Tag Archives: international education

CASA faculty among honorees for Helen Stevens Outstanding International Educator Award

Tamara McKinnon, a nursing professor, and Linda Levine, a health science and recreation professor, in the College of Applied Sciences and Arts, will be honored with the Helen Stevens Outstanding International Educator Award on Oct. 21, at 4 p.m. in the Martin Luther King Library, Room 225/227. Yasue Yanai, a World Languages and Literatures professor, will also be recognized at the event.

Dr. Tamara McKinnon, far right, and students Mina Paz Arzadon and Claudine Luzano appeared on "Good Morning Grenada," one of 5 media appearances by the group during their program.

Dr. Tamara McKinnon, far right, and students Mina Paz Arzadon and Claudine Luzano appeared on
“Good Morning Grenada,” one of 5 media appearances by the group during their program.

McKinnon led a pilot international program in Grenada this summer which included 23 nursing and occupational therapy students from SJSU who completed a global service-learning course on the Caribbean island. During their visit, students met with the Ministry of Health, hospitals and clinics and also had an opportunity to visit clinical sites throughout the island. The students participated in a health fair in a rural part of the island, conducting home visits to train family members and local students, and conducted television and radio interviews. The students all kept a reflective journal during their trip with photos and narrative.

The core principles of the program included compassion, curiosity, courage, collaboration, creativity, capacity building and competence, according to McKinnon.

Levine spent part of her summer in Paris, teaching 14 students about the history and diversity of France. During their trip, which provided credit in two GE areas, students learned about various cultures that included different religious backgrounds, occupational backgrounds and other aspects of identity. During the trip students had the opportunity to visit the Chateau de Marseilles, Musee D’Orsay and to take a Thai/French cooking class, among other activities. Levine encouraged students to consider study abroad programs with a blog post (http://blogs.sjsu.edu/casa/2014/08/20/enterprising-students-find-unique-ways-to-fund-study-abroad/)sharing some of the creative ways her former students raised money for their trips, from making macarons to sending donation request letters to family and friends.

SJSU students enrolled in the faculty-led program "Paris: City of Culture," took a bike tour around Paris.

Linda Levine, center in a blue top, taught “Paris: City of Culture.”

Helen L. stevens scholarship help students learn overseas

This summer, San José State University students Aly Mauro and Cynthia Ting will take their occupational therapy education abroad on two very different faculty-led programs to islands far from California. Mauro will be part of a pilot program of the Valley Foundation School of Nursing’s Health Promotion class in Grenada while Ting will be learning about healthcare in parts of Taiwan.

“I chose this specific program because it is an interdisciplinary experience,” Mauro said, via email this week, of the program that is open to nursing and occupational therapy students. “It is a unique trip where I can learn from both an OT professor and nursing professors about the realm of public health.”

Dean Charles Bullock, right, hands a thank you card to Helen Stevens that was signed by the scholarship recipients. Stevens helped select the 12 students who each received $500 to participate in faculty-led study abroad programs this summer.

Dean Charles Bullock, right, hands a thank you card to Helen Stevens that was signed by the scholarship recipients. Stevens helped select the 12 students who each received $500 to participate in faculty-led study abroad programs this summer.

College of Applied Sciences and Arts students pose with Helen Stevens, center with the flowers, at a reception in Dean Charlees bullock's office with some of the faculty members with whom they will traveling this summer.

College of Applied Sciences and Arts students pose with Helen Stevens, center with the flowers, at a reception in Dean Charles Bullock’s office with some of the faculty members with whom they will traveling this summer.

Ting said on her program she will learn about accessibility of healthcare in rural and urban parts of Taiwan.

“We will get the opportunity to travel around the island to various community settings, including one aboriginal tribe, which I am looking forward to,” she said via email.

Ting and Mauro were among the 12 students to receive the inaugural Helen L. Stevens Faculty-Led Program Scholarship for the College of Applied Sciences and Arts.  Stevens helped to select the 12 students who received $500 toward their summer travel programs. The students are also part of a pilot effort to increase opportunities for international experiences being undertaken by the College of Applied Sciences and Arts students, with an ultimate goal of making some type of international education required for all graduates of the 10 departments and schools in the college.

To thank Stevens for her donation, Dean Charles Bullock and his Associate Deans Alice Hines and Greg Payne hosted a small reception for the scholarship recipients to celebrate.

