Are you Interested in a master’s degree? The School of Information (iSchool) will be hosting a special event on Wednesday, October 5, 2016, from 5-6 p.m. in the Student Union, Meeting Room 1B. SJSU undergraduates considering a master’s degree are encouraged to join. The open house is a great way for future students to learn more about the iSchool, its programs, and the information profession.
Click here for more details.
Congratulations to Miranda Worthen, Department of Health Science and Recreation Assistant Professor, for receiving the Early Career Investigator Award for 2016!
According to the Research Foundation, the award recognizes tenure-track faculty who have excelled in the areas of research, scholarship or creative activity as evidenced by their success in securing external funds for their research, publishing in peer reviewed publications, and demonstrating other scholarly and creative activities, at an early or beginning point in their career.
“I felt really honored to be recognized,” said Miranda as she was surprised to be awarded and had not considered applying for the award. She received a nomination from Anne Demers, Department Chair of Health Science and Recreation, soon after being encouraged to submit an application from the College of Applied Sciences and Arts’ Associate Dean of Research, Amy D’Andrade. Amy said that Miranda’s work is competitive and that she should apply.
Miranda’s work is interdisciplinary and includes epidemiology of psychosocial factors, the development of context-appropriate mixed methodologies that emphasize academic rigor and community validity, and intervention research. She focuses on social factors that mitigate or exacerbate the physical and mental health impact of exposure to violence and stress.
Strongly believing in paying it forward, Miranda plans to encourage other faculty to apply for grants and support them through the application process. She also believes that the award is a great example for her students as she promotes nominating themselves for scholarships and awards as sometimes it is hard for students to apply as they may have never won academic competitions.
“It is especially important to encourage our students to try their Luck. I’ll definitely share this experience to illustrate for my students that even when you don’t think you will be competitive, you might actually win.”
The College of Applied Sciences and Arts is proud of Miranda and looks forward to her continued success.
Dr. Ed Cohen, School of Social Work, spent the Spring 2016 semester in Vietnam on a Fulbright Scholar grant. Dr. Cohen developed and taught a course on mental health for undergraduate students majoring in social work at Dalat University, located in the country’s Central Highlands.
The course is the first of its kind in Vietnam for the new profession of social work. Since Vietnam does not have a recent textbook about mental illness, Dr. Cohen developed a course textbook on the prevalence, etiology, assessment, and treatment of mental illnesses specifically geared towards Vietnam and translated into Vietnamese. The course was an elective for a class of 36 final-year students from many surrounding provinces.
“In Vietnam, there is a very powerful stigma about mental illness which is similar to other regions in Asia – made even worse by the intense shame of having a mental illness or being in the family.”
Due to the stigma regarding mental illness, Dr. Cohen said that there is a lack of general knowledge about common problems such as depression and anxiety. However, people want to talk about these problems since the majority of people are suffering from these problems, has a family member, or knows someone with emotional problems. Enter social workers and it provides the people with someone to start the conversation.
During a reception by the U.S. Embassy Deputy Chief of Mission in Vietnam, Dr. Cohen received recognition of his contributions to the curriculum, which will be used by the faculty at Dalat University starting Fall 2016, as well as disseminated to other universities offering social work degrees in Vietnam. During his stay in Vietnam, Dr. Cohen also provided conference presentations, workshops on social work in healthcare settings, and faculty seminars on research methods in the social sciences.
Dr. Cohen said that the Vietnamese students show more outward affection to their professors because educators are held in very high esteem. However, the Vietnamese students are much more similar than different to SJSU students. Even though most students told Dr. Cohen that their parents would rather have them study engineering or business, they were proud to major in social work.
“Even though there aren’t enough social work jobs for graduates, they have a lot of class spirit and identify strongly as social work majors.”
The Fulbright Scholar grant gave Dr. Cohen the opportunity to live abroad for the first time, but it wasn’t hard to make friends. He said people are very warm and his university colleagues invited him to many family gatherings. He enjoyed the food while eating at small family-run kitchens and adjusted well even though the communication was difficult at times as the general public did not speak much English.
