Fifteen Enroll in CAD Cohort at Cañada College

SFSU students are accustomed to grappling with the daily struggle of commuting: heavy traffic, late buses, and BART delays, not to mention parking hassles. But for fifteen new Child and Adolescent Development majors who live or work on the Peninsula, traffic and parking problems are a world away. The reason? They are taking all of the classes in their major on the Cañada College campus in Redwood City through the University Center partnership between the community college and SFSU.

Established in 2001, the SFSU/Cañada College Partnership offers four-year college degree programs, workplace certifications and graduate-level programs that are accessible and convenient for area residents. The Partnership enables students to receive an affordable college education and remain close to their community, eliminating the barriers that discourage many from pursuing an education.

The CAD program doesn’t simply occupy space on the Cañada campus, however; the two academic institutions are actively engaged in a nurturing a relationship between both faculty and programs in order to best serve the needs of students and the community. To further this end, the CAD program has established a community partnership with Taft Elementary School in Redwood City where it is placing interns who have an interest in the school’s myriad programs serving children and youth in both academic and after-school programs.

CAD’s degree completion program as well as a Segment II General Education cluster is offered on the Cañada College campus on a part-time basis and new cohorts will begin each fall. Advising in the major is available on site. To join a cohort, students must have completed all lower division requirements, including general education, and pre-requisites for the major. Beginning in Fall 2004, the CAD program will begin serving students in the North Bay by offering upper division courses on the Indian Valley campus at College of Marin.

For more information about CAD’s off-campus programs, contact Janet Egiziano at 415/405-3560.

Students Selected for U-56 Pilot Program: Minority Research Training and Outreach

Although the U-56 Pilot Program initially called for the selection of four students in the second year of the program, the program has been able to recruit and select two candidates ahead of schedule. With the help of the faculty in the School of Nursing at SFSU, eight potentially qualified students were identified. This selection of two students represents 25% of the eligible cohort of under-represented, academically qualified students.

Angela Johnson worked for more than ten years as an LVN before returning to SFSU to continue her education in the MSN program. Angela is married and has three young children. In describing her career goals, Angela says, "My goal is to become a well educated nurse practitioner and work in my community. I believe my culture and community will benefit from my expertise in nursing, as well as my cultural understanding about how we view health care."

Our other student is Chiedu Ozoh who entered SFSU's Generic Master's program with a degree in economics from the University of Port Harcourt in Nigeria. Ozoh worked with the Directorate of Food, Roads, and Rural Infrastructure in Nigeria, where he was exposed to the health problems of rural communities and saw first-hand how great the need was for local resources and services. Chiedu says these factors kindled his determination to pursue a career in nursing.

These two students, with their very different backgrounds and experiences, share a common goal of wanting to contribute to their communities. We feel very fortunate to have such committed, capable, and outstanding individuals in our program.

Visiting Iranian Physicians Update Students on HIV, AIDS Prevention Efforts

In a time where news of chaos and bad deeds abound, having visitors from Iran on our campus sharing stories of their success in the battle for HIV prevention and AIDS treatment within the barriers of the Islamic Republic, were more than inspiring. Drs. Arash and Kamiar Alaei have been appointed as advisors to the Ministry of Health in Iran since I last saw them in Barcelona. Thanks to a grant by the Marian Wright Edelman Institute, Prevention Education Programs at San Francisco State University was able to take a group of students to the XIV International AIDS Conference in Barcelona in the summer of 2002.

As a prevention educator and counselor on campus invited to attend, I was thrilled to learn how other countries were approaching the daunting and necessary task of fighting the spread of the HIV virus. As an Iranian in exile, my interests were both personal and professional in searching for Iranian representatives at the conference. So it was with great delight when I stumbled upon the doctors, amongst the 14,000 participants at the conference, speaking Farsi to each other.

Iran’s recent history of international isolation has provided few opportunities to learn about the HIV epidemic in the country. Within one year of our meeting, these doctors have become key players in mobilizing the Iranian government to take significant measures to contain this epidemic, which UNAIDS reports “appears to be accelerating at an alarming trend.” In their presentation to the Counseling and Psychological Services here at SFSU on September 4, they shared poignant stories of community building through their establishment of counseling and care centers for HIV-positive patients and drug users in Iran. With local and national government support, they have been able to expand the prevention efforts to the prison population, sex workers, as well as developing appropriate sexual education for K-12, all within the barriers of an Islamic society! Their centers in Kermanshah and Tehran were recently voted as “Best Practice Centers” by the World Health Organization. Having learned to create paths where only walls stood to stop HIV in the Muslim world, Iran will be hosting a conference on HIV and Islam next summer. Anyone interested?

