Two current College of Education (COE) graduate students have been selected for the Sally Casanova Pre-Doctoral Fellowship. One additional COE student received an honorable mention.
Stephanie Mathew is a first-year graduate student in Postsecondary Education at San Diego State University (SDSU). Oscar Duran is a first-year transfer student in the Aztec Research Fellowship Program at SDSU. Alejandro Arias, another first-year transfer student in the SDSU Aztec Research Fellowship Program, was awarded an Honorable Mention by the Pre-Doctoral Advisory Committee.
Mathew and Duran are two of 73 highly-qualified California State University students selected for the prestigious fellowship. The Sally Casanova awards are designed to enable current students to explore and prepare to succeed in doctoral programs in their chosen field of study.
“I am very excited about being selected for the fellowship, mainly because I have become very passionate about research and research on South Asian students and their higher education experiences,” said Mathew, who plans to continue her education and earn a doctorate degree in higher education or comparative education. “This is of particular interest to me because of my own higher education trajectory being a South Asian woman. It is my hope that I can learn more about and inform others about the different factors that contribute to the higher education experiences of South Asian students, particularly the impacts of family and culture on their major and career pathways.”
The award honors the late Dr. Sally Casanova, a member of the California State University (CSU) Office of the Chancellor’s staff during the 1960s. Dr. Casanova launched the fellowship program in 1989 and also was associate vice president for academic affairs and dean of graduate studies at CSU Dominguez Hills. She died in 1994.
Mathew, who in her spare time enjoys cooking, running, Bollywood dancing, hiking and exploring San Diego, is thankful to her mentor Dr. Marissa Vasquez Urias for her support.
“I would especially like to thank my mentor, faculty advisor and supervisor for empowering and supporting me to develop my research interests and pursue this research,” added Mathew.
For her part, Vasquez Urias was happy to receive the “exciting news” and is delighted of the COE students’ accomplishments.
“I am very proud of them and look forward to continue fostering their development as leaders in education,” said Vasquez Urias. “Please help me in congratulating all three of these amazing scholars!”
Read more about SDSU Aztecs receiving this prestigious award including another COE student, Stephanie Nguyen, at SDSU NewsCenter.