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Counseling Psychology doctoral student wins “Berkeley Spot Award”

Adisa Anderson only knows one speed: 100 percent.

Look high and low and you’ll find the counseling psychology doctoral student doing good somewhere.

He’s worked with WSU’s Office of Student Standards & Accountability, with the university’s Counseling & Testing Services, as well as with WSU’s Alcohol & Drug Counseling, Assessment & Prevention Services.Adisa Anderson

And so on and so forth.

Through it all, Adisa has taken an active role in making sure his outreach efforts are heavily-weighted toward diverse student communities, especially those that are African and African-American.

And now he’s winning awards. Adisa is currently in an internship with UC Berkeley, a university well-known for its various protests throughout the years. His role is to help campus climate leaders during these protests.

In response to the issues at play, Adisa planned a program for UC Berkeley’s Black Staff & Faculty Organization, to help with racial climate issues on campus, stress management, etc. About 50 black staff and faculty attended the program put on in December, including the university’s vice chancellor and associate vice chancellor. It was well received and there has since been talk about making this a reoccurring program.

Per the UC Berkeley website: “Spot Awards are designed to recognize special contributions, as they occur, for a specific project or task. Spot Awards are generally for a special contribution accomplished over a relatively short time period. A Spot Award lets employees know that someone has noticed their noteworthy contribution. At the same time, it recognizes and reinforces the behaviors and values that are important at UC Berkeley.”

Congrats to Adisa and keep up the good work.

Playing host; creating memories

By C. Brandon Chapman

With the help of two WSU principal certification students, school districts in Battle Ground and Vancouver hosted principals from St. Thomas (U.S. Virgin Islands) and showed them how technology was being integrated into instruction in their respective districts.

The principals are recipients of a U.S. Department of Education grant. The grant is managed by the Northwest Council for Computer Education (NCCE). The NCCE’s annual conference was taking place in Portland, and, since they were so close to Washington state, a visit made sense.

“As part of the grant, the St. Thomas principals were here to observe, get ideas, and collaborate with local educators, as well as reap the benefits of the NCCE Conference,” said Glenn Malone, coordinator for the principal and program administrator certifications. “We wanted them to tour local schools to see how we were doing it here.”

The tour included a trip to the WSU Vancouver campus.

In order to make sure the visit went off without a hitch, Malone enlisted the help of two of the College of Education’s principal certification and Master of Education candidates helped organize the visits: April Vonderharr from Battle Ground, and Solina Journey from Vancouver.

“Kudos to April & Solina for setting up this fantastic day of sharing and learning,” Malone said. “It was very succesful for all.”

Here are two Battle Ground School District write-ups:

http://us3.campaign-archive2.com/?u=470079fac988677965e6b997d&id=cfed1e860c&e=80384cc5b2

http://www.battlegroundps.org/blog/schooladministratorstakebgpstechstrategybacktocaribbean

Ph.D. student wins WSU Woman of Distinction Award

By Breck Smith – College of Education intern

Washington State University President Elson Floyd presented doctoral student Lynn Becerra with the annual Graduate Woman of Distinction Award on March 24, 2015.

Becerra is currently a doctoral student in the College of Education’s Cultural Studies and Social Thought in Education program.Bree Berg interview stills

Becerra was nominated for this award by, Dr. Linda Heidenreich Zuñiga (Department of Critical Culture, Gender, and Race Studies) and Becerra’s fellow student Veronica Sandoval. These two women highlighted Becerra as someone who goes the extra mile in order to improve herself and others around her, regarding education.  Specifically, Becerra’s primary focus has been students who do not receive the justified representation, when achieving both bachelor and doctoral degrees. In addition to her course load, she has managed to create time to provide lectures and classroom visits, presenting information about how to translate collegiate degrees into future success. Her passion and the success regarding younger generations have made her a role model for first-generation college students, in addition to being a role model for female students. Being the primary organizer for Latino Education and Advocacy Day, she exemplified this drive to go above and beyond in helping underrepresented students become collegiate scholars.

