Faculty Honorees Highlighted at 2007 Commencement

At the Master’s Hooding Ceremony on May 17 and the Undergraduate Commencement Ceremony on May 18, three California State University, Dominguez Hills faculty members will be recognized and honored for their achievements. Recommended and nominated through the efforts of their students and colleagues, Catherine Jacobs, lecturer, interdisciplinary studies, received the Excellence in Service Award, H. Leonardo Martinez, professor of chemistry, was given the Excellence in Research, Scholarship and Creative Activity Award, and Noel Sturm, associate professor of chemistry, received the Lyle E. Gibson Dominguez Hills Distinguished Teacher Award.

Catherine Jacobs says she was inspired to become a teacher by her lifelong love of nature and “seeing the light come on in someone's eyes when I explain things.” The Omaha, Neb., native grew up throughout the United States in surroundings that were far less urbanized than the environments of many of her students. Through her teaching, she strives to give them an understanding of a natural world that is often overlooked or simply unknown to them.

“Teaching is a way to get my students to care about getting involved in saving what is left of the natural world,” she says. “Even though we've largely divorced our lives from the natural world, we are still deeply embedded there, and what happens to it is of huge import to people. I try to make science real to them, and show them how it really does impact their lives, with issues like global warming and the mass extinction that we inflict upon organisms.”

As a lecturer in the interdisciplinary studies department at CSUDH, Jacobs has added many timely ecological issues to her course offerings, including classes on endangered species, the greenhouse effect and population biology. Teaching in the Program for Adult College Education (PACE), Jacobs also enjoys the chance to work with mature returning college students, many of whom are juggling family and work obligations to finish their degrees.

“These students are making sacrifices to be there, so they want to be there,” she notes. “They're willing to work hard and they bring a wealth of life experience to the classroom, with different perspectives that are based on more mature observations.”

Jacobs received her Bachelor of Science degree at UC Davis and her master's degree and doctorate in biology at UCLA. Prior to her arrival at Dominguez Hills in 1990, she taught at UCLA and West Los Angeles College in a wide variety of courses, ranging from animal behavior, organismic biology and ecology and evolution. She says she appreciates the opportunity she has at CSUDH to contribute to a diverse population.

“I enjoyed my time at UCLA and made a lot of good friends there,” she says. “But you're teaching the children of privilege, kids who are going to make it, no matter what. Here, you really have the chance to make a difference in someone's life.”

Jacobs is a member of the American Ornithological Society, the Audubon Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Society. She and her husband, also a UCLA alumnus, have two daughters, one a structural engineer and the other about to enter a doctoral biology program at UC Riverside.

Since his arrival at CSU Dominguez Hills in 1996, H. Leonardo Martinez has been active in both the classroom and the research lab. He cites the nature of his discipline as his reason for helping to shape the scientists and professors of tomorrow.

“What I do to understand the basic principles of chemistry is theoretical, and it's closely related to teaching,” he says. “You figure things out so you can explain them.”

Martinez earned his bachelor's degree in chemistry at the Universidad del Valle in Colombia and his master's degree and doctorate in chemistry at the University of California, San Diego. After earning his doctorate, Martinez had the opportunity to do two post-doctoral fellowships at UC Davis in the Institute of Theoretical Dynamics and the Department of Chemistry. In his continuing work researching theoretical dynamics and the travel patterns of particles in fractal structures, Martinez has relied on the input of student researchers, many of whom are working on, or have achieved, their doctoral degrees.

“I handpick the students I do research with from my classes,” he says. “If you can get what I'm telling you in class, chances are you are able to challenge it, and I need the students in my lab to be able to say to me, ‘I don't think so.’ They might be on to something that I missed, and that's what research is all about.”

Martinez served as chair of the chemistry department from 2000 to 2004. He has published widely in prestigious journals within the scientific community, including the American Chemical Society, the Journal of Organic Chemistry, and the Journal of Chemical Physics. He has presented his own work and work done in collaboration with his students, at numerous conferences in the United States, Puerto Rico and Spain.

Martinez cites the contributions of his students to his work, and the experience they gain from it, as a mutually beneficial relationship.

“I was able to see their potential, like diamonds in the rough,” he notes. “Some of them are going to be great professors and outstanding scientists. I know that material is here.”

While looking back at her days as a college student, Noel Sturm admits that she initially modeled her teaching style after the traditional methods of that time.

“When I was a student, the talking head came in and and you took notes and spit it back out,” she recalls. “So when I came here, I was on the same path. But I’ve put a lot of effort into changing that, learning in the last few years about pedagogy and how to do a better job at making real learning take place.”

Sturm created the new bachelor’s degree in biochemistry program at CSU Dominguez Hills to fill prerequisites for students preparing for medical, dental or veterinarian degrees. As chair of the chemistry department, she points out that, “We pride ourselves on being very strong on teaching and on standards. We hold them high, and the students always rise to them, I hope, because of the effort we’ve put in the last few years in changing the way we teach.”

Prior to arriving at CSUDH in 1996, Sturm served a pharmaceutical internship at Miles-Cutter Laboratories. Her first foray into teaching was at the University of Arizona’s College of Medicine, followed by lecturing at Saddleback College and UCLA Extension. She earned her bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in chemistry at UC Davis and her doctorate at the University of Toledo, followed by a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Arizona.

Sturm gives credit to the tenacity of Dominguez Hills students, many of whom are the first in their families to attend and graduate from college.

“The students are a real joy here,” she says. “They work harder than students in a lot of other schools to get their education, and they have more drive to be successful. It’s exciting that so many of them are the first in their families to go to college, that’s a big deal for them and for me.”

- Joanie Harmon-Whetmore

Photos above, top to bottom:

Catherine Jacobs, lecturer, interdisciplinary studies, Excellence
in Service Award,

H. Leonardo Martinez, professor of chemistry, Excellence in Research, Scholarship
and Creative Activity Award

Noel Sturm, associate professor of chemistry, Lyle E. Gibson Dominguez Hills
Distinguished Teacher Award.

All photos by Joanie Harmon-Whetmore