Archive for Spotlight On... the Community at Fielding Graduate University--Students, Faculty, Alumni

Alumna Sonja Ferreras-Sullivan, MACEL ’05, was a member of the San Diego learning community and sends news of the publication of her master’s thesis. “This is a great occasion that celebrates Fielding's belief and conviction in the capability and commitment of its students to follow their passion,” said Sullivan when she distributed the following news release with the story of the project:

The Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation has published a children’s book, I am a Kumeyaay, and donated copies of it to every elementary school in San Diego County.

I am a Kumeyaay is a 31-page fun, easy to read account of Kumeyaay culture in the 1750’s. Delfina Cuero: Her Autobiography as written by Florence Connolly Shipek inspired it. Teachers and students will enjoy this added resource about our San Diego ancestors. It’s colorful, a little whimsical, and easy for students to read independently. Supporting editors Barbara Stanley and John Bathke of the Sycuan Education Department went the extra mile to assure that I am a Kumeyaay is accurate and also accessible to beginning learners.

The San Diego County Board of Education will accept the gift on March 12, 2008.

As a third-grade teacher, Sonja Sullivan, the author of I am a Kumeyaay, saw the need for Kumeyaay student-centered material. When she was working on her Fielding Graduate University master’s thesis, she was passionate about creating additional Kumeyaay resources and testing their educational value. The by-product was just too delightful not to share. Fortunately, Sycuan funded its publication. San Diegan’s are the richer for Sycuan’s generosity and better suited to meet their educational goals of educating young people about San Diego’s past.

The book’s seed came from need. It was 1999, Sonja’s first year teaching. She was responsible to teach Kumeyaay culture to third graders. Sonja remembers thinking, “Who were the Kumeyaay?” Quickly she looked in the student’s social studies text. No information. How could a native-born San Diegan, educated in the greater Los Angeles Area, have sent two children to San Diego schools not know about the Kumeyaay? (Not even how to pronounce the word!!!) Of course, panic and a feeling of smallness seized her heart as she desperately sought information. Sonja said that at that time the Internet yielded little information. Luckily the Cabrillo National Monument had an introductory clip in their welcoming video. And more help was on the way. In 2000 the San Diego School District provided all third grade teachers with a kit and Indians of the Oak by Lee. When asked what she thought of the District-supplied text, Sonja said, “You would think a fifth-grade level book would be a cinch to read. But, no. I had no basis, no anchors, and no concept of the essential ‘Indian.’ For two years I had Indians of the Oak by my bedside. Reading it was like swimming through mud.”

Dismayed, she pecked for information from other sources. She found pictures, she studied Torrey Pines State Reserve one-page primer ‘Kumeyaay: Native Americans’. She looked at pictures in adult tomes like Kroeber’s Handbook of the Indians of California and Sherman’s Indian Tribes of North America. Finally, Sonja said that then she was sufficiently oriented to read Indians of the Oak. It was packed with information and had a haunting quality. But her question was how was she going to synthesize all that information for third graders? Another resource came in 2004 with Labastida’s children’s book My Ancestor’s Village; its content meaty and pictures friendly. And surely, where there is one, there are more. And now there is one more. Thanks to the Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation who has added another kid-friendly Kumeyaay book to be enjoyed by students and teachers everywhere in San Diego.

For more information: Email the author at sonjas@san.rr.com or write to Sonja Sullivan, Teacher at Logan Elementary School, 2875 Ocean View Blvd. San Diego, CA 92113.

Congratulations to AnneMarie Gumataotao, who was recently appointed visiting scholar in the University of California at San Diego’s Social Psychiatry Unit. Her faculty sponsor will be Nolan Penn, PhD, a faculty member with Fielding's School of Psychology.

Gumataotao also accepted the position of program manager at United Through Reading in San Diego, CA. United Through Reading is a nonprofit organization that connects physically separated families through reading activities. PGA golfer Rory Sabatini recently made a donation to support their efforts. Read more about the organization at www.unitedthroughreading.org.

Information, Society and Knowledge Organizations (ISAKO) Society for Social Studies of Science Meeting in Montreal. The Society for Social Studies of Science (4S) is an international scholarly community embracing work from various fields and alternative epistemologies focusing on knowledge studies, to include studies of technology. This year the theme was “Ways of Knowing.”

