Author Archives: Eddie

Spring 2017 Series 2 of 10: Department of Hospitality Management’s Pebble Beach Program Provides Students with on the Job Hospitality Experience and Assists Students in Building a Better Business Network

If you plan on visiting the AT&T Pro Am Golf Tournament, Pebble Beach California, February 6-12, there is a good chance you may be served by one of SJSU’s Special Event Management students. “We have 32 students going down this year. Of those, the majority are Hospitality majors, with a couple of Kinesiology majors and a few majoring in public relations,” says Terry Thompson, Professor, Special Event Management Training.

Students setting up an On Course Food and Beverage tent prior to the tournament beginning.

The Department of Hospitality Management is excited to celebrate its 12th year of partnership with Pebble Beach Resorts to assist with the 2017 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. “Our students will be working On Course Food and Beverage, Sky Suites and Chalets,” says Thompson.

“They will be managing anywhere from 5 to 50 volunteers and paid employees during the tournament depending on where they are working. Students will work directly with Pebble Beach representatives to manage, plan, coordinate, and oversee these hospitality areas at one of the PGA’s most celebrated golf tournaments.”

In order to be chosen for this opportunity, students must complete an application, write an essay and complete a panel interview. “There are over 100 students that apply every year and we only choose 32,” says Thompson.

Students gearing up for golf cart training.

Once students have been accepted in the program, they must attend over 60 hours of training that is conducted in conjunction with the Pebble Beach staff. In this training, they learn how to set a table properly, adjust shades and lights, and prepare a proper break service according to the Lodge at Pebble Beach standards.

“It is a real commitment,” recalls Anissa Sanders, public relations major and member of last year’s student team. “We are required to stay near Pebble Beach for a week, waking up at 4 a.m. to eat breakfast and be at the courses by 6 a.m. Then, back to our lodging at 6 p.m. and have dinner with the team, and then to bed by 10 p.m. to do it all over again the next day.”

From left to right: Advisor Richard Larson, student assistants Anissa Sanders and Victoria Wright, and Advisor Terry Thompson.

If they perform well, students can be invited back a second time for management and paid positions. Ms. Sanders has been invited back this week to manage three VIP rooms in the Lodge. She was also invited to work the 2016 Pebble Beach Food and Wine Festival and Concours d’ Elegance this past year.  “Being a part of the Special Event Management Team taught me not only about the hospitality industry, but also about myself with the help of amazing advisors and Pebble Beach Managers. They help you grow and become confident in your choices as a manager. I’m happy to have done the program because I have built a network of friendships and ultimately a family.”

Sky Suite Team posed for a photo on the 18th Fairway.

The AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am is one of golf’s most celebrated and beloved events. Spanning three beautiful courses on the Monterey Peninsula (Spyglass Hill Golf Course, Monterey Peninsula Country Club Shore Course, and Pebble Beach Golf Links), it attracts the PGA’s top professionals and some of the best-known celebrities. The goal of the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am is not only to provide a highly competitive and entertaining PGA event, but also raise money for philanthropic causes.

It is truly exciting that San José State University has the opportunity to participate in this incredible event. The Hospitality Management Program is always on the lookout for some of San José State’s most responsible, enthusiastic, and professional students to join the Special Event Management Team.

SJSU Special Event Management Team.

Spring 2017 Series 1 of 10: Journalism Students Broadcast Cinequest Film Festival Events in Real Time

If you plan on attending the 2017 Cinequest Film Festival, there is a good chance you may be interviewed by Journalism 166 students.

Three years ago, when Professor Tom Ulrich, Professor Neal Waters and JMC Studio Director Juan Serna were gauging Adobe software and what they could accomplish, an idea struck.  “We thought with our Adobe software and $6,000 of rented video equipment we could broadcast an event live and audiences could view events in real time,” recalls Tom Ulrich, Journalism Professor, School of Journalism and Mass Communications. Thus, an ongoing relationship with the Cinequest Film Festival was formed.

Utilizing Journalism 166 Convergence Newsroom, a course designed for the experienced journalism major who wishes to learn about multimedia reporting for online platforms, Professor Ulrich and his team, approached the Cinequest Film Festival team and asked them if they could film opening night, closing night and all of the events in between. Ulrich recalls, “With Adobe software, we rewrote the rules for broadcast when my team of 12 students replaced a $1 million transmission truck with $6,000 of computer gear. We beamed live coverage of the film festival to subscribers of our digital arts magazine, South Bay Pulse.”