Her exceptional leadership ability has caused a powerful social change and has inspired students to become successfully driven individuals. Within the Washington State University community she has found time to be an inspired leader for those looking to make a difference and to realize their maximum potential as people. These actions have caused students to believe that anything is possible when there is a goal and 100 percent effort towards a cause. Her consistent volunteering efforts demonstrate the type of dedication it takes to make a significant change on a relatively difficult landscape. Being selfless and assertive towards a goal, which benefits the next generation are qualities that exemplify this type of award.

Overall Becerra’s ability to benefit the people around her and be a positive role model to younger generations is why she was nominated. The countless hours of balancing her school work and volunteering in regards to representing all students throughout the collegiate landscape is something to be admired. The award represents the gratitude and admiration of all the hard work that Becerra has demonstrated over her time at WSU. She has molded her community into a more enjoyable, productive, and justified place where education will be able to thrive into the future for all generations and people to come.

 

Successful trip to Legislature

Update by Gay Selby
Feb. 16, 2015

We had a great day at the Legislature today — nearly 40 students from Puyallup and Vancouver!  capitol

We had an informative tour of the Legislative Building.

We had a super catered lunch in the Senate Rules Room in the Lt. Governor’s area with guests Marcie Maxwell, Gene Sharratt, and Jerry Bender (AWSP Lobbyist). We also had a special guest in Lt. Governor Brad Owens.

We attended an interesting Senate Early Learning, K-12, Higher Education Committee policy hearing with a number of bills directly related to the work our students do in their districts.  Senator Rivers recognized our students which was a perfect way to top off the day — a warm, spring-like day with the daffodils coming into bloom.

Taking the Emerald City by storm

By Trevor Havard
WSU Sport Management Club

About 30 students from the WSU Sport Management Club traveled to Seattle for its fall semester trip Sept. 27-28 to visit Safeco Field and see the Seattle Mariners face off against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. The trip included an exclusive pregame tour of Safeco Field, including the chance to see executive offices, press boxes, luxury suits, and more.

The club members also held a thorough Q&A session with the Seattle Mariner’s director of ticket sales where they received valuable advice and got an inside look at what working in professional sports is like. The students asked a ton of questions and many said the experience was great.

At the game, the students sat in Safeco Field’s Terrace Club thanks to a great group deal given to the club. The game itself was a nail-biter, as the Seattle Mariners won in extra innings with the season hanging in the balance.

The trip was such a success that many of the students went back to Safeco Field the next day and watched the Mariner’s final game of the season before returning to Pullman. Great job WSU Sport Management Club and thank you for representing WSU Sport Management so well.

Here are some photos from Safeco Field:

3 1 4 2

Retrospective: EdM collaboration

There are seven outstanding Master of Education (EdM) students doing their course work in Puyallup. For four of them, it wouldn’t truly be summer without a road trip.

Students from Puyallup's EdM program recently joined up with those from Vancouver.
Students from Puyallup’s EdM program recently joined up with those from Vancouver.

Those four recently traveled south, rented a cabin at Battle Ground Lake State Park, visited WSU’s Vancouver campus, and meet the instructors and other students face to face.

It was a good experience for all involved.

The Ed.M. degree program is designed for students with a bachelor’s degree who have an interest in deepening their knowledge in a specific content area (inside or outside the College of Education), as well as educational research in curriculum and instruction.

More information on all of the college’s graduate programs can be found on the Office of Graduate Education webpage.

 

Previous article: Educational leadership expands to south Puget Sound

 

Communicating Korea

Tandem to stay in touch with those in the states

By C. Brandon Chapman
College of Education

They have a packed agenda. They plan to blog. They plan to vlog. They plan to podcast. They plan to tweet.

The only question now is when they plan to sleep.

With slightly less than two weeks before College of Education professors Yong Chae Rhee and Chris Lebens take a small group of sport management students to South Korea for a six-week study abroad, the duo has outlined some of their plans for communicating back to the states.

The two main highlights include:

  • Frequent updates here on the college’s blog, EduCoug. Rhee and Lebens will both write and embed video. They’ll be taking a GoPro Hero 3+ to visually document the trip, and they’ll embed videos in the blog. There’s an off chance Lebens may run a half or full marathon with the GoPro attached.
  • They’ll be tweeting like there’s no tomorrow. They’ll be using #CougsInKorea to join people together in common discussion.

