Tag Archives: wellness

The College of Applied Sciences and Arts: Articulating Our Identity

Impacting Health and Wellness by Changing the Way We Live, Work and Play.

The College of Applied Sciences and Arts (CASA) at San José State University has long been recognized for its excellence in preparing both undergraduate and graduate students for professional work in fields related to health and community wellness, and applied human services. Comprised of eleven schools and departments, CASA has utilized the unique interconnectedness of health professions and applied sciences to address issues related to social change, social justice and human rights. Leveraging cutting-edge, applied research and strong community partnerships, CASA serves as a leader in promoting evidence-based, healthy outcomes for the region and California, as well as locations across the globe.

Spring 2017 will feature a series of blogs that demonstrate some of the many ways CASA undergraduate and graduate students apply what they have learned in the community and beyond.

Alpha Tau Delta Gives Back

ATD in front of Heritage Home

Just a few blocks away from the SJSU campus on North Third Street is the Cityteam’s Heritage Home, a place that, according to their website, we have been providing a long-term compassionate ministry for years to homeless, poor and abandoned women who are pregnant and have nowhere else to turn but the streets. Often these pregnant women who are without food or shelter resort to their dark thoughts of abortion. In the United States 48% of pregnancies are unintended, and half of those are terminated by abortion*. We are trying to be a light of hope in these women’s lives – looking at the whole situation – to meet their immediate needs and work out long-term solutions through our multiple programs. The historic Victorian home in the Hensley District uses its largest room to care for these pregnant women, and it was in need of renovation.

Enter Alpha Tau Delta (ATD), The Valley Foundation School of Nursing’s co-ed professional nursing fraternity. ATD decided that the best way to celebrate their second year as a chapter would be to renovate the Heritage Home’s large room as their largest, original community service project.

Mackenzie Thomas, ATD’s Founding President and current Vice President, said that the fraternity wanted to create a room full of positive energy to lift the spirits for those women who enter.

Heritage Home remodeled Heritage Home upgraded bedroom

“We wanted to share the nursing spirit of care and compassion through this project, and we hope its impact is felt for years to come.”

After months of planning and securing donations from home improvement stores, ATD set a goal to finish the project in a timely manner and ensure it was done professionally. The renovation had to be completed within a two-day time frame. This included painting, creating decorations, building beds, installing ceiling fans, moving furniture, and tidying up the room before the revealing ceremony. “We had to do something many only see on TV,” said Mackenzie when describing the amount of work that had to be done with such limited time.

With the help of over 60 students and some of their parents, ATD turned the room into a beautiful, bright and motivating sanctuary. During the revealing ceremony, ATD celebrated with the mothers to be with home-made treats and drinks outside the home. The Heritage Home is now an even more special place thanks to the determined, hard work that ATD put into the renovation.

Alpha Tau Delta Fraternity

 

Second Annual CHAMP Conference on Health and Aging Abstract Deadline Coming Feb. 17th

by Sang E. Lee, PhD

Dear Faculty at CSU Chico, CSU East Bay, CSU Fresno, CSU Monterey Bay, CSU Sacramento, CSU Sonoma, San Francisco State University, and San Jose State University,

On behalf of the organizing committee, I cordially invite you to submit an abstract to the Second Annual CHAMP Conference on Health and Aging. This refereed conference will take place on Friday, April 5th, 2013, 9:45am – 3pm at San Jose State University. Registration is free.

CHAMP (www.sjsu.edu/champ) is housed at San JoséState University.  Our inaugural conference last year was a part of our effort to foster collaboration in aging research and education across CSU campuses in the Bay Area. Faculty and student presentations were well received by over 100 attendees including students, faculty and community partners from the Bay Area. This year we are expanding the conference to include additional CSU campuses.

 We encourage your submission focused on health and aging in multicultural/diverse contexts – e.g., empirical papers, conceptual/theoretical papers, model curriculum/program, and innovative pedagogy including using online technology. There are two presentation formats:  1) Oral presentation (15 minutes); 2) a 30-minute symposium/panel on a topic related to the theme of the conference.

This invitation is also extended to CSU undergraduate and graduate students. Students can submit abstracts of their research on health and aging in multicultural/diverse contexts for a poster presentation. There will be a designated time slot for the student poster sessions during the conference.