Following the acceptance of three proposals, in a highly competitive field of international scholars, and with support from ISI resources, the following papers were delivered in Montreal before interested and inquisitive peers.

Human & Organization Development (HOD) students presented several papers. Alice MacGillivray organized and chaired the panel on “Contextual Lenses for Ways of Knowing.” In addition to her paper on “Making Sense of the Unpredictable,” James Bogner spoke on “Ways of Knowing Across Large Healthcare Systems,” and Mary Connors discussed “Ways of Knowing in Virtual Team Leadership.” Mike Ginn also prepared a paper but was unable to attend the meeting.

Linda Crafts, an HOD alumna, and faculty member Jeremy Shapiro were in a panel entitled “Styles of Science and Technology.” Their paper was entitled “Ways of Bodily Knowing and the Democratization of Technology.” (Linda and Jeremy had just returned from Budapest where they presented a paper entitled “ The Streaming Body as the Site of Telecommunications Convergence,” at the conference “Towards a Philosophy of Telecommunications Convergence: Communications in the 21st Century.” The conference was sponsored by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and T-Mobile Hungary.)

HOD student Sharone Lee and faculty member Bob Silverman, presented a paper as part of the panel “Decision-Making in Disaster Response.” Their paper was entitled, “Knowing ‘the Other’ in Contextual Loss.” Given recent natural and person-caused disasters in the recent past, these papers allowed us to consider the impact of an African civil war on children.

Congratulations to Todd McGough, PhD (PSY 07),on the recent publication of his book, Cognition and Acculturation: Thinking About How We Adapt (VDM Verlag, 2007). The book is based on his Fielding dissertation.

Congratulations to media psychology student Jonny White on the acceptance of his poster for presentation at the Society for Personality and Social Psychology Conference in New Mexico in February 2008. White’s study examines whether inspirational media had measurable positive effects on psychological states and traits. Little research has yet been done that examines entertainment’s positive effects on psychological states.

Ron Giannetti, dean of the School of Psychology, is pleased to announce that clinical psychology faculty member Nancy L. Baker and her brother C. Edwin Baker have established the Ernestine Magagna Baker Endowed Scholarship, named in honor of their mother.

Beginning in 2009, the annual scholarship will be awarded to a clinical psychology student, with preference given to students who are in the first generation of their family to attend a four-year college. The Bakers’ mother, Ernestine, was a first generation American who attended college and, later in life, earned a master’s degree in counseling.

Members of the School of Psychology community extend their gratitude to the Bakers, who have made a $50,000 pledge to create the endowment. Their vision and generosity will provide opportunities for deserving students long into the future. Thank you so much Nancy and Edwin.

Furthermore, Nancy is to be congratulated on her election as a Fellow of the Society for the Psychological Study of Ethnic Minority Issues (APA Division 45) and being given the Laura Brown Award from the Society for the Psychology of Women (Division 35).

Congratulations are extended to Fielding faculty member Barbara Mink, who was invited by the Foundation for Women’s Resources to participate in the 2008 program of Leadership Texas. Based upon her outstanding credentials and leadership potential, she was selected to participate as one of the top 100 women leaders from a large, highly competitive pool of applicants from across the State of Texas.

Leadership Texas 2008 will focus on the three E’s – Economy, Education, and Environment. Participants will explore possible impacts on society and efforts to balance expectations for everything from healthcare and education to economic development and retirement.

Barbara holds faculty positions in the schools of both Human & Organization Development and Educational Leadership & Change.

Institute for Social Innovation Supports Fielding at Transformative Learning Conference in Albuquerque. The 7th International Transformative Learning Conference, which was held Oct. 24-26 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, had the feel of a Fielding national session, with ten of the sixty sessions including presentations by HOD alumni, students, or faculty, and with several other HOD students in attendance. Support for these presentations comes from HOD’s Institute for Social Innovation and reflects the depth of research and practice as developed by faculty, students and alumni. The theme of the conference, Transformative Learning: Issues of Difference and Diversity, was especially well-suited to work being done by those in HOD’s concentration in Transformative Learning for Social Justice. Read more...