Here’s a previous WSU News article that was written about the trip: https://news.wsu.edu/2014/01/06/sport-management-offers-study-abroad-in-korea/#.U5d5gSjwnp9.

EduCoug back up and running!

By C. Brandon Chapman
College of Education

A blog doesn’t do anyone any good if nobody posts to it. And, when the account information (and password) are tied to an individual, instead of the organization, you risk losing all log-in info when that person seeks new occupational opportunities elsewhere.

Chappy
Brandon Chapman, Director of Marketing and Communications

Yeah, that happened to the College of Education. -1 for us.

We’re back now! It took six months, two hackers, 14 toothpicks, a corn-fed harvest mouse, three separate web algorithms, and an in-person visit from Snoop Dogg (long story).

But we digress. The main point to be made is we’re back, we’re happy about it, and we’re going to use this as a way to communicate things that maybe need a little extra communicating. Or maybe we want to speak to the masses and not sound so darned formal.

It’ll be a concerted effort to post frequently enough to capture some interest, but not too frequently that you want to disassociate yourself from us! We’ll cross departments and programs, new initiatives with long-standing traditions.

Maybe it’s something about research, maybe our development efforts, maybe diversity efforts. We’ll just mix it up.

As cool as this sounds, this blog is not to be confused with the dean’s blog, aptly named Dean’s Perspectives, in which our trusted leader simply wows us with his awesomeness.

Enjoy the ride!

A service for faculty: Help with grant writing, article submission

By Laura Girardeau
Faculty Research Development Coordinator

Laura Girardeau

I would like to extend a warm welcome to new College of Education faculty at all campuses of Washington State University. You — and even some not-so-newcomers — may be surprised to learn that our college offers support for all faculty members who are seeking and writing grants or submitting journal articles. I am fortunate to be able to provide this service, which is relatively rare at institutions like ours.

I’m here to help you find appropriate grants for your research interests, network with collaborators, coach you in the writing process, and offer suggestions on drafts and final submissions. Most faculty are excellent writers when it comes to academic writing style, but many don’t realize that grant writing style can differ significantly. Therefore, coaching during the grant writing process can make the difference between a winning proposal and the usual “practice” proposal.

In January, 2013, when Mike Trevisan took the position of interim dean, I offered to take over a service that he previously provided: journal manuscript review. I would like to use my experience co-authoring articles at the University of Hawaii and editing faculty and graduate manuscripts at WSU’s Graduate & Professional Writing Center to give you thoughtful, encouraging support on your drafts.

We can work together online, so you can save time by emailing me your article manuscripts and grant proposal drafts at any stage in the writing process.

The ball is in your court, and any changes are up to you. I look forward to hearing from you at lgirardeau@wsu.edu, or 509- 335-6232. Happy writing!

My visit to Shanghai Normal University

Last week my wife Fran and I visited Shanghai Normal University. I provided a keynote address for the Family, Society, and Education Summit on the role of evaluation in preschool programs. Mike Trevisan, Associate Dean for Research and External FundingThe summit was sponsored by the university’s Early Childhood Education Department. My contact there is Washington State University alumna Dr. Huihua He (Ph.D. ’07). Some of you will remember Huihua from her time as an educational psychology doctoral student. She was a graduate research assistant and postdoctoral research associate for me.

In addition to the presentation, I had several meetings with students, faculty, and administrators to discuss the possibility of partnerships and research collaborations. Shanghai Normal is eager to collaborate with universities from the West as its leaders further develop its university system. International collaboration is a WSU priority, so a connection to Shanghai could play well for the College of Education.

According to our hosts, Shanghai has a population of 27 million people. Half of the people, referred to as immigrants, are from rural China and other provinces who have come to Shanghai to find work. Given the expense of living in the city, many have come without their children. These children are referred to as “left behinds.” they are raised by anyone in their previous community who is willing to provide care, a situation that poses a significant social challenge for China. China sees education as a key factor in addressing that challenge.

Mike Trevisan and Huihua He

Our hosts were gracious, the food delicious, and the city of Shanghai interesting. Should anyone be interested in establishing collaborative work with Shanghai Normal University or any other international university, particularly from a developing country, please contact me. I will try to find ways to support your work.