December 2015 e-Newsletter

Happy holidays, everyone! Fall 2015 has been a productive and eventful semester, and we want to take a moment to appreciate you all for the good and hard work that you do. Thank you for being part of our college family.

We wish you a wonderful holiday season and a joyous and successful new year. See you again in 2016!

Winter Wonderland Party

We held our 2015 Holiday Party on Thursday, December 17th, in the Orange Grove Bistro. This year's theme was "Winter Wonderland."

The food was delicious; the entertainment, provided by Anthony Nguyen, was fantastic; and the company, of course, was top notch.

We also had a door decorating contest, which was won by Elementary Education, room ED 1206.

Thanks to everyone who attended, and a huge thanks to Brittany Swinson for coordinating another successful event.

Fourth Annual Research Colloquium

On November 4, 2015, the Michael D. Eisner College of Education hosted Dr. Sandra Graham, of UCLA, in the Fourth Annual Research Colloquium. Our renowned speaker Dr. Sandra Graham, Professor, Human Development and Psychology, Department of Education at UCLA and the University of California Presidential Chair in Education and Diversity spoke on "Race, Ethnicity and Social Adjustment of Adolescents: How (not if) School Diversity Matters Please".

The colloquium was very well attended, with 200 present, including faculty from the COE and across campus, students and classes. For more information about this and prior colloquia, please visit the Research Enhancement website.

Remembering Dr. Lynne Cook

It is with deep regret that we share the passing of our former colleague, friend, and CSUN faculty member, Dr. Lynne Cook, in August of this year.

Lynne received her Ph.D. at the University of Michigan, and went on to serve as a lecturer at UCLA for two years, after which she came to California State University, Northridge. At CSUN she served as a member of the Department of Special Education from 1980-2006, and was Department Chair from 1984 to 1986. In 2006, Lynne moved to California State University, Dominguez Hills to serve as Dean of the College of Education.

Lynne had a prolific record of scholarship, including more than 45 refereed articles, 16 book chapters and monographs, 28 other publications, and 16 funded grants. She was the co-author, with Dr. Marilyn Friend, of Interactions: Collaboration Skills for School Professionals, the most widely used textbook on the topic of collaboration, currently in its seventh edition. She had an extraordinary record of service in the CSU system, as well as nationally and internationally.

Read more about Lynne's life

Preparing Asian Bilingual Teachers Project

Clara Park in SED has received $400,000 of the 5th year continuation grant for her project, Preparing Asian Bilingual Teachers (a $2,000,000 grant). This project prepares Asian bilingual teachers in Chinese/Mandarin, Filipino, Hmong, Korean, and Vietnamese in a consortium arrangement among six CSUs (CSUN, CSUF, x CSULB, CSULA, CSU Pomona, and CSU Stanislaus). The goals of the project are to prepare 100 Asian bilingual teachers and MA program completers (80 bilingual authorization students and 20 MA students in multicultural and multilingual education); and to provide enrichment workshops in multicultural education and instructional technology.

With timely advisement, academic and financial support, the project is over-accomplishing its goals. The project has recruited 104 credential students and 22 MA students. Fifty-nine (59) credential students and 12 MA students have already completed their programs. Forty-five (45) credential students and 10 MA students are remaining in their programs. It is hoped that the project will successfully wrap up all of its activities by the end of summer, 2017.

2nd Education on the Edge speaker coming 2/18/16

The Center for Teaching & Learning (CTL) is pleased to announce that Dr. Candace Thille, founding director of the Open Learning Initiative (OLI) at Carnegie Mellon and Stanford, is coming to CSUN. Our very own President Dianne Harrison heard Dr. Thille and remarked that she wished every faculty member on campus could hear Dr. Thille's presentation on teaching and learning and how open learning, student learning styles, and technology will be changing the future of our campuses! Dr. Thille will be the 2nd Education on the Edge speaker for this school year and her focus on technology and the science of learning will continue to push what we know about how students learn and what we as faculty need to prepare to do. Dr. Thille will be presenting at the University Student Union on February 18, 2016 from 7-8:30pm. Admission is free but be sure to register on Eventbrite when it opens. For those faculty interested in having their classes attend Dr. Thille's presentation, please don't forget to add this opportunity on your syllabi!

See the CTL website for registration information

7 students from the Secondary Education Program attended a common core conference at UC Berkeley in History/Social Studies related to Segregationist Policies of the civil rights movement. Under the direction of Dr. Al Nava, the funding provide by a grant from the Secondary Academic Enrichment Program (SAEP), CSUN credential students spent three days (December 4-6), at UC Berkeley.