HOD participates in Academy of Management Meetings in Philadelphia
Faculty, alumni, and students in HOD played a notable role at the annual meetings of the Academy of Management (AoM) in August 2007 in Philadelphia. The themes and issues represented by the HOD group represent scholar-practitioner efforts for which Fielding has become distinctively known over the years. Read more...

Congratulations to Ruthellen Josselson, PhD, a faculty member in Fielding’s Clinical Psychology Program, on the publication of her book Playing Pygmalion: How People Create One Another.

In her new book, Dr. Josselson explores the psychological processes by which we experience the key people in our lives in ways that we ourselves construct. The book analyzes how four pairs of people, central in each other's lives, create one another. Each of us is like a theater director, casting others into roles on our stage, even as others are casting us into their dramas.

Dr. Josselson writes extensively about human relationships, women’s development, and narratives of life history.

Congratulations to Fielding alumna Pamela Young, PhD (HOD ’06), recipient of the university’s 2007 Libby Douvan Scholarship Award. The scholarship will help support her research project, “African American women who are HIV+ and Towson University dance students in a story-telling and movement project.” The study seeks to identify ways women living with HIV express health, well-being, and illness verbally and non-verbally.

Libby Douvan, PhD, was a feminist scholar and beloved HOD faculty member for nineteen years. The annual award is given to a graduate whose research reflects original thinking and is in keeping with the spirit of Douvan’s scholarship, which emphasized fun, alternative ways of knowing, and how our view of the world makes a difference.

Congratulations to Jerri Lynn Hogg, media psychology doctoral student, on being selected to deliver a paper at the 10th International Conference on Interactive Computer-Aided Learning 2007 conference in Villach, Austria on September 26, 2007. Jerri Lynn's paper is titled The positive impact of virtual environments across cultures: E-tools in the learning environment.

Jerri Lynn, a faculty member at The University of Hartford, resides in West Hartford, CT and is active in student government at Fielding.

Congratulations to psychology faculty member Gregory Murrey, PhD, on the publication of "History of Reported Head Trauma in a Sample of Women in Substance Abuse Treatment" in The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, 33: 327-332, 2007.

Murrey and co-authors' findings revealed that assessing for a history of head trauma and associated disorders in persons seeking substance abuse treatment may be clinically appropriate as such disorders have been found to adversely affect treatment progress.

Congratulations to Fielding alumna Anita K. Jensen, PhD (HOD 98), who has been appointed vice president for leadership development for Catholic Health East (CHE). CHE is one of the nation’s leading Catholic health care systems.

In her new position Jensen will be responsible for developing and implementing a comprehensive approach for leadership development at CHE. This will include competency-based assessment, selection and development of CHE executives, planning of CHE’s governance and management leadership conferences, development of a leadership curriculum and other best practices resources, and executive orientation.

Congratulations to Anne Kratz, Fielding's chief development officer, who has been redesignated a Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE) by CFRE International. CFRE International is an independent organization whose mission is dedicated to the certification of fundraising executes by setting standards in philanthropy in cooperation with leading philanthropic associations. Recipients are required to have documented experience and achievements in the profession, a commitment to ethical service to nonprofit organizations, and have passed a rigorous written examination testing the knowledge, skills, and abilities of a fundraising executive.

Congratulations to Fielding alumna Susan Newman, PhD (HOD 96) who will be featured on ABC’s “20/20” in an upcoming news segment dispelling the lingering negative myths about only children and touching on the research in her book, PARENTING AN ONLY CHILD.

Dr. Newman is a social psychologist and author of The Book of NO: 250 Ways to Say It--and Mean It and Stop People-Pleasing Forever (McGraw-Hill), Nobody's Baby Now: Reinventing Your Adult Relationship with Your Mother and Father (Walker), Parenting an Only Child, The Joys and Challenges of Raising Your One and Only (Broadway/Doubleday), and Little Things Long Remembered: Making Your Children Feel Special Every Day (Random House/Crown), among others. See: www.susannewmanphd.com and www.thebookofno.com

Congratulations to Rob Abel, Executive Director of the IMS Global Learning Consortium and EdD student in the Media Studies concentration in the School of Educational Leadership & Change on his must-read cover story in March/April 2007 issue of EDUCAUSE Review, entitled "Innovation, Adoption, and Learning Impact: Creating the Future of IT." Don't miss it.

