Tag Archives: occupational therapy

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.

Annual Emeritus and Retired Faculty Luncheon Hosted by The College of Applied Sciences and Arts

Dean Mary Schutten welcomes former faculty to the Emeritus and Retired Faculty Luncheon held at Flames Eatery Banquet Room in San José, California.

Dean Mary Schutten welcomes former faculty to the Emeritus and Retired Faculty Luncheon held at Flames Eatery Banquet Room in San José, California.

Dean Mary Schutten of the College of Applied Sciences and Arts (CASA) hosted a luncheon for emeritus and retired faculty on November 20, 2015. The annual event brought together former faculty from CASA’s departments and schools including one former dean, Robert Moore. The luncheon provided an opportunity for college updates from Dean Schutten as well as the college’s department chairs and directors.

Robert Moore, former Dean, congratulates CASA on the wonderful work the college is doing.

Robert Moore, former Dean, congratulates CASA on the wonderful work the college is doing.

Peggy Plato, a Kinesiology professor, guided a tour of the newly renovated Spartan Complex to former faculty prior to lunch. They were able to see new classroom spaces, the gymnastics room and more. The group also toured the new department space for Kinesiology and Health Science and Recreation. Some of the group members visited offices they once worked in and reminisced about their meetings with students. Lee Walton, a former professor of Kinesiology, said he really liked the design of the building and the open space in the lobby for students to use during downtime.

Two students who attended the summer study abroad program led by current CASA faculty were invited to speak about their experience and the impact it has made in their life. Student speakers included Jesse Ruezga, a Master’s student in the School of Social Work and Chelle Tateishi, a Master’s student in Occupational Therapy.

Jesse Ruezga, Master's student in Social Work, talked about studying abroad in Madrid, Spain.

Jesse Ruezga, Master’s student in Social Work, talked about studying abroad in Madrid, Spain.

Chelle Tateishi, a Master's student in Occupational Therapy, spoke about her experience studying abroad in Jyvalska, Finland.

Chelle Tateishi, a Master’s student in Occupational Therapy, spoke about her experience studying abroad in Jyvalska, Finland.

Ruezga spoke about his trip to Spain where he studied the country’s current social justice, human rights and social history with Social Work Professor, Mike Gorman. Tateishi studied the universal health care system on community wellness and prevention in Finland with Occupational Therapy Professor, Lynne Andonian.

The highlight of the luncheon came when former faculty shared a few words about what they have been up to since retirement. Many shared stories of traveling and spending time with grandchildren. Others shared how they are still involved on campus by way of the Emeritus and Retired Faculty Association at San José State University. Emeritus and retired faculty enjoyed catching up with former colleagues and meeting new faces in leadership roles for CASA.

Jill Cody, retired professor from Health Science and Recreation, shared her story of moving near the beach with her husband and writing a book that she plans to finish soon.

Jill Cody, retired professor from Health Science and Recreation, shared her story of moving near the beach with her husband and writing a book that she plans to finish soon.

Daniel Glines, retired Kinesiology professor, shared his story of retirement by staying active outdoors and fishing in Montana.

Daniel Glines, retired Kinesiology professor, shared his story of retirement by staying active outdoors and fishing in Montana.

Former faculty from The Valley Foundation of Nursing and The School of Social Work shared a table with current Social Work Director, Jack Wall and Nursing Director, Kathy Abriam-Yago at the annual luncheon.

Former faculty from The Valley Foundation of Nursing and The School of Social Work shared a table with current Social Work Director, Jack Wall and Nursing Director, Kathy Abriam-Yago at the annual luncheon.

5th Annual CHAMP Senior Wellness Fair

CHAMP Senior Wellness Fair 2015

CHAMP Senior Wellness Fair 2015

The Timpany Center hosted the annual Senior Wellness Fair on October 24, 2015. The fair brought in over 500 attendees, with many students from San José State University’s (SJSU) College of Applied Sciences and Arts (CASA) volunteering to interact with the population.

The Senior Wellness Fair is a partnership between SJSU’s Center for Healthy Aging in Multicultural Populations (CHAMP), the Santa Clara County Department of Aging and Adult Services and the Timpany Center, now in its fifth year. CHAMP is an interdisciplinary effort that includes faculty from the School of Social Work, The Valley Foundation School of Nursing, Nutrition and Food Science, Kinesiology, Occupational Therapy as well as the departments of Psychology and Communicative Disorders and Sciences.

Sadhna Diwan, School of Social Work professor and director of CHAMP, said the fair offers SJSU students an opportunity to practice their communication skills, learn how to engage seniors in screenings and health education, and learn about the role of multiple disciplines and the array of community services available to promote wellness and healthy aging.

Students from the School of Social Work interacted with seniors using a poster board displaying facial expressions to identify mood change and depression. The students handed out community resource sheets and gave recommendations on how to seek help if some seniors are experiencing a low mood change.

Social Work graduate students volunteer at the Senior Wellness Fair on Oct. 24, 2015.

Social Work graduate students volunteer at the Senior Wellness Fair on Oct. 24, 2015.

Naomi Gomez, a social work graduate student, said she and her fellow students were there to educate seniors on mood changes that lead into depression in the aging population. “We are offering seniors today different support systems and referrals to help lift their moods or if they know of someone they can pass this useful information to,” said Gomez.

Don Tran, a public health graduate student, greeted seniors with his fellow students and provided body mass index screenings and blood pressure testing. Tran is working with the Pathways to American Indian and Alaska Native (PAAW) to introduce a diabetes prevention program. Tran said that the fair provides an opportunity to seek out potential participants to take part in the program that will provide participants with gym memberships, walking shoes, healthy meals and more.

