On this week’s episode of The Runner On Air:

The Runner Café got an upgrade. Bento Sushi opens replacing what used to be the sandwich bar. The Café also added an executive chef named Angie Gargano, who will lead the team at the cafe.

On January 14 of 2020, Vernon B. Harper Jr., interim provost and vice president for academic affairs, announced via email that Dr. Alecia Rodriguez accepted the appointment as a faculty director for interdisciplinary studies. An alumni of CSUB, she received her masters and Ph.D in history at UC Santa Barbara. While working at CSUB, Dr. Rodriguez has served on committees such as the Teacher Education Advisory committee, Academic Support and Student Services committee, and what was the Committee on Academic Standards and Requirements. She also served as the chair of the Arts and Humanities Curriculum Committee, co-chair of the Latinx Faculty and Staff Association, and served as coordinator for the social science program.

You heard right, less parking. The dirt lot behind the greenhouses on the east side of campus that had been used as makeshift parking have been turned into slightly more official parking lots. According to the email sent by Public Safety on Dec. 17, 2019, fencing was added, and an entire row of parking was removed, citing safety concerns for drivers and bikers on Kroll Way as the reason for the construction. Yes, permits are still required.

Faust Gorham, chief information officer for information technology services at CSUB, sent an email on January 8, 2020 about hackers targeting CSUB students for their financial aid. Faust said in the email, if you believe you are a victim of a hacking attempt, contact the CSUB helpdesk at [email protected] or call 661-645-4357.

Let’s start with men’s basketball. At the end of last semester, the men’s basketball team had two games: one versus Montana State, and one against Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, both of which they won. The men’s basketball team played Texas Tech on Jan. 29 taking an L with the score of 58 Runners, 73 Texas Tech. The year began with a win against Grand Canyon, but the Runners couldn’t keep the love going the following week against California Baptist, ending with a score of 75 to 83. Last week, the basketball team played against Kansas City, taking a win with a score of 76 Runners, 60 Kansas City. This week, the Runners have already bagged a win against Chicago State, leaving two more games to play this week; the first against Utah Valley and the second against Seattle University.

The women’s basketball team didn’t have such a great start to the season with two losses, one against Oregon State and the other to UC Riverside. In the third game that week they brought in a win against Grand Canyon, and then another one the following week against California Baptist. They started a bit of a winning streak after they beat Kansas City, but lost the streak against Chicago State on Saturday the 18. This week, the women’s basketball team will play against Utah Valley and Seattle University.

We don’t really have any news for baseball or softball yet, but an alumni game will be held on Saturday, Feb. 1 if you’re interested.

On to swimming and diving. The women’s swimming and diving team began the year with a win against Loyola Marymount and a loss against UC San Diego. The following week, the team won against UC Santa Cruz, and took another win the week after against Fresno Pacific. The men’s swimming and diving team also took a loss against UC San Diego, but turned it around the following week against UC Santa Cruz. Last weekend, the men’s swimming and diving team won against Fresno Pacific. Both the women’s and the men’s swimming and diving team will be taking a break from competition in preparation for the WAC tournament, which will be held in Houston, TX February 26 through the 29.

On to track and field. This week, the team will be competing at the University of New Mexico in the MLK Collegiate Invitational this Friday and Saturday. As for wrestling, this Sunday the 19, the wrestling team went up against Duke and left with a win. This week the wrestling team will be traveling to Wyoming for a match with the intentions of bringing in another win.