New ‘Course Spotlight’ video series features the types of classes students will never forget
By Eddie Hughes (’05)
Photos by Cary Edmondson (’03)
Videos by Jeff Phillips (’11)
Quick, think back to your college days and your most memorable classes. There’s always that one – or, if you’re lucky, two or three – that you’ll never forget.
In a new, ongoing series in Fresno State Magazine called “Course Spotlight,” we’ll share some of the classes on campus that are hidden treasures, providing unforgettable experiences for students along with real-world applications for career readiness. Each Course Spotlight will include a QR code linking to a video taking you inside the classroom to see, feel and hear what it’s like to be a student in one of these classes.
The common theme is that most of these courses are hands-on – not the type of courses you’ll be sitting at a desk with a pencil and paper taking notes for.
These courses are led by dynamic faculty who are passionate about the subject matter. Some of them are tied to valuable industry partnerships, and may even include a service-learning component allowing students to give back to the community. Many of the courses featured require students to step outside their comfort zone and achieve things they may not have thought possible.
Do you miss being a college student or being on campus? Here’s your chance to feel what it’s like to go back.
To kick off the Course Spotlight series, Fresno State Magazine takes an inside look at five courses, each with a video component you won’t want to miss. So go ahead and turn the page – class is now in session!
Bee Biology and Apiculture
Department of Plant Science
Jordan College of Agricultural Sciences and Technology
Plant Science 170T
Professor: Dr. Jacob Wenger
Course description:
In Fresno State’s unique position as the flagship university in the most productive agricultural area of the world, opportunity abounds for students interested in hands-on learning about most any ag-related subject. The complex role of honeybees in agriculture has been in the spotlight in recent years, as the public becomes more educated on the role bees play in nature and their importance to growing the food we eat. This course gives students the opportunity to learn about the biology of bees and how to care for hives in both a commercial and residential setting. “Many of the crops we produce here either require honeybees to set fruit, such as our almonds, our squash, our pumpkins, our stonefruits, or they have higher yields or they only produce seed when you pollinate them,” says plant science professor Dr. Jacob Wenger.
As a plant scientist, most of the insects Wenger deals with are pests that can damage crops, but his work with bees allows him to focus on a beneficial insect. Wenger emphasizes that bees are referred to as a super-organism – there are tens of thousands of bees in a hive, all with a role toward a single goal, but the hive doesn’t function without the queen, who is the only one laying eggs. Honeybees are a struggling species right now, he says, facing pressure from migratory beekeeping practices and diseases. Because of this, it’s important to keep studying bees to find solutions, Wenger says.
“It’s really the hands-on aspect of the class that is the spark that gets the students interested. It’s one thing to sit in a lecture and hear ‘it takes 21 days to progress through this particular lifecycle’ and ‘this is what a queen looks like,’ but it’s a whole other thing to see the queen crawling on the frame and to see all of her attendants gathered around her and touching her with their antennas and trying to figure out what she wants. That gets the students excited.”
– Dr. Jacob Wenger, professor, plant science
Dairy Processing
Department of Food Science and Nutrition
Jordan College of Agricultural Sciences and Technology in collaboration with the Craig School of Business
Food Science 142
Adjunct professor: Kelli Williamson
Course description:
Students in the course work at the Fresno State campus creamery, producing things like ice cream, cheese and yogurt. The other aspect of the course focuses on product development as the food science and nutrition students team with business students to come up with innovative new dairy products that are pitched at a business competition judged by the California Milk Advisory Board. “Being in California, and being the No. 1 dairy state, it is important to move the industry forward,” says Jarett Margolis of the California Milk Advisory Board. “And, of course, being in the Central Valley, Fresno State is one of those places where innovation, entrepreneurship is ripe.” Now in its second year, the Dairy Product Innovation Showcase is a semester-long student competition to create original, dairy-based products. Each competing team included entrepreneurship students, who develop the brand and marketing strategy, and food science students, who develop edible sample products in the Fresno State test kitchen.
