Academics

Tal Slemrod and the newly converted Mobile Classroom.

School of Education Launches Mobile Classroom Project

The SOE's newly retrofitted classroom on-the-go RV makes its first trip into the community.

Joel Solis sits and smiles for the camera while holding a photograph he took. His painting of a Latina street vendor is seen in the background.

BFA Graduate Drawn to Chico State’s Art Program

Inspired by his culture, BFA graduate Joel Solis dedicated his culminating exhibition to Latino street vendors around Butte County.

Ty Weber, dressed in a suit, sits at a desk.

Can Psychedelic Drugs Treat Mental Illness? One Grad Student’s Quest to Find Out

Chico State graduate student Ty Weber is collecting data to research whether psychedelic drugs may be helpful in treating mental health disorders.

Cole Schmitt, a white cisgender male student, is perched on a log in the creek that runs through Chico State campus.

Biology Student Among First to Research Fish’s Unusual Schooling Pattern

Cole Schmitt has been working with the National Systemics Laboratory and the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, studying the vertical schooling behavior of the cutlassfish.

Ahart Herbarium Rooted in Goal to Study Plants Over Time

Boasting more than 125,000 dried and mounted specimens, the University’s Ahart Herbarium is the most complete repository of plant specimens from northeastern California and its collection is now available to naturalists around the globe.

A teacher stands in front of a classroom discussing what is displayed on the screen

‘Latinx and Immigration’ Class Dives Deeper into Lived Experiences

With a course as relevant and impactful as "Latinx and Immigration," MCGS faculty Gabby Medina Falzone is also preparing her students for their post-graduation goals.

Hands adjust the positioning of a roof on a small wooden model of a home, with the view cast toward the front entrance with a covered porch flanked by large windows.

Interior Architecture Students Design Free Floor Plans for Wildfire Survivors

Under the guidance of interior architecture professor Rouben Mohiuddin, 30 design students have worked on floor plans that have now been used to build more than a dozen homes in the Camp Fire footprint.

The front of an academic building is lit up, with the cloudless summer sky behind it.

Three-Year, $13.4 Million Grant for School of Education Will Help Ease Future Teachers’ Financial Burdens

The School of Education has received a three-year, $13.4 million grant to help ease the financial burden of North State students working toward their goal of becoming a teacher.

Farhan Rehman and Esteban Teran adjust the lasers that work to cool the atoms.

Ultracold Atom Lab Attempting to Cross ‘Unreachable’ Threshold

With the ultra-high vacuum chamber up and running, the University's ultracold atom chamber is ready to cool atoms to near absolute zero so they display their true quantum nature.

Nicholas Esparza looks through the high vacuum chamber in the ultracold lab.

Student Researchers Share Insight into Summer Projects

CSC² has supported nearly 300 students in undergraduate research projects across the three colleges.

A grid of diamond-shaped images shows students engaging in various kinds of research, from looking through a vaccum chamber to attaching wildlife cams to trees to working with mushrooms, to looking through a container filled with zebrafish.

Multimillion-Dollar Grants Provide Undergraduate Research Opportunities to Underserved Students in STEM

Since 2016, the Chico STEM Connections Collaborative has provided academic and other support services to historically underserved students in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and agriculture.

Manny Lopez stands in a field of sheep with a feed bucket.

Animal Science Major Embraces Role of Lead Shepherd in Sheep Unit

Since arriving at Chico State in fall 2019, Manny Lopez has been an integral part of the University Farm’s Sheep Unit and today serves as its lead shepherd.

The sun sets behind an academic building

Chico State Once Again Recognized as Fulbright HSI Institutional Leader

Chico State has been recognized as a 2022 Fulbright HSI Leader for its noteworthy engagement with the Fulbright Program during the 2021-2022 academic year.

Clouds laden in sunlight float behind an academic building with the words "Joy of Learning, California State University Chico" in the foreground

Joy of Learning Showcases Faculty Expertise

With topics ranging from neuroscience to animal nutrition to sustainable electronics, eight faculty members who reflect the top of their disciplines will present on their area of expertise.

Anthropology Faculty Reflects on Fulbright Experience in Jordan

Anthropology faculty Jesse Dizard shares about his experience as a Fulbright Scholar in Jordan.

Wearing a labcoat and safety goggles, Anna Vo reaches for a test tube while another student works in the lab behind her.

Natural Sciences Students Put Themselves Under the Microscope During Summer Research

The College of Natural Sciences’ Summer Research Institutes provide students with hands-on experience with a research topic in their field of study.

Karina Haddad walks through the woods in fall with a drip torch and shovel to conduct a prescribed burn.

Innovative Program Strives to Protect the Wildlands of the West

The first of its kind in the CSU, the interdisciplinary master's degree in wildland management is graduating students from its inaugural cohort.

Steven Dyer poses in front of a building

New Art Teacher Brings Professional and Personal Success to Chico State

Steven Durow enjoyed tremendous success as a professional artist—but teaching has always been at the heart of his craft.

Aubrey Miller holds a handful of tootbrush fibers in her hand in the concrete lab.

Students Set the Future in Concrete

Just one of five programs of its kind in the United States, our Concrete Industry Management Program is creating the workforce for a $200 billion industry. With a 100 percent job-placement rate and a cross-disciplinary approach that ensures our graduates can lead in the boardroom and at the job site, CIM students are solving some of the industry’s greatest challenges.

