Category Archives: Events

Articles on CASA events, workshops, symposiums, celebrations and more.

Occupational Therapy Students and Faculty Enjoy Spring Break at the American Occupational Therapy Association Annual Conference

The Occupational Therapy students spent their Spring Break continuing their learning. During that week, approximately 40 out of 73 Occupational Therapy graduate students attended the American Occupational Therapy Association Annual Conference to present their research projects. “We are so proud of our students because they have the opportunity to present their research at a professional conference”, says Dr. Wynn Schultz- Krohn, chair, department of occupational therapy.  “This is a peer-reviewed professional conference and we have over half of the graduates accepted to present their research. We also have seven faculty members presenting their research at this conference. Although that means no Spring Break for the faculty members, the conference held in New Orleans was a very fun place to learn,” says Dr. Wynn Schultz-Krohn.

 

The SJSU Occupational Therapy Student Honor Society, Pi Theta Epsilon (PTE) along with members of the SJSU Student Occupational Therapy Association (SOTA) joined forces to raise money to support occupational therapy research. The combined efforts of POTE and SOTA raised the largest amount ever recorded for this annual student fund raising event! Students from large, private R1 institutions, such as Columbia, typically raise the largest amount to support research. This student fund raising effort reflects the “pay-it-forward” mindset of the occupational therapy graduate students to support research efforts in the profession of occupational therapy.

 

Some of the topics presented at the conference by faculty and students included:

Political Advocacy of occupational therapy students

Mothers’ co-occupations after NICU discharge

Social problem solving and simulations

Financial literacy with homeless teens

Sensory processing

Fostering decision making skills with homeless children

Fall Prevention

School based practice

Relationship between sleep and interactive technology

Parents’ perceptions of risk with children’s everyday occupations

Evidence based dysphagia

The experience of homeless mothers participating in an occupational therapy leisure group

Career Center Holds 2nd Annual Health Professions Career Fair

The 2nd annual Health Professions Career Fair occurred on Thursday, March 14. The event was organized by the Career Center. Over 30 employers and approximately 300 students participated in this very successful event.  Many students in the College of Health and Human Sciences attended this fair.

Participating employers in the Health Professions Fair included California Department of State Hospitals, County of Santa Clara, Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford, Stanford School of Medicine, and many more!  Employers recruited for internships and entry-level full-time career positions for the following opportunities: healthcare, kinesiology, RN, community engagement and research intern, case manager, behavior youth counselor, class counselor and many more! Nearly 30% of participating employers had internship opportunities.

Employers recruited students across all majors within the health professions, social sciences, and life science areas. However, over 50% of participating employers recruited students in communication disorders, health/exercise science, health/hospital administration, nutrition, and public health.

Occupational Therapy Program Places First in Annual Fund Raising Event

The Occupational Therapy Program raised over $9,000 and placed first in the American Occupational Therapy Foundation (AOTF) annual fund raising event to support professional research initiatives. The fund raising event is directed through the AOTF Honor Society, Pi Theta Epsilon (PTE). “Last year the PTE Honor Society was the third place winner in fund raising to support occupational therapy research through AOTF and this year we surpassed last year and we are First Place in the United States for fund raising for OT research,” says Winifred Schultz-Krohn, Professor and Chair, Occupational Therapy. “This is really an example of paying it forward.”

Photo courtesy of Dr. Winifred Schultz-Krohn.

Photo courtesy of Dr. Winifred Schultz-Krohn.

The OT graduate students complete a series of three classes in research and create a final project. “Our students have been very successful in having their research projects accepted at professional state and national conferences and these are not student conferences,” says Dr. Krohn.   “The OT students deeply understand the importance of research to support the profession of occupational therapy. The PTE chapter along with the Student Occupational Therapy Association worked during the fall and early spring semester to raise funds to support research. I am so honored to be the Faculty Advisor for the PTE group and it is a wonderful recognition for them to receive the first place award as the highest earners for this challenge.”

One of the fund raising events included a bowling competition with the OT faculty and we have included photos from this event.

Photo courtesy of Dr. Winifred Schultz-Krohn.

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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