It’s a Dean’s Life
The new academic year has begun, and with it we are celebrating a new era for the College of Humanities and the Arts. We continue to build a financially sound model for operating the city-owned Hammer Theatre Center in downtown San José. The theatre, formerly known as “The Rep,” is a high-quality, 54,000 square foot performing arts facility. We are putting the finishing touches on contracts for an exciting 2016-17 season. To stay up to date, you can sign up to receive the Hammer newsletter.
One of the hallmarks of our Hammer programming will be the Paseo Public Prototyping Challenge and Festival. Funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the challenge asks students to consider what prototypes they can build to make San José a better place to live, work, and play. You can sign up for e-mail updates on the nascent website and watch for further developments on Facebook and the Paseo Prototyping site. The Paseo-Hammer festival will feature arts, innovation, and technology speakers, demonstrations, and installations on April 7, 2017.
Our College continues to expand its scope in other exciting ways. We have six new Assistant Professors who started this fall, and we are running eight more recruitments this year. As part of our overall effort to improve writing outcomes at SJSU, we will be hiring a faculty member with writing center expertise. And, to provide more support to students as they navigate their degree programs, we will be hiring two new advisors in our Student Success Center.
In May 2016, 904 students graduated from the College, bringing our total alumni base to 32,000. With major efforts underway to improve our graduation and retention rates at SJSU, I expect those numbers to grow quickly over the next two years. You can read more here about what SJSU is doing to help students graduate faster and with less debt.
The most exciting news for all of us is the arrival of SJSU’s 30th president, Dr. Mary Papazian. With a Ph.D. in English and more than 25 years of higher education experience under her belt, President Papazian is well positioned to lead the campus into a new era. You can read more about her and her vision for SJSU’s future here. It is exciting to be at SJSU in an era that is bringing so many opportunities for innovation and growth that support our students, faculty, and staff!
Thank you to everyone who makes it possible for us to serve our students with integrity and pride! I look forward to seeing you around campus and at the Hammer Theatre this year!
In gratitude,
Lisa Vollendorf, Dean
