. Wright is passionate about increasing equity, inclusion, and diversity in higher education institutions. She is eager to help fellows in this program gain teaching experience in the community college setting.
 

For more information or questions about this event please contact us at graduateresources@ucmerced.edu.