From the Director...

In spite of the disappointing news we hear each day about events in Iraq, we can take some solace in the fact that one of our own, Dr. Gary Selnow, is there making a very positive impact on the status of medical care in the country. The work is dangerous and I was reminded how much so last week, right after a phone call from Gary in Baghdad requesting educational information for nurses in Iraq. He mentioned he was staying in a small hotel, and the very next day we learned of yet another bombing in a small hotel where foreigners often stay. Thanks to emails back and forth, we were assured that Gary was safe and continuing the work.

At Last Gary, the physicians, and medical students are seeing the benefits of the four Medical Information Centers he established last summer. Here are some exerts from his conversation with Dr. Wadhad Mahbuba, manager of Medical Information Centers in Iraq. At the Medical City Center: "It's a beehive with so many students and doctors that they have to double up and wait in line to use the computers. In January 2004, the Internet was installed ... and these computers now give people access to material from medical websites." At Al Yarmoulk: "Last summer, hospital administration offered computer classes for all staff and students in the Medical Information Center. Most... are now skilled in information searching on CDs and in other computer skills such as word processing and file maintenance."

At Al Kadymia: "young doctors in this hospital... have used the Center to train staff and students in computer skills...using the CDs to obtain information that just isn't available... these doctors cleaned up the room themselves after it was filled with... garbage and destruction right after he war and the looting".... At the Spinal Cord Center, which was caught in the UN blast last August... "It's now busy and being used by the staff for access to medical information on disks. We hope the Internet will soon be available there." The centers continue to grow as Dr. Selnow moves the effort throughout Iraq to physicians who were 25 years behind in medical practice and research due to sanctions imposed by Saddam Hussein. Full text of Dr. Selnow’s recent articles can be found at www.wiredinternational.org



CAD Connections

by Rene F. Dahl, Ph.D.
CAD Coordinator

Curriculum Revisions Approved
After a lengthy process that involved participation and feedback from a wide range of stakeholders including students, faculty, deans, CAD Council, and the Academic Senate, proposed changes to the CAD curriculum were approved unanimously on February 10th. This includes changes to the core and all four of the concentrations, with the biggest changes taking place in the School Age Child and Family, Youth and Family Services, and Research and Public Policy concentrations. Most of the changes in the core and in the Young Child and Family concentration were updates - for example, courses were dropped that are no longer taught at the university or new courses that fit well in the CAD program were added. In other cases like the School Age Child and Family concentration, we revised the curriculum to align with new state teacher preparation and certification requirements in SB 2042. We reorganized the Youth and Family Services and Research and Public Policy concentrations into stronger thematic units and added a section on program planning and administration in the Youth and Family Services concentration.

Now that the curriculum revisions have officially been approved by the university, we will be publishing a new program brochure and updating the CAD website. Any student who declares CAD as a major after this semester will be held to this revised curriculum. If you are currently a CAD major, you can continue to follow the previous curriculum that was in place when you entered the program or you can follow the new curriculum. If you have questions about this, be sure to see an advisor. Thank you to everyone who helped us to revise and strengthen the CAD curriculum.

The Budget
By the time you read this newsletter, we will know the outcome of the March 2 and 3 Student Fee Referendum on campus as well as state propositions 57 and 58. Until that time, I will not have any specific information on how the CAD program will be affected by budget cuts. Across the university, though, we know that there will be fewer course sections, fewer lecturers, and most likely, a longer time toward graduation, particularly for students who have only small, restricted blocks of time when they can take courses. We will update you on the effects of the budget when we have new information to share.



In this Newsletter

With only two lecturers, a part-time office coordinator, and a tiny observation room, the Child Study Center has risen to the challenge to meet the academic needs of 877 students and faculty researchers from spring semester 2003 through mid-March 2004. Students and faculty from Psychology, Special Education, Nursing, Physical Therapy, Kinesiology, Elementary Education, Child and Adolescent Development, Communicative Disorders, Social Work, Speech and Communication Studies, and Consumer and Family Studies/Dietetics have trekked to the Center a total of 1,846 times over the past semester and a half. By comparison, in the previous one-year period, the Center recorded only 461 users for a total of 561 visits.

