Projects

The Watts Mural Project: Art Students and Alumni Bring Beauty and Hope to Health Center

Photos by Mario Congreve and Calvin Ko

Read about the Watts Mural Project in DH Dateline.

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Project SOUND

(Save Our Unique Natural Diversity)

A program to protect and promote the  native plants and animals

of the South  Bay Region

CSUDH houses the Center for Environmental Research (CUER) and is a California native species propagation site for plants, animals and insects. The university's Environmental Science program offers degrees in Environmental Science and Environmental Studies. The campus also sets aside space for a nature preserve to protect our native species.

SOUND, an arm of CUER, is a program that protects and promotes native plant and animal species of the South Bay Region.   SOUND's purpose is to collect seeds, cuttings and individual animals from local sites, then preserve these local varieties though seed banking, plant banking, plant propagation, and insect and animal breeding.   Plants and animals are provided to local organizations and individuals interested in using South Bay native varieties for plantings and restoration projects.

SOUND currently has plant propagation facilities at CSU Dominguez Hills and the Madrona Marsh Preserve. The facilities include a shadehouse, potting facilities and a greenhouse (CSUDH).  Seed storage facilities are currently housed at Madrona Marsh Preserve.   Long-term plantings of woody plants (for plant banking) are being established on the CSUDH campus.

Native plants and animals are uniquely suited to the South Bay Region.  They are adapted to our local conditions, making them excellent choices for public places, natural areas & home gardens. 

Using native plants, particularly those obtained from local South Bay sources, also promotes native insects, birds and other wildlife.  We need to protect and propagate more plants native to the South Bay and increase their availability for home gardens, restoration projects & other uses.

We need to act now – before our local native species disappear

Project SOUND is involved in many aspects of collecting, preserving and disseminating native South Bay plants and animals.  Activities include:

• collecting seeds and cuttings from local plant populations
• native plant propagation
• research on propagation methods
• long-term seed storage/seed banking
• establishing a long-term “plant  bank” of trees and shrubs (a permanent resource for propagation)
• research to develop plants tolerant to  local environmental challenges  (drought; salinity; soil contaminants)
• educating the community in the use of local native species

SOUND provides students with opportunities for field research and educating the community about the importance of using drought-tolerant plants to replace lawns and gardens.

Read about our environmental programs on campus:

Easy Being Green: CUER to Raise Awareness, Solve Environmental Issues

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Read about our first intern at the Dominguez Rancho Adobe Museum:

"Jack Patterson: Meaning and Memory"

In a small room behind the exhibits in the Dominguez Rancho Adobe Museum, intern Jack Patterson (Class of ’07, B.A., anthropology) is busily cataloging books, photographs, paintings, and other artifacts belonging to the family that lends its name to California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH). The Paramount native, whose major concentration while at CSUDH was in archaeology, describes the feeling he gets from being surrounded by objects from a long-lost time. More in DH Dateline

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The Tumbes Archaeology Project

Jerry Moore and anthropology student in the field. See: The Tumbes Archeaology Project.

The CSU Dominguez Hills Anthropology Department is unique in giving undergraduate students the opportunity to apply classroom curriculum in the field serving the global community. The Tumbes Archeaology Project or Proyecto Arqueológico Tumbes (PAT), a multi-year bi-national program of archaeological research is located in far northern Peru.  Long considered a cultural backwater marginal to better-known regions of Ecuador and Peru, our research demonstrates that the Tumbes region was home to a series of important prehistoric developments and involved in long-distance trade and interaction with prehispanic cultures to the north and south. (from Proyecto Arqueologico Tumbes)

Read about Dr. Moore's work in Baja:

"Jerry Moore: Anthropologist Co-Edits Seminal Work on Prehistory of Baja California"

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The Cacao Project

Market day in Tapachula (Photo by Anthony Solurio 2006)

A return from visiting the sandbar shows a spectacular sunset. (Photo by Anthony Solurio 2006)

The Maya believed a great Ceiba tree stood at the center of the Earth. (Photo by Anthony Solurio 2006)

This project combines the best of all worlds: service learning, community engagement, and environmental sustainability.

Students studying ethnobotany in Soconusco apply what they have learned in class. An outgrowth of this research resulted in The Cacao Project which partners indigenous cacao farmers with socially-concious chocolate enterpreneur Shawn Askinosee allowing the farmers to receive fair trade prices and profit sharing. Cacao can be grown in the forest allowing the farmers to support their families without clearing the forest. See Askinosie's website Askinosie Chocolate for this amazing story.

For more see The Cacao Project

and Joanie Harmon's Dateline article:

"Janine Gasco: Seeds of Change"

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Notes from the field:

When we brought the supplies for the students at the Phnom Denh Elementary School in summer 06, the principal thanked us, but said what they really needed was toilets. They only had one toilet for 1500 students. Last year, the anthro club helped raise another $800 to build toilets for the school. The toilets have been built and I'm tickled with the outcome.I guess you might say we're helping kids with their education, one toilet at a time :-) I know it's not glamorous, but it sure is necessary!

This year we'll be doing a library project with a high school in Phnom Pen.

Photos:

New toilets from Dominguez Hills students to students in Phnom Denh Elementary School

Inside view - very nice. Check out that tilework!

Dedication to professors and students from California State University Dominguez Hills. Who knew being written up on a restroom wall would turn out to be such an honor?

Read more about Dr. Needham's work in the Cambodian community and her book Cambodians in Long Beach in CSUDH Dateline:

"CSU Dominguez Hills Alumni and Faculty Impact Literacy in Cambodian-American Community"

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Uncovering the Myths and Realities of Subsistence Fishing in the United States: The Case of Los Angeles County, California

Student Christie D'Anna interviews local fisherman

This project is an analysis of a coastal activity that has been marginalized and largely ignored in the United States. It is widely acknowledged that people fish off piers, though the fact that this activity is done for regular subsistence rather than for recreation is a new discovery, and one of significant importance to community-building, public health, and policy-making on regional, state, and national levels. Understanding this activity is of critical importance to Los Angeles County, where a high cost of living and low incomes have produced food insecurity among certain populations of individuals, resulting in the activity of pier fishing for subsistence. This project seeks to document these marginalized pier “communities” of subsistence fishers in Los Angeles County.

Often, individuals engaged in subsistence fishing are members of poor, indigenous or immigrant communities.  This project seeks to better preserve a segment of American coastal history by researching and describing the subsistence fishing practices and subsistence fishers of southern California coastal communities through direct, ethnographic fieldwork among the fishers as well as via a survey instrument in the subsistence fishing communities.

Students are interviewing, observing, and collecting archival data to be analyzed. The findings will be provided to the EPA, which is responsible for advising fishers on the piers of the dangers associated with consuming the fish.

Photo above: Anthropology students and Ana Pitchon, assistant professor of anthropology (far right) presented their research on the cultural drivers of urban fishing at the annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association last month in San Francisco.

L-R: Christie D’Anna, Sonja Ulrich, Rose Hassani, Mallory Kerwin, Meghan Strong and Pitchon. Photo courtesy of Sonja Ulrich.

Read Dateline Article: "Gone Fishing" by Joanie Harmon.

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How Do I Find Service-Learning Opportunities?

Contact the Center for Service Learning, Internships, & Civic Engagement at (310) 243-2438.