From Behind a Screen, Lecturer Takes Future Educators to the Outdoors

By Michael Klitzing

As a lecturer in the San Diego State University Department of Child and Family Development, Carolyn Sanders teaches courses in multiple settings. But the course she calls her “passion project” typically meets in only one location: the natural canyon landscape of the SDSU Children’s Center’s backyard. 

For the future educators enrolled in Children and Nature, “That's where the service learning happens,” Sanders said. “We've actually planted, dug up and changed the ground covering. We've done a lot of work there.” 

Children and Nature provides a testing ground for prospective teachers to learn how to address the growing disconnect of children from the natural environment — a long-term trend with detrimental effects on mental, physical and emotional well-being. By getting their hands dirty in the Children Center’s Memory Park, students discover alternatives to teaching within the constraints of four walls.

Suhrheinrich Nets U.S. Dept. of Education Grant to Improve Autism Education

By Michael Klitzing

Dr. Jessica Suhrheinrich, associate professor in the San Diego State University Department of Special Education, is beginning work on a federally-funded project aimed at empowering educators who work with young students with autism.

Over the summer, the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences awarded Suhrheinrich a grant of more than $1.4 million over 4 years to develop a tool to make Classroom Pivotal Response Teaching (CPRT) — a naturalistic, behavioral intervention for children with autism — simpler to deliver and more customizable for preschool and elementary school teachers and paraprofessionals.

Data Champions Team to Present its Work to Further Undergraduate Student Success

Dr. Lisa McCully and Sandra Kahn present their findings at the 2019 Data Champions poster session. 

By Michael Klitzing

A staff team from the Office of the Dean and Office of Student Success is set to offer insight and provide recommendations for improving student success in the College of Education’s two undergraduate majors.

Sandra Kahn, data administrator; Dr. Nina Potter, director of assessment and accreditation; Dr. Lisa McCully, director of the Office for Student Success, Michelle Xiong, liberal studies advisor; and Alison Sternal, community college outreach and undergraduate advisor, will present their findings at San Diego State University’s third annual Data Champions Virtual Poster Session, Aug. 3 and 4. Now in its third year, Data Champions is a university-wide initiative to use data to identify areas where service to students can be improved and equity gaps addressed.

COE STORIES: Ed.D. Student Angel Gonzalez

Meet Angel Gonzalez, a doctoral student in the Ed.D. in Community College Leadership program. Learn about his passion for advancing equity and his dreams of a life in higher education in the first installment of the COE Stories video series.

DLE's Esquinca Named Inaugural Faculty Scholar at SDSU Pride Center

By Michael Klitzing

As a young undergraduate student at the University of Texas-El Paso, Dr. Alberto Esquinca made a daily trek across a bridge spanning the concrete banks of the Rio Grande. The journey provided him safe passage beyond the imposing border fence — the physical representation of the century and a half of geopolitics that separated his family’s home in Ciudad Juarez from the opportunity he sought in the United States.

But upon arriving on campus, Esquinca confronted yet another daunting divide. As a gay man in West Texas in the 1990s, he felt like an outsider — so much that he doubted his ability to even continue with his education. Until, that is, he found a support network.

SDSU Pre-College Institute Aids Local Digital Divide

By SDSU News Team

The San Diego State University Pre-College Institute (PCI) is helping alleviate the digital divide local students are experiencing amid the transition to virtual learning.

PCI staff members have delivered more than 30 digital learning devices, including laptops and hot spots to students across San Diego participating in the Upward Bound/Health Careers Opportunity Program (UB/HCOP).

Supporting Student Learning in the Age of COVID-19.

Dr. Vicki Park, associate professor in EDL.

Dr. Vicki Park, associate professor in the Department of Education Leadership, and students from our Pomona/Alhambra Ed.D. cohort recently published a commentary on education amid the COVID-19 pandemic in Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE). The piece, entitled "Voices of Educators: Supporting Student Learning Amid the Pandemic Requires Prioritizing Social-Emotional Care," offers recommendations on how educators can support the welfare of their students in this time of increased stress.

Read the full commentary.

ARPE's Harris Talks Anti-Racism with The San Diego Union-Tribune

Dr. Frank Harris III, professor in San Diego State University's Department of Administration, Rehabilitation and Postsecondary Education, was recently interviewed by The San Diego Union-Tribune in an article examining how to be an effective ally in the fight against racism.

“Your job is to be a voice and someone who uses White privilege in ways that eliminate barriers,” said Harris, an expert on racial equity in postsecondary education and the co-director of the Community College Equity Assessment Lab (CCEAL). “To be an ally is an act of service.”

