Category Archives: Student Life

Student Life

Spartans at Work: At Crown Worldwide, I’ve Learned SJSU’s Diversity “Really Prepares You” to Go Anywhere

Female student in brown sweater is sitting in front of a PC labtop working and reading notes from a person journal.

Diane Pham, '12 business management and global studies, is a global alliance intern at Crown Worldwide Group, where she is standardizing the process the company employs to build relationships with business partners (Diane Pham photo).

By Amanda Holst, Public Affairs Assistant

(This summer, SJSU Today hits the road, visiting students and recent grads on the job across the country and around the world. Our Spartans at Work series continues with the Class of 2012’s Diane Pham.)

Improving business operations in Hong Kong and auditing in South Africa are just some of the unique opportunities available through the Thompson Global Internship Program. The SJSU program sends students abroad to complete projects for Crown Worldwide Group, founded by Jim Thompson, ’62 aeronautical engineering.

Diane Pham, ’12 business management and global studies, is just wrapping up work as a global alliance intern at Crown Worldwide. This summer, she is in London, standardizing the process the company employs to build relationships with global service partners and to create an accreditation program for future partnerships.

“Up until this point, the service partners have not been very consistent, so we’re building and making proposals for an identity that will create a mutually beneficial relationship,” Pham said.

Located in more than 50 countries and serving 200 locations, Crown Worldwide is the largest group of international moving companies, leading the way in relocation, records management, logistics and storage services. The company is credited with moving the Mona Lisa and two giant pandas.

In addition to learning about culture abroad, Pham says she’s getting a “big view on a global company and what it takes to manage one.”

She also says being a student at SJSU helped prepared her for work in a multinational business.

“I think the diversity that you are exposed to at SJSU just really prepares you to go to any new location and just take advantage of it,” Pham said.

Spartans at Work: At Cisco, “I am Finding There are No Limits to What I Can Achieve”

Female Cisco student dressed in a black jacket and turquiose shirt is standing with arms opened in front of a giant Cisco sign

Tanya D’Silva, a business major with a concentration in Management Information Systems, works on a team that helps businesses’ IT departments implement Cisco’s Operating Model framework (Peter Caravalho photo).

By Amanda Holst, Public Affairs Assistant

(This summer, SJSU Today hits the road, visiting students and recent grads on the job across the country and around the world. Our Spartans at Work series continues with the Class of 2013’s Tanya D’Silva.)

After giving her resume to Cisco at a SJSU job fair and applying for an internship position through Sparta Jobs, Tanya D’Silva, a business major with a concentration in Management Information Systems, wasn’t sure that her five years of restaurant experience was enough to land an internship at the prestigious company. What seemed like a long shot turned out to be the opportunity of a lifetime.

“They took a leap of faith in me, trusting that I would do well in this environment,” D’Silva said. “If you are active around campus, and prove that you are well-rounded and are eager to learn, you have as good of a shot as anyone else.”

D’Silva is an IT analyst intern, working in Cisco’s Enterprise Release Management Organization within Connected IT Services.  She works on a team that helps businesses’ IT departments implement Cisco’s Operating Model framework in order to move information from data center to data center.

Getting the Most Out of Her Internship

Cisco, one of the largest employers in Silicon Valley, is a multinational leader in designing, manufacturing and selling networking equipment. The corporation was founded in 1984 in San Francisco but is now based in San Jose.

D’Silva says her two-month internship is teaching her the “ins and outs” of a corporation and helping her figure out her future goals.

“Since I am contemplating management positions or becoming a project manager, the team I am working on is helping me to see how the business operates and the various functions of a company,” D’Silva said.

D’Silva says she wishes she found out earlier that being a 4.0 student isn’t the only way to achieve a good job. According to her, what she’s learning in the classroom and what she takes with her into the work world is what counts.

“I am finding there are no limits to what I can achieve. My internship is what I make of it. If I choose to stay immersed in intern activities and take on more projects then I will get more out of my internship experience,” D’Silva said.