“We are focused on improving health for American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander and all indigenous heritage population of Santa Clara County,” Tran said while handing out information packets to participants during the fair.

The Nutrition, Food Science and Packaging (NuFS) students provided information on food insecurities and healthy hydration methods. Kristian Ghazal, NuFS graduate student, said she volunteered to encourage seniors to buy local foods and where they can use CalFresh EBT cards.

Ghazal presented each visitor with an informational poster that highlighted healthy food options during each season of the year and reasons why the community should buy foods from local farmers. “Everyone attending the fair today should know where and how to get fresh foods from local farmers,” said Ghazal as she talked about the importance of seniors needing to maintain a healthy diet and supporting local farmers.

Kristian Ghazal, student volunteer, holds informational poster about local farmers and healthy seasonal foods.

Kristian Ghazal, student volunteer, holds informational poster about local farmers and healthy seasonal foods.

Susan Ross, Health Science and Recreation lecturer, and undergraduate students offered leisure interest screenings. Lovegifty Dudero, HSR undergraduate student, said she used the screening to talk with seniors about what they like to do on their free time. The results of the assessment identifies strengths and weaknesses of leisure activities such as physical, outdoor, mechanical, artistic, service, social, cultural and reading activities.

“From the results we can provide different leisure activities to help improve their weaknesses,” Dudero said, after finishing an assessment.

Lovegifty Dudero, student volunteer, administering a leisure screening with Senior Wellness Fair participant.

Lovegifty Dudero, student volunteer, administering a leisure screening with Senior Wellness Fair participant.

“Learning is one of the most life giving things a person can do,” said Ross, as she explained the goal of the student volunteers to teach people how to gain more novelty using the leisure screening. Other activities from NuFS included aging myths and aroma therapy.

An additional amount of students from SJSU volunteered their time to assist with various tasks at the fair. Desiree Barton, Daniela Zea and Chantelle Patel, School of Journalism and Mass Communications (JMC) undergraduate students, volunteered to take pictures of the event and interview seniors who attend.

“One of the most resourceful things for them is that everything is in one place and the free flu shots,” said Patel, after interviewing senior participants.

The JMC students plan to use the pictures and video interviews to create a video for CHAMP to spread awareness of the Senior Wellness Fair.

For more on CHAMP, click here.

 

Dean Schutten is the Featured Author of the Month

Dean Schutten

Dean Mary Schutten

The College of Applied Sciences and Arts (CASA) Dean, Mary Schutten, is the San José State University (SJSU) ScholarWorks Featured Author of the Month.

“With so much wonderful work going on at SJSU, it is nice to be a featured scholar,” said Schutten as she was honored to be selected.

Schutten said ScholarWorks “was a way to provide information on my work that led to requests to submit similar work to publications.” Other benefits included the monthly download report. This report helped identify areas in Schutten’s research portfolio that informed decisions about future research topics.

ScholarWorks provides access to scholarly work created at SJSU. The repository aims to increase global visibility of SJSU’s intellectual output. Schutten highly recommends using this service.

Benefits of ScholarWorks:

  • ScholarWorks provides a permanent, interactive, on-line CV for you to share with colleagues and the wider world. CASA faculty members Anthony Bernier (School of Information), Kasuen Mauldin (Nutrition, Food Science & Packaging) and Miranda Worthen (Health Science and Recreation) are great examples of how to use this online repository tool. You can also browse by school or department using the CASA collection.
  • All permissions for posting PDF files and links are taken care by ScholarWorks.
  • Full text of all works in the associated Digital Commons repository are optimized for Google & Google Scholar searching.
  • Authors receive a confidential monthly download report showing total downloads for the last 30 days and cumulatively for all works in the depository.
  • Facilitates networking and sharing of scholarly work – anyone can subscribe to receive updates from a scholar regarding announcements of recent work, or receive automatically generated emails anytime new work is added to a profile.
  • Publish working papers.
  • Download counts algorithm for accurate download statistics
  • Research announcement tool allows scholars to maximize their work.
  • It is extremely easy to use.Email a current CV to scholarworks@sjsu.edu.

View Schutten’s profile and sign up for ScholarWorks yourself or update an existing profile by sending in your latest Curriculum Vitae (CV).

Mark Your Calendar: Silicon Valley Innovation Challenge

Silicon Valley Innovation Challenge

Silicon Valley Innovation Challenge

The Silicon Valley Innovation Challenge (SVIC) is taking place all-day on Monday, November 16 in the new Student Union Ballroom. We encourage CASA students to enter the competition. It is a great way to showcase the innovations conceived by our creative, talented students and celebrate at this year’s event.

The new “Best Sport-Tech” award, sponsored by University Advancement, will be made available this year in addition to the Best Overall Innovation, Best Elevator Pitch, and Best Social Innovation award categories. Each winner will receive a cash prize.

SVIC is a fantastic networking and career building opportunity for students. Judges include faculty and industry professionals from leading Silicon Valley companies such as Cisco Systems, Applied Materials, AT&T, LinkedIn, Citrix, Ericsson, WMware, NetApp, and more.

Cisco Systems in particular plans to use SVIC as a talent recruitment platform. Eligible students with a GPA of 3.2 or higher should visit the Career Center to improve resume writing and interviewing skills prior to the event.

KEY DATES

  • October 5: Submission opens for students, alumni, faculty, etc.
  • October 26: Submission closes at midnight
  • October 28: Online judging begins
  • November 9: Finalists Notified
  • November 16: SVIC Finalist Showcase, Student Union Ballroom, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Visit SVIC to learn more.

Silicon Valley Innovation Challenge Poster