COE STORIES: Student Council President Leslie Britzel López Moreno

Leslie Britzel López Moreno — president of the College of Education Student Council and an undergraduate student in the counseling and social change minor — sat down with us in our latest episode of COE Stories. Learn more her journey from Tijuana to San Diego State University and her dream of starting her own nonprofit organization. 

Video by Ian Ordonio.

Amid COVID-19, Interwork Institute Agencies Step Up to Offer Critical Support

Susan (left), a CSA support facilitator, meets up with Kathy, an essential employee, at the end of a work shift.

By Michael Klitzing

Around the office, Kristoffel van de Burgt has earned the nickname “The King of PPE.” On the other end of a Zoom call, Creative Support Alternatives’ (CSA) director shows why, giving an impromptu tour of a storage room stocked with N-95 masks, face shields, thermometers, cleaners, toilet paper and other ubiquitous necessities of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Ever since this hit in March, we've been acquiring supplies nonstop to be able to bring them into people's homes,” van de Burgt said. “We've given masks and PPE to all the employees and we've purchased non contact thermometers. We’ve had to be creative with how we acquired this stuff." 

Alumni Spotlight: Dismantling Barriers for Community College Students

By Michael Klitzing

As a counselor and assistant professor at Palomar College, Dr. Hossna Sadat Ahadi is a champion for racial equity and social justice on her campus. Her motivation, she says, comes from the kinship she feels with the students she meets on a daily basis. 

“When I see my students, I see the future of this country— but I also see myself,” she said. “My students are international students, immigrant students, undocumented or DACA students and English Language Learners. Seeing my students and the inequities they are confronted with, gives me the motivation to do more for them.”

Faculty Focus: Challenging Expectations — in Research and in the Classroom

By Michael Klitzing

Dr. Belén Hernando-Lloréns returned to her hometown of Madrid in 2013 expecting to find a brewing feminist revolution in the schools. What she found instead turned her own expectations and beliefs — and her dissertation research — upside down.

She was there to explore how Latina immigrant students responded to instances of sexual harassment in their schools, and what she found surprised her. Rather than taking to the streets in protest or speaking out in other ways in school, Hernando-Lloréns found girls self-blaming, falling silent and using what she called the technologies of the body — loose-fitting clothing meant to under-sexualize themselves.

What was going on? And what did this mean for her research? 

New Partnership Addresses California’s Rural Bilingual Educator Shortage

A DLE graduate celebrates at the department's 2019 graduation ceremony.

By Michael Klitzing

Across California, school districts are scrambling to fill a severe shortage of bilingual educators to keep up with the growing numbers of English learners in the classroom. The need in rural communities is particularly acute. As a result, many schools have turned to teachers with only bachelor’s degrees and “emergency credentials” — one-year permits typically given to substitutes — to fill in the gaps. 

A new collaboration between San Diego State University’s Department of Dual Language and English Learner Education (DLE), Feather River College and the Butte County Office of Education is stepping up to address the problem. Project Access, as the new program is called, will provide “emergency” educators an opportunity to earn a bilingual credential online in as little as one year.