Veteran program receives $6 million grant to help student veterans discover careers in sustainable energy

The Veterans to Energy Careers (VERC) program at Cal State San Marcos that helps student veterans discover careers in sustainable energy received a grant of $6 million from the U.S Department of Defense.

The grant awarded to Veterans to Energy Careers from the Office of Naval Research covers three years at double the amount of the funding that helped establish the program at CSUSM in 2018.

The original grant of $3 million required the program to place at least 30 student veterans into internships. Under the new terms of the grant, Veterans to Energy Careers is required to increase the number of student veterans placed into internships to 50 students.

Currently, 14 active COVID-19 cases at CSUSM

The CSUSM campus has 14 active COVID-19 cases as of Sept. 10. There have been 147 cumulative cases this year.

The data includes cases from students and employees who have tested positive for COVID-19. Additionally, the data shows whether individuals with COVID-19 were on campus or in an off-site campus program. The numbers demonstrated in the current data include the cases only known to CSUSM and are not inclusive of positive cases impacting CSUSM community members off-campus.

CSUSM data can be found on this site. The data updates when there is a new case reported to the university.

New Campaign Encourages Campus to Take Stairs When Possible | CSUSM NewsCenter

When Cal State San Marcos was taking small, tentative steps toward repopulating campus on a limited basis last fall, it faced a problem: Social distancing is really hard to manage on an elevator.

In concert with state and local public health officials, CSUSM Safety, Health and Sustainability leaders determined that, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, each elevator ride would be restricted to one person or one household. READ MORE.

Helping Others Leads to Growing Business for Alumna | CSUSM NewsCenter

Chanel is the author of two children’s books, with a third anticipated for 2022. But her penchant for helping others struggling with their mental health led to another outlet for her writing as the advice she was giving her friends evolved into shorter affirmations to inspire others.

“I just sort of played with the idea of putting these affirmations on canvases and seeing if people want to put them in places,” Chanel said. “And, oh my gosh, did that take off.” READ MORE.

CSUSM faculty still employed under university amid misconduct

CSUSM professor Dr. Chetan Kumar, who was subject of a misconduct complaint, remains employed by the university.

In an email, Chief Communications Officer Margaret Chantung said College of Business Administration’s Dr. Chetan Kumar “has been given an alternate remote work assignment that does not involve students.”

In May, Voice of San Diego reported that university officials determined professor Kumar’s interactions with female students violated school policies. The university informed professor Kumar he would be fired on those grounds in November 2020.

Professor Kumar and his union, the California Faculty Association, sent a letter to CSUSM appealing their decision. The union and university reached a settlement, showing that university officials agreed to allow him to keep his faculty job to avoid the inconvenience and uncertainty of continuing proceedings.

Kumar did not respond to requests for comment.

President Neufeldt to give annual Report to Community on Sept. 30

President Ellen Neufeldt is scheduled to give the annual “Report to Community” on Sept. 30. This will be President Neufeldt’s second time presenting the annual report to over 500 regional leaders from government, business and service organizations.

The “Report to the community” will be live-streamed with a small in-person audience for sponsors. To register for the live-streamed event, please visit https://www.csusm.edu/rtc/index.html.