Category Archives: Diversity, Inclusion and Global Citizenship

SJSU Salzburg Scholars Discuss Global Citizenship in Austria

Eve Allums, ’18 Political Science, took her first trip outside the United States this summer along with 16 other SJSU students who were selected as Salzburg Scholars this year. She and the other students attended the Global Citizenship Alliance Seminar in Salzburg, Austria, from June 9-16.

Allums said she first learned about the Salzburg Scholars program, in which SJSU students take a global citizenship course in the spring semester, attend a week-long summer seminar in Austria, and then work on a campus project the following year, when she was a freshman.

Her English 1A lecturer Jessy Goodman, ’14 MFA, incorporated global citizenship topics into her English 1A course. The lectures prompted Allums to switch her major to political science and to get involved with former Salzburg Scholars who created SJSU’s Cultural Showcase Event. Goodman herself was an SJSU Salzburg Scholar as a graduate student, and later served as a Fellow.

The SJSU Salzburg program was established in 2005 by Dr. William Reckmeyer, current program director, and Dr. Mark Novak, as a way to enhance the education of global citizens at SJSU. Since its inception, student scholars and faculty/staff fellows have participated as part of the Salzburg Global Seminar (now known as the Global Citizenship Alliance) each summer with a requirement to return to campus in the fall to work on a year-long project to promote global citizenship on campus.

Allums said the program cemented for her that she wants to pursue international law after she finishes her bachelor’s degree.

The program was honored as one of the “Top 10 Programs on Global Citizen Diplomacy,” in U.S. higher education in 2010 by the U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy, NAFSA, and the U.S. State Department.

During the week-long seminar in Salzburg, SJSU students met with students from other U.S. universities to learn about global citizenship through topics such as refugees, economics, and the Holocaust.

Aaron Friedman, ’17 Marketing, said the part of the program that really struck him was the visit to the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site and time with a speaker who survived the Holocaust.

“It shows how brutal history can be and how we need to keep talking about it so we don’t repeat it,” he said. “It was a very powerful example of how we really do need to remember history.”

During the week, the students divided into small groups to discuss some topics more in depth and made a presentation on the last day. Friedman’s group focused on ethnocentrism.

“It was interesting how we find ourselves classifying other people,” Friedman said. “There is ‘us’ and there is ‘them.’ Breaking away from these words helps us see the world from a more objective point of view.”

Allums’ group discussed refugees and came up with the concept of creating a support system called the “Beehive” where refugees would be able to connect with resources in their new homes for networking, job hunting and help with integrating into a new society.

“We want to make it a real thing,” Allums said, noting that a few of the students in her group were from SJSU and San Francisco State University. “We can start off small, but our ideas are to make it self-sustaining.”

The 2016-17 Salzburg Scholars also include:

Kristen Anderson, senior, College of Social Sciences

Celina Cesena, graduate student, Connie L. Lurie College of Education

Raissa Chiri-Zarzosa, senior, College of Social Sciences

Taylor Colunga, graduate student, Connie L. Lurie College of Education

Grecia Cuellar, junior, Lucas College and Graduate School of Business

Shriel Deogracias, junior, College of Social Sciences

Brandon Do, junior, College of Applied Sciences and Arts

Yen Huynh, freshman, College of Science

Jatinder Kaur, senior, Lucas College and Graduate School of Business

Sabrina Leung, junior, Lucas College and Graduate School of Business

Adriana Muratalla-Morales, junior, College of Humanities and the Arts

Nyantara Narasimhan, junior, College of Applied Sciences and Arts

Tony Nguyen, Lucas College and Graduate School of Business

Lisa Ruder, junior, College of Social Sciences

Matthew Vella, senior, College of Humanities and the Arts

Latest Edition of Washington Square Highlights Spartan Stories

Harry Edwards, '64 Sociology, '16 Honorary Doctorate, donated historical items to SJSU and was the guest speaker at the 2016 Commencement.

Harry Edwards, ’64 Sociology, ’16 Honorary Doctorate, donated historical items to SJSU and was the guest speaker at the 2016 Commencement.

The latest edition of Washington Square, SJSU’s Alumni magazine, features stories of Spartan alumni, students, staff and faculty, including a profile of 2016 Commencement Speaker Harry Edwards, ’64 Sociology, ’16 Honorary Doctorate. See photos of Spartans in action, read stories and review web extras online. Visit the Fifth Floor of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library to see an exhibit of items Edwards donated to SJSU.

SJSU Business Grad Supports Accessible Software at Google

Jyotsna Kaki, '06 Management Information Systems, works as an accessibility software testing engineer at Google.

Jyotsna Kaki, ’06 Management Information Systems, works as an accessibility software testing engineer at Google.

