Tag Archives: scholarship

Join the ‘Celebration of Research’ on Feb. 10

celebrationofreserachStudents, staff, faculty and members of the public are invited to the SJSU Celebration of Research on Wednesday, Feb. 10, from 4-6 p.m. in the Student Union Ballroom.

This year’s event will feature presentations from the 2015 Early Career Investigator Award Winners Aaron Romanowsky and Virginia San Fratello. An assistant professor in the College of Science’s physics and astronomy department, Romanowsky has produced 47 refereed publications in journals such as “The Astrophysical Journal” and recently received $40,718 from the National Science Foundation to continue his research. He and his students are credited with discovering a hypercompact cluster, or one of the densest galaxies.

An assistant professor in the College of Humanities and the Arts design department, San Fratello has successfully secured funding for her work that includes materials and fabrication processes, including 3-D printing. She recently received a $90,000 grant from the United States Environmental Protection Agency. San Fratello is an active architect who is working with manufacturers and distributors to launch innovative and sustainable building components into the market place.

In addition to the presentation of the faculty awards, student researchers will also be highlighted at the event. Students and faculty involved in the Center for Faculty Development’s Undergraduate Research Pairs program will have their research exhibited at the event and will be available to talk with guests. The program has paired 32 undergraduate students with 20 faculty members. Some of the research topics include:

  • Developing culturally-tailored mental health programs for Vietnamese caregivers
  • Resilence of college students following a failure
  • Developing nanodelivery of insulin to improve diabetes treatment
  • The impact of individuals tracking their own fitness levels
  • The effect of obesity on metabolic markers
  • Outcomes of mentoring first-year, first-generation graduate students of color
  • See the full list of 2015-16 awardees and research topics

Students who competed in the 2015 CSU Research Competition will also be recognized at the event. Light refreshments will be served.

The Celebration of Research is sponsored by the Office of the Provost, SJSU Research Foundation, the Office of Research and the Center for Faculty Development.

 

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.

November newsletter: Emeritus and retired faculty aid new faculty

Emily Chan is one of three university librarians who received an Emeritus and Retired Faculty Association Faculty Research and Creative Activity Award to digitize a reference archive.

Emily Chan is one of three university librarians who received an Emeritus and Retired Faculty Association Faculty Research and Creative Activity Award to digitize a reference archive.

On the lower level of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library in a back corner, 300 binders and boxes are stored that once belonged to the Pacific Library Partnership’s System Reference Center. The dusty books have been stored for more than a decade and while they are available to the public, few people know they exist.

With an inaugural Emeritus and Retired Faculty Association (ERFA) Faculty Research and Creative Activity Award, three university librarians are working on digitizing the documents and making them more readily available for research.

Emily Chan, Christina Mune and Kathryn Blackmer Reyes said the ERFA award of $2,500 allowed them to hire an intern to begin scanning the documents that date from 1974 to 2002. Chan said the reference center existed to help public reference librarians in researching questions posed to them by patrons “before so much information was online.”

Questions covered topics ranging from kombucha to hobo signs to biographical information about community members. Chan said much of the information was sought by professionals, including people who were writing books.

“We are dealing with a lot of technological and philosophical questions,” Chan said, of decisions about what documents to keep, in which file type to save them and how to meet accessibility guidelines when posting the archive in ScholarWorks.

The university librarians plan to seek out additional funding to continue the digitizing process and they hope to write an article on the decisions they faced in creating the archive. But Chan also sees multiple research opportunities for faculty and students to pursue in the future, from the change in language over the decades as well as the evolution of tools used to find answers for library users.

Joan Merdinger, a retired professor from the School of Social Work and past president of ERFA, said the association decided to start an award with its dues last year.

“We’ve been ourselves members of the faculty,” Merdinger said, noting that they understand the challenges in keeping a research, scholarship and creative activity agenda going in mid-career.

2015-16 ERFA President Jo Bell Whitlatch said the group has often donated to the university, but two years ago they discussed a new approach to supporting education at SJSU.

“Being able to remain engaged in your field and do research is very important to faculty development,” said Whitlatch, who was a university librarian and part-time lecturer in the School of Information (formerly the School of Library and Information Sciences). “It helps you keep up in the field and stimulates your teaching when you remain engaged in your field.”

Patricia Albers, a professor in Art and Art History, said the $2,500 award from ERFA helped her to gain momentum in researching a biography on André Kertész, a 20th century photographer. The book is due to her publisher in December 2016.

“He was a principal figure,” Albers said. “He mentored and set a path for a lot of photographers.”

Albers had already visited Kertész’ birthplace in Budapest and the city where he first won acclaim, Paris. The proposal allowed her to spend five weeks in New York, where the photographer spent most of his career.

“I did learn so much about who he was and what he meant in the context of photography as it was changing,” she said. “It brought the whole New York part into focus and now I have some command over that.”

Applications are now being accepted for 2016-17.

New RSCA supports announced for fall 2015

New tenure-track faculty members pay rapt attention at orientation.

New tenure-track faculty members pay rapt attention at orientation.

Many research, scholarship and creative activity-related sessions are being offered this fall with the support of the Academic Affairs RSCA and Professional Development Support priority group. The offerings for fall 2015 include nine new programs funded by the priority group as well as enhancements to programs that have been offered in the past.

The sessions are the collaborative efforts of the staff of the Office of Research, the Research Foundation, the Tower Foundation, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Library, the Center for Faculty Development as well as a number of faculty members and administrators across campus. See a list of upcoming activities.

One of the first sessions, a University Grants Academy, had a full turnout for a meeting on Sept. 4. The programs are designed to support faculty from all disciplines, from scientists to singers. Other upcoming topics include “Moving from Idea to Proposal,” “Tips from Journal Editors and Librarians,” and “What You Need to Know About Budgets,” among other programs.

The sessions are open to both returning and new faculty. This year 58 new tenure-track fraculty joined SJSU and many of them are excited to get started on their research, scholarship and creative activity agendas.

Ozgur Keles joins the biological, chemical and materials engineering department from the Illinois Institute of Technology. He is interested in research that involves 3-D printing for medical applications.

Another new faculty member, Faranak Memarzadeh joins the Hospitality Management department from Texas Tech University. She said she plans to continue with the subject at SJSU, with an emphasis on how hotel costs affect travelers to the Bay Area.

“I want my research to move in the right direction,” she said.