Dear Colleagues:
This week we have been remembering our ancestors. We have a community ofrenda in the Ethnic Studies building, where everyone is invited to share offerings for their loved ones and ancestors. Please come by.
We know the recent presidential election has many of us experiencing a wide range of emotions including shock, anger, sadness, and a numbness that has no words. As we continue to move forward, we know that our work as Ethnic Studies educators continues to be pivotal as we create spaces for community and voice. Echoing in the inspiring words of the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who stated "We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope." As we move forward from the election, there are resources that CEETL has created that could be useful. Feel free to also share lesson plans and resources with colleagues.
Thank you to faculty and staff who attended our All College Mid-Semester check-in a few weeks ago. If there are students who are not attending your class, Kyle Wallace-Jordan, our College of Ethnic Studies academic counselor can reach out to them (you may use the link here).
Also, save the date for our college-wide holiday party scheduled for Thursday, December 12th, 11:30am to 1:30pm. The party will be located in our new and expanded College of Ethnic Studies faculty and staff lounge in EP 113.
Our commitment to racial and social justice in the College of Ethnic Studies continues.
Keep moving forward,
Grace J. Yoo, Dean
Mai Nhung Le, Interim Associate Dean
Professional Development Opportunities
The Institute for Civic and Community Engagement (ICCE) is accepting applications for the 2025 Call to Service Grants. These grants offer SF State faculty and staff the opportunity to receive funding for community-engaged activities, research and community service learning course development.
- Unlock new possibilities for your community work and collaborate on projects that create lasting change.
- Explore funding opportunities that support innovative and meaningful engagement with community partners.
The application deadline is Tuesday, Nov. 19.
Please visit ICCE’s Call to Service Grants web page for details. For questions, contact ICCE by email at icce@sfsu.edu or by phone at (415) 338-6419.
The Equity and Social Justice and Leadership Development Program is a faculty-facilitated, 5 session seminar originally developed in LC&A It is designed:
- To address the under-representation of faculty of color in administrative leadership positions;
- To create a programmatic pathway into university administrative leadership opportunities for all faculty;
- To enable all faculty deeper understandings of the university’s administrative operations.
- To encourage faculty from historically under-represented and under-resourced communities to become future university leaders both at SFSU and beyond our campus.
Program facilitators are Cristina Azocar and Kitty Millet, with Carleen Mandolfo consulting.
The program is open to tenured faculty who hold the rank of associate or full professor. Faculty must apply by November 22, 2024. Participants will receive a stipend of $500.00 for their participation and refreshments will be served at each session.
All faculty are welcome to join the Spring 2025 COES Faculty Learning Community. The learning outcomes of this faculty learning community will include the following:
- Build community among faculty
- Share engaging and innovative pedagogy that builds community in our classroom and supports student success
- Consider ethnic studies & equity-minded financial literacy curriculum that could be introduced into the classroom*
Participants will receive a stipend of $500.00 for their participation and lunch will be served at each session. Interested faculty can sign up here. This faculty learning community is supported through a Department of Education AANAPISI "REACH" grant.
Faculty teaching an oral communication or critical thinking course are invited to departmental level teaching squares this Spring 2025. The outcomes of the teaching square will include the following:
- Create a shared CANVAS page
- Host faculty development sessions on teaching critical oral communication or critical-thinking in Ethnic Studies that focus on Student Success
- Share across departments a full revised syllabus
- Build a collaborative community for faculty development that focuses on student success
More information will be sent to department faculty in the next coming weeks. Teaching squares are supported through a grant from DUEAP.
College Updates
Please encourage students that we have space in the college for studying in EP 100. ARC/REACH peer mentors faciliate this space and can offer peer support. Study circles are open Monday through Thursday 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. in EP 100.
On Wednesday, November 6, 2024, the 1968 strikers will be invited to campus for lunch to hear updates and fundraising efforts on the 1968/69 San Francisco State College Student Strike Oral History Archive
The 1968/69 San Francisco State College Student Strike Oral History Archive of the BSU, TWLF and Collective Community is continually updated and is a resource for faculty, staff and students. Thank you to faculty members across the college who have supported and developed this archive including Tiffany Caesar (AFRS), Mark Allan Davis (AFRS), Baleigh Ben Taleb (AIS), Chrissy Lau (AAS), Rama Kased (RRS) and Jason Feirrera (RRS). If you are interested in supporting the project through filming, interviewing or transcribing, please reach out to Dean Yoo at gracey@sfsu.edu.