Congratulations to Anne Alonso, PhD, Psychology faculty emerita and Fielding alumna, who will be presented with
the Ezra Saul Psychological Service Award for lifetime contributions to psychology by the Massachusetts Psychological Association at its annual meeting in May.

Congratulations! Lexsee (Allen) Waterford, PhD, has been appointed executive director of human resources at Baltimore City Community College. Dr. Waterford holds a bachelor's from the University of Tennessee, a master's from Trevecca Nazarene University, and a master's and doctorate from Fielding Graduate University's School of Human & Organization Development.

Congratulations to Jenny Whittemore Fremlin, Fielding Media Psychology PhD student, on her appointment as associate editor of The Amplifier, the newsletter of the Media Psychology Division (46) of the American Psychological Association. Media psychology is a sub-specialty of psychology. Jenny is the f

Congratulations to Fielding’s Sita Aiello! Rotary District 5240 of California, USA sponsored a team of five women in an exchange trip to the Philippines. University graduate program advisor, Sita Aiello was chosen as one to receive a travel grant to observe her vocation as practiced abroad. Sita visited elementary and secondary schools as well as universities and met with educational administrators. From her visit, she concluded there is not a viable job market for American educators in the Philippines. She reasoned that with loans to pay in the United States, an American educator in the Philippines could only earn as much to live on, which is not enough to pay one's obligations in the U.S.

Congratulations to Toni A. Gregory, EdD (Human & Organization Development), and Michael A. Raffanti, JD, EdD (Educational Leadership & Change) faculty, are the editors of a new series titled “Grounded Action: An Evolutionary Systems Methodology” published by World Futures: Journal of General Evolution, Volume 62, Number 7, October-November, 2006. A number of articles in the series were contributed by Fielding faculty, students, and alumni participating in the Grounded Theory/Grounded Action Research Concentration in the School of Educational Leadership & Change.

Congratulations to Human & Organization Development’s Shelley Hughes and Jeremy Shapiro for their article being cited as suggested reading for an Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) course for librarians! According to Fielding’s librarian, Alain Dussert, they are in great company…And, we quote…

Prior to starting the course it is recommended that participants read the following:

Congratulations to Fielding’s Media Psychology faculty member Dr. Jean-Pierre Isbouts who hosted a panel at the Digital Hollywood Europe Conference in London in late November. The topic was "Revolutionizing Digital Workflow in the Media Enterprise." The well-attended panel featured speakers from the BBC, ITV, IBM, Grass Valley and other multinational media companies.

Congratulations to School of Psychology alumna Rebecca I. Porter, PhD, who in September received a Diplomate in Health Psychology from the American Board of Professional Psychology. Porter is currently a lieutenant colonel in the Medical Service Corps and director of the Center for Personal Development at the United States Military Academy at West Point. Next July, Porter will become the deputy chief of psychology at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

Congratulations to Toni Gregory, EdD, and Michael Raffanti, JD, EdD, ELC faculty members and editors of a new series titled "Grounded Action: An Evolutionary Systems Methodology" which has just been released by World Futures: Journal of General Evolution, Volume 62, Number 7, October-November 2006. A number of articles in the series were contributed by Fielding faculty, students, and alumni participating in the Grounded Theory/Grounded Action Research Concentration in the School of Educational Leadership & Change.

Congratulations to Ramiro Sanchez, ELC Doctoral Student, on his appointment as Executive Vice President of Ventura College. VC is the second largest community college of the Ventura Community College District. Previously Ramiro served as EVP for Student Learning at Oxnard College, and has taught at Santa Barbara City College.

Congratulations to Don Bushnell, PhD, professor emeritus in Human & Organization Development, who is named the guest editor of the OD Practitioner Journal for the winter issue. This flagship journal for the Organization Development Network has a circulation of 6,000 readers. The winter issue is focused exclusively on positive OD practices. In addition to a historically based introduction by Bushnell and Will McWhinney, PhD, past president of the Humanistic Psychology Association, five. Several HOD alumni have submitted articles for consideration in the next OD Practitioner.

