Welcome from the Dean

As the new academic year kicks off here in the College of Education, I think it’s only natural to dwell on what we don’t see. In ordinary times, the San Diego State University campus would be bustling with activity as students and faculty return to campus. Of course, because of the harsh realities of COVID-19, that’s not possible right now. 

As I look forward, however, I greet this unusual new beginning with optimism and a renewed sense of purpose. The fact is, what we do here has never felt more essential than it feels right now.

College of Education Releases 2020 Impact Report

From a global pandemic to racial injustice, 2020 has put the College of Education to the test. Read how our students, faculty and staff have risen to the challenge of this extraordinary moment in our new Impact Report.

Read the 2020 Impact Report.

New Faculty and Staff for Fall 2020

As the fall semester kicks off, the College of Education is excited to welcome 13 new faces who have recently joined us. 

ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT: A ‘Future Adventure’ Comes Alive

By Michael Klitzing

Jermaine Rocacorba remembers a San Diego State University Leadership Minor project called “Create a Future Adventure.” The assignment was to create something that doesn’t already exist — something that would make the world a better place. Rocacorba, who graduated from SDSU in December of 2018 with a degree in communication, has been seemingly living that project ever since. 

The native of the Philippines who grew up in San Diego’s Paradise Hills neighborhood has turned a passion for social justice activism into a life’s work. She is currently launching Pag-asa Law Clinic (Pag-asa is Tagalog for “hope”), a nonprofit providing legal services to immigrants, domestic violence victims and individuals facing tenant issues in San Diego’s large Filipino community. 

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.