On January 1, 2018, Alumnae Linda Lofthus was named presiding judge of San Joaquin County’s Superior Court. Judge Lofthus has sat on the Superior court for 14 years, and has been assigned to both criminal and civil trials. Prior to her appointment, Lofthus practiced family law, and served as a public defender. Through her legal career, she has handled a wide range of cases, including civil, personal injury, business, real estate and criminal cases. For more on this appointment, see Lodi News(opens in new window) coverage.
Alumnae and faculty member, Meagan Meloy and graduate student Jessica Candela organized the first annual School Ties: Back-to-School Connect(opens in new window) for over 200 K-12 homeless students and their families prior to the start of the 2017 school year. The community event provided backpacks, books, food boxes, haircuts, hygiene kits, school supplies, and shoes to local homeless students. Read and watch local news coverage from the Chico ER(opens in new window), Chico State Today(opens in new window), KRCR(opens in new window), and KZFR(opens in new window).
Loren Collingwood, an Assistant Professor of Political Science at UC Riverside (and CSU Political Science minor), was lead author on a Political Behavior article examining the effects of the Muslim ban. The article, covered by Al Jazeera(opens in new window) , finds that the Executive Orders signed by Trump early in his presidency which barred travelers from Muslim majority countries, caused a significant shift in public opinion on the ban, increasing opposition to the ban. Loren graduate CSU Chico in 2002, and has been at UC Riverside since 2012.