Category Archives: Educational Excellence and Student Experience

November newsletter: Provost update – Spartans give back to campus community

As Thanksgiving approaches, I am thankful for the generous Spartan spirit I see expressed throughout the year. Our students, staff and faculty are often developing ways in which they can give back to campus community members.Our theme at the Academic Affairs Staff Appreciation Breakfast has been “Full Circle Giving” for the last few years and the event is one example of the giving spirit at SJSU. This year donations from the staff and administrators supported the SJSU Food for Students Fund.

There are many more instances of our Spartans giving back to SJSU community members. Emeritus and retired faculty are supporting research, scholarship and creative activity through a grant program for current SJSU faculty; a staff member who is also an SJSU alumna created a scholarship for staff members pursuing a degree; and faculty and students tackled a 320-mile bike ride to raise money to teach middle school students about sustainability.

I talk to my own children about the importance of giving back to the community and hope to instill in them a sense that giving is important. My family and I donate to Spartan causes, includingThe Guardian Scholars Program. The Guardian Scholars Program is special to me because I was adopted at a very young age. I was fortunate enough to become part of a loving family that valued education, but I understand the unique challenges our Guardian Scholars face without this support system.

I hope all of you find your own Spartan causes to support through donations, volunteering or staying engaged in our campus community. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving break.

November newsletter: Scholarship assists staff in reaching educational goals

Sami Monsur worked full time in the Connie L. Lurie College of Education while she was completing a degree in Spanish at San Jose State. She said Dean Elaine Chin offers $500 in professional development to each staff member every year.

“I was going for my bachelor’s and it really made a big difference with books,” Monsur said.

After she graduated with her degree in Spanish in 2011, she decided to donate $500 to create a scholarship for other staff members who are working toward their degree. She worked with University Advancement and Financial Aid to create the “Support Our Staff” scholarship, with the inaugural award given out in 2013.

This year, the scholarship fund received enough donations to give five $500 scholarships to San Jose State staff members who are completing a degree at SJSU.

Diana Fitts works as an assistant residential life coordinator while she is completing her master’s in occupational therapy. Fitts said she was inspired to pursue occupational therapy after spending time in El Salvador and the Philippines.

“People were in need of assistance, but they didn’t have resources,” she said. “I like figuring out what someone’s needs are and how to meet those needs.”

Fitts, who is scheduled to graduate in spring 2016, said the “Support Our Staff” scholarship allowed her to purchase books that will help her prepare for licensing exams and board certification.

Sarah Arreola, a specialist in teacher contracts and education projects in the College of Education, also received a scholarship this year. Arreola is working on a master’s in public administration.

“Getting a master’s has always been in the back of my head,” Arreola said. “I had strong family support and Sami (Monsur) encouraged me.”

Arreola, who uses the staff fee waiver program, said the scholarship has helped with books and other school supplies. She said her twin sons look up to her, and that she and her husband talk about college often with the boys.

The other 2015-16 recipients include: Amy D’Anna, a marketing coordinator in CIES who is pursuing a bachelor’s in public relations; Shawna Terry, a gift analyst in University Advancement, who is pursuing a bachelor’s in social science; and Nicole Arata, a barista with Spartan Shops, who is pursuing a bachelor’s in economics.

Learn more about the Spartans Supporting Spartans campaign.

Applications for 2016-17 will be available in early summer.

UPDATED: CommUniverCity wins national award for scholarship

San Jose State’s unique CommUniverCity program, which marked 10 years of service to the San Jose community this year, was honored at the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities annual meeting Nov. 17 with the C. Peter Magrath Community Engagement Scholarship Award.

For 10 years, San Jose State faculty and students have fostered a unique partnership with the city of San Jose and community organizations through CommUniverCity. The collaboration supports residents in neighborhoods that surround the campus with such activities as after-school tutoring, nutrition education, adult financial literacy classes and much more.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8LRJ3vGhuA

“CommUniverCity offers a unique opportunity for our students to engage in hands-on learning while also providing an avenue for faculty to engage in research, scholarship and creative activity,” said Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Andy Feinstein, in accepting the award on Nov. 17 at a breakfast ceremony in Indianapolis.

Katherine Cushing, the associate director of CommUniverCity and an SJSU professor, accompanied Feinstein to receive the award in Indiana. Cushing worked closely with Michelle Smith, of University Advancement, on completing the lengthy award process for the W.K. Kellogg Foundation Community Engagement Scholarships Awards and the C. Peter Magrath Community Engagement Scholarship Award.

Each year faculty and students engage in more than 50 community action projects, including many that are interdisciplinary. Some projects include College Day, in which volunteers visit local K-12 schools to talk to students about college; a community garden where college students teach elementary school students about nutrition; and the Records Clearance Project, where SJSU students help residents expunge criminal records, among many more programs.