Utilizing The 1968/69 San Francisco State College Student Strike Oral History Archive, Tiffany Caesar (AFRS), Rama Kased (RRS), and Chrissy Lau (AAS) co-presented with their students at the Rights and Wrongs: A Constitution and Citizenship Day Conference on the stories of participants of the 1968 BSU/TWLF Student Strike, while connecting it to contemporary social justice efforts like the International Working Women's Day March.
Thank you to Gabriela Segovia-McGahan who has been working on The Master Archive Project (MAP) which is a digitized collection of Course Bulletins from 1967 – 1999 that also includes course descriptions. MAP is additional resource for faculty and students in studying our College's history. The details on how to access the MAP are listed below.
We are apreciative to Meredith Eliassen in establishing the Meredith Morgan Eliassen Fellowship in Women Shaping California Communities fellowship that will encourage student research using archives like the 1968 Strike archive and others in the CSU.
In addition, we are grateful to Catherine Powell and Ilene Avery Marwick in establishing the Philip M. Klasky Climate Justice Scholarship in memory of Philip M. Klasky to continue his legacy of supporting student activists who have a commitment to climate justice and community involvement.
Departmental Highlights
Faculty Updates
Antwi Akom is a senior fellow with Brookings Institutions.
Joshua Reason (AFRS) has been awarded a Mellon Foundation to support the Black, Indigenous, & Trans of Color Histories Lab which is a collaborative of scholars, artists, and community organizers across the United States.
Shanice Robinson (AFRS) presented at the 2024 American Association for Adult and Continuing Education (AAACE) conference on "Shawty Wanna be a Thug? How Do Incarcerated Black Men Successfully Escape the School-to-Prison Pipeline?" Her presentation expanded on Tupac Shakur's Thug Life philosophy and integrated Critical Race Theory to develop a new conceptual framework: Black Urban Storytelling.
Upcoming Programs
Commemorating the 55th Anniversary of the Occupation of Alcatraz
Join American Indian Studies for a day of events — in person and online — commemorating the 55th Anniversary of the Occupation of Alcatraz - on Wednesday November 20, 2024.
Panels
“Native California and the Alcatraz Occupation”
Gregg Castro (Ramaytush Ohlone) addresses the experiences and concerns of Native Californians at the occupation and in ongoing conversations about its significance and legacy.
Time: 11:00 – 12:15 p.m.
Location: EP 116 (Seats are limited)
“SFSU Archives of the Alcatraz Occupation”
Rob Collins, Associate Professor of AIS, will lead a discussion with librarians and others about SFSU video and print archives of the occupation.
Time: 12:30 – 1:45 p.m.
Location: EP 116 (Seats are limited)
The Concert
In Gratitude to the Community of AIS
A fundraising event to support AIS faculty and student research. Featuring a special performance by Paul Steward (Elem Pomo) of “Twice As Good.”
Time: 7:00 – 8:30 p.m.
Location: EP 116 (Seats are limited, RSVP required)
Questions? Contact American Indian Studies at: aismain@sfsu.edu
Faculty Updates
Arlene Daus-Magbual (AAS) co-presented at the Department of Education AAANPISI Project Director meetings at Washington DC in October 2024, “Access, Relevance, and Community (ARC): Fulfilling the Legacy of the 1968 Ethnic Studies Strike.
Chrissy Lau (AAS) AAS 681 class volunteered at the Angel Island Pilgrimage with NichiBei Foundation.
Jonathan Lee (AAS) is a featured guest on Hulu’s docuseries “Out There: Crimes of the Paranormal. speaking about the religious dimension of ghost and ghost scam in the Chinese immigrant community.
Russell Jeung (AAS) was a panelist for a KQED program, How We Fight: The Power of Asian American Activism and received a San Mateo OCA Lifetime Achievement Award. His Chinese American Identities (AAS 323) class visited Oakland Chinatown and supported a community clean up.
Valerie Soe (AAS) is Lucas Arts Program fellow from 2023-26 and is completing a Lucas Arts Residency Program at Montalvo Arts Center in Saratoga working on her feature documentary WE GO DOWN SEWING: THE AUNTIE SEWING SQUAD.
Departmental Updates
SF State received a landmark gift to establish Henri and Tomoye Takahashi Distinguished Endowed Chair in Nikkei Studies. Currently the department's search is underway for an Assistant Professor in Japanese American/Nikkei Studies.
