During the first session of University 101, an on-boarding program for new tenure/tenure-track faculty, the Office of Institutional Effectiveness and Analytics shared graphs that included the demographic profile of students as well as program and enrollment patterns.
View a PDF of the student profile from 2010-2-14: Student_Profiles_2010-2014_Final
Freshmen attend orientation to learn about SJSU.
A group of San Jose State faculty, students and staff are looking at a new way to offer general education courses to Spartans in their first two years on campus as part of the Educational Excellence and Student Experience priority. Katherine Cushing, an associate professor of environmental studies, got involved in the discussions about creating general education pathways around themes last spring.
As a professor of water resource management, she said she was interested in working on a pathway related to sustainability. The other potential themes include creativity and global citizenship. Cushing said the University Sustainability Board members spoke at freshmen orientations over the summer to increase awareness of activities on campus and also mentioned some of the sustainability-related lower division general education courses.
Joyce Lum, a business major, is also part of the committee focused on general education pathways. As an Associated Student Board of Director, she said she made an effort to get involved in committees to be a voice for students.
As a business major she took GE courses in her first two years that related to globalization and sustainability.
“When I took classes that were related to each other, I found it a lot easier to pay attention in class because I could actually connect what I previously learned with what I was currently learning,” she said.
Lum said she wants to change the perspective students have of general education courses as she has heard negative comments from some students.
“It’s disheartening to hear this because I know the professors that teach these courses are very passionate about teaching and knowledgeable about their subjects,” she said.
The group working on the sustainability pathways has identified three clusters of courses that include climate change, sustainability policy and ethics, and art and sustainability.
“We’re still in the beginning stages of coordinating these pathways, but I can’t wait to see it implemented,” Lum said.
Nearly 1,700 students participated in graduate orientation on Aug. 14, including 650 international students. This year’s graduate student orientation was enhanced to foster more interaction between local and
New engineering graduate students line up outside the student union on Aug. 14 for orientation. More than 1,700 students attended.
international students, with financial support from Academic Affairs through its Educational Excellence and Student Experience priority.
Xilu Wang, who is from Shanghai, said SJSU is well-known among her friends in her native country.
“(SJSU) is located in Silicon Valley,” she said, of her reason for choosing the Lucas Graduate School of Business. “(Silicon Valley) is a great location. Its reputation is good and it is growing very fast. My friends all want to study business and computer science here.”
The orientation included presentations from departments on campus that interact with graduate students, with sessions on Visa and health information for F-1 students, and financial aid and scholarships for local students. Students also chose from supplementary sessions such as library tours, a career center workshop and even a foodie/grocery tour, among other options.
Chance Payne, a Human-Factors Ergonomics major in the Davidson College of Engineering, said he also chose SJSU because of its proximity to Silicon Valley.
“I want to get an internship,” he said, while browsing the Resource Fair.
Melissa Ortiz, ’17, received the 2015 CSU Trustee’s Award for Outstanding Achievement.
San Jose State computer engineering student Melissa Ortiz, ’17, will be heading to Long Beach this week to receive the 2015 CSU Trustee’s Award for Outstanding Achievement. The award is given to 23 students – one at each campus – who overcome adversity and demonstrate superior academic performance, personal accomplishments, community service and financial needs.