Beyond J

Jeffery Benson calls himself a disruptor because he’s never been one to follow the traditional path.

The 61-year-old graduated from Sac State with his bachelor’s degree in Career and Technical Studies in December 2024. In May, he returned to offer words of wisdom and encouragement to fellow Class of 2025 graduates during Spring Commencement, where he proudly represented the College of Education as its Dean’s Award recipient and accepted the President’s Medal as the University’s top graduate.

A native of Topeka, Kansas, Benson’s ties to the civil rights movement run deep. His mother, aunt and grandmother were three of the 13 original plaintiffs in the historic 1954 Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court case that led to U.S. school desegregation. His father also attended the segregated Monroe Elementary School, which was at the center of the case.

It’s a legacy that has become a driving force in everything Benson has done throughout his life and career.

Benson, who is now pursuing his master’s of science in Law at McGeorge School of Law, joined “Beyond J” to discuss the many stops he had along his journey to a degree, including the unique experience that inspired him to attend Sac State, his visit to the White House for the 70th anniversary of the landmark case, meeting former President Joe Biden, and his aspirations to obtain his doctorate of law and serve as an attorney and policy advocacy analyst for the state.

The episode also includes Benson’s Commencement speech, delivered to College of Education graduates on May 17.

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Links:

• Lifelong learner and civil rights advocate Jeffery Benson treads his own path to a degree
• Top graduates reflect the perseverance and promise of Sac State’s newest alumni

For former foster youth, attending college, let alone graduating, may seem daunting. In fact, nationally, only 4% of college students who have experienced the foster system will earn a degree.

Bucking that trend are the students in Sac State’s Guardian Scholars Program, which provides support and resources to former foster youth at the University. The program has just over 200 students participating, and will see nearly 40 of them graduate this academic year alone.

Linda Ram, the program’s director, joins “Beyond J” this week to talk about the challenges former foster youth face in college, how Guardian Scholars supports them, and the tremendous growth of the program in just the past few years. Also joining us is Thomas Taylor, a Guardian Scholars student who is working toward a degree in Mechanical Engineering, to share his experience both in the foster system and at Sac State.

Links:

• Guardian Scholars Program
• Former foster youth at Sac State to receive guaranteed income from United Way for another year
• Sacramento State announces guaranteed admission for former foster youth
• Expanded on-campus center for Sac State former foster youth offers greater resources to help them succeed

When Ryan Todd came to Sacramento State as a student some two decades ago, the idea of colleges and universities investing significant time and resources into sustainability was a concept still in its infancy.

But Todd liked the outdoors, so he decided to major in Environmental Studies. He left Sac State with not only his degree, but also a commitment to do his part to help the planet. Little did he know, he would one day return to his alma mater to do just that.

Today, Todd is Sac State’s director of Sustainability and Energy, leading a team of dedicated staff and students who are working hard to help the University achieve its ambitious climate goals: zero-waste by 2030, and carbon neutral by 2040. It’s important work, he says, that not only helps the environment but also uses the campus as a living laboratory for students to innovate and gain skills that will help them in their careers.

This Earth Day, he joins “Beyond J” to talk about Sac State’s latest sustainability initiatives and share some tips for how members of the campus community can reduce their impact on the environment.

Links:

• Sac State Sustainability
• Sac State embraces a 'circle of Sustainability' as it moves closer to ambitious climate goals
• Sacramento State’s new digester turns food scraps into fertilizer and electricity

With Beyond J taking a break this week, we revisit our 2022 episode featuring a pair of Sac State alums who become caught up in the war in Ukraine.

What can the common fruit fly teach us about autism? That's a question Sacramento State Biology Professor Kim Mulligan and her students are working to answer.

Mulligan's research centers on the molecular basis of brain disorders. In her lab on campus, she and her students use the common fruit fly to study how genes and environmental factors can converge to cause neurodevelopment disorders, such as autism and fragile X syndrome. Fruit flies are an ideal organism for such studies because they have many genes associated with human diseases.

Mulligan joins Beyond J to talk with us about the broader implications of her research and why she's so devoted to teaching and mentoring, as well as share her favorite travel destinations and Sacramento Kings players.