“I feel like I have just scratched the surface learning about the culture!”
Click here to see a photo journal of Dr. Cohen’s experience in Vietnam.
The Department of Aerospace Studies hosted Mr. Gabe Camarillo, Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Manpower and Reserve Affairs. Taking time out from his immensely busy schedule, Camarillo carved out time to visit the Air Force ROTC (AFROTC) program to discuss how the Air Force cares about its present and future personnel.
Rose Herrera, Vice Mayor, city of San José, joined the group to welcome Camarillo to San José State University (SJSU) and recognize the great work SJSU’s AFROTC it has accomplished. Herrera noted that SJSU’s AFROTC program provides great leadership skills and received highly effective scores during the 2015 inspection by the Air Force.
“How grateful and honored we are to have Assistant Secretary Camarillo here in San José. Thank you to all of the men and women in the Air Force for their commitment to serve,” said Herrera as she wanted to let cadets know that elected leaders care about their service.
Herrera is an Air Force veteran and the San José City Council Liaison for Veteran’s Affairs.
Camarillo talked about the issues that are relevant with future careers and how ROTC programs influences change. He focused on the talent pool coming into the Air Force and shared his ideas on how to bring in talent.
Leveraging technology and using more determined efforts through ROTC programs, promoting the range of careers in the Air Force, recognizing changing demographics, and promoting diversity. Camarillo said that diversity is a key aspect in the Air Force.
“Critical to the Air Force and its success is to maintain knowledge from diverse perspectives, experiences and cultures.”
Lieutenant Colonel (Lt. Col.) Michael Pecher, Department Chair of Aerospace Studies, said that the visit from Camarillo allowed cadets to see and know that senior leaders in the Air Force care about them, the AFROTC program and the staff, academic community and local community. It gave the cadets a perspective on where things are headed in the future for recruiting, retention, and career aspects. In addition, cadets were able to voice their own thoughts on how to improve the AFROTC program.
“Resources are never unlimited, so we have to find creative ways to do what we’d like with the resources we have. This takes creativity and good ideas, to include ideas from young people of this generation, a theme that came up a couple of times during the visit,” said Lt. Col. Pecher.
It’s not often that cadets get the opportunity to meet senior leaders in the Air Force. Usually cadets attend an event outside of SJSU or at a base. However, within the last six months, SJSU has had two senior leader visits. The AFROTC program presented Camarillo with a challenge coin as a token of appreciation. Challenge coins in the military are given to prove membership when challenged and to enhance morale.
Click here to read more about Mr. Gabe Camarillo.
Gabe Camarillo and Rose Herrera met with University Officials after the visit with AFROTC Cadets.
The College of Applied Sciences and Arts (CASA) had its first ever interdisciplinary student workshop with the Department of Occupational Therapy (OT) and The Valley Foundation School of Nursing. The workshop was the idea of OT student Renee Demaree who planned and organized the day-long workshop that was conducted in the simulation and skills labs at the Valley Foundation School of Nursing.
The goal was to help students increase their understanding of the role of other healthcare disciplines and facilitate their ability to work collaboratively. Nursing Lecturer Debbie Nelson and OT Assistant Professor Dr. Gigi Smith assisted students during the workshop.
Nursing students Tiffany Tran and Angelo Vitug addressed safety issues in working with patients in the hospital environment. Nursing student Stephanie Mejia led a patient care simulation where a nursing student played the role of a patient and OT students provided care to the patient. Students awaiting their turn were learner observers. A debrief of the simulation followed to allow students time to give feedback and discussion.
OT students Jazmin Arellano and Allan Romero presented on the role of occupational therapy in the hospital environment and other health care settings. Small group activities promoted active learning and collaboration.
Workshop participants expressed appreciation for the experience. Both groups of students came away with a deeper understanding of each other’s professional roles and how to facilitate inter-professional partnerships. Plans are underway for more of these collaborative interdisciplinary experiences in the future.