Please contact Bita Shooshani at the Prevention Education Programs at (415) 405-3953 or bita@sfsu.edu.

Quality Childcare Project Completes 100 of 200 Planned Assessments

The Partners in Quality Child Care Project, under the coordination of David Fleishman, has reached a midpoint in our efforts to evaluate over 200 preschool classrooms and family day care sites in San Francisco. This week, the Advisory Board and Assessors participated in a retreat led by facilitator Laura Peck to review the process and the initial results of our data. To prepare for the retreat, we held focus groups with education and child care providers, requested a preliminary data analysis from the Public Research Institute to see what trends were developing, and surveyed the Advisory Board and assessor team. This was the first time all participants, and our colleagues, Holly Shaffer from PRI, along with Gaylon Parsons and Steven LaFrance from La France Associates were together. We discussed resource development to meet provider needs in supporting quality programs and looked at our process and policies to make mid-course corrections.

It is an exciting time in the project. Initial results of some evaluations have supported childcare sites with successful requests for facilities grants for their centers. There is great passion and commitment of those involved in the project and there is talk of expanding this project to reach more centers and family childcare homes across the city. This is clearly suggestive that the infrastructure we are creating to support quality is a sound one and upon which the childcare community is looking to build. Stay tuned for more developments!

Jumpstart’s CAD 697 Launches Ambitious 2003-2004 Term

For the past 5 years, Jumpstart San Francisco Corps Members have benefited from one-on-one experiences with young children and their extensive pre-service trainings. This fall, however, Corps Members will receive an additional and important benefit: course credit for training through enrollment in CAD 697, Mentoring Young Children. The 3-unit course, open to students who are participating in the Jumpstart Program, covers models of early childhood mentoring, emphasizing the Jumpstart For Young Children preschool model. Students learn to design developmentally appropriate child-centered activities to enhance learning; honor diversity in materials and activities; promote positive adult-child interactions; facilitate children's play; and involve families in children's learning. According to Lygia Stebbing, Jumpstart Site Director and course instructor, "The course was designed to incorporate the students' direct experience with classroom learning, and so far the class has been a great success." More than 70 students are working with Jumpstart this year, all enrolled in the course, and excited to start the year.

Jumpstart is poised to launch an ambitious series of events for the 2003-04 year, organized by the Jumpstart Leadership Corps. The Leadership Corps is comprised of 40 Jumpstart Mentors who serve on four committees: Family Involvement, Community Service Events, Jumpstart for a Day Planning and Volunteer Engagement. The first event is scheduled October 31st and will take place on the Main Quad at San Francisco State. Preschooler and their parents from Jumpstart’s eight program sites will participate in a morning of designed-to-be-fun literacy activities.

In addition, Jumpstart is working with the newly re-affiliated San Francisco Association for the Education of Young Children (SFAEYC) to host a re-affiliation event at the Museo-Italiano in Fort Mason on October 19th. For more information please contact: Sandy Osborne at sosborn@muse.sfusd.edu or Lygia Stebbing at lygias@sfsu.edu.

To learn more about Jumpstart and how you can be involved in Jumpstart's events this year, please contact Lygia Stebbing at lygias@sfsu.edu.

Important Deadline for Prospective Elementary Teachers

CAD majors who are currently enrolled in the elementary subject matter preparation program must complete that program and enroll in a professional teacher credential program prior to July 1, 2004, in order to be eligible for a credential without passing the Commission-approved subject matter examination (CSET) as a requirement for the credential. If a candidate enrolls in a credential program on or after July l, 2004, the candidate will be required to pass CSET as a requirement for the credential.

New CAD Course to Tackle Child Policy

If you want to know more about how state and local governments make decisions about children’s services, a new CAD course will help you understand how policy is made and implemented. CAD 625, the first policy course designed specifically for CAD majors, will be offered for the first time in Spring 2004. The course, Children, Youth and the Policy, will provide students with an overview of the policy framework for services for children and youth. The course will combine theory and analysis of current critical policy issues for children and youth with practical information about, and observation of, the process of policymaking. Students will follow an active policy issue throughout the semester by attending hearings, following legislation, and tracking coverage in the media. The course will examine the forces that affect the policymaking process, including research, public opinion, the media, and demographic trends. The course will be a required for students in the Research and Public Policy concentration, and an elective for students in the Young Child and Family and Youth and Family concentrations. Carol Stevenson, Assistant Professor in the CAD program, will teach the course.

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