Spartans at Work: At SolutionSet, “I’m Learning All the Steps From Conception to Final Product”

By Pat Lopes Harris, Media Relations Director

Where will an SJSU degree take you? This summer, we hit the road to find out, visiting summer interns and recent grads on the job in the Bay Area and beyond. Our Spartans at Work series continues with Miguel Martinez, ’13 Advertising. He’s a summer account management intern at the San Francisco office of SolutionSet, the second largest independent marketing services company in the United States. For Martinez, the experience has been a dream come true. “Since I was in high school, I’ve wanted to be in advertising,” he said. “Besides the hands on experience I’m getting, I’m also learning all the steps from the conception of an idea or a project all the way to the final product.” Though he is far from campus, Martinez says his San Francisco internship is an important educational experience. “I know that I have a lot to learn,” he said. “The people that I work with, they can sense that, that you’re eager to learn and they’ll teach you, they’ll take you through the steps.” And if you’re a San Jose State student, he added, you learn quickly.

Marine Science Graduate Student Receives Switzer Environmental Fellowship

Marine Science Graduate Student Receives Switzer Environmental Fellowship

Rhinoceros Auklet chick (photo by Dave Calleri)

By Pat Lopes Harris, Media Relations Director

Ryan Carle, a graduate student in Marine Science who studies at the Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, has received a 2012 Switzer Environmental Fellowship.

The fellowship provides a one-year $15,000 cash award for graduate study as well as networking and leadership support to awardees.

The Switzer Environmental Fellowship Program supports highly talented graduate students in New England and California whose studies are directed toward improving environmental quality and who demonstrate the potential for leadership in their field.

Carle is a master’s student in the Vertebrate Ecology Lab at Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, and a lead ecologist for the non-profit Oikonos Ecosystem Knowledge.

His current work is centered on the conservation of a small and threatened population of Rhinoceros Auklets (a burrowing seabird similar to puffins) breeding at Año Nuevo Island. One of only a handful of islands off the California coast, the island is critical breeding habitat for seven seabird and four marine mammal species.

Professor and MLML Interim Director Jim Harvey is Carle’s advisor. View more photos on Ryan Carle’s blog.

Spartans at Work: At Nickelodeon, “I’m Learning How To Move Artwork Through The Pipeline”

Animation student wearing a pink jacket and black-and-white checkered shirt is standing in fron of the Nickelodeon sign in Burbank California

Hillary Bradfield, '13 Animation, has the opportunity to turn her love for cartoons into a summer internship at Nickelodeon Animation Studios in Burbank (Hillary Bradfield photo).

By Amanda Holst, Public Affairs Assistant

(This summer, SJSU Today hits the road, visiting students and recent grads on the job across the country and around the world. Our Spartans at Work series continues with the Class of 2013′s Hillary Bradfield.)

Hillary Bradfield, ’13 Animation/Illustration, has turned her love for cartoons into a summer internship at Nickelodeon Animation Studios.

“You are surrounded by all of this art; you learn just by being around it,” she said.

Bradfield is one of 30 intern production assistants this summer working on the “Spongebob Square Pants” cartoon. Nickelodeon is a children’s network known for popular TV shows such as “Kung Fu Panda Legends of Awesomeness,” “T.U.F.F. Puppy” and “The Legend of Korra.”

She has spent the last six weeks learning how to make cartoons from beginning to end, including putting together storyboards and preparing to send them out to studios that animate them.

Even though her internship is a non-art one, Bradfield has learned valuable behind-the-scenes skills in the industry.

“It’s more important to really prepare yourself for making your work good enough to pass off to the next person in the pipeline, and being a person who could be useful on a team,” she said.

Bradfield says the most rewarding aspect of her internship is that she’s been able to set up meetings with artists and other production assistants to get her artwork critiqued.

“Right now, I am working on a revision for artwork I showed a story artist,” Bradfield said. “It’s really great to get tips from them.”