Dr. Seashore Brings Fielding Into The Spotlight! Congratulations to Human and Organization Development longtime faculty member, Charlie Seashore, PhD and his wife, Edie for being featured in a lengthy and very entertaining profile in a Special Issue of Strategy+Business, a quarterly publication by Booz, Allen, Hamilton, Inc. Fielding is mentioned frequently in this most colorful article titled "Creative Minds: 11 of the World's Most Creative Business Thinkers." The issue is available at Barnes & Noble, newsstands and in independent bookstores. In addition, the article will also appear in the November issue of Strategy+Business which goes to over 100,000 subscribers nationwide.

Congratulations to Dr. Jason Ohler, Media Psychology adjunct faculty member on receiving a Special Contribution Award from The International Visual Literacy Association for his work with "art the 4th R ." The Awards Committee of the International Visual Literacy Association (IVLA) gives this award to honor individuals or organizations making outstanding contributions in furthering of visual literacy in research, education, publication, or creative productions.

Congratulations to Dr. Barry J. Vroeginday (ELC 05) on his appointment by the State of Connecticut and Board for State Academic Awards as the Director of Distance Learning at Charter Oak State College in New Britain, Connecticut. Dr. Vroeginday graduated from Fielding Graduate University in October 2005 with a Doctorate in Education and a Concentration in Media Studies. His dissertation was entitled, Traditional vs. Online Education: A Comparative Analysis of Learner Outcomes. Charter Oak State College was established in 1973 by the Connecticut Legislature to provide an alternative way for adults to earn associate and baccalaureate degrees and is a distance learning college offering online, video, and contract courses. Dr. Vroeginday will provide leadership and vision for the distance learning program including the development, design, and marketing of online programs; oversight for the evaluation of distance learning courses, curricula, and programs and faculty; and outcomes assessment. Dr. Vroeginday continues to serve as an online adjunct faculty member and online course architect for DeVry University Online in Naperville, Illinois.

Congratulations to Mandi Batalo, Educational Leadership and Change (ELC) doctoral student on your her full-time position as an art faculty member at San Bernardino Valley College. Mandi is teaching digital photography and digital design courses at Valley College and will also lead in the development of new courses in Media Arts for the Art Department. Mandi has completed the media studies Knowledge Area (KA) and has designated the community college concentration in ELC as part of her doctoral program. Go, Mandi.

Congratulations to Jon Cabiria, Media Psychology PhD student on his receipt of a $5,000 scholarship in recognition of years of service to the gay community and current studies in social justice regarding gay issues. The Lax Scholarship Fund was established in 1994 by the late entrepreneur and inventor Jonathan R. Lax for the purpose of encouraging gay men to obtain additional education, aspire to positions in which they contribute to society, be open about their sexual preference, and act as role models for other gay men with similar potential.

Congratulations to Katie Davis, graduate program advisor on her appointment as chair of the Member Career Services Committee of the National Academic Advising Association (NACADA). The association promotes and supports quality academic advising in institutions of higher education to enhance the educational development of students. NACADA provides a professional forum for discussion, debate, and the exchange of ideas pertaining to academic advising through numerous activities and publications to higher education professionals with advising responsibilities. It serves and supports member institutions with a consultants bureau, an awards program, and funding for research related to academic advising.

Congratulations to Ronald Giannetti, PhD, Dean, School of Psychology on his appointment by the board of directors of the Media Psychology Division (46) as a Fellow in Media Psychology of The American Psychological Association. Fellow status recognizes his significant contributions in advancing the field of Media Psychology as dean of the first PhD program in Media Psychology. The success of the Media Psychology program at Fielding Graduate University is a significant milestone in the field of psychology and higher education.

Congratulations to Margaret Feerick, PhD, School of Psychology post doctoral respecialization student and co-editor of a new book entitled," Child Abuse and Neglect". This new book offers researchers and policy makers' perspectives on developing a precise, scientifically valid system of defining, classifying, and measuring child maltreatment. It addresses significant barriers to research on Child Abuse and Neglect.

