Author Archives: Eddie

Assistant Professor John Delacruz Joins International Higher Education Teaching & Learning Association

Assistant Professor John Delacruz, School of Journalism and Mass Communications, has been invited to the editorial review board of the International Higher Education Teaching and Learning Association’s Journal based on his role as an educator in the creative disciplines and pedagogical research. Assistant Professor Delacruz has a published article on the website that you can access here: “Socially Minded: Ethical Awareness and the Creative Advertising Student.”

The International Higher Education Teaching and Learning Association is an association of educators, by educators, for educators. Their vision is to advance the scholarship and practice of teaching and learning by focusing its mission on four core areas: 1) global networking and interdisciplinary collaboration, 2) research, innovation, and academic publishing, 3) higher education development and capacity building, and 4) human rights and social justice.

Occupational Therapy Student Selected to Attend Second Annual Future Scientists in Occupational Therapy Program in Boston

Megan Sadou was one of 30 Occupational Therapy (OT) students selected to attend the second annual Future Scientists in Occupational Therapy program in Boston this past summer. The event was hosted by the American Occupational Therapy Association in collaboration with the American Occupational Therapy Foundation. Selected students traveled from across the United States to Boston University on June 1, 2017. After the program, students attended a two-day research summit alongside occupational therapy scholars.

The program gives aspiring graduate OT students a chance to form mentorships with top scientists in their field. During her time in the program, Sadou and her future scientist peers received direct and personalized mentorship from renowned OT scholars, as well as researchers and doctoral students in all levels of training. The event hosted Q&A panels and small group discussions to facilitate students’ development of research interests, plans for work-life balance, and their timeline for future research pursuits. At the research summit, Sadou expanded her OT research network and took advantage of opportunities to provide feedback to principal investigators who were in the design phase of innovative studies for the OT field.

Sadou demonstrated a strong interest in research before joining the OT Master’s program at SJSU. She previously published two peer-reviewed research articles from her undergraduate work in the ecology field. Sadou’s skills have transferred easily into her research courses as she now applies her talents to benefit occupational therapy clients.

Sadou served as a group leader for a year-long research project that was recently presented as a poster at the Changing Aging Tour through the SJSU Center for Healthy Aging in Multicultural Populations (CHAMP). Under the mentorship of her advisor, Assistant Professor Dr. Megan Chang, Sadou’s project was accepted for presentation at the Occupational Therapy Association of California. In addition, her team’s work was accepted for presentation at the 2018 International Congress of World Federation of Occupational Therapy in South Africa. Sadou plans to submit this work for publication.

Sadou would like to eventually pursue a doctorate degree that supports her research interests in sensory integration, neurorehabilitation, or the development of sociocultural and contextual frameworks that benefit OT practice. Sadou is currently completing her required internship in OT and expects to graduate December 2017.

Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals Names SJSU’s Student Chapter as Student Chapter of the Year

The national chapter of the Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals (HFTP) has selected SJSU’s HFTP Student Chapter as the Student Chapter of the Year Award winner and will be honored at the HFTP Annual Convention, October 25-27, 2017. SJSU’s HFTP Student Chapter was established in 2012 with Dr. Yinghua (Michelle) Huang as the faculty advisor.

“There are 23 HFTP student chapters, including those from Cornell, University of Central Florida, and University of Nevada, Las Vegas. It is a competitive selection based on many factors and our student chapter is among the best,” says Dr. Huang.

Hospitality, Tourism and Event Management student, Kierstin Wilson, is the current president of SJSU’s HFTP.  Congratulations to the HFTP Student Chapter!

Dr. Gong Chen Provides Self Defense Workshops and Interview with World Journal

Dr. Gong Chen (left) leading a self-defense workshop.

On August 3rd, Dr. Gong Chen, Professor and Activity Program Coordinator, Kinesiology, provided a self-defense workshop for women coaches and staff members in SJSU’s Department of Athletics.

On June 16th, Dr. Chen was interviewed by the World Journal (Chinese language newspaper in North America) to share his new research on victimization and self-defense of Chinese abroad students and to provide advice on crime prevention for Chinese abroad students in the United States.  The lecture precipitated a Chinese doctoral student who was a visiting scholar that was kidnapped and disappeared at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign on June 9.  “Although the suspect was caught on June 23, this case caused tremendous fear among the 300,000 Chinese students and their families who are studying in the United States,” says Dr. Chen.

In addition, on May 16, Dr. Gong Chen provided a self-defense workshop for Stanford University students in the resident hall.

CASA’s Good News | Fall 2017

CASA Faculty Receive Grants

Associate Professor Diane Guerrazzi, School of Journalism and Mass Communications (JMC), is the primary investigator for a $250,000 U.S. State Department grant to train journalists in Georgia.  “Our plan is to bring 20 journalists to San Jose State University January 2018,” says Professor Guerrazzi. “We plan on helping Georgian journalists become more independent and entrepreneurial. We’re collaborating with Facebook, Google, NBC Bay Area and the Society of Professional Journalists.”