“When I put my name tag on, which only had my first name, (Stevens) looked at me and greeted me with my full name, with a giant smile,” Ting said. “I was surprised and touched.”

Ting said she was also excited to learn about Stevens own travels as a student.

Mauro said she was glad to attend the reception because she was appreciative of Stevens’ generosity and “genuine interest in our experiences abroad.”

“It was a huge relief to receive the email that I was a recipient, as cost of these programs is a limiting factor for many interested students,” Mauro said. “This scholarship helps relieve some of the stress associated with the financials of the trip.”

Mauro said study abroad will broaden her perspective on the potential ways she will be able to exercise her degree in OT. She said the hands-on program will allow her to apply the knowledge she has gained in the second year of the master’s in Occupational Therapy program in which she is enrolled. She was especially excited to have the opportunity to study abroad because she did not have the chance as an undergraduate student.

Ting also said she looked forward to using her skills from the classroom.

“Having the opportunity to feel uncomfortable and out of place in a society that has a different world view will help me grow into a better practitioner in the future,” she said.

Bullock, faculty and staff in the College of Applied Sciences and Arts are researching ways to make international programs accessible to all students, financially and in meeting their graduation requirements. For 2014, the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, the Occupational Therapy department and the Valley Foundation School of Nursing are serving as pilot programs.

The following students, who come from a variety of departments and schools in CASA, also received scholarships:

  • Aleli Blanco
  • Cedric Tumanut
  • Jayne Baltazar
  • Jennifer Leocadio
  • Lesley Paige
  • Michael Celso
  • Samantha Rodgers
  • Crystal Diaz
  • Kelli Daley
  • Kayla Koterbay

SWEEP: SJSU President and Dean make international connections

While the San José State University campus is celebrating International Education Week (visit http://www.sjsu.edu/ips/iweek/ for a full schedule of activities,) San Jose State University President Mohammad Qayoumi and College of Applied Sciences and Arts Dean Charles C. Bullock traveled to Viet Nam over the weekend to foster relationships with Vietnamese universities.

President Qayoumi and Dean Bullock’s visit will help strengthen an existing relationship between SJSU and the overseas campuses as well as help foster new potential partnerships.

San Jose State University’s College of Applied Sciences and Arts is host to the Social Work Education Enhancement Program, an initiative that is working to:

  • Develop systems to strengthen higher education management and administration,
  • Devise processes to enhance faculty development opportunities and programs
  • Develop and employ relevant curriculum adaptable to Viet Nam’s changing knowledge and needs.

SWEEP is funded through the US Agency for International Development with a three-year grant. Visitors from Viet Nam spent a week at SJSU in September, with a group of fellows expected to stay for a month in the spring. Members of the SJSU SWEEP team will also be traveling to Viet Nam in December for an annual conference.

Tuan Tran, the SWEEP Viet Nam project coordinator, has been traveling with Qayoumi and Bullock. On Monday, Qayoumi and Bullock lunched with a dean and rector from the University of Social Sciences Vietnam National University in Ho Chi Minh City, before then meeting with USSH-VNU President Phan Thanh Binh.  They discussed the SWEEP partnership as well as other potential collaborations such as business or STEM programs.

The SJSU pair visited the Cisco Academy in Ho Chi Minh City. Cisco has been an integral part of the SWEEP program, as the telepresence equipment has allowed educators from Viet Nam to connect with educators at SJSU. On Monday evening, Tran treated the pair to some sightseeing on their way to the airport where they traveled to Hanoi.

The two will continue meetings in Hanoi through Nov. 13, with Dean Bullock then travelling onto Hue and Da Nang before returning to the U.S. on Nov. 16.

Flights to Viet Nam and within the country have not been impacted by Typhoon Haiyan, a storm that devastated parts of the Philippines last week.  According to news reports, the typhoon touched down in Viet Nam on Monday in the northern province of Quang Ninh with winds of 75 mph and heavy rainfall, but it did little damage. SJSU students are coordinating a food and supply drive with the nonprofit Project Pearls, LBC cargo company and the Philippine Red Cross. People can donate goods from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. through Thursday in front of the event center. They are asking for canned goods, baby food and medicine as well as dry noodles, rice, toothbrushes, toothpaste, bath soap and shampoo.