South Bay Pulse, a digital arts and entertainment magazine was launched by Ulrich, with Professor Neal Waters in time for Cinequest 2015.  “This March we will be covering Cinequest for the third time,” says Waters.

“Filming Cinequest events is a three week commitment for our class and probably four or five weeks when you take in the preliminary planning,” says Ulrich. “We spend the rest of the year covering the community at large.”

Professor Thomas Ulrich is a regular contributor to Wines & Vines. He has written feature stories for Time, The Washington Post, the Christian Science Monitor and Orion Magazine. He helped launch SHiFT magazine with four professors from the Lucas College of Business nine years ago and launched South Bay Pulse, a digital arts and entertainment magazine, with Professor Neal Waters in time for Cinequest 2015.

The Western Publishing Association awarded the staff of the magazine “best student print publication for 2016.”  The staff of South Bay Pulse worked with Adobe to develop features for the latest edition of DPS (Digital Publishing Suite) software.

Community Supported Journalism – Adobe and SJSU Partnership (Video)

A Conversation with John Boorman – South Bay Pulse live coverage of Cinquest 2015 (Video)

The College of Applied Sciences and Arts: Articulating Our Identity

Impacting Health and Wellness by Changing the Way We Live, Work and Play.

The College of Applied Sciences and Arts (CASA) at San José State University has long been recognized for its excellence in preparing both undergraduate and graduate students for professional work in fields related to health and community wellness, and applied human services. Comprised of eleven schools and departments, CASA has utilized the unique interconnectedness of health professions and applied sciences to address issues related to social change, social justice and human rights. Leveraging cutting-edge, applied research and strong community partnerships, CASA serves as a leader in promoting evidence-based, healthy outcomes for the region and California, as well as locations across the globe.

Spring 2017 will feature a series of blogs that demonstrate some of the many ways CASA undergraduate and graduate students apply what they have learned in the community and beyond.

2016-17 Committee to Enhance Equity and Diversity Awards

The College of Applied Sciences and Arts’ Committee to Enhance Equity and Diversity (CEED) reception was held on Tuesday, January 24, 2017 honoring six recipients whose combined effort and activities have made an important contribution to enhance equity and diversity at San José State University (SJSU) and/or in the community. CEED Award categories consist of an Undergraduate Student Award, Graduate Student Award, Student Organization Award, Faculty Award, and Staff Award.

The purpose of the CEED Awards is to recognize those individuals and groups that have demonstrated excellence in promoting and fostering a deeper understanding of equity and diversity as they relate to issues of age, class, disability, ethnicity, gender, race, religion and/or sexual orientation.

The recipients for the CEED Distinguished Service Award are:

Undergraduate Student Award – Francisco (Frankie) Garcia, Department of Kinesiology

Frankie could not wait to celebrate his 21st birthday and it wasn’t for the typical 21 year old reasons. At 21, Frankie was legally able to petition for U.S. citizenship for his parents. The oldest of four children, Frankie grew up in Highland Park, Los Angeles, a neighborhood known for gang violence and low socioeconomic status.  Frankie is a Kinesiology major and Mexican American studies minor. He attended Dr. Kasuen Mauldin’s faculty led program to Hong Kong where he learned about Chinese/Cantonese culture. Frankie currently serves as an Educational Opportunity Program (EOP) mentor to freshmen and transfer students. In this role, Frankie guides new students through online advising, facilities, key campus contacts, etc. and ensures they have a successful first semester at SJSU. He has also coordinated panels and presentations through EOP to help motivate and inspire high school students to pursue higher education.

Congratulations Frankie Garcia!

Undergraduate Student Award – Joseph (Joey) Montoya, School of Journalism and Mass Communications

Joey has been very active in Native American issues and spreading awareness among a number of channels both on and off campus. He set up Urban Native Era during his first year of college, Fall 2012. Urban Native Era spreads awareness of indigenous issues throughout the world. As well as educating people through different mediums and forms such as social media, artwork, and apparel to let people know that Native and Indigenous people are still here and strong.

Through Urban Native Era, Joey became involved with standing rock after traveling to the Democratic National Convention (DNC). Joey had heard about youth runners running from Standing Rock to D.C. to deliver a 150,000 signature petition to the White House and President Obama to reject and stop the Dakota Access Pipeline. After the DNC, Joey met up with runners in Ohio and brought them food, snacks, clothes, and other essentials they needed for the rest of the trip. He then met with the runners in D.C. to protest at the Army Corps of Engineers Building and in front of the White House and later to New York City. Soon after, Joey organized through Urban Native Era and UpToUs to help the tribe and people at Standing Rock.

