Informed & Inspired

As a new year draws near, the finish line has come into view for Karen Stills and Yolanda Cataño. Both candidates in San Diego State University’s Ed.D. program with a concentration in community college leadership (CCLEAD) are on track to complete their doctorates in May. Their long journeys as students are almost complete.

Assistant Professor Marissa Vasquez and Professor Frank Harris III in the Department of Administration, Rehabilitation and Postsecondary Education are among 12 recipients of San Diego State University's Faculty Forward Awards, recognizing their agility and dedication to student support during the COVID-19 pandemic. The honor, presented by Faculty Advancement and Student Success and the Center for Teaching and Learning, celebrates the extraordinary dedication, collaboration and innovation of faculty offering courses virtually in fall 2020.

As the semester draws to a close, the San Diego State University College of Education bids a fond farewell to three longtime members of the COE family. Dr. Marilee Bresciani Ludvik, professor of postsecondary educational leadership; Dr. Jacki Booth, lecturer and study abroad coordinator in the Department of Child and Family Development (CFD); and Sylvia Hernandez, credential analyst in the Office of Student Success (OSS); will be retiring from SDSU at the end of the year. 

In her spare time while earning a teaching credential at San Diego State University, Angelique Gianas would often livestream on the popular video game broadcasting platform Twitch. Yet when she was subsequently hired as a teacher at Helix Charter High School in La Mesa, the lifelong gamer decided it was probably time to pull the plug.

As a counselor and assistant professor at Palomar College, Dr. Hossna Sadat Ahadi is a champion for racial equity and social justice on her campus. Her motivation, she says, comes from the kinship she feels with the students she meets on a daily basis. 

Around the office, Kristoffel van de Burgt has earned the nickname “The King of PPE.” On the other end of a Zoom call, Creative Support Alternatives’ (CSA) director shows why, giving an impromptu tour of a storage room stocked with N-95 masks, face shields, thermometers, cleaners, toilet paper and other ubiquitous necessities of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Across California, school districts are scrambling to fill a severe shortage of bilingual educators to keep up with the growing numbers of English learners in the classroom. The need in rural communities is particularly acute. As a result, many schools have turned to teachers with only bachelor’s degrees and “emergency credentials” — one-year permits typically given to substitutes — to fill in the gaps. 

Meet Charlene Holkenbrink-Monk a local teacher and doctoral candidate in the Joint Ph.D. Program in Education between San Diego State University and Claremont Graduate University. In the latest installment of the COE Stories video series, learn about what she loves about the program as well as her research into student support during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Natasha Sebestyen remembers the feeling of shock. It was March 13 — a Friday — and the first wave of the COVID-19 outbreak was about to crest in the U.S. An instructional assistant in a second and third grade combined class in Irvine, Sebestyen checked her email to find a clear message from her school district: Get ready to send your students home with all their things. There will be no school for at least three weeks.

Ángel Gonzalez, a doctoral candidate in San Diego State University’s Ed.D. in Community College Leadership program, has been named recipient of the Graduate Rising Star Award by NASPA Region VI.