Hansonia Caldwell isn’t a detective by trade but the emerita professor of music’s knowledge of scared music of the African Diaspora provided the clues needed to solve a mystery on an episode of PBS’s “History Detectives.” "Slave Songs of the United States" is a book in the collection of the Mayme Clayton Library and Museum in Culver City, Calif. Clayton’s son, Avery, wanted to know if the compilation, which was originally published in 1867, was indeed the first record of Negro spirituals and presented the question to PBS’s “History Detectives.” Wes Cowan, appraiser and auctioneer, interviewed Caldwell onscreen last summer in the CSU Dominguez Hills University Archives and Special Collections to enlist her aid in solving the mystery.

Nancy Erbe, associate professor of negotiation, conflict resolution and peace building at California State University, Dominguez Hills, will be speaking at “Shaping Faculty Roles in Times of Change: Leadership for Student Learning,” the annual conference of the American Associate of Colleges and Universities in San Diego in April. She is also on a research team funded by the CSU Office of the Chancellor, researching social justice and CSU curriculum and has just been named by the U.S. State Department as a Fulbright senior specialist in peace and conflict resolution.