Informed & Inspired

“Summer melt” is a well-established phenomenon in higher education. The term refers to the significant number of high school seniors intending to enroll in college, but who do not show up to campus the semester following high school graduation. For students from large urban school districts, that number ranges from 21 to 50 percent. In these pandemic times, however, summer melt might be the tip of the iceberg.

With students stuck at home and behind screens during the COVID-19 pandemic, Fontana Unified School District counselor and San Diego State University alumnus Eduardo Valencia (’97, ’98) is going door-to-door to make a difference. NBC Los Angeles recently spotlighted Valencia — a graduate of our Community-Based Block and school counseling master’s program — as he made house calls to meet the social and emotional needs of his students.

Sarah Kouzi, a master’s student in San Diego State University’s Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT) program, has published a commentary in the San Diego Union-Tribune reflecting on the intersection between her culture and her career as a therapist. She explores her desire to dispel the stigma about mental health in the Arab and Muslim communities in America — and in her own family.

In the aftermath of the police killing of George Floyd last spring, a group of Black faculty in the San Diego State University College of Education met virtually to share their grief, vent their frustration — and strategize what to do about it.

Counseling and School Psychology grads Ann Pierce, Bonnie Hayman and Cherryl Baker sweep the San Diego County School Counselor of the Year awards.

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. 

Seven members of the San Diego State University College of Education faculty, staff and student communities have been named to the newly-formed Black Advisory Council to the Dean. 

In a world often defined in black and white terms, Selam Gebrekristos (’07, ’13) has learned to embrace a life somewhere in the middle. 

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic and social distancing, the San Diego State University College of Education’s community clinics are meeting the mental health needs of hundreds of San Diegans. Faculty and student clinicians in the Community-Based Block (CBB), Center for Community Counseling and Engagement (CCCE) and Healthy Early Years (HEY) have continued to provide their important services virtually.

Two San Diego State University College of Education faculty members were among seven local women named to the 2020 class of the San Diego County Women’s Hall of Fame. Dr. Nola Butler-Byrd (’99, ’04), associate professor in counseling and school psychology and director of SDSU’s Community-Based Block (CBB), was honored in the Empowerer of Women category. Dr. Lupe Holguin Buell (’85, ’02), lecturer and program coordinator in dual-language education, was named in the Bridge Builder of Multicultural Understanding category. They will be honored on March 15.