Students, a professor and the provost cut the ribbon on new offices.

Professor Maria Alaniz, Associate Vice President for Student Academic Success Services Maureen Scharberg, students Ashlee Jemmott and Michelle Elliott, and Provost Gerry Selter cut the ribbon on new offices for EOP and Guardian Scholars.

By Pat Lopes Harris, Media Relations Director

More than 2,700 students now have a campus home away from home thanks to a five-year campaign to restore SJSU’s Educational Opportunity Program.

“It’s been a long time coming,” said EOP Director Debra Griffith at the grand opening of the program’s new offices. “Thank you for always believing and wanting this to happen, for being so patient until SJSU got this right.”

Students, faculty, staff and administrators gathered Sept. 20 to cut the ribbon on the suite within the Academic Success Center on the ground floor of Clark Hall. The move created an inviting space for the program in the heart of campus, quite far from the Student Services Center in the North Garage.

Showing the University Cares

“The new offices provide more resources and are much more accessible,” student Ashlee Jemmott told the crowd. “This also shows that the university cares a lot about these two programs.”

The suite houses the EOP and Guardian Scholars programs. EOP serves first-generation, low-income, historically disadvantaged students, while Guardian Scholars supports foster youth. Both offer comprehensive educational services including academic advisement, personal and career counseling, and tutorial services.

The programs now share a front desk and sitting area providing EOP and Guardian Scholars a place to catch their breath, socialize and study. The space also includes offices for a new partnership between EOP and the Department of Counselor Education.

“We hired five master’s students, who are each assigned to an EOP adviser,” Griffith said. “Advisers receive supervision experience and assistance. Interns learn the ins and outs of advising and gain professional experience by managing small projects and a small advising case load of their own.”

Passion and Commitment

At the grand opening, Professor of Social Science and SJSU alumna Maria Luisa Alaniz recalled how SJSU’s EOP was among the best in the state in the 1970s, then declined until 2007, when 200 people and 25 organizations signed a petition urging administrators to restore services.

“We were passionate, committed, and would not take no for an answer,” Alaniz said.

Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost Gerry Selter thanked former presidents Don W. Kassing and Jon Whitmore for supporting the effort, which dovetailed well with CSU Chancellor Charles B. Reed’s Graduation and Retention Initiative.

“Our goal was to given EOP a home that was central and visible, and here it is,” Selter said.