Others assisting on the grant are Halema Kazem-Stojanovic, Lecturer, Dr. Dennis Wilcox, Professor Emeritus; Dr. Phylis West-Johnson, Director, School of Journalism and Mass Communications; and Howard Combs, Professor Emeritus, former chair of SJSU’s Marketing department.

The School of Information (iSchool) has received a $100,000 grant from the Institute for Museum and Library Services. Dr. Sandy Hirsh, Professor and Director School of Information, is listed as the primary investigator, however, Sue Alman, lecturer, had the idea for this grant, wrote this successful grant proposal, and will be taking the lead on this project.

The iSchool will investigate ways that blockchain technology can be used by libraries to partner with other organizations and to support city or community goals. Blockchain technology is a shared digital/electronic ledger featuring a constantly updated list of transactions. It is supported by a peer-to-peer network that may be either public or private. This technology has the potential to help libraries develop a distributed metadata system; facilitate better digital rights management; and create a protocol for supporting community based collections.

The proposed National Forum would bring together 20-30 technical experts in libraries, blockchain technology, and urban planning to discuss ways that blockchain technology can advance library services to support city or community goals. The resulting commentary from a project blog, national forum, conference, and the survey data will be evaluated and included in the project’s final report, which will be available online. The recommendations will serve as a guide for, both large and small, urban and rural libraries to implement blockchain technology or consider other directions.

The iSchool is also a partner university on the WGBH Educational Foundation (WGBH) grant of $229,772. Alyce Scott, lecturer, is representing the iSchool on this project. The WGBH will host a Public Broadcasting Preservation Fellowship for 10 students enrolled in Library and Information Science (LIS) graduate programs to pursue digital preservation projects at public broadcasting organizations around the country, gaining hands-on experience in audiovisual preservation. WGBH will work with five partner universities: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University of Missouri, University of Oklahoma, San Jose State University, and Clayton State University.

Each university will be paired with a local public media station to serve as a fellowship host. Fellowship placements will address the need for digitization of at-risk public media materials and increase audiovisual preservation education capacity in LIS graduate programs across the country.

Lecturers Peta Wellstead and Diane K. Kovacs, iSchool, have received a 2017/2018 Quality Assurance Grant from the eCampus Office of Quality Assurance (EOQA).

CASA Faculty Receive Numerous Awards and Recognition

Dr. Steven Lee, Justice Studies Professor, Director of Forensic Science Programs has been appointed to the Organization of Scientific Area Committees Facial Identification subcommittee, and the editorial boards of the Journal of Forensic Research and Analysis and Journal of Forensic Sciences and Digital Investigations. “I am very excited and honored to be working with these experts,” says Dr. Lee.  “Furthermore, the connections provide additional networks of experts that can contribute their expertise to San Jose State University’s Forensic Science program.”

Dr. Zongchao Cathy Li, Assistant Professor, School of Journalism and Mass Communications was recently appointed as the Chief Research Editor for Institute for Public Relations’ Behavioral Insights Research Center (BIRC). Institute for Public Relations serves internationally as a hub to connect academic research with the industry. It is a high-impact nonprofit institution focusing on applied research and intelligence that PR professionals can put to immediate use. Click here to learn more about the Institute.

News release from IPR

Dr. Winifred Schultz-Krohn, Chair, Occupational Therapy is the recipient of the Humanitarian of the Year award at the upcoming annual California Foundation for Occupational Therapy (CFOT) Awards Luncheon and Symposium which will be held on Friday, October 20, 2017 at the Occupational Therapy Association of California Conference (OTAC).

Here is an excerpt from the OTAC website:

Winifred Schultz-Krohn, PhD, OTR/L, BCP, SWC, FAOTA, is the recipient of the 2017 CFOT Humanitarian Award. She is honored for her many years of volunteer work with the San Jose Family Shelter which is part of the Family Supportive Housing Organization of San Jose. She received a regional Jefferson Award in 2011 for her volunteer commitment.  Awards are from the Jefferson Awards Foundation whose mission is to empower others to have maximum impact on the things they care about most. It was founded in 1972 by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Senator Robert Taft Jr., and Sam Beard. Schultz-Krohn was the CFOT Honored Lecturer in 2012. She has also previously received the OTAC Award of Excellence and OT Practice Award. She has more than 30 years of experience as an occupational therapy practitioner working with individuals, primarily infants and children, with feeding disorders. Schultz-Krohn is Board Certified in pediatrics by the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) and has co-edited books and authored well over 20 articles and chapters. She has served in various volunteer roles with both OTAC and AOTA and is the department chair of occupational therapy at San Jose State University.

Look Who is in the News!

Dr. Matt Cabot, Associate Professor, School of Journalism and Mass Communications was interviewed by NBC Bay Area, August 30 about the profound impact that social media and technology played in the call for help and assistance in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey.

Dr. Richard Craig, Professor, School of Journalism and Mass Communications was live via Skype, June 29, KTVU-TV, discussing President Trump’s recent criticism of the press.

Jess Guy, Lecturer, Justice Studies appeared on KRON-TV, August 14th as a domestic violence spokesperson in regards to the Charlottesville violence.