Abstracts are welcome from the following disciplines (but not limited to): communication disorders, gerontology, health science, justice studies, kinesiology, nursing, nutrition, occupational therapy, psychology, social work, and sociology.

 The deadline for submission of abstracts is February 17, 2013. Your abstract will be peer-reviewed by the Conference Program Committee and a decision letter will be sent out at the end of February, 2013. Instructions for abstract submissions are below.

Please share this invitation with your colleagues and students and save the date for the conference, April 5th, 2013, 9:45am – 3pm.

Invitation to Submit Abstracts: 2nd Annual CHAMP Conference on Health & Aging

by Sang E. Lee

Second Annual CHAMP Conference on Health and Aging (Refereed Conference)

When: Friday, April 5th, 2013; 9:45 am. – 3 pm.

Where: San Jose State University.

Cost: Registration is free.

Invitation to Submit Abstracts: Deadline: February 17, 2013

Building Collaboration in Aging Research and Education among CSUs

On behalf of the CHAMP Conference Committee we are inviting CSU faculty submit an abstract for the CHAMP conference on April 5, 2013. The PDF version is also included below. We look forward to receiving abstracts by February 17, 2013 for this peer-reviewed conference! Please email Sang Lee or Sadhna Diwan if you have any questions.

CHAMP (www.sjsu.edu/champ) is housed at San José State University. The inaugural conference last year was a part of our effort to foster collaboration in aging research and education across CSU campuses in the Bay Area. Faculty and student presentations were well received by over 100 attendees including students, faculty and community partners from the Bay Area. This year we are expanding the conference to include additional CSU campuses.

We encourage submission focused on health and aging in multicultural/diverse contexts – e.g., empirical papers, conceptual/theoretical papers, model curriculum/program, and innovative pedagogy including using online technology. There are two presentation formats:  1) Oral presentation (15 minutes); 2) a 30-minute symposium/panel on a topic related to the theme of the conference.

This invitation is also extended to undergraduate and graduate students. Students can submit abstracts of their research on health and aging in multicultural/diverse contexts for a poster presentation. There will be a designated time slot for the student poster sessions during the conference.

Abstracts are welcome from the following disciplines (but not limited to): communication disorders, gerontology, health science, justice studies, kinesiology, nursing, nutrition, occupational therapy, psychology, social work, and sociology.

The deadline for submission of abstracts is February 17, 2013. Your abstract will be peer-reviewed by the Conference Program Committee and a decision letter will be sent out at the end of February, 2013.

PDF – CHAMP invitation to submit abstracts 2013 – final

Quick Highlights of CHAMP Senior Wellness Fair on October 24 at Roosevelt Center

by Sadhna Diwan, Ph.D.

Greetings fellow CHAMPions!

Thank you so much for making this another great event! Just a few quick highlights:

Getting set up at Roosevelt Center

According to Kingstom Lum of DAAS, we had 400 people at the fair! We had 100 students there from SJSU so it was a great mix of seniors, students, non-profit agencies (14), and other visitors.
CommUniverCity and CHAMP volunteers outreached to 200 homes in the neighborhood through door-to-door marketing in addition to visiting several senior centers, apartment buildings, and local businesses.
Among city and county officials who visited were:  County Supervisor George Shirakawa; Suzanne Wolf, Deputy Director Parks and Recreation, City of San Jose;  and Dan Wax, Division Manager City of San Jose. There were no doubt others that some of you had a chance to meet.
This year, we had a group of very young but extremely articulate budding engineers from the Junior High School in Saratoga who had built a robot for the annual Lego Competition . This year’s theme for the competition was Senior Solutions: Can FIRST® LEGO® League teams improve the quality of life for seniors by helping them continue to be independent, engaged, and connected in their communities? The kids participated in the wellness fair as part of their outreach activities. See more info at: http://firstlegoleague.org/challenge/2012seniorsolutions
We would like to thank our partners at DAAS and CommUniverCity, CHAMP faculty, students, and our CASA Dean Charlie Bullock for making this Wellness fair possible.
Professors Tamar Semerjian & Nancy Megginson announcing demos