A sampling of current and recent graduate student research conducted at the Center demonstrates the depth and range of research opportunities made possible by the presence of the Center: Verbal Metacommunication and its Relation to Perceived Social Competence in Preschool Children (2003); Emotional Self-regulation and Social Competence in Preschool Children (2003); Examination of the Relationship between Early Language Experience and the Development of Social Cognition (2003); Benefits of Acting Out Stories with Preschoolers to Support Social Development (2004); and Peer-group Entry Behaviors in Relation to Sociometric Status and Temperament among Preschool Children (2004).

To learn more about the Child Study Center and how faculty or students can participate, contact Amanda Lucas, Office Coordinator, at 415/338-2441.

Selnow to receive President's Medal at Commencement

Business communication Professor Gary Selnow will receive the SFSU President's Medal for Service for his efforts to rebuild community and health care in countries disrupted by war, conflict or rampant illness. Selnow, founder and executive director of WiRED International, will receive the medal during Commencement exercises May 29. The award honors those who have made outstanding contributions to SFSU and San Francisco that will have long-lasting and widespread benefits for students and faculty. President Robert A. Corrigan chooses the recipients.

"I am honored to present the San Francisco State University President's Medal for Service to Professor Gary Selnow, whose courageous humanitarian work has had a resoundingly positive impact on the lives of many people in war-torn countries," Corrigan said. "His dedication and vision exemplify the ideals of caring and community service that we value in our University community. Professor Selnow inspires us by his creativity and courage."

Selnow, a faculty member since 1992, travels to countries ravaged by conflict and poverty to provide citizens with information and communication resources -- often funded from his own pocket.

Most recently, he traveled to Iraq through grants from the U.S. Department of State to set up medical information centers at 10 locations. The centers use computers and a CD-ROM library to provide education on a broad range of healthcare topics and serve more than 5,500 medical professionals, professors and students. Internet access will be added when the appropriate infrastructure is locally available.

Last month in Iraq, Selnow and his staff set up hardware and software and trained hospital staff on a two-way, real-time video connection. This allows children hospitalized away from home in other countries while receiving extensive medical treatments to talk to and see their families for the first time in months.

WiRED, which often collaborates with SFSU's Marian Wright Edelman Institute, U.S. Global Technology Corps and National Institutes of Health, also operates centers in the Balkans, Africa and Latin America. The centers provide healthcare information to more than one million individuals annually.

Children's School Success Project

Dr. Marci Hanson, Professor of Early Childhood Special Education in the Department of Special Education, has received an exciting new 5-year grant funded through the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development/NIH initiative on school readiness for young children. The project is called the Children's School Success Project and the goal is to investigate the effectiveness of a curriculum that includes both pre-academic and social components in preparing preschool-aged children for success in the early elementary grades. The curriculum includes activities designed to address children's academic and social learning and has science, math, literacy, and social skills components. Each part of the curriculum has a solid base of scientific evidence documenting its effectiveness.

Children enrolled in local Head Start programs will participate in these activities during their pre-kindergarten Head Start experiences and their progress through the early elementary years will be monitored until the 2nd grade. All children will come from low-income families and special attention will be given to children with disabilities and children who are English learners.

This study will take place in 90 classrooms at five regional locations (California, Indiana, Kansas, Maryland and West Virginia) and involve a total of approximately 600 children over a period of 5 years.

Research Questions Specific questions related to the impact of the curriculum include:
1.) whether children in the CSS curriculum model have more beneficial outcomes during preschool, kindergarten and first and second grade than comparable children enrolled in a preschool classroom using a traditional curriculum model;
2.) whether children with disabilities or who are English language learners have more beneficial outcomes during preschool, kindergarten, first and second grade than comparable children enrolled in a preschool classroom using a traditional curriculum model;
3.) whether institutional personnel and cost factors serve as barriers or facilitators for the successful implementation of the CSS curriculum model; and,
4.) whether previous amounts of training in early childhood education relates to the successful implementation of the CSS curriculum model.