SJSU’s CommUniverCity program was first recognized as a regional winner of the 2015 W.K. Kellogg Foundation Community Engagement Scholarship Awards in September. Dayana Salazar, the executive director of the program and an SJSU professor, and Imelda Rodriguez, a community director, presented a video and answered questions about CommUniverCity at the Engagement Scholarship Consortium Conference at Pennsylvania State University. SJSU is the first California university to receive the regional award since its inception in 2007.

Salazar said she and her office colleagues jumped up and down when they got the news from Provost Feinstein in a brief email on Tuesday morning that they had won.

“It’s national visibility, which is something we have been intentionally putting more effort into,” Salazar said. “It deserves a lot more recognition. It is quite special. It keeps bearing fruit and taking new directions – it is renewed every year.”

Salazar said there is potential for sharing the model with other universities and cities as well as more opportunities to delve deeper into the established programs in San Jose.

“We do a lot of work day to day,” she said. “We know we all put a lot of heart in our work. We don’t have a lot of opportunities to stop and take a look at the larger picture. It’s time to take pause and look back and celebrate.”

As a recipient of the regional award, SJSU moved on as a finalist for the national C. Peter Magrath Community Engagement Scholarship Award. San Jose State was selected from a pool of four finalists that included the University of Minnesota, the University of New Hampshire and Texas Tech University to win the prestigious Magrath award that includes $20,000 and an engraved glass award.

Katherine Cushing, left, and Provost Andy Feinstein, hold upC. Peter Magrath Community Engagement Scholarship Award.

Katherine Cushing, left, and Provost Andy Feinstein, hold upC. Peter Magrath Community Engagement Scholarship Award.

 

Join in the fun for International Education Week

Flier for International Education Week.

Flier for International Education Week.

The College of International and Extended Studies will host International Education Week Nov. 13-20. The activities offer opportunities for international and local students to socialize while learning about other cultures.

The kick-off event on Nov. 13 will be the SJSU International House International Quiz, where teams of four to eight students will answer global trivia questions for a chance to win prizes. Other activities include I-Gateway Sports Day, Global Breakfast, the Boulevard of Languages and other opportunities to engage. All students can learn about study abroad opportunities as well as volunteer, internship or jobs outside the U.S.

International Education Week is funded through the Academic Affairs Educational Excellence and Student Experience priority group as a way to promote global citizenship.

Visit the CIES International Student and Scholar Services website for a full list of activities.

October newsletter: SJSU Salzburg Scholars and Fellows change the campus and the world we live in

Claire Tsai, left, a 2015-16 SJSU Salzburg Scholar is one of 18 students who attended the summer program in Austria. She and the other scholars are actively engaged in promoting global citizenship. Photo courtesy of Salzburg Global Seminars.

Claire Tsai, left, a 2015-16 SJSU Salzburg Scholar is one of 18 students who attended the summer program in Austria. She and the other scholars are actively engaged in promoting global citizenship.
Photo courtesy of Salzburg Global Seminars.

Claire Tsai, ’16 Art History and Visual Culture, is only halfway through her time as an SJSU Salzburg Scholar, but she is already describing the experience as transformative.

“One main point for me is that I saw more clearly how dangerous it is to keep a single framework for understanding the world,” Tsai said.

Each year, the SJSU Salzburg Program coordinators select students to be scholars and faculty or administrators to be fellows for an 18-month period, with the number selected each year varying. In 10 years, 261 Spartans have participated, with many extending their involvement beyond their 18-month commitment, according to Dr. William Reckmeyer, the program director and a co-founder. The goal for students, faculty and administrators is that through the program not only are they transformed on an individual level, but that they have an institutional impact on improving global citizenship when they return to campus.

As a scholar, Tsai participated in a semester-long course on global studies last spring before attending the week-long Global Citizenship Program in Austria, now known as the Global Citizenship Alliance. She will be working with the other scholars and fellows to pursue projects that promote global citizenship, though she said the group is still winnowing down ideas for this year.

Blanca Sanchez-Cruz, the director of the MESA Engineering Program and assistant director of the Engineering Student Success Center, is a Fellow this year.

She said she was encouraging engineering students to apply when they suggested she should apply to be a fellow.

“It was a confirmation or validation of my thought about the need for more intentional and systematic efforts to globalize curriculum and bridge across existing efforts on campus,” she said of the summer session, via email. “In the context of the MESA Engineering Program, I work with educationally disadvantaged students, who because of time, finances or misconceptions, are often the most likely to hesitate to get involved or are at risk of being left out.”

Jessy Goodman, a lecturer in the College of Humanities and the Arts and the College of Social Sciences, has a unique perspective on the program as she has participated as a scholar and a fellow.

“It changed the course of my life,” she said, noting that she made connections through the program that led her to taking a lecturer position upon graduation. “It opened up a lot of ways of thinking.”

Goodman participated as a Scholar when she was an MFA student, taught the global studies course last spring to the latest batch of scholars and is a fellow this year.

“I got a ton of great ideas and tools to use,” she said, of incorporating concepts of global citizenship into her composition classes. “My students are so much more engaged with the material.”