When Jyotsna Kaki, ’06 Management Information Systems (MIS), was a student at San Jose State in the Lucas College and Graduate School of Business, she offered to help a classmate in need when the other student fractured a wrist and was unable to take notes. At the time, Kaki discovered the Disability Resource Center (DRC), now known as the Accessible Education Center, where staff members provided her guidance on how to best support her peer.

More than a decade later, Kaki, who became blind while she was a student at SJSU, is still helping others as a software accessibility test engineer for Google. She oversees a central accessibility team of test engineers and trains other Google employees to conduct accessibility testing. Her story was recently featured on CNN Money, with a video and article.

Kaki became blind a semester after she discovered the DRC while helping her classmate. In fall 2004, she woke one morning with blurriness in her right eye. She had been diagnosed with a benign, slow-growing brain tumor as a child. The tumor had grown into the optic nerve and she underwent surgery to regain her sight. Instead, her optic nerve was damaged during the surgery and she was left with a permanent visual impairment.

“It was unexpected,” she said. “I don’t remember much from the month after I found out.”

But her mother tells her less than 10 minutes after discovering she was blind, Kaki called her brother to ask him to help her get back on campus. Within a month, she was back at San Jose State.

When she returned to campus, she felt isolated from her peers who did not interact with her as they had before she lost her vision. Her professors tried to be accommodating, but sometimes did not know how to help her. She turned to the DRC for support. They provided training on how to use screen reading technology, helped her get accessible textbooks and she learned Braille to get through the rest of her coursework.

“Everything pretty much started there (in the DRC),” Kaki said. “Most professors were helpful, but they didn’t have the necessary information.”

Kaki completed her degree two years after she lost her vision with a 3.8 GPA, higher than her GPA before her impairment. After graduation, her brother passed her resume to a friend who worked at Google without telling her. She thought a professor might have sent her resume in, but later discovered it was her brother. When she was invited in for an interview, she did not think she would get the job. They offered her a position and she has since taken on the role of leading a team of engineers. In the last decade, she said she has seen the focus on accessibility increase at Google and she is proud to be part of the efforts.

“It’s been really great because at the end of every day, I can go to sleep satisfied that what I am doing is going to help someone,” she said. “I have been lucky to help other people get assistance and help make products successful. It’s been a great experience and I’ve learned a lot.”

 

SJSU Students Study Cuban Culture in the Island Nation

Spartan musicians rehearse for a performance in Cuba on a recent summer trip. Photo by D. Michael Cheers

Spartan musicians rehearse for a performance in Cuba on a recent summer trip. Photo by D. Michael Cheers

SJSU student Alysia Trillio (sax), Dr. Ruth Wilson,chair of the the African American Studies Department and student Kenyatta Yarn, sing the popular praise and worship song Let Us Break Bread Together, led by Professor Virginia Groce-Roberts, on Sunday, June 12, along the Malecon outside the U.S. Embassy in Havana, Cuba. The gospel ensemble also performed at a Catholic Church in Regala, and at Ebenezer Baptist Church, which is part of the Dr. Martin Luther King Center in Havana.

Dr. D. Michael Cheers, a professor in the College of Applied Sciences and Arts School of Journalism and Mass Communication, and Dr. Wilson, of the College of Social Sciences, led a summer faculty-led program in Cuba from June 10-19 on Afro-Cuban Literature, Culture and History. The course was designed to examine the role Africans played in the development of the island nation, and assess the next generation’s perception of their future role in the world. To prepare for the course, students learned about the history of Cuba, literature and culture via seminars and lectures during their spring semester. The six-unit course required students to study in Cuba for two weeks and on campus or online for two weeks this summer. The ultimate goal of the course is to have the student’s present research papers or creative works at undergraduate research conferences during the 2016/17 academic year.

The course is one of more than 25 summer faculty-led programs offered by a number of colleges with support from the College of International and Extended Studies. The courses offer students an opportunity to study abroad, to be immersed in another culture and to earn course credit.

 

 

SJSU Cultural Showcase Highlights Student Performers

More than 100 people attended the 2016 Third Annual SJSU Cultural Showcase in the Student Union Ballroom on April 21. The event was founded three years ago by a group of SJSU Salzburg Scholars upon their return from a summer global seminar. The students sought out a way to connect the diverse student performing groups on campus while also highlighting the multiculturalism of the campus community.

Student performers auditioned this year for a panel of judges consisting of professors, a student representative and a staff representative with expertise in dance, performing arts or cultural affairs. This year’s event featured Pride of the Pacific Islands, Grupo Folklorico Luna y Sol de SJSU, Akbayan SJSU and a solo performance by Shivangi Agarwal who danced to a traditional Indian welcome song. In addition, guest artists were invited to perform this year. They included Nyantara Narasimhan on violin and Arvind Bhamidipati on tabla drums, who performed a south Indian song, and Mariah Miller (known as Unique Praiz) who performed mime to a gospel song. Following the performance, guests were invited to mingle with the artists at a reception with cultural food.