Congratulations to Dr. Anna DiStefano, Provost, on your appointment to the Commission on Accreditation of the Western Association of School and Colleges (WASC). Dr. DiStefano joins a panel of twenty-one commissioners who oversee the evaluation and quality of colleges and universities offering the Bachelors, Masters, and doctorates in California, Hawaii, Guam, and the Pacific Basin. WASC is one of five accrediting agencies who work together in the accreditation of America’s colleges and universities. Dr. DiStefano’s appointment is a recognition of Dr. DiStefano’s stature in higher education as well as to her service to Fielding Graduate University.

We welcome Dilys Jones to the position of Director of Alumni Affairs. Dily’s experience as Associate Director of Alumni Relations at Claremont McKenna college along with her international education in South Africa and her experience as a teacher are important additions to the Fielding community. Dilys will be productively busy working with the more than two thousand Fielding Alumni. It is great to have Dilys at Fielding Graduate University.

Congratulations to Psychology Doctoral student and University of Hartford Psychology Professor Jerri Lynn Hogg on launching her new course “Contemporary Studies in Psychology: Media Psychology”. This is the first course with a media psychology title launched in a university by a Fielding doctoral student and university faculty member. A number of doctoral students in the Media Psychology program are college and university faculty members at institutions including CSU Northridge, Long Beach and Channel Islands, The University of Indiana, Chapman University, and DeVry University. Kudos to Jerri Lynn.

Congratulations to Media Psychology PhD candidate Tenny Mickey on her full time appointment as a faculty member teaching organizational management in the Marshall School of Business of The University of Southern California. Tenny recently completed her MA in Media Psychology and is working on her dissertation. Go Tenny.

May 19, 2006: ELC doctoral student, Lone Wolf, aka Jim Rowland, has received notice that his article on rethinking schools is being published in the June issue of Indian Education Today magazine. This is his first publishing effort. This article was originally a paper completed as part of a Knowledge Area with ELC faculty member, Four Arrows, aka Don Jacobs. Well done and Congratulations.

May 16, 2006: Accolades to ELC/HOD faculty member Barbara Mink, Ed.D on her election to a second six year term to the Austin Community College District Board of Trustees. In this role Barbara makes a significant contribution to America’s 1171 community colleges, and a special contribution in Texas and to Austin Community College. Community colleges enroll 50% of all higher education undergraduates and the Fielding program in Educational Leadership and Change educates leaders for these colleges. Congratulations Barbara Mink.

April 19, 2006: Congratulations to Fielding Registrar Bridget Brady for her important chapter in the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers new publication analyzing distance deduction issues and their impact on academic records, financial aid and enrollment. Fielding is acknowledged as a best in class model and is at the forefront of accredited procedural development in distributed education programs. The Registrar's Guide: Evolving Best Practices in Records and Registration is the first comprehensive guide to the registrar's profession to be published in 27 years. Its 35 chapters address a variety of responsibilities, ranging from registration and academic scheduling to detecting credentials fraud and implementing student information systems; preparing for commencement and preparing for accreditation; project management and "Budgeting for Registrars." Other chapters address the work of the registrar in various settings, including small colleges, community colleges, graduate schools, and law, medical and theology schools. Well done, Bridget Brady.

March 23, 2006: Congratulations to Harriett Robles, EdD Educational Leadership & Change Alumni ('99) who received the 2005 Leadership Award for Administrative Excellence from the Association of California Community College Administrators. ACCCA represents all administrators serving in California Community Colleges and is the voice of administration with respect to the future of community colleges in California.

March 13, 2006: Congratulations to Dr. Lenneal Henderson, Educational Leadership & Change faculty member, on his selection as a recipient of a 2006 Maryland University System Board of Regents Award for Excellence in Public Service. This award is the highest honor that the University of Maryland Board bestows to recognize exemplary faculty achievement. “Dr. Henderson, your selection is an important acknowledgment of your outstanding accomplishments” said Dr Judith Kuipers, Fielding's President. Dr. Henderson will be formally recognized during the public session on Friday, April 7, 2006, Board meeting at the University of Baltimore.

February 22, 2006: Congratulations to Dr. Bernie Luskin, Director of the Media Psychology Program who has been appointed to the Advisory Board of the DVD Association. The DVD Association fosters the use of CD and Web enabled CD in all industries. Media psychology is central to emerging applications on compact disc and Luskin will represent educators fostering emerging professional development programs in the field of Digital Media.