Links:

• The Mulligan Lab
• Kim Mulligan on Sac State Scholars
• Teacher and students seek keys to mental illness

Earlier this year, Sacramento State joined a prestigious list of colleges and universities recognized by the Carnegie Foundation for “high research activity,” earning the foundation’s Research 2, or R2, designation. But what does that designation mean — especially for Sac State faculty and students?
To answer that question, “Beyond J” welcomes Sac State Interim Provost Carlos Nevarez, who will soon take a new role as the University’s first vice president for research and innovation. Nevarez explains what the University did to attain the designation, the opportunities it affords, and how it combines with the University’s ongoing commitment to teaching to create a “best of both worlds” in which students, including undergraduates, get to work directly with faculty on high-level research.
Listen to Beyond J on Apple or Spotify.
Links:
Sac State now a research university, joins prestigious list of universities with ‘high research activity’
Faculty and student research at Sac State

In 2015, after all 20 Academy Award acting nominations went to white actors, social media responded with the #OscarsSoWhite campaign to press for greater representation in film.

Now, ten years later, has Hollywood made good on its promise to diversify? What do this year’s nominations say about the state of filmmaking? And where is the industry headed overall?

Michele Foss-Snowden is a professor of rhetoric and media at Sacramento State, whose research, in part, looks at representation in film, TV and other media. Ahead of this year’s Oscars, she joined “Beyond J” to talk with host Phillip Altstatt about this year’s nominated films, the importance of not just the quantity of representation but also the quality, and overall trends in Hollywood.

“M. Foss” also shares how she incorporates this critical lens into her teaching at Sac State, and discusses “The TV Doc,” her podcast where she “prescribes” TV episodes to watch to “alleviate … emotional ailments.”

Listen to Beyond J on Apple or Spotify.

Links:

• Michele Foss-Snowden on Sac State Scholars
• The TV Doctor
• The Sacramento Bee’s Black Change Makers: Meet the Top 20 leaders changing the region’s future

Annette Reed had been retired from Sacramento State for all of a week when President Luke Wood approached her with a unique opportunity: The University was starting a first-in-California Native American College, and he wanted Reed to serve as its inaugural dean.

After taking some time to think it over, and talk with colleagues and tribal leaders, Reed made the decision to return to Sac State, where she previously served as a professor and chair of the Department of Ethnic Studies. Her time at Sac State, however, was just one part of a long and dedicated career supporting Native students.

In Beyond J’s first new episode of the spring semester, Reed talks with host Phillip Altstatt about the oppression many Native people – including members of Reed’s family – faced when it came to getting an education, her journey into and through academia, and her hopes and plans for the Native American College, which welcomes its first cohort this fall.

Phillip Altstatt has been making art since before he can remember, but when he was in high school, his art teacher told him he didn’t have much potential. He stopped drawing for 10 years.

By that time, he was a Sacramento State student who was taking an Art Studio class simply to fulfill an elective. His professor pulled him aside and, this time using the word “potential” in a positive way, encouraged him to rekindle his creativity. Altstatt would go on to earn a bachelor’s and master’s degree from the University.

Today, he works for his alma mater as a videographer, graphic designer and – as ‘Beyond J’ listeners know – podcast host. After a full semester interviewing some of the faculty and staff who make Sac State such a special place, he agreed to sit down for an interview to share his own story.

“Beyond J” producer Jonathan Morales joins the show to ask Altstatt about his winding journey to higher education, how he views his art, his work in the community and the insights he has gained as the host of the University’s podcast.

We look back at a powerful episode from 2022 featuring Tammy Linn, who earned her degree from Sacramento State with the help of the University's Project Rebound program, which supports students who were formerly incarcerated. The child of drug addicts, Linn grew up with instability and loss. She lived with multiple foster families and bounced around from school to school before ultimately dropping out. Unable to read or write, she eventually turned to a life of crime before landing in prison.

Linn's determination to turn her life around found her on the path to Sacramento State. In the 2022 episode, she recounted her journey and how Project Rebound helped her along the way.

We also check in with current Project Rebound Director Aaron Greene, who shares and update on Tammy and also fills us in on the substantial growth of the program over the past couple of years.