Today, students across campus recognize his stickers and images that bring awareness of Indigenous peoples issues.

Congratulations Joey Montoya!

Graduate Student Award – Natsuko Tsuji, Department of Nutrition, Food Science and Packaging

Natsuko’s activities included conducting a research project examining if participation in multicultural cooking classes had an impact on cultural competence of SJSU students. Natsuko designed, planned and taught five multicultural cooking classes to expose students to different cultures. The cooking classes were Japanese, Thai, Caribbean, Indian, and French.

Natsuko worked with Cassie Barmore, SJSU campus dietician and Dr Kasuen Mauldin, Nutrition, Food Science and Packaging Assistant Professor. They wanted to know if participating in a fun social ethnic cooking class was one way a person could increase his/her cultural competence. Natsuko administered a cultural competence survey before the class and one month after the class.  She found that even limited exposure to only one or two multicultural cooking classes improved cultural competency, particularly in the area of helping students become more aware and accepting of similarities and differences of people from different cultures. Her work has created opportunities to present at conferences and expos and she has published a summary of her work in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

Natsuko’s research findings have the potential to inspire other universities to invest in similar multicultural activities and impact the cultural competence of students world-wide.

Congratulations Natsuko!

Student Organization Award – Social Work Graduate Student Association (SWGSA), School of Social Work

Two years ago, students expressed concern about the expression of unfavorable racial comments in the classroom and requested several faculty and student initiatives to engage the school community in a dialogue. Alisia Murphy, Master of Social Work (MSW) alumni founded the  “Authentic Conversations” that was developed as open and explorative discussions about race, power, and all forms of oppression spoken from our lived experiences. Today, the SWGSA has shown leadership in keeping the momentum going. Because of their initiative, all social work classes now include a shared agreement for maintaining a safe learning environment and openness of communication.

Congratulations SWGSA!

Faculty Award – Dr. Edith Kinney, Department of Justice Studies

Dr. Kinney has worked on numerous initiatives related to social justice, equity and diversity on our campus. She developed a partnership with the MOSAIC Cross Cultural Center. The MOSAIC Cross Cultural Center promotes diversity, awareness, social change, and cultural empowerment.

Dr. Kinney continues to play a key role in the planning and implementation of the annual Human Rights Lecture Series. In Spring 2015, Dr. Kinney assisted in a very successful and widely recognized event to date, where many founding members of the Black Lives Matter movement and a keynote lecture by Angela Davis presented to a standing room only crowd.

Dr. Kinney is almost constantly involved in human rights related programming on campus, including her upcoming event in partnership with the Campus Reads and Records Clearance Programs – a panel discussion on prisoner re-entry.

Congratulations to Dr. Edith Kinney!

Staff Award – Cassie Barmore, Department of Nutrition, Food Science and Packaging

Cassie Barmore has successfully promoted and fostered a deeper understanding of equity and diversity as it relates to socio-economic status and cultural food practice among SJSU students, faculty, and administrators. Cassie identified that food scarcity due to a lack of money was a major barrier to student success. She took it upon herself, outside of her job duties, to collaborate on projects to feed low socio-economic status students and teach students how to cook the food they receive. Cassie believes that all students, regardless of income status should have access to three, healthy and well balanced meals per day.

Congratulations Cassie!

Occupational Therapy Program Well Represented at the Occupational Therapy of California Annual Conference

Approximately 50 occupational therapy graduate students presented research projects at the Occupational Therapy Association of California Annual Conference in Pasadena, CA. “These collaborative research projects were completed with the occupational therapy faculty and clearly demonstrates their commitment to student success,” says Winifred Schultz-Krohn, PhD, OTR/L BCP, FAOTA, Professor and Chair, Department of Occupational Therapy.

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“And our faculty had many well-attended presentations on the following topics: Prevention of Falls, Play Patterns in Adults, Professional Development, Interprofessional Collaboration, and Dysphagia. Gigi Smith, associate professor, coordinated the student track during the conference so she was very busy,” says Schultz-Krohn.

Dr. Lela Llorens, former chair of the occupational therapy department provided an inspirational keynote address at the California Foundation of Occupational Therapy luncheon. She specifically recognized the important research completed by Dr. Heidi Pendleton on Friendships.

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