SFSU forms partnership with College of Marin

The College of Marin and San Francisco State University are pleased to announce a new partnership that is being created to meet the needs of the local community in unique and innovative ways. The Fall 2004 Opportunities Schedule on the Indian Valley Campus includes:

CHILD & ADOLESCENT DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM
CAD 300: Professional Roles & Careers in Child & Adolescent
Mondays 7 - 10pm

Additional opportunities are being developed. For up-to- the-minute information, please visit the College of Marin / San Francisco State University partnership website at:http://www.sfsu.edu/~apd/marin.htm

Rene Dahl, Ph.D. addresses international research symposium

On February 4, Rene F. Dahl, Ph.D., Coordinator of the CAD Program, gave the welcoming address at an international gathering of research scientists at the 4th Social Aspects of Recreation Research Symposium in San Francisco. Over a hundred researchers and scholars from across the nation and from countries as far away as Brazil convened for three days to share research findings and discuss issues of significance related to the theme, Linking People to the Outdoors: Connections for Healthy Lands, People and Communities. Areas of interest to many of the participants who represented federal and state agencies such as the National Park Service, the USDA Forest Service, and the CA State Parks, was sharing best practices about community and management efforts to successfully navigate the challenges and opportunities in linking people to the outdoors. Also of interest to participants was how to engage the public in healthy, active lifestyles by utilizing outdoor resources such as historical trails, urban parks, and national forests. Dr. Dahl has conducted research on ethnic diversity and use of undeveloped, natural areas such as national forests and was invited by the conference organizers to make this opening presentation. The Research Symposium was co-sponsored by San Francisco State University, Department of Recreation & Leisure Studies; USDA Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station; and The Presidio Trust, Presidio National Park.

Jumpstart receives honor for 'changing the world'

-Audrey Tang with Christina Holmes

At centers across the country, including San Francisco State University, Jumpstart fosters literacy and social skill development in young children and was recently commended for its vision to solve the national teaching shortage and help disadvantaged preschoolers at the same time. The program currently engages 1,600 college students in service to 6,000 children and operates in 18 states, 44 communities and 160 preschools.

At SF State, Jumpstart trains and pairs work-study students with preschool children to help the youngsters develop reading, language and social skills. Through this relationship, Jumpstart prepares 3- to 5-year-olds for success in school.

"Sometimes children from low-income families are not given all the tools they need to succeed. Jumpstart helps these children enter school at a level playing ground," said Lygia Stebbing, site director of the University’s Jumpstart program.

The program also encourages college students to be teachers as well as leaders in education.

Rakita O'Neal, a junior psychology major, had plans to become a child psychologist when she first joined SF State. That changed when she began working with Jumpstart.

"Now I know I want to be a teacher and I want to own a preschool," O’Neal said. SF State became Jumpstart's first university affiliate in 1997. Today, Jumpstart SF State is considered one of the country’s top model programs by the national organization. "Our children have consistently had higher assessment scores compared to ones who have not received help," Stebbing added.

A total of 74 SFSU students are committed to provide much needed literacy and social skills to children from low-income families in Bayview-Hunter's Point, the Mission, the Marina, the Richmond District and the South of Market area. The program has had a big impact not only on the children, but students as well.

"For me and most of us in the program, Jumpstart becomes a big part of our lives and not a day goes by without thinking about the kids or the program," said Cindy Cervantes, a senior majoring in English. "It's not one of those jobs where the only thing you look forward to at the end of the day is leaving it."

The students, many who plan to go into teaching, receive an education award of $2,400 through AmeriCorps, a network of national service programs that engage more than 50,000 Americans each year in intensive service to meet critical needs in education, public safety, health and the environment.

The 20 winners of the Fast Company/Monitor Social Capitalist Award were chosen from a pool of 80 organizations and evaluated on entrepreneurship, innovation, social impact, aspiration and sustainability.

For more information about Jumpstart, call (415) 338-3884.

Edelman Calendar

  • April 22, 6 - 8:30pm
    Kick-Off Event for the College of Marin/SFSU Partnership
    College of Marin, Indian Valley Campus

    Speakers:
    -Marcy Whitebook, Ph.D.
    Ready or Not, Here it Comes:
    The Impact of Universal Preschool on Higher Education
    -David Crow, Author and Activist
    The Future of Healing: Principles of Integrative Medicine

  • May 4, 6 - 8pm
    Outreach Event for SFSU's Academic Programs
    University Center, Cañada College
    Represented Programs:
    -Child and Adolescent Development undergraduate program
    -Teaching Credential Program
    -College of Business graduate and undergraduate programs
    -Reading Certificate Program