CSU Channel Islands (CSUCI) faculty member Dorothy Horn knows what it’s like to struggle
with the very class she’s teaching now—Geographic Information Systems, or computer
mapmaking.
“I cried when I took it because I was such a non-computer person,” Horn said. “Now that I’m teaching the class, I remember how difficult a lot of it was, so I know how to break it down in different ways.”
Now an Environmental Science & Resource Management (ESRM) Lecturer, Horn was an ESRM major here at CSUCI, graduating in 2016 and going on to earn her Ph.D. at Portland State University in Oregon in 2021. She joined the faculty of her alma mater in 2022.
ESRM Professor Sean Anderson believes the fact that she was a non-traditional student with a wealth of life experience adds to her effectiveness as an instructor.
“She came to us as an older student who had served in the U.S. Marines,” Anderson said. “I think she brings a mature perspective even though she’s just eight years out of undergraduate school. She’s that bridge between the older professors and the current students. She’s also very no-nonsense, but compassionate. She can empathize with these students.”
By a twist of fate, Horn had a unique perspective as both a scholar and a resident affected by the deadly fire that swept through the island of Maui on August 8, 2023, reducing the historic city of Lahaina to ash. As a result, she is a valuable resource for the first service learning trip CSUCI students and faculty took to Maui in January 2024, and the second, which they are taking from Jan. 8 through Jan. 18, 2025 to help with restoration efforts.
“She’s continually helping us with her perspective as a local,” said Anderson, who is traveling to Maui in January with 14 students and three faculty members. “She helps us with contacts and introductions. She deeply understands the issues in this area and is an essential liaison continually bringing us into new collaborations.”
Two and a half years later, the citizens of Maui are still recovering, Horn said, so she and her spouse, Janeen Bittmann, a retired harbor patrol officer, are renting out their home to a family whose home was lost in the fire.
Because the Maui landscape and surrounding ocean were dramatically altered by the wildfire, Horn and the other CSUCI scientists and student researchers are taking the opportunity to investigate what particulates and toxins remain in the soil and water, what needs to be done to restore the landscape, and how the fire affected whales and their migration paths, for example.
Horn has been busy with student research projects through the ESRM program, working with the very professors who once taught her. Now the mentee has become the mentor.
As a first-generation college graduate herself, Horn understands how it feels to set foot on a college campus and feel overwhelmed, so it gave her special gratification to take two first-generation college-going students to a national conference to present their work.
Both students say the experience at the Western Society of Naturalists (WSN) in Oregon was profound.
“My experience at the WSN conference was great. It allowed me to break out of my tough shell and showcase the work we have been working on,” said ESRM major Kim Rosales. “I felt comfortable in the environment and everyone was so welcoming.”
The other student, Esveidy Rodriguez, said she learned a lot and enjoyed talking about research with other scientists at the convention.
“I left with valuable connections and made some new friends,” Rodriguez said. “It was an amazing experience that has inspired me and made me excited about my career.”
For more on Horn and her research projects, visit her website.