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.

COE GRADS 2020: Student's Experience With Disability Instills a Passion to Help Others

Meet Greg Hoffman, the 2020 Outstanding Graduate from the Department of Administration, Rehabilitation and Postsecondary Education. He chose Dr. Charles Degeneffe as his most influential faculty member.

COE GRADS 2020: A Dream Achieved and a Promise Kept

Meet Dr. Darielle Blevins, who was named the 2020 Outstanding Student for the Joint Ph.D. Program in Education.

COE GRADS 2020: Counselor Seeks to Remove Barriers to Student Success

Meet Sofia Robles, the 2020 Outstanding Graduate in the Department of Counseling and School Psychology. She chose Ashley Kruger as her most influential faculty member.

COE GRADS 2020: Taking Learning Beyond the Classroom

Meet Katie Dennison, the 2020 Outstanding Graduate (undergrad) in the Department of Child and Family Development. She chose Dr. Rachel Haine-Schlagel as her most influential faculty member.

COE GRADS 2020: Future Teacher Gains New Perspectives and New Confidence

Meet Megan Hanna, the 2020 Outstanding Graduate in the Liberal Studies program. She chose Paul Justice and Ian Ruston as her most influential faculty members.

COE GRADS 2020: Inspired to Be A Voice for Change

Meet Amber Riehman, the 2020 Outstanding Graduate in the Department of Dual Language and English Learner Education. She chose Dr. Cristina Alfaro as her most influential faculty member.

COE GRADS 2020: An Unlikely Educational Journey

Meet Craig Bowden, the 2020 Outstanding Graduate in the Department of Educational Leadership. He chose Dr. James Wright as his most influential faculty member.

COE GRADS 2020: A Teacher Discovers her Knack for Research

Meet Rise Richard, the 2020 Outstanding Graduate from the Department of Special Education. She chose Dr. Yasemin Turan-Qian as her most influential faculty member.

COE GRADS 2020: A Champion for Early Childhood Mental Health

Meet Hannah Zimmerman, the 2020 Outstanding Graduate (grad student) for the Department of Child and Family Development. She chose Dr. Lisa Linder as her most influential faculty member.

Striking Gold with Virtual Teacher Development Sessions

Dr. Melissa Soto leads a virtual workshop for elementary school teachers.

By Michael Klitzing

In the days after schools across California started to close because of the COVID-19 pandemic in mid-March, Dr. Melissa Soto was glued to her Twitter timeline. What stood out were posts by elementary school teachers showing off the packets of worksheets and bags of math tools they were sending home with students to help continue with their education amid physical distancing.

While it was heartwarming to see their dedication, the associate professor in mathematics education at San Diego State University also found the posts somewhat concerning.

Joint Doctoral Program Alumni Win AERA Best Paper Award

By Michael Klitzing

An exploration of a virtual simulation tool that may revolutionize nursing education, authored by two San Diego State University leaders and alumni, has earned a Best Graduate Student Paper award from the nation’s top professional organization for educational researchers.

Dr. Helina Hoyt, nursing program coordinator at SDSU Imperial Valley, and Dr. Sean Hauze, Associate Director for Instructional Technology Services (ITS), were honored by the American Educational Research Association (AERA) for the paper “Equitable Nursing Education Simulation through Holographic Video: Measuring Student Knowledge, Skill, and Motivation to Learn.” The project stemmed from their collaborative research as students in SDSU’s Joint Ph.D. Program in Education with Claremont Graduate University (CGU).

Lecturers’ Early Tech Adoption, Grace Fuels Virtual Transition Success

Diana Pastora Carson (third from left), Rachel Schlesinger (right) and their TAs.

By Michael Klitzing

Television news coverage of the early spread of COVID-19 in the United States provided an eerie backdrop for Diana Pastora Carson and Rachel Schlesinger as they passed through airport terminals on their way back from New Orleans in early March. It was a strange time to travel, but for the pair of San Diego State University lecturers, the timing was also somewhat fortuitous.

Carson and Schlesinger had just attended a conference for Top Hat — an online education platform they had been using for a couple of years to increase student participation and engagement in the General Studies 420: Disability and Society course they teach together. Soon, they’d need to use it to tackle a new challenge — moving 600 students from two large lecture halls to virtual learning.

And they’d need to do so in one week.
 

VIDEO: A Message to the DLE Class of 2020

Dr. Margarita Machado-Casas, professor and chair in the Department of Dual Language and English Learner Education, congratulates DLE's newest graduates.

VIDEO: A Message to the STE Class of 2020

Dr. Lynne Bercaw, professor and director of the School of Teacher Education, congratulates STE’s newest graduates.

VIDEO: A Message to the CSP Class of 2020

Dr. Brent Taylor, professor and chair in the Department of Counseling and School Psychology, congratulates CSP's newest graduates.

VIDEO: A Message to the EDL Class of 2020

Dr. Douglas Fisher, professor and chair in the Department of Educational Leadership, congratulates EDL’s newest graduates.

VIDEO: A Message to the JDP Class of 2020

Dr. Marva Cappello, professor and director of the Joint Ph.D. Program in Education, congratulates the JDP’s newest doctors.

VIDEO: A Message to the SPED Class of 2020

Dr. Laura Hall, professor and chair in the Department of Special Education, congratulates SPED's newest graduates.

VIDEO: A Message to the ARPE Class of 2020

Dr. Caren Sax, professor and chair of the Department of Administration, Rehabilitation and Postsecondary Education, congratulates ARPE’s newest graduates.

VIDEO: A Message to the CFD Class of 2020

Dr. Sarah Garrity, associate professor and chair in the Department of Child and Family Development, congratulates CFD's newest graduates.

Student Teachers Get Creative to Complete Credential Programs

By Michael Klitzing

From a bedroom in her boyfriend’s parents’ house, Ashley Franklin teaches second grade. The student in San Diego State University’s multiple-subject teacher credential program hasn’t seen her guide teacher or students at Halecrest Elementary in Chula Vista in-person since March 13, when the district suspended in-person classes due to COVID-19. Yet from that small room, she’s found unique ways to connect with her pupils — and gain the classroom hours she needs to teach students of her own in the fall.

How unique? Take the makeshift document camera she rigged up using a tripod and ruler. The setup allows her to suspend her phone over her desk, allowing children to follow along as she works out math problems or reads aloud.