ACCESS has hired Mel Brown as our new advisor! Mel recieved a BA in Social Science at San Jose State University, and a Masters of Education with a Concentration in Higher Education Leadership at Northcentral University.

He has proudly worked as an Academic Advisor in Academic Advising & Retention Services for over 14 years where he worked with various populations of at-risk-students that included undeclared, remedial, and probation students. As an Academic Advisor in AARS, he served as a Lead Coordinator for late drops and withdraws for the campus and the liaison with the College of Business, coordinating and leading new student advisement.

We are exited to have Mel join our team!

Dr. Amy Leisenring has been appointed to serve as the Director of ACCESS beginning in August, 2016. Dr. Leisenring also serves as a Professor of Sociology in the Department of Sociology and Interdisciplinary Social Sciences, and has been a member of the SJSU faculty since 2005. She is highly committed to ensuring that all students in COSS have what they need and deserve in order to be successful.

Dr. Leisenring’s current research focuses on students’ experiences in higher education, focusing particularly on race, gender, and class-based inequalities. She has engaged in a number of collaborative research projects with students. She is currently working with several students to analyze data that was collected by her Spring 2016 Advanced Qualitative Research Methods class for a project that explored the academic experiences of undergraduate racial and ethnic minority students in the College of Social Sciences, focusing on how these students understand what it means to be successful and the factors that have shaped their success. Dr. Leisenring is excited for the opportunity to draw from her research findings to help ACCESS to continue to grow and meet the needs of the students in the COSS.

ACCESS would like to say goodbye to the previous director, Dr. Hien Do, and thank him for all of his hard work and his commitment to student success.