Read the full article.

I Can't Breathe: A Message to the College of Education Community

Editor's Note: The following statement was issued to the College of Education Community on June 3, 2020.

Dear College of Education Students, Faculty, and Staff:

We are keenly aware that people are deeply hurting. In the wake of the horrific murder of George Floyd — and the days of outrage and violence that have ensued — we are deeply cognizant that our College of Education community is painfully disheartened at the sight of how racial injustices continue to be nurtured by extant systems of oppression that, once again, have been unmistakably exposed for the world to see.

As we ponder the persistence of violence against members of the African American community across the U.S. — and as we witness how the COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately affected poor, Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities — we must remain resolute in our commitment to meet this convergence of social maladies with the antidote of courage, mindfulness, and compassion. In the midst of these disturbing circumstances, let us remember the power of education; the power of community; the power of advocacy; and the ultimate power of love as vehicles for reimagining and recreating a world that values our collective humanity.

Leadership Minor Grad Wins SDSU’s Zahn Spirit of Innovation Award

By Jeff Ristine

Ghana seemed to offer everything Chasejamison Akilah Manar-Spears needed to clear her mind and break away from the San Diego State University campus for a while.

And it did. As she connected with her roots, she developed a commitment to environmental and social justice that helped lead to her selection as SDSU’s Zahn Spirit of Innovation award recipient for 2020. Its effect on her life, however, is just beginning.

SDSU Names Wood Vice President for Student Affairs and Campus Diversity

San Diego State University Chief Diversity Officer J. Luke Wood, the Dean’s Distinguished Professor of Education in the College of Education, has been selected to serve as Vice President for Student Affairs and Campus Diversity. Wood will begin transitioning into the position effective May 26, 2020 and assume full duties for the newly combined division on June 15, 2020.

SDSU President Adela de la Torre announced Wood’s appointment in a campus notice, indicating that Wood will oversee the newly formed Division of Student Affairs and Campus Diversity, which unites the Division of Diversity and Innovation and the Division of Student Affairs.

#SDSUGrad Spotlight: Kate McClure

By Michael Klitzing

San Diego State University’s community has shown its true resilience during this unprecedented and difficult time in human history. 

Graduates from the Class of 2020, in particular, have risen to the challenge. 

In this series, we highlight graduates as they prepare to embark on the next chapter of their lives, including those who have secured jobs and internships or are moving into advanced studies. SDSU Career Services continues to offer resources for students, including the new online career platform Handshake and expanded virtual programming and advising. 

Kate McClure 
Major: Child and Family Development 

COMMENTARY: Anti-Asian Hate in Light of COVID-19 Hurts All of Us

By Dr. Cristian R. Aquino-Sterling

"I cannot afford the luxury of fighting one form of oppression only. I cannot afford to believe that freedom from intolerance is the right of only one particular group. And I cannot afford to choose between the fronts upon which I must battle these forces of discrimination, wherever they appear to destroy me. And when they appear to destroy me, it will not be long before they appear to destroy you." 

—Audrey Lorde

As an inclusive, responsive and socially impactful College of Education community, it is our responsibility to denounce ideas and condemn actions that disaffirm the inherent value and dignity of all human beings. Exercising this responsibility is even more significant during challenging times such as these: when we continue to witness how the racialization of the COVID-19 pandemic has led to an upsurge of racist attacks against East Asians, Asian-Americans, and Pacific Islanders across the world and the U.S.

Loh-Hagan Designs Elementary Education Curriculum for New PBS Series

By Lainie Fraser

PBS has begun airing a new five-part documentary series called “Asian Americans” and thanks in part to a San Diego State University faculty member, students across the country can follow along with the series in class.

The series spotlights individual lives and personal histories of a population the 2010 U.S. Census identified as the nation’s fastest-growing racial/ethnic group, exploring its impact on the country’s past, present and future.

Dr. Virginia Loh-Hagan, Liberal Studies program director at SDSU and a faculty member in the School of Teacher Education, led a curriculum team of K-6 educators in writing lesson plans that align with the series. Loh-Hagan was selected by Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AAAJ) to lead the elementary curriculum team on this project, which was supported by a grant.

COE GRADS 2020: Celebrating Another SDSU Graduation — 26 Years Later

Meet Tracy Lee Provins, the 2020 Outstanding Graduate in the School of Teacher Education. She chose Dr. Lisa Lamb as her most influential faculty member.