Product development through the fall 2024 semester culminated in a competition on Dec. 4, when a panel of dairy industry professionals heard brand pitches, taste-tested sample products and evaluated each team’s work for flavor, nutritional content and business strategy. The food was real, and so was the chance to create a profitable business — the top prize in the competition was $5,000 seed money for further product development, and the second-place winner received $3,000.
“I’m just really proud and happy that we have this here at Fresno State, and I hope we get to continue on and build it to be even better and bigger – and the next big dairy innovation comes out of Fresno State.”
– Kelli Williamson, adjunct professor, food science and nutrition
Sport and Entertainment Facility Operations
Department of Recreation Administration
College of Health and Human Services
Recreation Administration 154
Professor: Dr. Michael Mahoney
Course description:
The “Sport and Entertainment Facility Operations” course is the only one of its kind in the 23-campus California State University system. The course focuses on operations of sport and entertainment facilities, including interacting with artists and promoters, set-up configurations, event staffing, security, risk management, event production and more. In the spring semester, the class traveled to Southern California to tour multiple sports and entertainment venues, such as the Kia Forum, the Inutit Dome and the Rose Bowl, where they got a behind-the-scenes look at industry operations. Jenessa Castillo, an alumna of the program, worked her way up to chief operations officer at the Rose Bowl venue and is now paying it forward by mentoring other aspirational Bulldogs. Castillo, who gave a Rose Bowl tour to current students in April, credits the class and Mahoney’s guidance for helping her get where she is today. “Going away from the classroom to the venue is the exciting part, because now the students have the opportunity to ask questions about venue professionals at all types of different facilities,” says Dr. Michael Mahoney, the professor who teaches the course.
“I didn’t realize I could be a leader until I took this class. I finally found something that I am passionate about. It wasn’t until I actually found this major that I can find happiness in a career that I want to do. There’s something appealing to me in putting on an event, setting up, seeing it go and then tearing it back down and then having a blank canvas. It just calls to me.”
– Joshua Salvador, Recreation Administration student
Sensory Evaluation
Department of Viticulture and Enology
Jordan College of Agricultural Sciences and Technology
Enology 105
Assistant professor: Dr. Yiliang Cheng
Inside the Department of Viticulture and Enology at Fresno State, a holistic approach to winemaking emphasizes applied concepts, including sensory science and evaluation techniques that empower students with the skills necessary for a successful career. “In this lab students are measuring attributes including the basic tastes like sweetness, sourness, bitterness and the most important, mouthfeel, including astringency, which is a dry feeling during wine evaluation,” says Dr. Yiliang Cheng, the assistant professor who teaches the course. With a focus on hands-on learning, the department equips students to become leaders in the grape, raisin and wine industries. The course helps students recognize and evaluate the quality of wines. Fresno State houses the nation’s first commercially bonded winery on a college campus in the United States.
“Making and transforming that grape into that wine, it’s a beautiful thing. It’s an art to make that. We are expected to have that ability to distinguish those aromas and tastes, but it is an acquired skill.”
– David Farr, Enology student
Puppetry
Department of Theatre and Dance
College of Arts and Humanities
Drama 136S
Professor: Dr. Nicola Olsen
Course description:
Specifically designed for liberal studies majors who want to be elementary school teachers, this course engages students in a hands-on learning environment. Using items like sticks, paper bags and socks, students are equipped with ways to use puppets to enhance the educational curriculum in their classrooms as future teachers. Additionally, the department’s theatre education degree option emphasizes theatre principles as tools to encourage creativity and embodied learning in education settings.
This course also gives students an opportunity to create greater access to theatre in their communities through its service-learning component. “On a scale of 1 to 10, this class was 100 in terms of fun,” says liberal studies major Ciera Smith. “There was never a dull moment in this class. It was filled with laughter, it was filled with joy, it was filled with happiness.”
“I kid with the students in my class that I’m a ‘doctor of puppets.’ I’m a doctor of playing. I’m a doctor of goofing around a little bit.
– Dr. Nicola Olsen, Professor, puppetry
… I do take it seriously and it matters. It matters how we teach puppets, it matters how we encourage creativity. It matters how we use theatre and puppetry skills to enhance education and to enhance life.”
