During the Spring 2020 semester, the SJSU Lurie College of Education adopted a new 3-year strategic plan after over a year of conversations, deliberations, and reflections among faculty, students, and staff. The strategic plan focuses on 4 priority areas – community engaged, interdisciplinary, culturally sustaining, and holistic. Faculty, staff, and students were then able to apply for grant funding for projects that aligned with these priority areas. Congratulations to all of our teams who were awarded funding for the following projects for the 2020-2021 academic year!
“Creating an Inclusive Climate: Queering Our Classrooms and Our Campus”
If you’re hoping to make your class, office, or programming more accessible for and supportive of your queer and trans students and coworkers, be on the lookout for upcoming training sessions and a professional learning community supported by the Strategic Plan Seed Grant. “Creating an Inclusive Climate: Queering Our Classrooms and Our Campus” represents a partnership between the Lurie College of Education and The LGBT Youth Space to offer introductory and advanced trainings at the department and college level around topics like pronouns and vocabulary terms, the hidden curriculum in our classes, and creating opportunities for authentic self-expression. We will also be hosting a Professional Learning Community for faculty and staff who want to more deeply engage in the work of transforming their corner of the campus into a queer-affirming space. For more information, please contact Dr. Robert Marx at robert.marx@sjsu.edu.
“Early Childhood Connections”
Early Childhood Connections brings together a cohort of SJSU Lurie College of Education students and recent alumni from across disciplines, who are in pursuit of careers involving young children. Through virtual meetings, ECC provides a space for participants to cultivate relationships, build community, and learn from community partners. For more information, please contact the ECC Program Coordinator, Dr. Maria Fusaro, at maria.fusaro@sjsu.edu.
“Education Leadership Minor”
The SJSU Lurie College of Education is developing a Leadership Minor. Housed in the Department of Educational Leadership, this minor is an interdisciplinary approach to leadership development through engagement with anti-racist pedagogies and practices. We will support future leaders in their quest to transform their communities through meaningful, culturally affirming, and sustaining practices embedded throughout the program. For more information, contact Dr. Rebeca Burciaga at rebeca.burciaga@sjsu.edu.
“Health Development Clinic”
The Health Development (HD) Clinic is a community-engaged, multidisciplinary clinic that will offer values-based, culturally sustaining, and trauma-informed care to children, youth, and families. The goal of the HD Clinic is to maximize the developmental, behavioral, and familial wellness of those served while providing interprofessional training to future professionals. This clinic is an active collaboration between SJSU’s Child and Adolescent Development, Speech-Language Pathology, and Psychology programs. For more information, please contact Dr. Cara Maffini at cara.maffini@sjsu.edu.
“Interprofessional Education Project”
The Interprofessional Education Project group (Jason Laker (Counselor Education), Rebeca Burciaga (Educational Leadership); and Collette Rabin, Grinell Smith, and Lara Kassab (Teacher Education)), will be developing two interdisciplinary education courses to be offered College-wide. One will focus on socio-cultural foundations of education, and the other will introduce students to Community-Based Participatory Action Research (CBPAR), possibly in collaboration with a local School District or other educational or community organization. We will be consulting with faculty across the College to identify representative content, apprehend interest and support among our colleagues, and determine the elements needed for one or both courses to “count” toward various degree and credential programs. For more information, please contact Dr. Jason Laker at jlaker.sjsu@gmail.com.
“Interprofessional Summit”
The interprofessional summit looks to create a collaborative learning opportunity for candidates in the departments of Communication Disorders and Sciences and Special Education. The goal of the summit is to connect students with current professionals in their fields and support the connections of theory and professional practice when it comes to working collaboratively. It is our hope that this summit can be a spark for our candidates in becoming agents of change for inclusion through interdisciplinary collaboration. For more information, contact Dr. Matthew Love at matthew.love@sjsu.edu.