“It’s my home”

Biology alumnus Mitchell Coleman credits CSUB for his success

By California State University, Bakersfield

April 16^th, 2021

Not many people are lucky enough to find their dream job early on in their career, but Mitchell Coleman said that has been the case for him. Soon after graduating with his Master of Science in Biology from California State University, Bakersfield in 2017, Coleman was hired at the Tejon Ranch Conservancy. Now its conservation science manager, Coleman is grateful for the role CSUB has played in his life.

“When I think about the success that I’ve had so far, it all traces back to CSUB,” Coleman said. “There’s the professional development and all the classwork that helped enhance my skills as a conservation professional: research skills, presentation skills, and all the networking. CSUB has helped me in just about every way that it could have helped me. I’m extremely grateful for that.”

After living in Bakersfield for most his life, Coleman, 29, earned his Bachelor of Science in Biology from Westmont College in Santa Barbara. Initially planning to follow his parents’ footsteps into medicine, Coleman chose the environmental biology track to stand out from fellow medical school applicants when he applied in the future. But Coleman was surprised to find that environmental biology captured his interest more than medicine.

Coleman and his wife couldn’t afford to live on the coast after graduation, so they decided to move back to Bakersfield. Although he had built up contacts in Santa Barbara’s ecology network, with internships and jobs at the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden and Santa Barbara Zoo, he was starting from scratch back at home. That all changed when he enrolled in the biology master’s program in CSUB’s School of Natural Sciences, Mathematics, and Engineering.

“Everything about the master’s program there, I’m just so indebted to,” Coleman said, listing off people who supported him, like adviser Dr. Brandon Pratt; professors Dr. David Germano, Dr. Anna Jacobsen and Dr. L. Maynard Moe; biology chair Dr. Paul Smith; staff members Vanessa Mayorga and Dr. Andrea Medina; and recently retired NSME Dean Dr. Kathleen Madden. “It’s impossible to say everything, but across the spectrum, CSUB has changed my life.”

While earning his master’s degree, Coleman studied saltbush (Atriplex polycarpa) and factors affecting its seedling recruitment, looking at the ecophysiology of the species relating to invasive grasses and how they competitively exclude native saltbushes in the San Joaquin Desert. His research won awards at CSUB’s Student Research Competition, the state-level competition, and the California Botanical Society, and it was recently published in Ecosphere, a journal produced by the Ecological Society of America.

“Mitchell is a fantastic speaker and his many awards attest to that,” Dr. Pratt said. “He can bring to life an apparently humdrum topic and simplify complex scientific ideas.”

Both his research and a class with Dr. Pratt led Coleman to the Tejon Ranch Conservancy, a nonprofit organization that works alongside the Tejon Ranch Company to study and care for its land. He became one of the first CSUB interns to work at the Conservancy, which has hosted CSUB interns for the last several years thanks to funding from local philanthropist Gayle Batey.

“As time went on, our relationship developed and when I graduated from CSUB, they ended up offering me a position at the Conservancy,” Coleman said. “Having grown up in Bakersfield, I’ve always loved the ranch, so I took the job and I’ve been at the Conservancy ever since and have continued to work with the CSUB internship every summer. It’s really great to see the people who followed in the program.”

At the Conservancy, Coleman essentially manages the science and stewardship programs of the ranch. He conducts easement monitoring and surveys the land for conservation value, assessing how different plants are faring from year to year. He also works with visiting scientists and facilitates any guest research done on the ranch. Before COVID, he would work with the Conservancy’s education program coordinator, Paula Harvey, to host student field trips.

Batey remembers first meeting Coleman and other Conservancy interns after the first year of its partnership with CSUB. Students reported on the work they did over the summer and presented their research. Coleman stood out to her even then.

“His passion for his subject and his ability to deliver it was outstanding,” Batey said. “His moving on to full-time employment was certainly a win-win situation for employee and employer. Every graduate from CSUB who stays in our area and flourishes enhances our community. It is my pleasure to support this program.”

Although Coleman is now earning his PhD in biology at the University of California, Riverside, he said he has no plans to leave the Conservancy anytime soon.

“California is the most botanically diverse state in the country, and Tejon is situated at arguably the most botanically diverse region in the state,” Coleman said. “It’s one of the most special places for plants in the whole country. It really is a botanist’s dream to work at the ranch.”

At UC Riverside, Coleman has expanded his research to include all halophytic plants, or plants that have adapted to especially salty soils. He looks at how they physiologically respond across gradients of salinity and aridity, including within the context of climate change.

Coleman said one of the few silver linings of the pandemic has been being able to take classes remotely and conduct research at nearby field sites, like Tejon Ranch and Wind Wolves. Living in Bakersfield with his wife and three children and working at the Conservancy, that flexibility has gone a long way to helping Coleman balance everything.

Working his dream job and now continuing his education, things have fallen into place nicely for Coleman, but it wasn’t so long ago he was a CSUB student still figuring it all out. Advice he would give current students is to work hard and take advantage of the opportunities that arise.

“The best advice I have is always be looking for new opportunities, always be eager to make a connection, never assume that something isn’t going to be valuable for you, because everything becomes valuable at some point,” he said. “Every interaction, every little micro thing you learn, it all fits together into the bigger picture.”

Looking back at his time at CSUB, Coleman appreciates everything he learned, all the connections he made, and how those worked together to help him achieve his goals.

“CSUB holds a very, very special place in my heart. It’s my home. I’m so grateful to CSUB and the faculty. I had so much support there, from everyone.”