Faculty Updates
Teresa Carrillo, Emelia Leon and Michella Parra were quoted in the Golden Gate Xpress in an article, Los latines y el aborto: el efecto del catolicismo en los elecciones de 2024 on October 22, 2024.
Michael De Muniz co-presented with Dr. Andy Clarno (UIC) at the UC Berkeley Institute for Governmental Studies on September 30 as part of the Race, Ethnicity and Immigration Colloquium discussing their book, Imperial Policing: Weaponized Data in Carceral Chicago.
Leticia Hernandez curated a series of events uplifting Central American Studies on campus. These events included an art display in the library, a dollmaking workshop, two poetry readings featuring Salvadoran women poets in collaboration with LCA and the Latinx Student Center, and an additional reading in the Mission community. She is also featured in an article in the Independent on October 24, 2024.
Bárbara Abadía-Rexach presented at the XI Seminario Internacional Conexiones Caribe, held in Santa Marta, Colombia on Afro-Puerto Rican music and its connection with the Great Caribbean. Her paper, “Músicas Borinkeñas en claves AFROcaribeñas,” discusses the historical and political context of Puerto Rico and how music genres, lyrics and performances have been denouncing colonialism, sexism, anti-Black racism and other oppressions. She also participated in a community conversation sponsored by the Black Orchestral Network with multimedia journalist and “Ain’t I Latina?” blogger Janel Martínez and musician Emilio Carlo.
Daisy Zamora (LTNS) has been incorporated as a member of the North American Academy of the Spanish Language, and her introduction in the Shearsman Books in London of Songs of Cifar and the Sweet Sea by Pablo Antonio Cuadra, translated into English by Adam Feinstein was recently published.
Departmental Updates
"The Making Latine/x History at SFSU campaign during the week of October 7, 2024,, raised $2,997 for the Latina/o Studies Fund to help fund the department's Spring 2025 celebration for graduating students and fund honorariums to bring guest speakers (e.g., community organizers/activists) into the classroom. The Latina/o Studies Department extends its gratitude to its community of supporters.
Faculty Updates
Leora Kava and Levalasi Loi On received a $750,000 grant from the Mellon Foundation, “Building Critical Pacific Islands & Oceania Studies at SFSU.”
Ponipate Rokolekutu launched Oceania Scholars Program (OSP), a new Pacific Islander student support program which ocuses on the belonging, retention, graduation and success of Pacific Islander students at San Francisco State funded through a $460,000 grant
Rama Ali Kased was quoted in the KQED news article San Francisco State Divests From Weapons Makers After Working With Student Activists on August 29, 2024
Jason Ferreira was a panelist for the HSESI Scholar Series: Teaching Histories of Anti-Imperialist Solidarity and was featured in the Inaugural Episode of “Learning Liberation: The Ethnic Studies Podcast,” produced by the Coalition of Liberated Ethnic Studies and was interviewed for PBS's “Roots of Resistance: The Longest Student Strike in History”
Carlos Ernesto Cuauhtemoc Hagedorn was featured in the The Press Democrat in Legacy Youth Project returns to ‘seek justice on September 19, 2024
Upcoming Program
METRO Updates
Thank you to our donors Katherine (B.A., ’84) and Gaylen Eslinger for establishing a scholarship for SF State’s Metro College Success Program students to honor the struggles and successes of Katherine’s family."
Through the Metro College Success Program Scholarship and Helen Kallianis Memorial Scholarship, Metro proudly awarded $1,000 scholarships to 15 exceptional students this past year. We are immensely grateful for the generous donations that made this possible. These students (some of whom are pictured below) are striving to foster a more just and equitable society in their respective fields.
Top row, left to right: Andy Mayen (Computer Science), Roxane Jaramillo (Marine Biology), Yosili Mendoza Cruz (Physiology)
Bottom row, left to right: Mariah Harris (Computer Science + Business Administration (Marketing)), Esmeralda Vargas Gutierrez
(Race and Resistance Studies), Lesly Pineda (Nursing)
Departmental Updates
"Persevering and Paying it Forward: Katherine (B.A., ’84) and Gaylen Eslinger have established a scholarship for SF State’s Metro College Success Program students to honor the struggles and successes of Katherine’s family." Pictures on website at https://develop.sfsu.edu/Eslingers.