Two people butcher meat at the Meats Lab

How To: Stay Sharp at the Meat Counter

As inflation and food costs continue to set record highs, Chico State Meats Lab staff and students offer tips to include meat as a part of your healthy diet.

Kendall Hall with spring flowers in the foreground

Chico State Students to Present Research at Statewide Competition

Ten Chico State student delegates will compete against scholars statewide at the California State University’s 36th annual Statewide Research Competition.

Business students work at a computer with business tickers displayed above them.

Chico State’s New Bloomberg Terminal Offers Cutting-Edge Experience

The College of Business' new FinTech Lab is an investment research workroom and provide students with cutting-edge software and real-time trading observations.

Students stand with their award certificates at the international AMA competition.

Marketing Students Take Top Honors at International Conference

Ten students from the Chico State chapter of the American Marketing Association netted multiple awards at the AMA International Collegiate Conference.

Troy Cline holds a cloth bag out to a student as she "grabs" small white balls with a claw.

Pandemic-Themed Class Explores How Science and Society Tackle Germs

In "Pandemics, Germs, and Society," students study vaccine science, information literacy, and how public health measures can restrict the spread of pathogens.

College students and faculty stand in a coffee processing plant, with dozens of bags of coffee beans stacked up in the background.

Agriculture Majors Explore Puerto Rico in Immersive Trip

A 10-day agricultural exploration trip over winter break pushed eight Chico State students outside their comfort zones, gave them new perspectives on experiential education, and immersed them in a culture they will never forget.

Angelica Rodriguez collects water samples along a stream in the mountains.

Multimillion-Dollar Grants Ensure Hands-On Research Continues for STEM Students

Chico State was awarded a pair of multimillion dollar grants, ensuring that STEM students in three different colleges will be able to continue receiving hands-on research opportunities with faculty.

Sunshine breaks through the tops of trees over a ranch-style setting.

Where Education Meets the Land

The Big Chico Creek Ecological Reserve is a living laboratory for students of all ages, ground-breaking research, and innovative land management practices.

Rebecca Hood plays a cello in a physics class.

Crash Course: Physics of Music

Bringing sight to a seemingly intangible concept is exactly the purpose of PHYS 307 by teaching students how each sound produces unique waves depending on instrument, pitch, and tone.

A red maple leaf hangs in stark contrast to other green leaves on a tree.

Disaster-Focused Course Prepares Social Workers for the Future

A social work course centered in community healing uses the region's experience with the Camp Fire to educate the disaster case managers of the future.

Inaugural Climate Fellows Share Traditional Ecological Knowledge

Two Native American students are teaching Traditional Ecological Knowledge to children as part of a pilot statewide fellowship focused on climate action.

Sunlight breaks through branches and leaves of trees that are surrounded by grass and volcanic rocks

Land Donation Doubles Size of BCCER, Now CSU’s Largest Ecological Reserve

Chico State's BCCER received an anonymous land donation—doubling its size and making it one of the largest college- or university-operated reserves in the entire state.

A student walks past the Science Building in the evening light.

Science Takes Center Stage

This fall—three years after breaking ground— the new Science Building will open fully with more than 523 in-person class sessions serving thousands of students.

Two outlines of human heads face one another surrounded by question marks and exclamation marks.

Psychology Class Views Prejudice Through an Objective Lens

In “Psychology of Prejudice, Hate, and Violence,” Professor Alex Wong and his students analyze the nature of prejudice as a basic human psychological need to generalize others in comparison to themselves—a trait that all human beings possess.

The cover of the gratitude journal prints out of the printer.

School of Social Work Shares Gifts of Gratitude with Community Partners

With support from a North Valley Community Foundation COVID-19 relief grant, the School of Social Work purchased self-care gifts for area social workers who have supported students' education during the pandemic.

Natsumi Kawamura performs a dance routine as Megan Glynn Zollinger films on an iPhone.

Dance Students Rediscover Groove in Virtual Collaboration

The CSU Dance Collective, cofounded by Professor Megan Glynn Zollinger, has not only kept dance alive at Chico State during the pandemic, it’s transformed collaboration and creativity for students, faculty, and campuses alike.

A cartoon of a student at a computer with map of world behind him with other student faces in different countries.

Students Engage Globally, Virtually, Amid COVID-19

Studying abroad looks different in the age of COVID-19, but the pandemic hasn’t stopped students from expanding their world-views, gaining new skills, and building lasting relationships.

A college student smiles while holding a country's flag.

Chico State’s Study Abroad Program Once Again Recognized as One of Nation’s Best

For the 15th consecutive year, Chico State's Study Abroad program was ranked in the top 10 nationally for students learning in another country for at least a year.

A nursing student wearing protective gear holds a syringe that contains the vaccine against the coronavirus.

Nursing Students Serve on the Frontlines Against COVID-19

Doing their part to help stop the spread of the coronavirus, students from Chico State's School of Nursing are volunteering at local sites to provide much-needed testing and administer long-awaited vaccinations.

Family of Professor Emeritus Gifts $1 Million for Educational Programming at Big Chico Creek Ecological Reserve

The Dempsey family has donated $1 million to the Big Chico Creek Ecological Reserve—the largest cash gift in its history—for educational programming.

Lisa Kendhammer fills plastic bags with chemistry equipment for at-home experiments.

Chemistry Kits Deliver At-Home Learning Opportunities

Despite learning virtually for the vast majority of the fall semester, chemistry students are still able to conduct hands-on experiments at home.