A New Role for CHHS' Steven Irby
Steven Irby is taking on a new role and expanded responsibilities within the College of Health and Human Services (CHHS). His previous title was Lab Coordinator for the Kinesiology and Physical Therapy departments, and serving as chemical safety officer for CHHS.
Now as the Facilities Lead and Safety Officer, Steven will be tasked with creating more efficient and effective operations of all CHHS facilities – and taking on all aspects of safety oversight for the college. Steven will also serve on committees in development of new workspaces.
In his new role, Steven will serve as a liaison to departments for all matters concerning academic space and capital equipment purchase planning. He will work closely with Environmental Health and Safety and the rest of Beach Building Services to ensure all University policies and guidelines are followed when either ordering new equipment or supplies, and when using lab spaces, for example.
A major focus of Steven’s time will be building out a new work unit, the CHHS Facilities Support Group. The mandate for this group is to support laboratory spaces in the college to optimize utilization, collaboration and opportunities for interdisciplinary research. “The recent rollout of the new Biophysiology Lab and Social and Behavioral Sciences Lab are the first steps in this new direction,” Steven said.
The newly formed Facilities Lead and Safety Officer role for CHHS couldn’t have gone to a more fitting person. Steven has been on the CSULB campus since 2017. Prior to that, he worked for over 25 years in the hospital setting, supporting motion capture labs.
“Most of my background is in research and clinical applications,” said Steven, who obtained his undergraduate degree in bioengineering from University of California San Diego and his master’s degree in mechanical engineering from San Diego State. He subsequently went on to work for large healthcare conglomerates such as San Diego Children’s Hospital, Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Shriner’s Hospital for Children in Houston, and Phoenix Children’s Hospital.
During much of the COVID-19 pandemic, Steven was on-campus helping CHHS departments such as Nursing and Physical Therapy that remained in operation -- by helping facilitate supplying PPE and other necessary equipment and resources during the shutdown. He also helped to make sure that activities in these programs were being conducted with a proper understanding of the policies and uniform set of practices set in place by University Environmental Health and Safety and the Long Beach Health and Human Services Department.
In his new role, Steven will also serve as the CHHS Safety Officer and Chemical Hygiene Officer.
“My new role now encompasses all aspects of safety, not just chemical safety,” Steven said. “So I need to be involved in approving chemical purchases as well as equipment purchases that could pose a potential [physical or chemical] threat to users or the environment. I also will be the liaison between Beach Building Services and the requesting department. In that role I will work to smooth out the purchase and installation of large ticket items.”
Steven can be reached at Steven.Irby@Csulb.edu or through the CHHS Facilities Support Group (FSG) at CHHS-FSG@csulb.onmicrosoft.com
